MCQS Literary Theory and Criticism
MCQS Literary Theory and Criticism
MCQS Literary Theory and Criticism
Multiple-Choice Questions
Detractors argue that such an approach can be too “judgmental.” Some believe literature should be
judged primarily (if not solely) on its artistic merits. What approach possess this disadvantage ?
0
A. Psychological
B. Formalism/New Criticism
C. Moral/Philosophical
D. Historical/Biographical
A. Ferdinand de Saussure
B. Viktor Shklovsky
C. Roland Barthes
D. Michel Foucault
One archetype in literature is the scapegoat. Which of these literary characters serves that
purpose ?
0
A. Billy Budd
B. Hamlet
C. Captain Ahab
D. Ophelia
Plato used the word mimesis in relation to literature with the meaning ?
0
A. Copying
B. Criticism of life
C. Representation
D. Interpretation
A. Historical/Biographical Approach
B. Moral/ Philosophical Approach
C. Formalism
D. Psychological Approach
Who proposed that poets should be banished from the ideal Republic ?
0
A. Plato
B. Aristotle
C. Sir Philip Sidney
D. Sir Thomas More
A. Greek writer
B. Roman Writer
C. Italian writer
D. English writer
A critic examining Pope’s “An Essay on Man” asks herself: How well does this poem accord with
the real world? Is it accurate? Is it moral? She is most likely a critic?
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A. Feminist
B. Reader Response
C. Formalist
D. Mimetic
The statements below are steps on “How to Read and Understand an Expository Essay”. Which
comes in as an initial thing to do before writing an expository essay ?
0
This literary critic warned: “We must remember that the greater part of our current reading
matter is written for us by people who have no real belief in a supernatural order . . . And the
greater part . . . is coming to be written by people who not only have no such belief, but are even
ignorant of the fact that there are still people in the world so ’backward’ or so ’eccentric’ as to
continue to believe.” ?
0
A. C.S. Lewis
B. T.S. Eliot
C. G.K. Chesterton
D. Matthew Arnold
In Dryden’s Essay of Dramatic Poesy there are four interlocuters representing four different
ideologies. Which of them expresses Dryden’s own views ?
0
A. Lisideius
B. Eugenius
C. Neander
D. Crites
What do many contemporary theorists find problematic about the literary canon ?
0
What approach is described by the paragraph? Those who apply this approach believe it is
necessary to know about the author and the political, economical, and sociological context of his
times in order to truly understand his works ?
0
A. Historical/Biographical Approach
B. Moral/ Philosophical Approach
C. Formalism
D. Psychological Approach
In her essay “The Poem as Event,” Louise M. Rosenblatt sees the reader as performing what
function ?
0
In his essay “What Is an Author?” what position(s) on authorship does Michel Foucault take ?
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A. The idea of the author came into being at a certain point in history.
B. The names of authors serve a classificatory function.
C. The author may not always exist.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
A. Ethics
B. Metaphysics
C. Rhetoric
D. Ars Poetica
A. Female symbols
B. Phallic symbols
C. Male symbols
D. Evidence of an Oedipus complex
Which literary theorist argues that “there is nothing outside the text” ?
0
A. T.S. Eliot
B. Jacques Lacan
C. Jacques Derrida
D. Stanley Fish
This feminist critic proposed that all female characters in literature are in at least one of the
following stages of development: the feminine, feminist, or female stage ?
0
A. Virginia Woolf
B. Elaine Showalter
C. Mary Wolstencraft
D. Ellen Mores
Which of the following writers might be considered one of the early founders of firstwave
feminism ?
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A. Hélène Cixous
B. Judith Butler
C. Lucy Irigaray
D. Mary Wollstonecraft
Poetic Diction was taken to be the standard language for poetry in______________?
0
A. Edmund Husserl
B. Wolfgang Iser
C. Jean-Paul Sartre
D. All of the above answers are correct.
What does Sidney say about the observance of the three Dramatic Unities in drama ?
0
A. F.L. Lucas
B. J K Atkins
C. Derrida
D. Hillis Miller
A. Viktor Shklovsky
B. Cleanth Brooks
C. Judith Butler
D. Mikhail Bakhtin
This poet might be described as a moral or philosophical critic for arguing that works must have
“high seriousness.” ?
