Question: Special Brief Question of History of English Literature
Brief Suggestion- Part A
1. What is the duration of old English?
Ans: From 450-1066.
2. What is the earliest literary work, and when was it published?
Ans: It is Beowulf, a long narrative poem that was first published in the 9th century A.D.
3. What is the husband’s message?
Ans: It’s an elegiac poem.
4. Who was Cynewulf?
Ans: He is a remarkable Christian poem from the Anglo-Saxon Period.
5. Who is the pioneer of Anglo-Saxon prose writers?
Ans: King Alfred.
6. What is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle?
Ans: It is the oldest English prose document by King Alfred.
7. Why is the year 1066 important in the study of English literary history?
Ans: Because it remarks the ending of the Old English period and the beginning of the Middle English period.
8. Who was Caedmon?
Ans: Caedmon is the first known poet of English.
9. When did the Old English Period begin?
Ans: In the 5th century.
10. What is Black Death?
Ans: The Black Death was a plague pandemic that devasted Europe from 1347 to 1352 A.D., killing an estimated 25-30 million people.
আরো পড়ুনঃ What Do You Know about King Alfred? (বাংলা)
11. Who is Chaucer?
Ans: Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) is called the father of English poetry.
12. What is a Hundred Years’ War?
Ans: The Hundred Years’ War was a series of armed conflicts fought between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It lasted from 1337 to 1453.
13. How many pilgrims were going to Canterbury Church?
Ans: 31 pilgrims.
14. Who were Troilus and Criseyde?
Ans: Troilus and Criseyde were the two lovers of the poem “Troilus and Criseyde” by Chaucer.
15. Who is Thomas Malory?
Ans: Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer and the author of Le Morte d’Arthur.
16. What is a morality play?
Ans: A morality play is a genre of theatrical work originating in the Medieval period that intended to impart moral lessons as much as to entertain an audience.
17. How many tales each pilgrim had to tell in ‘The Canterbury Tales’?
Ans: The owner of the Tabard Inn proposed that each of the pilgrims had to tell four stories, two on the way to Canterbury and two more on the way back.
18. What is miracle play?
Ans: Miracle plays, a captivating genre of medieval drama, carry audiences to a fascinating realm of religious stories and supernatural events.
19. Who wrote Morte d’Arthur?
Ans: Sir Thomas Malory wrote Morte d’Arthur.
20. What is a Gunpowder plot?
Ans: Catholics plotted to explode the king and Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot, a historical event.
21. What is “Canterbury Tales”?
Ans: The Canterbury Tales is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400.
22. Who was the first translator of the Bible into English?
Ans: John Wycliffe.
23. When did the Age of Chaucer begin?
Ans: The age of Chaucer began in 1340.
24. What is Protestantism?
Ans: Protestantism is a form of Christian faith and practice and is one of the three major branches of Christianity, along with Catholicism and Orthodoxy.
25. Who was Cromwell?
Ans: Oliver Cromwell was an English soldier and statesman.
26. What does “The Authorized Version of the Bible” mean?
Ans: In 1611.
আরো পড়ুনঃ Write a Short Note on ‘The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.’ (বাংলা)
27. Which royal dynasty was established in the resolution of the so-called War of the Roses and continued through the reign of Elizabeth I?
Ans: The royal dynasty, which was established as the solution to the so-called War of the Roses and continued through the reign of Elizabeth I, is Tudor.
28. What is Gunpowder’s plot?
Ans: Catholics plotted to explode the king and Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot, a historical event.
29. What is ‘Reformation’?
Ans: The 16th-century Western Church experienced a religious revolution, famously called the Protestant Reformation.
30. What is Milton’s purpose behind writing “Paradise Lost”?
Ans: Milton’s purpose behind writing “Paradise Lost” is to justify the ways of God to men.
31. What is Globe Theatre?
Ans: Shakespeare’s playing company built The Globe Theatre in 1599 in London.
32. Who wrote Utopia in Latin since English had no prestige outside England?
Ans: Sir Thomas More.
