Multiple Choice Questions Based on English Literature For IAS Examination-Top 100 English literature MCQs for UPSC examination. Get English literature multiple choice questions and answer pdf for free. It’s easy to get an English literature MCQ book for free. In this post, I am looking at the UPSC examination. In UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) there are several optional subjects like polity, education, English, etc.
UPSC is one of the top examinations in India. It is also known as IAS (Indian Administrative Service)examination. Official it is called CSE (Civil Service Examination). This examination is basically conducted by the Government of India. Every year GOI conducts a UPSC examination in 3 tires (Prelims, Mains, Viva).
Multiple Choice Questions Based on English Literature For IAS ExaminationTop 100 MCQs on English Literature For UPSC
1- The French novelist, Emile Zola is a
A- Naturalist
B- Realistic
C-Both A and B
D-None
2- Who among the following is one of the ‘University Wits’?
A- Thomas Kyd
B-Shakespeare
C-Both A and B
D-None
3- Darkness at Noon was written by
A- Arthur Koestler
B-Anthony Burgess
C-George Orwell
D-William Golding
4- ‘Cymbeline’ was written by
A- Shakespeare
B-Thomas Kyd
C-Jonson
D-Marlowe
5- Malvolio is a character in
A- Twelfth Night
B-Two Gentleman Men of Verona
C-Romeo and Juliet
D-None
6- Who among the following is associated with New Criticism?
A- David Daiches
B-I.A Richards
C-Cleanth Brooks
D-None
7- Which of the following novels by Lawrence has an element of autobiography?
A- Sons and Lovers
B-The White Peacock
C-Rainbow
D-None
8- Name Marlowe’s work which was completed by Thomas Nash.
A- The Tragedy of Dido
B-Edward 3
C-The Massacre
D-None
9- James Joyce perfected the following
A- Stream of Consciousness
B-Magical Realism
C-Science Fiction
D-None
10- The Character ‘Prospero’ figures in
A- Tempest
B-Othello
C-Twelfth Night
D-King Lear
11- The sonnets of Shakespeare were dedicated to
A- Mr. W.H
B-His Wife
C- His Father
D-None
12- Romantic Movement had its antecedents in
A- The 15th-century ballad
B-Shakespearean Comedy
C-The Poetry of Chaucer
D-None
13- Shelley in ‘Adonais’ implied that Keats’s death was brought about by
A- Reviewers
B- The indifferent Government
C-The Wife of Keats
D-None
14- The Cavelier poet’s interest was in
A- Love
B-War
C-Elegy
D- Both A and B
15-Joyce’s Ulysses is modeled on
A- Homer’s Odyssey
B-Virgil’s Aeneid
C-Milton’s Paradise Lost
D-None
16- Who wrote the following? ”Stone walls do not a prison make Nor iron bars a cage”
A-Richard Lovelace
B-Robert Herrick
C-Abraham Cowley
D-Thomas Carew
17- The term ”Neo-Romanticism” can be associated with
A- Dylan Thomas
B-T.S Eliot
C-Ezra Pound
D-W.H Auden
18- Who did Legouis criticize as one who writes ”Charming verses on nothing’?
A- John Suckling
B-Marvel
C-John Senalam
D-Edmund Waller
19- Sir William Thornhill’s figure in
A- The Vicar of Wakefield
B-She Stoops to Conquer
C- Amelia
D-None
20- Who called Chaucer ”The father of English Poetry”?
A- Arnold
B-Yeats
C-Spenser
D-Milton
21- Which one of Chaucer’s tale is in Prose?
A- The Parsons Tale
B-The Prioress Tale
C-The Cooks Tale
D-None
22- Mosca is the character of which the writer
A- Thomas Kyd
B-Shakespeare
C-Samuel Johnson
D-Ben Jonson
23- Who thinks ‘Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy and dead”?
A- James Thurker
B-Spike Milligan
C-T.S Eliot
D-Ogden Nash
24- How many numbers of pilgrims are there in Canterbury Tales?
A-29
B-30
C-60
D-70
25-Johnsons Dictionary was published in the year
A-1755
B-1855
C-1756
D-1655
26- In whose works does the war of roses figure in?
A- Shakespeare
B-Chaucer
C-Sidney
D-Legoland
27- Who wrote, ”We all have sufficient strength to bear other people’s misfortune?
A- La Rochefoucauld
B-Swift
C-Montaigne
D-Bacon
28- When was ”Look Back in Anger” performed
A- 1956
B-1957
C-1958
D-None
29- Where do the following lines occur ”Winter is come and gone, But grief returns with the revolving year”
A-In Memorium
B-Adonais
C-Both
D-None
30- Don Juan is a specimen of
A- Epic Satire
B-Romantic Poem
C-Heroic Play
D-Narrative Epic
31- Which 20th-century poet alluded to April in one of his poems?
A-Eliot
B-Yeats
C-Spender
D-Auden
32- Name of a poet who wrote ‘In Memory of W.B Yeats’?