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A. T.S. Eliot
B. Matthew Arnold
C. Elizabeth Browning
D. Virginia Woolf
A. 16
B. 17
C. 14
D. 15
A. Carl Jung
B. Sigmund Freud
C. Ernest Jones
D. Erik Erikson
Who originated the term “objective correlative,” which is often used in formalist criticism ?
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A. C.S. Lewis
B. Virginia Woolf
C. Matthew Arnold
D. T.S. Eliot
A. Willy Loman
B. Arthur Miller
C. Henry James
D. David
A. Elaine Showalter
B. Julia Kristeva
C. Lucy Irigaray
D. Louise M. Rosenblatt
A. Aristotle
B. Dante
C. Longinus
D. Plato
A. F. R. Leavis
B. Allen Tate
C. John Crowe Ransom
D. R. P. Blackmur
A. Psychoanalytic theory
B. Feminist theory
C. Ethnic criticism
D. All of the above answers are correct.
Plato’s Republic is written in the form of______________?
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A. Drama
B. Narrative mode
C. Poetry
D. Dialogue
A. Neurotic behavior
B. Changes in emotional states
C. Slips of the tongue
D. All of the above answers are correct.
What does Elaine Showalter argue about gender in terms of representations of the character of
Ophelia in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet ?
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A. Wolfgang Iser
B. William Wimsatt
C. Cleanth Brooks
D. Harold Bloom
A critic argues that in John Milton’s “Samson Agonistes,” the shearing of Samson’s locks is
symbolic of his castration at the hands of Delilah. What kind of critical approach is this critic
using ?
0
A. Mimetic approach
B. Formalist approach
C. Historical approach
D. Psychological approach
A. Dryden
B. Pope
C. Dr. Johnson
D. Addison
Which literary theory would most directly explore questions of the role of spatial setting in a
poem ?
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A. Trauma theory
B. Ecotheory
C. Game theory
D. Marxist theory
A. Julia Kristeva
B. Fredric Jameson
C. Terry Eagleton
D. Edward Said
The statements below are steps on “How to Read and Understand an Expository Essay”. Which
comes in as an initial thing to do before writing an expository essay ?
0
From whom did New Historicists draw the idea of “self-regulating systems” ?
0
A. Theodor W. Adorno
B. Claude Lévi-Strauss
C. Julia Kristeva
D. Jacques Derrida
A. Joseph Addison
B. Dr. Johnson
C. Coleridge
D. Matthew Arnold
The statements below are parts of the steps on “How to Write an Analytical Essay about Short
Fiction”. Which comes in as the last thing to do in the writing an essay about short fiction ?
0
A. Begin your paper with an introduction that identifies the purpose of the paper and the text you
are addressing.
B. Compose topic sentences (four or five, perhaps) that support, explore, demonstrate, or illustrate your
thesis.
C. Select specific passages in the text of the story that help you to develop each topic sentence.
D. Build your paper to a climax; save your most engaging or important topic sentence for discussion last.
What is mimesis ?
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A. A reversal
B. An imitation
C. A satire
D. A poetic metaphor
Who was the first literary critic who said that “Art is twice removed from reality” ?
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A. Plato
B. Aristotle
C. Longinus
D. Horace
A. Inspiration
B. Imagination
C. Fancy
D. Decorum
The statements below are parts of the steps on “How to Explicate Poetry”. Which comes in as
second to the last thing to do before writing a critical essay of a poem ?
0
A. Interpretative Criticism
B. Legislative Criticism
C. Comparative Criticism
D. Textual Criticism
The statements below are parts of the steps on “How to Analyze a Play”. Which comes in as second
thing to do before writing a critical essay of a play ?
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A. Excursion
B. Tintern Abbey Lines
C. Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
D. Immortality Ode
In which capter of Biographia Lieraria, Coleridge make a distinction between fancy and
imagination ?
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A. 14
B. 15
C. 12
D. 13
They believe that this approach tends to reduce art to the level of biography and make it relative (to
the times) rather than universal. What approach possess this disadvantage ?
0
A. Moral/Philosophical
B. Formalism/New Criticism
C. Historical/Biographical
D. Psychological
Which of the following figures is considered to be the father of the linguistic theory known as
structuralism ?
0
A. Cleanth Brooks
B. Ferdinand de Saussure
C. Karl Marx
D. Toni Morrison
A critic of Thomas Otway’s “Venice Preserv’d” wishes to know why the play’s conspirators,
despite the horrible, bloody details of their obviously brutish plan, are portrayed in a sympathetic
light. She examines the author’s life and times and discovers that there are obvious similarities
between the conspiracy in the play and the Popish Plot. She is most likely a critic ?