33. Write down the names of four metaphysical poets.
Ans: John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, and Richard Crawshaw.
34. What is ‘comedy of Humor’?
Ans: ‘Comedy of Humors’ is a type of comedy that focuses on a character or range of characters, each revealing two or more ‘humour’ that dominate their personality, desires, and conduct.
35. Name two of the major literary creations of Edmund Spenser.
Ans: “The Shepheardes Calender” and “The Faerie Queene.”
36. In which year did the glorious revolution occur?
Ans: The Glorious Revolution occurred in 1688.
37. What kind of book is Milton’s Areopagitica?
Ans: Aeropagitica, written by John Milton, is a prose work which sought the freedom of the press.
38. Who is called the father of English prose?
Ans: Alfred, the king of Wessex, is widely regarded as ‘the father of English prose’.
39. Who is called the Poet’s poet?
Ans: Edmund Spenser was called the poet’s poet by Charles Lamb.
40. Which play is considered the first English Comedy?
Ans: Ralph Roister Doister by Nicholas Udall is the first English comedy.
41. Who is the writer of ‘The Spanish Tragedy”?
Ans: Thomas Kyd wrote the play The Spanish Tragedy.
42. When did the “French Revolution” take place?
Ans: The French Revolution occurred in 1789 in France.
43. When did the Restoration occur, and who was restored to the English Throne?
Ans: The Restoration took place on May 29, 1660. Charles II was restored to the English Throne.
44. Who popularized the comedies of manners?
Ans: George Etherege and William Congreve.
45. Which age is known as the age of decadence?
Ans: The Age of Decadence lasted from 1880 to 1914.
46. Name the most celebrated writing of Jonathan Swift.
Ans: “Gulliver’s Travels”.
47. Who was Oliver Cromwell?
Ans: Oliver Cromwell was the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland between 1653 and 1658. He was an English military and political leader.
48. Who are called the pioneers of English novels?
Ans: Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne are called the pioneers of English novels.
49. Why is Alexander Pope famous in English literature?
Ans: Alexander Pope was a renowned English poet known for his satirical works, mastery of the heroic couplet, and translation of Homer, making him a highly quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, second only to Shakespeare.
50. What is “Pamela”?
Ans: “Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded”, is an epistolary novel by English writer Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740.
51. Who wrote “Robinson Crusoe”?
Ans: Daniel Defoe.
52. Who wrote “The Spectator”?
Ans: Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison wrote “The Spectator”.
53. Name two writers of the Augustan Age.
Ans: Virgil and Horace.
54. Why is 1798 a landmark in the history of English Literature?
Ans:1798 is a landmark in the history of English literature because in this year, the Romantic Period began with the publishing of Lyrical Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
55. Who defined poetry as ‘Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”?
Ans: William Wordsworth.
আরো পড়ুনঃ What Do You Know about the Hundred Years’ War? (বাংলা)
56. Whose poems make up “Lyrical Ballads”?
Ans: W. Wordsworth and S.T. Coleridge jointly published The Lyrical Ballads.
57. Who are called the “Lake Poets”?
Ans: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey.
58. What was the slogan of the French Revolution?
Ans: The slogan of the French Revolution was “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”.
59. Which historical movement influenced English Romantic poetry?
Ans: The French Revolution influenced the English Romantic poetry.
60. What is “Drama of Ideas”?
Ans: “Drama of Ideas” is a type of play in which a battle of conflicting ideas is presented through the characters.
61. What was the national identity of W. B. Yeats?
Ans: W.B. Yeats was an Irish.
62. What are the two cities referred to in the Novel A Tale of Two Cities?
Ans: London and Paris.
63. What signifies the Victorian ‘Age?
Ans: Stability, progress, and social reforms, along with significant problems such as poverty, injustice, and social unrest, represent the Victorian Age.
64. Who are called the Brontes?
Ans: The Brontes are three sisters—Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Anne Bronte.
65. What is Victorian conflict?
Ans: During the Victorian period, there was a marked conflict between religion and science and between moralists and scientists. That conflict was called the Victorian conflict.