A- Auden
B-Spender
C-Larkin
D-Ted Hughes
33- Who among the following is not a noble prize winner?
A- Thomas Hardy
B-R.N Tagore
C-Toni Morrison
D-Churchill
34- In which year was Shakespeare born?
A-1564
B-1965
C-1566
D-1567
35- Of the following which one is a Movement Poet?
A- Philip Larkin
B- Stephen Spender
C-Ted Hughes
D- W.B Yeats
36- Who wrote the poem ‘Light Breaks where no Sun Shines’
A-Dylan Thomas
B-Hardy
C-D.H Lawrence
D-Kipling
37- Who is not the character of Jane Austen’s Emma?
A- Catherine Morland
B-Harriet Smith
C- Frank Churchill
D-George Knightley
38- All About H. Hatler is written by
A- G.V Desani
B-R.C Dutt
C-Toru Dutt
D-R.K Narayan
39- When was Tagore’s Gitanjali published in English?
A-1912
B-1905
C-1921
D-1999
40- Who wrote Great Tradition?
A- F.R Leavis
B-E.M Forster
C-T.S Eliot
D-I.A Richards
41-Who wrote, ”An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”?
A-John Locke
B-Hobbes
C-Bentham
D-None
42- Who is the proponent of the geocentric theory?
A- Ptolemy
B- Copernicus
C-Galileo
D- None
43- James Thomson’s death was lamented in the poem, ”In Yonder Grave a Druid Lies” who wrote this poem?
A- William Collins
B-Gray
C-Anne Finch
D-Cowper
44- W. B Yeats was interested in reviving the language and literature of
A- Irland
B-France
C-England
D-None
46- Which of the following is a ”Novel without a hero?
A- Vanity Fair
B-Emma
C-Mill on the Floss
D-None
47- Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection’ came out in
A-1859
B-1857
C-1887
D-None
48- A Papist is a
A- Roman Catholic
B- The Followers of Pope
C-Protestant
D-None
49- Which of the following deals with the ‘Popish Plot?
A-Absalom and Achitophel
B-Essay on Man
C-Mack Flecknoe
D-None
50- Identify the country to which the 1994 Nobel Laureate in Literature belongs
A-Japan
B-America
C-Egypt
D-Nigeria
51- Who wrote the novel ‘The Death of the Heart”?
A- Elizabeth Bower
B-Derrida
C-D.H Lawrence
D-None
52- The Oxford Movement which was led by the teachers of Oxford University was essentially
A- A Religious Movement
B-A Literary Movement
C-A Political Movement
D-None
53- The writer of the Essay, ”Hamlet and His problems is
A- T.S Eliot
B-F.R Leavis
C-Matthew Arnold
D-Ben Jonson
54- Who is talking about whom in the four bricks and left of marble ”Regarding” application of classical rules to English literature?
A-Dr. Johnson about Dryden
B-Pope about Dryden
C-An Indirect Satire
D-None
55- The Menippean Satire is
A- An Indirect Satire
B- A Direct Satire
C-Both
D-None
56- The Second Reform Bill which extends the franchise was in
A- 1867
B-1866
C-1868
D-None
57- E.M Forster’s A Passage of India’ is about
A- Thre relationship between the English and the native Indians.
B- Gandhian Thought
C-Hinduism
D-None
58- Which of the following postulated the noble savage?
A-Rousseau
B-Camu
C-Sartre
D-Diderot
59- ”Here is God’s Plenty’ who is Dryden talking about?
A- Chaucer
B-Marlow
C-Spenser
D-Shakespeare
60- R.L Stevenson is popular for the hat known as
A- Adventure Fiction
B-Epistolary novel
C-Gothic Fiction
D-None
61-John Ruskin praised ‘Auro Leigh; a verse novel as ”the greatest poem in the English language who wrote this poem?
A- Barrett Browning
B-Christina Rosetti
C-Robert Browning
D-None
62- Who created the world-famous character called ‘Peter Pan’?
A- J.M Barrie
B-Joseph Conrad
C-G.B Shaw
D-T.S Elit
63- Who wrote Edward 2?
A- Marlowe
B-Sheridan
C-Wycherley
D-Congreve
64- In Which year did John Galsworthy receive Nobel Prize?
A- 1932
B-1923
C-1929
D-1928
Related- MCQ on Geoffrey Chaucer
65- In Which year did Ibsen’s A Doll House appear?
A-1879
B-1878
C-1778
D-1779
66- There needs no ghost, My Lord comes from the grave to tell us this is from ——–Shakespearean play
A-Hamlet
B-Othello
C-King Lear
D- Tempest
67- Which Indian poet wrote, ‘The Owl’s Grammer’?
A- Harindranath Chattopadhyay
B-A.K Ramanujan
C-Sarojini Naidu
D-None
68-Who wrote? ”A word is dead when it said, some say, I say it just begins to live that day”
A- Emily Dickenson
B-W.H Auden
C-Stephen Spender
D-None
69- Who is the author of Religio Medici Urn Burial?