0
A. Historical
B. Feminist
C. Tory
D. Psychological
The name “Ars Poetica” (Art of Poetry) was given to Horace’s Epistle to the Pisos
by____________?
0
A. Horace
B. Quintillion
C. Cicero
D. Virgil
What is humanism ?
0
A. Freud
B. Tate
C. Richards
D. Jung
In his essay “The Business of Theory,” William Deresiewicz argues which of the following about
Terry Eagleton’s book After Theory ?
0
A. It offers a strong outline for how theory can be conducted in the 21st century.
B. It should not be read or considered by any student or scholar.
C. It offers some valid ideas and critiques, but its author is not entirely trustworthy.
D. It offers a strong counterpoint to Jacques Derrida’s notion of deconstruction.
“It is not rhyming and versing that maketh a poet no more than a long gown maketh an advocate”.
Whose view is this ?
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A. Shakespeare’s
B. Marlowe’s
C. Spenser’s
D. Sidney’s
Who is the meaning of the term Peripeteia as used by Aristotle in his Theory of Tragedy ?
0
Which of the following statements best explains Mikhail Bakhtin’s philosophy of language ?
0
What is the meaning of the term Anagnorisis as used by Aristotle in his Theory of Tragedy ?
0
With which theorist is the term identity thinking most closely associated ?
0
A. Sigmund Freud
B. Carl Jung
C. William James
D. Theodor W. Adorno
What is false consciousness ?
0
A. A term first used by literary theorists William Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley
B. A term that suggests that a critic should study the structural and thematic elements of a poem rather
than the effect it has on the emotions of the reader
C. An important term in the field of New Historicism
D. All of the above answers are correct.
Which school of literary theory is associated with the phrase “to make the stones stonier” ?
0
A. Humanism
B. Formalism
C. Structuralism
D. Marxism
Some critics of literary theory argue that literary theory is problematic for which reason ?
0
What does hermeneutic theory suggest about how readers view literature ?
0
According to trauma theorists, a testifying subject needs which of the following to deliver a
successful testimony ?
0
A. A figure of judgment
B. Religious belief
C. A witness
D. Psychological treatment
In what way does Julia Kristeva build on Jacques Lacan’s theory of psychosexual development ?
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A. Three
B. Four
C. Five
D. Six
In his essay “The Death of the Author,” Roland Barthes argues what about literature ?
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A. Biographical information about the author must be considered when evaluating literature.
B. A text and its author text are unrelated.
C. It is possible to distill meaning from a work based on the author’s politics.
D. Literature is inextricably connected to its creator.
Who is the author of the notorious book entitled The School of Abuse ?
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A. Roger Ascham
B. Stephen Hawes
C. John Skelton
D. Stephen Gosson
A. Wordsworth
B. Coleridge
C. Southey
D. Shelly
The Frankfurt School of literary theory was most greatly influenced by which of the following
schools of thought ?
0
A. Formalism
B. Structuralism
C. Poststructuralism
D. Marxism
Which of the following statements best describes Cleanth Brooks’s attitude towards studying
literature ?
0
Which theorist is most closely associated with the idea of art as imitation ?
0
A. Jacques Derrida
B. Jacques Lacan
C. Edward Said
D. Plato
A. Arnold
B. Shelley
C. Byron
D. Hazlitt
Which theorist is associated with the idea that art is a copy of a copy ?
0
A. Plato
B. Julia Kristeva
C. Walter Benjamin
D. Louis Althusser
A. Simple
B. Complex
C. Loose
D. Episodic
A. Carl Jung
B. Harold Bloom
C. Ernest Jones
D. Erik Erikson
What is dialogism ?
0
Philip Sidney’s Apologie for Poetrie is a defence of poetry against the charges brought against it
by____________?
0
A. Henry Howard
B. Roger Ascham
C. John Skelton
D. Stephen Gosson
The statements below are steps on “How to Read a Short Story Critically”. Which comes in as the
last thing to do in the critical reading of a narrative ?
0
The fall of the prison of Bacille, that marks the begining of French Revolution occurred
on______________?
0
A. June 14,1789
B. June 14, 1798
C. July 14, 1789
D. July 14,1798
One of the disadvantages of this school of criticism is that it tends to make readings too subjective ?
