Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem Brahma, Exam Based Questions

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s

Brahma

1. 1. Who is the speaker in the poem “Brahma”? (UPSC, PGTRB, TNPSC, NET, CUET)

a) A wandering sage

b) Ralph Waldo Emerson himself

c) The Hindu god Brahma / Brahman

d) A Brahmin priest

Answer: c) The Hindu god Brahma / Brahman

2. 2. Emerson’s poem “Brahma” is written in which verse form? (NET, PGTRB, TNPSC)

a) Ballad stanza

b) Iambic pentameter couplets

c) Quatrains in alternating rhyme (ABAB)

d) Free verse

Answer: c) Quatrains in alternating rhyme (ABAB)

3. 3. Which Eastern philosophy most influenced Emerson in writing “Brahma”? (UPSC, NET, TNPSC, CUET)

a) Confucianism

b) Vedanta / Hindu philosophy

c) Taoism

d) Buddhism

Answer: b) Vedanta / Hindu philosophy

4. 4. In “Brahma,” what paradox does the opening line present? (NET, PGTRB, UPSC)

a) “If the red slayer think he slays, / Or if the slain think he is slain”

b) “Truth is beauty, beauty truth”

c) “Because I could not stop for Death”

d) “I celebrate myself, and sing myself”

Answer: a) “If the red slayer think he slays, / Or if the slain think he is slain”

5. 5. What is the central theme of Emerson’s “Brahma”? (TNPSC, NET, SET, CUET)

a) Romantic love and beauty

b) Transcendental unity of life, death, and immortality

c) Satire on social institutions

d) Nationalism and liberty

Answer: b) Transcendental unity of life, death, and immortality

6. 6. Emerson’s “Brahma” reflects his belief in which movement? (UPSC, PGTRB, NET, TNPSC)

a) Enlightenment Rationalism

b) Transcendentalism

c) Modernism

d) Puritanism

Answer: b) Transcendentalism

7. 7. In which year was Emerson’s “Brahma” first published? (CUET, NET, UPSC, PGTRB)

a) 1836

b) 1841

c) 1856

d) 1870

Answer: c) 1856

8. 8. The paradox in “Brahma” — “They reckon ill who leave me out; / When me they fly, I am the wings”— suggests what? (TNPSC, NET, CUET)

a) The power of poetry

b) The futility of materialism

c) The omnipresence of the divine spirit

d) The superiority of knowledge

Answer: c) The omnipresence of the divine spirit

9. 9. Which sacred text most directly influenced Emerson’s “Brahma”? (UPSC, NET, CUET, PGTRB)

a) Bible

b) Bhagavad Gita

c) Quran

d) Zend Avesta

Answer: b) Bhagavad Gita

10. 10. What kind of imagery dominates Emerson’s “Brahma”? (NET, TNPSC, UPSC)

a) Christian and Biblical imagery

b) Eastern and Hindu imagery

c) Scientific and natural imagery

d) Medieval and chivalric imagery

Answer: b) Eastern and Hindu imagery