E. E. Cummings – the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls – Exam Based MCQs
1. “the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls” is written by: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) T. S. Eliot
B) Wallace Stevens
C) Marianne Moore
D) E. E. Cummings
Ans: D) E. E. Cummings
2. The poem appears in Cummings’s collection: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Tulips and Chimneys
B) Harmonium
C) The Waste Land and Other Poems
D) North of Boston
Ans: A) Tulips and Chimneys
3. Tulips and Chimneys was published in: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) 1914
B) 1923
C) 1930
D) 1945
Ans: B) 1923
4. The poem is also identified as: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Sonnets-Realities (I)
B) Portrait of Ladies
C) Cambridge Elegy
D) The Protestant Ladies
Ans: A) Sonnets-Realities (I)
5. The setting evoked in the poem is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) New York bohemia
B) Cambridge social society
C) war-torn Europe
D) industrial Chicago
Ans: B) Cambridge social society
6. The opening line of the poem is: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) “the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls”
B) “they believe in Christ and Longfellow,both dead,”
C) “are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds”
D) “the moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy”
Ans: A) “the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls”
7. The poem is best described as a: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) pastoral elegy
B) satirical lyric
C) epic fragment
D) dramatic monologue
Ans: B) satirical lyric
8. The “Cambridge ladies” are described as having: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) radical minds
B) poetic souls
C) comfortable minds
D) revolutionary energy
Ans: C) comfortable minds
9. The adjective “furnished” in “furnished souls” suggests souls that are: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) richly spiritual
B) decorated, conventional, and artificial
C) empty and tragic
D) deeply mystical
Ans: B) decorated, conventional, and artificial
10. The women are described as “unbeautiful,” which suggests Cummings’s: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) admiration for their beauty
B) satiric rejection of their conventional grace
C) indifference to appearance
D) romantic desire
Ans: B) satiric rejection of their conventional grace
11. The poem refers to “the church’s protestant blessings,” suggesting criticism of: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) radical rebellion
B) empty social respectability
C) medieval theology
D) scientific materialism only
Ans: B) empty social respectability
12. The women believe in “Christ and Longfellow, both dead,” which is ironic because it presents them as: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) spiritually adventurous
B) attached to lifeless tradition
C) politically radical
D) artistically original
Ans: B) attached to lifeless tradition
13. Longfellow is mentioned mainly as a symbol of: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) modernist rebellion
B) conventional literary taste
C) political satire
D) scientific innovation
Ans: B) conventional literary taste
14. The ladies are “invariably interested in so many things,” which Cummings presents as: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) genuine intellectual curiosity
B) shallow social interest
C) revolutionary thought
D) academic seriousness
Ans: B) shallow social interest
15. The line about “delighted fingers knitting for the is it Poles?” mocks: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) genuine compassion
B) careless, fashionable charity
C) military discipline
D) rural poverty
Ans: B) careless, fashionable charity
16. “Mrs. N and Professor D” are used mainly to represent: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) intellectual greatness
B) social gossip
C) political activism
D) artistic freedom
Ans: B) social gossip
17. The poem’s criticism is directed mainly at: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) poor laborers
B) bourgeois Protestant society
C) immigrant workers
D) avant-garde poets
Ans: B) bourgeois Protestant society
18. The women “do not care, above / Cambridge if sometimes...” suggests that they are indifferent to: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) cosmic beauty and mystery
B) church sermons
C) fashion magazines
D) neighborhood gossip
Ans: A) cosmic beauty and mystery
19. The image “box of / sky lavender and cornerless” presents the sky as: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) flat and realistic
B) imaginative and surreal
C) political and oppressive
D) empty and meaningless
Ans: B) imaginative and surreal
20. The moon is compared to: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) a silver coin
B) a flower petal
C) a candle flame
D) a fragment of angry candy
Ans: D) a fragment of angry candy
21. The final moon image mainly emphasizes: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) the ladies’ religious faith
B) strange, vivid beauty ignored by the ladies
C) the calm order of Cambridge society
D) the dullness of the sky
Ans: B) strange, vivid beauty ignored by the ladies
22. The poem’s form is notable for: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) strict sonnet rhyme only
B) experimental punctuation and lowercase style
C) heroic couplets
D) long narrative stanzas
Ans: B) experimental punctuation and lowercase style
23. Cummings’ lowercase opening is typical of his: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) traditional decorum
B) modernist experimentation
C) Victorian moralism
D) classical imitation
Ans: B) modernist experimentation
24. The poem is best understood as a critique of: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) nature poetry
B) respectable social conformity
C) war propaganda
D) rural life
Ans: B) respectable social conformity
25. The women’s interest in “so many things” is ironic because it suggests: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) deep wisdom
B) scattered superficiality
C) heroic dedication
D) mystical awareness