66. When did the Oxford Movement begin?
Ans:1830s.
67. What is “Waiting for Godot”?
Ans: An absurdist play by Samuel Becket.
68. Who are the dominant poets of the modern age?
Ans: The important poets of the Modern age are T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, W.H. Auden, Robert Bridges, G.M. Hopkins, and Dylan Thomas.
69. Write the names of three modern poets.
Ans: T.S Eliot, W.B Yeats and W.H Auden are the three important modern poets.
70. What was the nationality of G.B. Shaw?
Ans: G.B. Shaw was an Irish.
71. What is a stream of consciousness?
Ans: Stream of consciousness is a narrative style that presents a character’s unfiltered thoughts and feelings as they occur, often in a continuous, reflective flow.
72. What is an Absurd Drama?
Ans: Absurd Drama is a kind of Drama that presents the meaninglessness of human existence on earth.
73. Who is the author of ‘A Passage to India’?
Ans: E.M. Forster.
74. Who is Maud Gonne?
Ans: She is an Irish lady whom William Butler Yeats loved.
75. Name two modern novelists.
Ans: E.M. Forster, Joseph Conrad.
76. Whose dramas are the drama of ideas?
Ans: G.B. Shaw.
77. Who is called the Georgian Poet?
Ans: The Georgian poets are Edmund Blunden, Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves, D. H. Lawrence, Walter de la Mare, Siegfried Sassoon and John Drinkwater.
78. What do you understand by modernism?
Ans: Modernism is an artistic, cultural, and intellectual movement in the late 19th and 20th centuries, characterized by innovation, scepticism, and a break from traditional norms.
79. What is a dramatic monologue?
Ans: A dramatic monologue is a speech by a character in a play, poem, or storytelling their inner thoughts and emotions.
80. Who is called the poet of the Victorian Compromise?
Ans: Alfred Tennyson.
81. Who wrote Pride and Prejudice?
Ans: Jane Austen.
82. What is the Oxford Movement?
Ans: The Oxford Movement was a 19th-century Anglican religious revival in England, emphasizing Catholic-like liturgy, doctrine, and tradition within the Church of England.
83. Who are Pre-Raphaelites?
Ans: Pre-Raphaelites are a secret society of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
84. What is the duration of the Victorian Age?
Ans: June 20, 1837 – January 22, 1901.
85. When was the Preface to Lyrical Ballads Published?
Ans: In 1798.
86. What is a Byronic Hero?
Ans: The Byronic hero is a kind of Romantic hero named after the English Romantic poet Lord Byron.
87. Who is called a poet of dreams?
Ans: S.T. Coleridge.
88. Who is “Kubla Khan”?
Ans: Kubla Khan was the grandson of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, a Chinese ruler.
89. What does Keats’ phrase “negative capability” mean?
Ans: Negative capability: artists seek beauty and sublimity despite the confusion, valuing art over philosophical certainty and embracing intellectual obscurity.
90. Why was Shelley expelled from the university?
Ans: He was expelled from the university because he published a pamphlet named “The Necessity of Atheism”.
91. Who accompanied Wordsworth on his visit to Tintern Abbey?
Ans: Dorothy.
92. Who is called the precursor of romantic poetry?
Ans: William Blake.
93. What is “Adonais”?
Ans: “Adonais” is an elegy by Shelley dedicated to John Keats.
94. What is the duration of the Romantic Age?
Ans: The Romantic Age lasts from 1798 to 1832
95. What is romanticism?
Ans: Romanticism is a literary movement against the strict rules of classical and neoclassical literature and a return to the academic ideals of the Elizabeths.
96. What is Ballad?
Ans: A narrative poem or song, typically with a simple rhyme scheme, telling a story or expressing emotions.
97. What is “Lyrical Ballads’?
Ans: “Lyrical Ballads” is a book containing 23 poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge. The Romantic Age began with the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798.
98. What is Hyperion?
Ans: ‘Hyperion’ is a long narrative poem or epic by John Keats.
