Coleridge – Biographia Literaria (Ch. XIV & Ch. XVII) – MCQ Quiz

Coleridge – Biographia Literaria (Ch. XIV & Ch. XVII) – Exam Based MCQs

1. Biographia Literaria was written by: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2019; PGTRB 2021)

A) William Wordsworth

B) S. T. Coleridge

C) John Keats

D) Percy Shelley

Ans: B) S. T. Coleridge

2. Biographia Literaria was first published in: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018)

A) 1798

B) 1817

C) 1832

D) 1850

Ans: B) 1817

3. Chapters XIV and XVII of Biographia Literaria are best known for discussing: (PGTRB 2019; SET 2020)

A) Epic conventions

B) Imagination and Fancy

C) Dramatic unities

D) Heroic couplets

Ans: B) Imagination and Fancy

4. Coleridge’s distinction between Fancy and Imagination is a major idea in: (UGC NET 2015; PGTRB 2018)

A) Neoclassical criticism

B) Romantic criticism

C) Victorian realism

D) Postmodern theory

Ans: B) Romantic criticism

5. For Coleridge, “Fancy” is mainly: (SET 2017)

A) A creative shaping power

B) A mechanical aggregative faculty

C) A divine force

D) A moral faculty

Ans: B) A mechanical aggregative faculty

6. Coleridge calls Imagination “the living power and prime agent” of: (UGC NET 2014; SET 2016; PGTRB 2020)

A) Mimicry

B) Human perception

C) Grammar

D) Prosody

Ans: B) Human perception

7. Primary Imagination, according to Coleridge, is: (SET 2019; UGC NET 2018)

A) A memory storehouse

B) The basic power of perception shared by all

C) Only poetic invention

D) Mere copying of nature

Ans: B) The basic power of perception shared by all

8. Secondary Imagination differs from Primary Imagination because it is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020)

A) Passive and mechanical

B) The conscious artistic power of the poet

C) Only memory

D) Only reasoning

Ans: B) The conscious artistic power of the poet

9. Coleridge describes Secondary Imagination as: (PGTRB 2022; SET 2018)

A) “A mere mode of memory”

B) “Dissolving, diffusing, dissipating, in order to recreate”

C) “A mirror held up to nature”

D) “A public language”

Ans: B) “Dissolving, diffusing, dissipating, in order to recreate”

10. The faculty that “has no other counters to play with but fixities and definites” is: (UGC NET 2016; PGTRB 2019; SET 2021)

A) Primary Imagination

B) Fancy

C) Secondary Imagination

D) Reason

Ans: B) Fancy

11. In Coleridge, Fancy is compared to: (SET 2016)

A) A shaping imagination

B) Memory emancipated from time and space

C) Divine inspiration

D) Moral judgement

Ans: B) Memory emancipated from time and space

12. Coleridge’s theory of imagination is influenced by: (UGC NET 2017)

A) Only Aristotle

B) German idealist philosophy

C) Only Greek tragedy

D) Only medieval scholasticism

Ans: B) German idealist philosophy

13. The best-known chapters for Coleridge’s imagination theory in Biographia Literaria are: (PGTRB 2020; SET 2019)

A) I and II

B) XIV and XVII

C) XX and XXI

D) XXIII and XXIV

Ans: B) XIV and XVII

14. Primary Imagination is described as: (UGC NET 2015; SET 2018)

A) A conscious creative act

B) The living power of all human perception

C) Only poetic diction

D) A rule-bound craft

Ans: B) The living power of all human perception

15. Secondary Imagination is “identical with the primary” but differs in: (SET 2017; PGTRB 2018)

A) Degree and mode of operation

B) Being purely passive

C) Being only memory

D) Being only logic

Ans: A) Degree and mode of operation

16. The Romantic emphasis on imagination in criticism is best represented by: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2020)

A) Coleridge

B) Dryden

C) Pope

D) Dr. Johnson

Ans: A) Coleridge

17. In Coleridge’s view, Fancy works by: (PGTRB 2021)

A) Organic unity and reconciliation of opposites

B) Combining ready-made images mechanically

C) Creating symbols organically

D) Producing moral maxims

Ans: B) Combining ready-made images mechanically

18. Coleridge’s secondary imagination is linked with: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2018; PGTRB 2022)

A) Artistic creativity

B) Only memory

C) Only imitation

D) Only rules

Ans: A) Artistic creativity

19. Fancy is often contrasted with imagination as: (SET 2019)

A) Organic vs mechanical

B) Religious vs secular

C) Classical vs modern

D) Narrative vs lyric

Ans: A) Organic vs mechanical

20. Coleridge’s poetic theory supports the idea of: (UGC NET 2016)

A) Mechanical form only

B) Organic unity

C) Only imitation

D) Only didacticism

Ans: B) Organic unity

21. Coleridge’s imagination theory is most central to: (PGTRB 2019; SET 2020)

A) Romantic criticism

B) New Criticism

C) Structuralism

D) Postcolonialism

Ans: A) Romantic criticism

22. “Dissolving, diffusing, dissipating” is a phrase used to define: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)

A) Fancy

B) Secondary Imagination

C) Neoclassical decorum

D) Dramatic unities

Ans: B) Secondary Imagination

23. Fancy, according to Coleridge, is a: (SET 2016; PGTRB 2018)

A) Creative symbol-making power

B) Mode of memory and association

C) Moral faculty

D) Divine spark only

Ans: B) Mode of memory and association

24. Coleridge’s “esemplastic” power refers to: (UGC NET 2018)

A) A power of shaping into one (imagination)

B) A rhyme scheme

C) A moral rule

D) A dramatic unity

Ans: A) A power of shaping into one (imagination)