Ans: B) scattered superficiality
26. The poem’s tone is mainly: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) sentimental
B) reverential
C) satirical and mocking
D) tragic and solemn
Ans: C) satirical and mocking
27. “Furnished souls” is an example of: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) simile
B) metaphor
C) pun only
D) alliteration only
Ans: B) metaphor
28. The poem may be read as opposing: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) social convention to living imagination
B) history to politics
C) religion to science only
D) rich to poor only
Ans: A) social convention to living imagination
29. The reference to Christ and Longfellow together creates irony through: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) equality of high faith and middlebrow taste
B) direct praise of religion
C) celebration of American poetry
D) biblical seriousness only
Ans: A) equality of high faith and middlebrow taste
30. The poem’s imagery finally shifts from social satire to: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) war narrative
B) cosmic, surreal vision
C) pastoral calm
D) political speech
Ans: B) cosmic, surreal vision
31. The “angry candy” image is effective because it is: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) ordinary and dull
B) startling and childlike
C) purely religious
D) historically exact
Ans: B) startling and childlike
32. The poem is associated with which literary movement? (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) Romanticism
B) Modernism
C) Neoclassicism
D) Restoration
Ans: B) Modernism
33. Cummings’ technique in the poem especially includes: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) strict Victorian diction
B) broken syntax and compressed phrasing
C) epic similes only
D) classical allusions only
Ans: B) broken syntax and compressed phrasing
34. The poem implies that the Cambridge ladies lack: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) money
B) social standing
C) openness to mystery and real beauty
D) education
Ans: C) openness to mystery and real beauty
35. Which of the following is TRUE about the poem? (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) It praises Cambridge ladies for artistic sensitivity
B) It mocks conventional upper-middle-class values
C) It is a narrative poem about war
D) It is written in heroic couplets
Ans: B) It mocks conventional upper-middle-class values
36. The poem’s title itself contributes to meaning because it: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) immediately satirizes its subject
B) gives a formal epic name
C) sounds like a love lyric
D) announces a religious hymn
Ans: A) immediately satirizes its subject
37. The poem’s best short critical label is: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) satirical modern lyric
B) epic romance
C) devotional hymn
D) dramatic tragedy
Ans: A) satirical modern lyric
38. The poem’s social world is dominated by: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) sincerity and freedom
B) gossip, charity, and convention
C) poverty and hunger
D) revolutionary politics
Ans: B) gossip, charity, and convention
39. The poem contrasts the ladies’ world with the: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) politics of Europe
B) vivid life of the moon and sky
C) poverty of workers
D) sadness of religion
Ans: B) vivid life of the moon and sky
40. The poem suggests that social “comfort” may lead to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) deeper spiritual insight
B) dullness and insensitivity
C) intellectual rebellion
D) political courage
Ans: B) dullness and insensitivity
41. The phrase “permanent faces” likely suggests: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) lively changefulness
B) fixed respectability and stiffness
C) physical suffering
D) comic ugliness only
Ans: B) fixed respectability and stiffness
42. The most important effect of the poem’s punctuation style is to: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) imitate legal prose
B) slow meaning and create surprise
C) follow strict sonnet order
D) simplify all ideas
Ans: B) slow meaning and create surprise
43. The poem is NOT mainly about: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) social satire
B) conventional morality
C) imaginative vision
D) rural labor struggles
Ans: D) rural labor struggles
44. The Cambridge ladies are chiefly criticized for being: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) poor
B) immoral
C) spiritually shallow
D) politically powerless
Ans: C) spiritually shallow
45. The poem’s closing image works as a contrast to: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) the ladies’ predictable social world
B) revolutionary politics
C) scientific order
D) religious doctrine
Ans: A) the ladies’ predictable social world
46. Cummings’s satire is effective because it combines: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) realism and irony
B) algebra and rhetoric
C) epic scale and war
D) pure moral preaching
Ans: A) realism and irony
47. The poem invites readers to value: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) convention over imagination
B) living vision over dead habit
C) gossip over feeling
D) charity over art
Ans: B) living vision over dead habit
48. Which phrase best describes the ladies’ outlook? (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) restless and daring
B) respectable but limited
C) mystical and visionary
D) rebellious and modern
Ans: B) respectable but limited
49. Which statement is TRUE about the poem? (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) It is a 1923 Cummings poem satirizing Cambridge respectability
B) It is a Romantic ode to nature
C) It is a war sonnet
D) It praises Protestant domestic life
Ans: A) It is a 1923 Cummings poem satirizing Cambridge respectability
50. The overall message of the poem is that: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) social convention enriches imagination
B) polite society is spiritually and aesthetically limited
C) charity solves all problems
D) Cambridge is superior to the moon
Ans: B) polite society is spiritually and aesthetically limited
Let me know your doubts