99. What is The Tatler?
Ans: The Tatler, a periodical ventured in London by the essayist Sir Richard Steele in April 1709, appeared thrice weekly until January 1711.
100. Who is called the ‘father of English novel”?
Ans: Samuel Richardson.
101. What do you mean by the term ‘Gothic Novel’?
Ans: The term Gothic novel broadly refers to stories that incorporate elements of horror and romanticism.
102. Name any two graveyard poets of the 18th century.
Ans: Thomas Parnell and John Keats.
103. What is a “Heroic couplet”?
Ans: Heroic couplets, in iambic pentameter, are a classic English poetry form, often found in epics and narratives.
104. Which age is called the age of satire? Who are the prominent satirists of the period?
Ans: The 18th century, or the classical period, is called the age of satire. John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Dr. Johnson, Addison and Steele are the prominent satirists of the period.
105. Name the political parties of the restoration period.
Ans: Two political parties – the Whig and the Tory.
106. What is a comedy of manners?
Ans: Comedy of manners is a dramatic genre that satirizes social behaviours, etiquette, and norms in sophisticated, often upper-class settings, emphasizing wit and irony.
107. Who was known as ‘the father of English Dictionary’?
Ans: Samuel Johnson
108. Name the university wits.
Ans: Lyly, Peele, Kyd, Greene, Lodge, Nashe and Marlowe
109. Which age is called the Golden Age of English literature?
Ans: Elizabethan Age.
110. What is Puritanism?
Ans: Puritanism was a religious reform movement in the 16th and 17th centuries, emphasizing strict adherence to Calvinist principles and moral purity.
111. Who are called “Cavalier Poets”?
Ans: “Cavalier Poets” were 17th-century English royalist poets who praised courtly love, beauty, and loyalty, often in contrast to the metaphysical poets.
112. Who is the founder of the Metaphysical School of Poetry?
Ans: John Donne.
113. What is ‘Humanism’?
Ans: Humanism: A philosophical outlook that values reason, ethics, and human potential, emphasizing secular, rational, and compassionate values.
114. Who wrote Gorboduc?
Ans: Gorboduc was written by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville.
115. What kind of movement is the ‘English Renaissance’?
Ans: The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England from the late 15th to the early 17th century.
116. Who were the metaphysical poets?
Ans: John Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Thomas Carew and Henry Vaughan were metaphysical poets.
117. What is “Utopia”?
Ans: Utopia is the most important work of Sir Thomas More.
118. Who is called the Dark Lady? Why is the Dark Lady important in Shakespeare’s Sonnet?
Ans: This Dark Lady may be Mary Fitton, one of Queen Elizabeth’s maids of honour or the poet Emilia Lanier.
119. Who is Sir Philip Sidney?
Ans: Sir Philip Sidney was one of the most prolific writers of the Elizabethan period.
120. What is Arcadia?
Ans: Sidney’s essential literary work, Arcadia, finished in 1580, displays Elizabethan romance with a pastoral foundation.
121. What is John Webster famous for?
Ans: For his two great tragedies, including The White Devil and The Tragedie of the Duchess of Malfi.
122. What do you mean by “Tragi-comedy”?
Ans: Tragi-comedy is a genre that blends humour and tragedy, exploring the absurdity and pathos of human existence.
123. Who is called the child of Renaissance and Reformation?
Ans: Edmund Spenser has been called “the child of both the Renaissance and Reformation.”
124. What is Paradise Lost?
Ans: The Paradise Lost is a great epic written by John Milton.
125. What is a renaissance?
Ans: European cultural and artistic revival (14th-17th centuries) was characterized by innovation in arts, science, and humanism.
126. Why did the parliament pass a number of acts?
Ans: The Parliament passed several acts to confirm England’s infringement with Rome.
127. What is Catholicism?
Ans: Catholicism is the Christian faith centred on the teachings, traditions, and authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
128. What does “The Authorized Version of the Bible” mean?
Ans: “The Authorized Version of the Bible” refers to the King James Version, an English translation.