A- Thomas Browne
B-Keats
C-Cicero
D-Ibsen
70- Where does the action of Shakespeare Coriolanus take place?
A- Rome
B-Athens
C-Venice
D-Paris
71- The Fleshly School of Poetry comprises some of the following Name odd on
A- Browning
B-Swinburne
C-Morris
D-Rossetti
72- The French novelist, Emile Zola is a
A- Naturalist
B-Realist
C-Both
D-None
73- Who among the following is one of the University Wits?
A- Thomas Kyd
B-Shakespeare
C-Both
D-None
74- Darkness at Noon was written by
A- Arthur Koestler
B-Anthony Burgess
C-William Golding
D-George Orwell
75- Cymbeline was written by
A- Shakespeare
B-Thomas Kyd
C-Jonson
D-Marlowe
76- Malvolio is a character in
A- Twelfth Night
B-Romeo and Juliet
C-Two Gentle Men of Verona
D-None
77- Who among the following is associated with New Criticism?
A- David Diaches
B-Sons and Lovers
C-Rainbow
D-None
78- Which of the following novels by Lawrence has an element of autobiography?
A- Sons and Lovers
B- Rainbow
C-The White Peacock
D-None
79- Name Marlowe’s work which was completed by Thomas Nash.
A- The Tragedy of Dido
B-Edward 2
C-The Massacre at Paris
D-None
80- James Joyce perfected the following
A- Stream of Consciousness
B-Magical Realism
C-Science Fiction
D-None
81- The Character Prospero figure in
A- Tempest
B-Othello
C-Twelfth Night
D-None
82- The sonnets of Shakespeare were dedicated to
A- Mr. W.H
B- His Wife
C-His Father
D-None
Related- MCQ on William Shakespeare PDF
83- Romantic Movement had its antecedents in
A- The 15th Century Ballad
B-Shakespearean Comedy
C-The Poetry of Chaucer
D-None
84- The Setting in most of Conrad’s novel is
A- His experiences of the sea
B- His experiences of Malayan waters
C- Both
D-None
85- The Cavelier poets interest as in
A- Love
B- War
C-Elegy
D-Both A and B
86-James Joyce’s Ulysses is modeled on
A- Homer’s Odyssey
B-Virgil’s Aeneid
C-Milton’s Paradise Lost
D-None
87- The term ”Neo-Romanticism can be associated with
A- Dylan Thomas
B-T.S Eliot
C-Ezra Pound
D-W.H Auden
88- Who did legalize criticism as one ho writes ”Charming verses on nothing”?
A- John Suckling
B-John Snalam
C-Edmund Waller
D-Marve
89- Who called Chaucer ”The father of English Poetry?
A-Arnold
B-Yeats
C-Spenser
D-Milton
90- Which one of Chaucer’s tale is in Prose?
A- The Parsons Tale
B-The Prioress Tale
C-The Cooks Tale
D-Pardoners Tale
91- The phrase, Waverly novels is associated with
A- Walter Scott
B-Jane Austen
C-Henry Fielding
D-None
92- The age of Restoration is called so because
A- Charles 2 as restored in that age
B-James 2 was restored in that age
C-Both
D-None
93-The Game of Chess is
A- An Allegory
B-A Comedy
C-A Romance
D-None
94- The Well of English Undefined what quality of Chaucer does this phrase refer to
A- His avoidance of foreign influences
B-His Diction
C-Both
D-None
95- Who composed the following proposed epitaph for his wife’s grave? ”Here lies my wife, here let her lie! Now she is at rest, and so am I?
A- John Dryden
B-Alexander Pope
C-Dr.Johnson
D-None
Related- MCQ on Edmund Spenser PDF
96-Because of whose refusal that the post of Poet Laureate went to Robert Southey in 1813?
A- Walter Scott
B-Henry James
C-Jane Austen
D-None
97- The novel of Walter Scott deals with sense in
A- Scotland
B-Switzerland
C-America
D-None
98- Who is the reward suggested by Harry Baily the most of the pilgrims and judges of the stories for the best story told by the pilgrims
A- The rest of the pilgrims were to offer a supper
B-The Best storyteller was to be made the poet laureate
C-Both
D-None
99- The following lines are from the —-poem?
” Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness close boo f friend of the maturing sun”
A-Ode to Autumn
B-Ode to Spring
C-To Blossoms
D-Our Casuarina Tree
100- Who is the heroine in Shakespeare ‘Temple’
A- Miranda
B-Beatrice
C-Viola
D-Portia
Related-MCQ on John Milton
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Paper 1
- Currents Affairs
- History of India and the Indian National Movement
- Indian Geography
- World Geography
- Indian Polity and Governance
- Economica and Social Development
- Environmental Science
- General Science
- Comprehension
- Logical Reasoning
- Analytical Reasoning
- Decision Making
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- Data Interpretation
Related- MCQ on John Dryden PDF
English Details Syllabus
- English Drama
- Poetry
- Fiction, Short Story
- Non-Fictional
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- Basic English Grammar
- Important American writers and their works
Related- MCQ on William Wordsworth
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