0
A. William Tyndale
B. Roger Ascham
C. Stephen Gosson
D. Henry Howard
What is dialectical materialism ?
0
With what literary critic is the term the author function most closely associated ?
0
A. Claude Lévi-Strauss
B. Jacques Derrida
C. Jacques Lacan
D. Michel Foucault
A. Coleridge
B. Addison
C. Arnold
D. Eliot
How many poets were included in Jhonson’s ‘The Lives of Most Eminent English Poets’ ?
0
A. 48
B. 50
C. 52
D. 54
A. drama
B. music
C. dance
D. none
A. Psychological Critics
B. Feminist critics
C. Formalist critics
D. Marxist critics
Which of the following descriptions best defines the literary theory known as formalism ?
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A. Comedy
B. Tragedy
C. Satire
D. Melodrama
A. Sophocles
B. Plautus
C. Plato
D. Critus
Which of the following literary theorists is most closely associated with the concept that became
known as liberal humanism ?
0
A. Aristotle
B. Viktor Shklovsky
C. Stanley Fish
D. Toni Morrison
Plato said that art is an imperfect reflection of the real world because______________?
0
Who said that Arnold was a propagandist for literature rather than a critic ?
0
A. Carlyle
B. Ruskin
C. T. S. Eliot
D. F. R. Leavis
A. Dryden
B. Pope
C. Dr. Johnson
D. Addison
What approach to literary criticism requires the critic to know about the author’s life and times ?
0
A. Historical
B. Formalist
C. Mimetic
D. All of these
A. 3
B. 2
C. 4
D. 6
A. How writers conceptualize natural environments and the representation of environmental issues
in literature and culture
B. How writers have damaged the environment
C. How the environment can be repaired
D. Who is responsible for damaging the environment
What has Dryden to say about the observance of the three Classical Dramatic Unities ?
0
A. A classical approach
B. Romantic approach
C. Neo-classical approach
D. None of these
A. Coleridge
B. T. S. Eliot
C. Allen Tate
D. F. R. Leavis
A. Aristotle’s Poetics
B. Leo Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata
C. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
D. W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk
Who for the first time discriminated between imagination and fancy ?
0
A. Coleridge
B. William Wordsworth
C. John Ruskin
D. Schegell
Which of the following statements best explains the main objective of New Historicism ?
0
A. Texts are examined to see how colonizers and the colonized interact.
B. Texts are examined to see how the formal aspects of the text create meaning.
C. Texts are examined to determine how they reveal social realities.
D. Texts are examined to determine the author’s intent.
Wordsworth’s Preface to the Lyrical Ballads is believed to be the Preamble to Romantic Criticism.
In which year was it published ?
0
A. 1798
B. 1800
C. 1801
D. 1802
A. 100 BC
B. 12 to 8 BC
C. 15 AD
D. 20 AD
A. Longinus
B. Aristotle
C. Plato
D. Horace
One of the potential disadvantages of this approach to literature is that it can reduce meaning to a
certain time frame, rather than making it universal throughout the ages ?
0
A. Formalist
B. Historical
C. Feminist
D. Mimetic
A. Ars Poetica
B. Poetics
C. De Arte Poetica
D. Art Poetique
A. An Essay
B. A Drama
C. A Poetical Work
D. An Interlocution
Which of the following texts is the BEST example of the argument that a work’s meaning does not
come entirely from the imagination of the author ?
0
What approach is described by the paragraph? This approach takes as a fundamental tenet that
“literature” exists not as an artifact upon a printed page but as a transaction between the physical
text and the mind of a reader ?
0
A. Historical/Biographical Approach
B. Reader Response Approach
C. Formalism
D. Mimetic Approach
Which text argues that, as infants, human beings begin to define their identities against the
identities of others ?
0
A. Art Poetique
B. Poetics
C. Rhetoric
D. Ars Poetica
In her essay “The Laugh of the Medusa,” what does Hélène Cixous suggest for women ?
0
A. Women should write for and about themselves in order to counter phallocentric texts.
B. Women should write, but they should do so only within the existent male canon.
C. Women should primarily dedicate themselves to studying women’s literature from the past.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
How does VirginiaWoolf’s essay “A Room of One’s Own” contribute to feminist theory ?
0
A. It suggests that the suppression of women is part of a historical climate that will naturally fade away.
B. It suggests that gender roles are conditioned by the possession of money and power.
C. It suggests that gender has power over class.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
Who contributed the term “to see the object as in itself it really is” ?
