LITERARY STUDIES

Which of the following offers the best definition of the theatrical concept of a chorus?
[A]. Members of the audience who comment on the play’s actions
[B]. Characters who remind the audience that the play is fictional
[C]. A group of characters who comment on the actions of the play while participating in them
[D]. A group of characters who comment on the actions of the play while not participating in
them
Which of the following is a component of a gothic novel?
[A]. an atmosphere of dread, fear, and darkness
[B]. An isolated protagonist
[C]. A hero or protagonist who is tempted by a villain
[D]. All of these
In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, why does the Mariner kill the
albatross?
[A]. for revenge
[B]. To change the weather
[C]. To bring forth life-in-death
[D]. It is never directly stated why he does so.
Which of the following statements offers the best definition of “rhetoric”?
[A]. Questions for which the answers are obvious
[B]. Persuasive writing and speaking
[C]. Writing that is complicated and scholarly
[D]. Logical writing and speaking
Which of the following are examples of literary interpretation?
[A]. Investigating the relationship between words and objective reality
[B]. Comparing the Bible to folk tales from other cultures
[C]. Researching an author’s biography for clues about how to understand his or her writing
[D]. Researching what previous critics have said about a literary work
What form of verse is usually sung and details a dramatic or exciting episode?
[A]. an ode
[B]. An elegy
[C]. An epitaph
[D]. A ballad
Which of the following assertions would William Wordsworth most likely agree with?
[A]. Poetry should be written in the common language of ordinary people.
[B]. Poetry should focus on the lives and thoughts of elite people.
[C]. Poetry should never concern itself with the natural world.
[D]. Poetry should rhyme.
Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” can be described as what kind of play?
[A]. A comedic play
[B]. A tragic play
[C]. A modern play
[D]. A tragi-comedy
Which of the following concepts does Aristotle consider to be the most important element of
a Greek tragedy?
[A]. Plot
[B]. Poetic diction
[C]. Song composition
[D]. Stage design
Which of the following offers the best definition of a fable?
[A]. A story in which the author provides an explicit moral
[B]. A story that takes place in the distant past
[C]. A light-hearted, humorous story in which viewers are shown proper ways to behave
[D]. A story told to little children
What are the basic questions literary theory asks?
[A]. what is literature?
[B]. Why do people write literature?
[C]. what are the effects of literature?
[D]. All of these.
Which of the following are examples of poetic structures?
[A]. Lines of text with words that rhyme at the end
[B]. A continuous block of text
[C]. Unrhymed lines
[D]. All of these
Which of the following poems can be described as a haiku?
[A]. Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro”
[B]. Bishop’s “One Art”
[C]. Auden’s “Paysage Moralisé”
[D]. William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18”
In “Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays”, what does William Hazlitt mean when he states the
following: “we do not like to see our author’s plays acted, and least of all, ’Hamlet’. There is
no play that suffers so much in being transferred to the stage”?
[A]. Hamlet cannot be staged properly because of the complexity of the play’s use of language.
[B]. Hamlet is not relevant to the Romantic age.
[C]. the role of Hamlet cannot be properly played by any actor.
[D]. Hamlet is a work that was written to be read, not performed.
A work of criticism that considers how English imperialism affected native Indian authors
would be an example of_______________?
[A]. Marxist theory
[B]. psychoanalytic theory
[C]. Postcolonial theory
[D]. Deconstruction
The Freudian concept of “the uncanny” refers to_________________?
[A]. a feeling of being disconnected from the world.
[B]. a sense of something being familiar and foreign at once.
[C]. terror at the thought of death.
[D]. a realization of one’s empowered position in the world.
Which of the following statements demonstrates the use of pathos?
[A]. According to research, 22 percent of the American population owns an unsecured handgun.
[B]. I own a handgun and keep it in a secure place in my house.
[C]. every month in the United States, at least 100 children are wounded or killed as a result of
unsecured handguns.
[D]. Handguns don’t kill people, people do
According to Anthony DiMatteo’s “Shakespeare and the Public Discourse of Sovereignty:
’Reason of State’ in ’Hamlet’”, how does Shakespeare tend to present political rulers in
Hamlet?
[A]. Shakespeare presents political rulers as flawless, perfect human beings.
[B]. Shakespeare presents political rulers as often meeting ruinous and violent endings.
[C]. Shakespeare only presents fictional political rulers and does not explore any political
realities
[D]. Shakespeare considers all political rulers to be corrupt.
Which of the following statements offers the best characterization of a Greek tragedy?
[A]. In a Greek tragedy, evil people are vanquished by the forces of good.
[B]. In a Greek tragedy, characters undergo reversals of fortune, usually for the worse.
[C]. In a Greek tragedy, the hero suffers but always survives at the end of the play.
[D]. In a Greek tragedy, the tragic hero dies at the end of the play.
Which of the following offers the best description of the concept of pathos?
[A]. Pathos refers to a writer’s presentation of character and image.
[B]. Pathos refers to a writer’s ability to present evidence.
[C]. Pathos refers to a writer’s ability to inspire action in readers.
[D]. Pathos refers to a writer’s ability to inspire emotional responses in readers.