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Literary Criticism Quiz

Total questions: 50

Worksheet time: 25mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

Who is considered the first major literary critic in Western tradition?

a)

Aristotle

b)

Plato

c)

Socrates

d)

Horace

2.

What concept is central to Plato's theory of art?

a)

Catharsis

b)

Utility

c)

Mimesis

d)

Sublime

3.

According to Plato, art is:

a)

A tool of education

b)

A means of divine communication

c)

An imitation thrice removed from reality

d)

A moral guide

4.

Who introduced the concept of catharsis in literary theory?

a)

Horace

b)

Plato

c)

Longinus

d)

Aristotle

5.

According to Aristotle, tragedy aims to evoke:

a)

Joy and sorrow

b)

Anger and surprise

c)

Pity and fear

d)

Hope and despair

6.

What work is considered Aristotle's seminal work on literary theory?

a)

Republic

b)

Rhetoric

c)

Poetics

d)

De Anima

7.

Who is the author of Ars Poetica?

a)

Longinus

b)

Horace

c)

Aristotle

d)

Plato

8.

Horace believed that literature should:

a)

Express divine will

b)

Entertain and instruct

c)

Depict ideal forms

d)

Only represent historical facts

9.

Who emphasized the concept of 'the sublime' in literary criticism?

a)

Aristotle

b)

Horace

c)

Longinus

d)

Plato

10.

In On the Sublime, Longinus defines sublimity as:

a)

Clarity of argument

b)

Greatness of language and thought

c)

Simplicity of form

d)

Use of satire

11.

Which critic emphasized 'art for art's sake'?

a)

Matthew Arnold

b)

Oscar Wilde

c)

T.S. Eliot

d)

I.A. Richards

12.

Which of these best represents Aristotle's unities?

a)

Unity of subject

b)

Unity of action, time, and place

c)

Unity of character

d)

Unity of emotion

13.

Who wrote The Defence of Poesie?

a)

Philip Sidney

b)

Ben Jonson

c)

John Dryden

d)

Samuel Johnson

14.

Who described poetry as 'a speaking picture with this end: to teach and delight'?

a)

Sidney

b)

Horace

c)

Plato

d)

Shelley

15.

Who introduced the term 'objective correlative'?

a)

I.A. Richards

b)

F.R. Leavis

c)

T.S. Eliot

d)

Coleridge

16.

In Eliot's theory, what replaces personal emotion in poetry?

a)

Historical sense

b)

Objective correlative

c)

Catharsis

d)

Imagination

17.

Which critic is associated with the concept of 'impersonality' in poetry?

a)

Wordsworth

b)

T.S. Eliot

c)

Coleridge

d)

Matthew Arnold

18.

Which work is a key text of New Criticism?

a)

Seven Types of Ambiguity

b)

The Mirror and the Lamp

c)

An Essay on Criticism

d)

The Republic

19.

Who is the author of Seven Types of Ambiguity?

a)

I.A. Richards

b)

William Empson

c)

Cleanth Brooks

d)

F.R. Leavis

20.

The New Criticism approach primarily focuses on:

a)

Authorial biography

b)

Historical context

c)

Close reading of the text

d)

Reader's response

21.

Who wrote The Well Wrought Urn?

a)

I.A. Richards

b)

Cleanth Brooks

c)

Northrop Frye

d)

T.S. Eliot

22.

According to Cleanth Brooks, what is the 'heresy of paraphrase'?

a)

Misreading the author's intent

b)

Ignoring historical context

c)

Trying to restate a poem in other words

d)

Overemphasizing emotion

23.

Matthew Arnold proposed criticism as:

a)

A judgment of taste

b)

An art of pleasure

c)

A disinterested endeavor to learn and propagate the best

d)

A national duty

24.

Which concept did I.A. Richards introduce?

a)

Archetypes

b)

Objective correlative

c)

Practical criticism

d)

Catharsis

25.

Who emphasized 'stock responses' in reading poetry?

a)

Empson

b)

Richards

c)

Leavis

d)

Eliot

26.

What was Plato's ideal for poetry?

a)

Moral instruction

b)

Entertainment

c)

Truth-telling

d)

Philosophical utility

27.

In Aristotle's theory, hamartia refers to:

a)

Imitation

b)

Tragic flaw

c)

Moral lesson

d)

Comic relief

28.

Which Roman critic discussed decorum?

a)

Cicero

b)

Horace

c)

Longinus

d)

Lucretius

29.

Who is associated with the concept of poetic diction?

a)

Wordsworth

b)

Sidney

c)

Shelley

d)

Arnold

30.

Which poet-critic said 'poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings'?

a)

Coleridge

b)

Byron

c)

Wordsworth

d)

Shelley

31.

Which of the following critics emphasized imagination over reason?

a)

Dryden

b)

Pope

c)

Coleridge

d)

Johnson

32.

Which critic made a distinction between fancy and imagination?

a)

Shelley

b)

Blake

c)

Wordsworth

d)

Coleridge

33.

The term 'touchstone method' is associated with:

a)

Dryden

b)

Arnold

c)

Eliot

d)

Leavis

34.

What does New Criticism reject?

a)

Structure

b)

Emotion

c)

Authorial intention

d)

Language

35.

Which movement argued against both biography and history in criticism?

a)

Structuralism

b)

New Criticism

c)

Romanticism

d)

Marxism

36.

Who developed Practical Criticism?

a)

I.A. Richards

b)

F.R. Leavis

c)

William Empson

d)

Northrop Frye

37.

What term refers to the mistake of evaluating a poem based on the author's intention?

a)

Intentional fallacy

b)

Affective fallacy

c)

Heresy of paraphrase

d)

Sublime

38.

What term refers to the error of judging literature by its emotional effects on the reader?

a)

Intentional fallacy

b)

Sublime error

c)

Affective fallacy

d)

Poetic misreading

39.

Which critic emphasized 'organic unity' in literary texts?

a)

Sidney

b)

Cleanth Brooks

c)

Longinus

d)

Plato

40.

Who introduced 'affective fallacy'?

a)

Wimsatt and Beardsley

b)

Richards and Leavis

c)

Empson and Eliot

d)

Frye and Arnold

41.

What does 'close reading' emphasize?

a)

External context

b)

Detailed analysis of the text

c)

Cultural critique

d)

Reader response

42.

Which literary period emphasized reason and order in criticism?

a)

Romanticism

b)

Classical

c)

Neoclassical

d)

Modernism

43.

Who wrote An Essay on Criticism?

a)

Pope

b)

Johnson

c)

Coleridge

d)

Dryden

44.

'The critic as a moral guide' is a view held by:

a)

Leavis

b)

Brooks

c)

Wilde

d)

Empson

45.

'Good literature civilizes and ennobles' is a belief of:

a)

Empson

b)

Arnold

c)

Coleridge

d)

Wilde

46.

Who advocated a scientific approach to literary criticism?

a)

T.S. Eliot

b)

Northrop Frye

c)

Matthew Arnold

d)

I.A. Richards

47.

Who coined the term 'Romantic Hellenism'?

a)

Keats

b)

Shelley

c)

Coleridge

d)

Arnold

48.

The New Critics often avoided discussions of:

a)

Structure

b)

Tone

c)

Moral implications

d)

Authorial intent

49.

Which critic famously emphasized 'ambiguity' as a central literary quality?

a)

Cleanth Brooks

b)

William Empson

c)

I.A. Richards

d)

T.S. Eliot

50.

The concept of 'tradition and the individual talent' is from:

a)

T.S. Eliot

b)

Arnold

c)

Wordsworth

d)

Sidney