0
A. Wordsworth
B. Coleridge
C. Arnold
D. Goethe
A. Charles Lamb
B. Joseph Conrad
C. Coleridge
D. Wordsworth
What is hermeneutics ?
0
What does Judith Butler mean when she suggests that gender is “performed” ?
0
A. Gender does not reflect an essential truth, but rather is a role people play based on their
internalization of socially constructed gender roles.
B. Gender roles do not exist.
C. Real gender roles are scripted by excellent writers.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
How are Julia Kristeva’s psychoanalytic theories distinct from traditional Freudian concepts ?
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A. Kristeva rejects the idea that neuroses provide insight into the unconscious.
B. Kristeva suggests that women are not subject to traditional fetishes.
C. Kristeva offers a more central place for women’s issues within psychological development.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
What does Edward Said argue about the concept of the Orient ?
0
“Of all philosopher’s Plato is the most poetic.” Who said this______________?
0
A. Philiph Sidney
B. Shelley
C. Aristlotle
D. Keats
In which book of the Republic did Plato ban poets from his ideal world ?
0
A. Book 7
B. Book 10
C. Book 1
D. Book 5
In Fredric Jameson’s book The Political Unconscious, what does Jameson suggest about
literature ?
0
A. History comprises the essential framework for the performance of literary analysis
B. Politics and the economy are the most important factors in literary analysis
C. Biography is essential to literary analysis
D. All of the above answers are correct.
A. Plato
B. Aristotle
C. Horace
D. Longinus
Regarding the observance of the three Classical Unities in a play, Dr. Johnson’s view is that ?
0
A. Wordsworth’s
B. Coleridge’s
C. Dr. Johnson’s
D. Matthew Arnold’s
A. Plato
B. Aristotle
C. Horace
D. Longinus
Which of the following best describes the difference between literary criticism and literary theory ?
0
A. Literary criticism is concerned only with the meaning of a literary work, while literary theory is
concerned only with the structure of a literary work.
B. Literary criticism draws upon research derived from sources outside literature, while literary theory
draws upon sources within a text.
C. Literary theory is concerned with the method used to interpret a work, while literary criticism is
the application of literary theory.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
A. Formalist Criticism
B. Deconstructionism
C. Structuralism
D. Mimetic Criticism
A. Aristotle
B. Plato
C. Pope
D. Stephen Gosson
In which essay did Arnold say that for good literature to flourish two powers are necessary –
creative and the critical ?
0
A. The Function of Criticism
B. The Study of Poetry
C. Preface to Eighteen Fifty Three poems
D. Essay on Wordsworth
A. Hellenic
B. Hellenistic
C. Renaissance
D. Graeco-Roman
The term Electra Complex has originated from a tragedy entitled Electra. Who is the author of his
tragedy ?
0
A. Aeschylus
B. Sophocles
C. Euripides
D. Seneca
A. Apology
B. Ion
C. The Republic
D. Phaedrus
This critical approach assumes that language does not refer to any external reality. It can assert
several, contradictory interpretations of one text ?
0
A. Deconstructionism
B. Formalist Criticism
C. Structuralism
D. Mimetic Criticism
Christopher Ricks would most likely DISAGREE with which of the following claims about literary
theory ?
0
This approach provides a universalistic approach to literature and identifies a reason why certain
literature may survive the test of time. It works well with works that are highly symbolic.What
approach has this advantage ?
0
A. Mimetic
B. Psychological
C. Historical/Biographical
D. Mythological/Archetypal
A. 1817
B. 1818
C. 1718
D. 1717
A. 1780
B. 1798
C. 1815
D. 1805
Which of the following is a theme of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s book Epistemology of the Closet ?
0
This approach can turn a work into little more than a case study, neglecting to view it as a piece of
art. Critics sometimes attempt to diagnose long dead authors based on their works, which is
perhaps not the best evidence of their psychology. Critics tend to see sex in everything,
exaggerating this aspect of literature. What approach possess this disadvantage ?
0
A. Moral/Philosophical
B. Psychological
C. Formalism/New Criticism
D. Historical/Biographical
“The tragic-comedy which is the product of the English theatre is one the most monstrous
inventions that ever entered into a poet’s thought.” Whose view is this ?
0
A. John Dryden’s
B. Alexander Pope’s
C. Joseph Addison’s
D. Dr. Johnson’s
What is Christopher Ricks’s attitude toward literary theory ?