25. Coleridge’s “esemplastic” is associated with: (PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2017; SET 2019)

A) Fancy

B) Imagination

C) Grammar

D) Logic only

Ans: B) Imagination

26. Coleridge’s major contribution to criticism lies in his: (SET 2018)

A) Distinction between imagination and fancy

B) Defence of heroic couplet

C) Support of classical unities

D) Attack on Shakespeare

Ans: A) Distinction between imagination and fancy

27. In Coleridge, imagination is “a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I AM.” This refers to: (UGC NET 2019; PGTRB 2021)

A) Primary imagination

B) Fancy

C) Rhetoric

D) Prosody

Ans: A) Primary imagination

28. Coleridge’s imagination theory is often discussed alongside his idea of: (SET 2017)

A) Organic form

B) Stream of consciousness

C) Social realism

D) Deconstruction

Ans: A) Organic form

29. According to Coleridge, secondary imagination is “the poetic” counterpart of: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2019)

A) Primary imagination

B) Reason

C) Fancy

D) Judgment

Ans: A) Primary imagination

30. Coleridge’s notion that poetry reconciles opposites is tied to: (PGTRB 2018; SET 2020)

A) Imagination

B) Fancy

C) Grammar

D) Decoram

Ans: A) Imagination

31. Fancy works with “fixities and definites” which suggests it deals with: (UGC NET 2017)

A) Ready-made images and associations

B) Symbolic unity

C) Creative synthesis

D) Moral law

Ans: A) Ready-made images and associations

32. The distinction between imagination and fancy is asked under: (SET 2018; PGTRB 2020)

A) Romantic criticism

B) Victorian realism

C) Modern drama

D) Postcolonial studies

Ans: A) Romantic criticism

33. Coleridge’s primary imagination is primarily: (UGC NET 2015; SET 2017; PGTRB 2019)

A) Universal and involuntary

B) Purely voluntary and artistic

C) Only rhetorical

D) Only moral

Ans: A) Universal and involuntary

34. Coleridge’s secondary imagination is: (SET 2016)

A) Conscious and creative

B) Mechanical only

C) A storehouse of memory

D) Only a rule book

Ans: A) Conscious and creative

35. Coleridge’s imagination is linked with the production of: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2021)

A) Symbols and organic unity

B) Only description

C) Only facts

D) Only grammar

Ans: A) Symbols and organic unity

36. Fancy is to imagination as: (PGTRB 2018)

A) Mechanical to creative

B) Organic to mechanical

C) Moral to immoral

D) Sacred to profane

Ans: A) Mechanical to creative

37. Coleridge’s critical terms are part of his effort to define: (SET 2019)

A) The creative process in poetry

B) Only printing practices

C) Only rhetoric figures

D) Only drama rules

Ans: A) The creative process in poetry

38. Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria combines autobiography with: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2018)

A) Literary criticism and philosophy

B) Only travel writing

C) Only fiction

D) Only drama

Ans: A) Literary criticism and philosophy

39. The faculty that “dissolves and recreates” is: (PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2017)

A) Secondary imagination

B) Fancy

C) Memory only

D) Meter

Ans: A) Secondary imagination

40. Coleridge’s definition of imagination supports the Romantic idea that poetry is: (SET 2020; UGC NET 2018)

A) A creative act, not mere imitation

B) Only imitation

C) Only moral teaching

D) Only rule-based

Ans: A) A creative act, not mere imitation

41. Coleridge’s ideas are crucial for understanding Romanticism’s focus on: (UGC NET 2015; PGTRB 2019)

A) Imagination and creativity

B) Heroic couplet

C) Classical unities

D) Satire only

Ans: A) Imagination and creativity

42. Fancy is more closely linked to: (SET 2018)

A) Association and memory

B) Organic unity

C) Symbolic depth

D) Creative reconciliation

Ans: A) Association and memory

43. Secondary imagination is the poetic faculty that: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)

A) Shapes and unifies experience creatively

B) Merely copies images

C) Merely repeats rules

D) Merely lists facts

Ans: A) Shapes and unifies experience creatively

44. Coleridge’s notion of primary imagination relates to: (PGTRB 2022; SET 2020)

A) Universal perception

B) Only poetic craft

C) Only rhyme

D) Only meter

Ans: A) Universal perception

45. Coleridge’s critical vocabulary influenced later close-reading approaches by emphasizing: (UGC NET 2016)

A) The creative process and organic unity

B) Only history

C) Only biography

D) Only sociology

Ans: A) The creative process and organic unity

46. Fancy is best described as: (SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)

A) Creative synthesis

B) Mechanical arrangement of images

C) Divine perception

D) Moral reasoning

Ans: B) Mechanical arrangement of images

47. The faculty responsible for “recreating” experience is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2021)

A) Secondary imagination

B) Fancy

C) Grammar

D) Prosody

Ans: A) Secondary imagination

48. Coleridge’s distinction is a standard exam topic under: (PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2017)

A) Romantic criticism / literary theory

B) Phonetics

C) Translation studies only

D) Journalism

Ans: A) Romantic criticism / literary theory

49. Coleridge’s theory implies that great poetry depends primarily on: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2018)

A) Imagination as a shaping power

B) Fancy only

C) Meter only

D) Biography only

Ans: A) Imagination as a shaping power

50. Overall, Coleridge’s Chapters XIV and XVII are most famous for: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2020; PGTRB 2022)

A) Defining imagination and fancy in Romantic criticism

B) Defending heroic couplets

C) Supporting classical unities

D) Rejecting poetry

Ans: A) Defining imagination and fancy in Romantic criticism