0
Arnold summarises the rule of English criticism in one word, in The Function Of Criticism. What is
the word ?
0
A. Disintrestedness
B. Intresedness
C. Purification
D. Civilization
A. Aristotle
B. Longinus
C. Aristophanes
D. Socrates
A. Pope
B. Arnold
C. Dr. Jhonson
D. Ben Jonson
A. Critical faculty
B. Modifying power
C. A psychological experience
D. A product of intellect
A. Psychoanalysis
B. Marxism
C. Feminism
D. Deconstruction
A. Wordsworth
B. Coleridge
C. Southey
D. Hazlitt
Sublimity has_______________?
0
A. 2 sources
B. 3 sources
C. 4 sources
D. 5 sources
On the Sublime was written in_____________?
0
A. 1st Century BC
B. 1st Century AD
C. 2nd Century AD
D. 3rd Century AD
A. Sigmund Freud
B. Carl Jung
C. Michel Foucault
D. Jacques Derrida
What is the meaning of the term Hamartia as used by Aristotle in his Theory of Tragedy ?
0
Whom did Aristotle consider the most tragic of the Greek dramatists ?
0
A. Agathon
B. Aeschylus
C. Sophocles
D. Euripides
A. All linguistic concepts evolve solely out of the responses of people within a specific historical era.
B. All linguistic and social phenomena are texts, and the object of studying these texts is to reveal
the underlying codes that make them meaningful.
C. All linguistics is in some way related to class struggle.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
Which of the following statements offers the best definition of the concept of strange attractors in
chaos theory ?
0
What is defamiliarization ?
0
A. Wordsworth
B. Coleridge
C. Carlyle
D. Schlegel
Which is a common postcolonial critique of the West ?
0
A. The West spends too much time trying to consider an Asian perspective.
B. The West tends to look at Asian countries as individual units rather than lump them together.
C. The West views matters through its own limited historical position.
D. The West refuses to apply economic and political coercion to Asian writers.
Which school of literary theory shows a particular interest in the role of testimony in literature ?
0
A. Trauma theory
B. Ecotheory
C. Chaos theory
D. Formalism
A. Jacques Derrida
B. Terry Eagleton
C. Fredric Jameson
D. Stephen Greenblatt
Formalist critics believe that the value of a work cannot be determined by the author’s intention.
What term do they use when speaking of this belief ?
0
A. Perfection
B. Birth
C. Evil
D. Death
“Poetry is emotions recollected in tranquility.” Who has defined poetry in these words ?
0
A. Shelley
B. Wordsworth
C. Coleridge
D. Matthew Arnold
A critic examining John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” focuses on the physical description of the Garden
of Eden, on the symbols of hands, seed, and flower, and on the characters of Adam, Eve, Satan, and
God. He pays special attention to the epic similes and metaphors and the point of view from which
the tale is being told. He looks for meaning in the text itself, and does not refer to any biography of
Milton. He is most likely a critic ?
0
A. Reader Response
B. Feminist
C. Mimetic
D. Formalist
One purpose of LITERARY CRITICISM is described below: “The historical approach, for
instance, might be helpful in addressing a problem in Thomas Otway’s play Venice Preserv’d. Why
are the conspirators, despite the horrible, bloody details of their obviously brutish plan, portrayed
in a sympathetic light? If we look at the author and his time, we see that he was a Tory whose play
was performed in the wake of the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Bill Crisis, and that there are
obvious similarities between the Conspiracy in the play and the Popish Plot in history. The Tories
would never approve of the bloody Popish Plot, but they nonetheless sympathized with the plotters
for the way they were abused by the Tory enemy, the Whigs. Thus it makes sense for Otway to
condemn the conspiracy itself in Vencie Preserv’d without condemning the conspirators
themselves.” What purpose does this prescribe to ?
0
One purpose of LITERARY CRITICISM is described below: A formalist approach might enable
us to choose between a reading which sees the dissolution of society in Lord of the Flies as being
caused by too strict a suppression of the “bestial” side of man and one which sees it as resulting
from too little suppression. We can look to the text and ask: What textual evidence is there for the
suppression or indulgence of the “bestial” side of man? Does Ralph suppress Jack when he tries to
indulge his bestial side in hunting? Does it appear from the text that an imposition of stricter law
and order would have prevented the breakdown? Did it work in the “grownup” world of the novel?
What purpose does this prescribe to ?
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