Kamala Das – “An Introduction” – Exam Based MCQs
1. “An Introduction” is a poem written by: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2020; PGTRB 2022)
A) Sarojini Naidu
B) Kamala Das
C) Toru Dutt
D) Eunice de Souza
Ans: B) Kamala Das
2. Kamala Das is also known by the pen name: (UGC NET 2016; PGTRB 2019)
A) Nayantara Sahgal
B) Madhavikutty
C) Arundhati Roy
D) Ismat Chughtai
Ans: B) Madhavikutty
3. “An Introduction” is commonly studied as an example of: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2021)
A) Pastoral poetry
B) Confessional / autobiographical poetry
C) Metaphysical poetry
D) Romantic nature poetry
Ans: B) Confessional / autobiographical poetry
4. The central theme of “An Introduction” is: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2021; PGTRB 2020)
A) Colonial expansion
B) Female identity and self-definition
C) War and heroism
D) Mythological devotion
Ans: B) Female identity and self-definition
5. In “An Introduction”, the poet openly questions: (PGTRB 2022; SET 2020)
A) The value of rhyme
B) Gender roles and patriarchy
C) Scientific progress
D) Medieval chivalry
Ans: B) Gender roles and patriarchy
6. The poem “An Introduction” is often associated with which movement/approach? (UGC NET 2019; SET 2022)
A) Feminist writing
B) Symbolism
C) Classicism
D) Decadence
Ans: A) Feminist writing
7. “I speak three languages, write in two, dream in one” points to: (SET 2018; PGTRB 2020)
A) Monolingual purity
B) Multilingual identity and postcolonial context
C) Only Sanskrit learning
D) Translation theory only
Ans: B) Multilingual identity and postcolonial context
8. Kamala Das is primarily known as: (UGC NET 2015; SET 2019)
A) A dramatist only
B) An Indian English poet and short story writer
C) A metaphysical poet
D) A Romantic critic
Ans: B) An Indian English poet and short story writer
9. “An Introduction” is frequently included in syllabi under: (PGTRB 2019; SET 2021)
A) African literature
B) Indian Writing in English
C) Victorian poetry
D) American modernism
Ans: B) Indian Writing in English
10. The tone of “An Introduction” can best be described as: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Detached and impersonal
B) Confessional and assertive
C) Purely humorous
D) Epic and heroic
Ans: B) Confessional and assertive
11. Kamala Das’s poetry is often categorized as: (SET 2017; UGC NET 2016)
A) Confessional
B) Neoclassical
C) Epic
D) Metaphysical
Ans: A) Confessional
12. The poem criticizes society’s insistence on: (PGTRB 2020; SET 2019)
A) Silence and obedience for women
B) Excessive travel
C) Ancient myths
D) Nature worship
Ans: A) Silence and obedience for women
13. “Dress in sarees, be girl / Be wife” indicates: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018)
A) Freedom from stereotypes
B) Social conditioning of gender roles
C) Romantic idealism
D) Colonial nostalgia
Ans: B) Social conditioning of gender roles
14. “Don’t write in English, they said” reflects: (PGTRB 2021; SET 2020)
A) Linguistic policing and identity politics
B) Love for French
C) Purely grammatical concern
D) Metaphysical wit
Ans: A) Linguistic policing and identity politics
15. The “I” voice in “An Introduction” is best seen as: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2021)
A) A detached narrator
B) A personal, autobiographical speaker
C) A mythic hero
D) A comic persona only
Ans: B) A personal, autobiographical speaker
16. Kamala Das’s writing is often discussed alongside themes of: (SET 2018; PGTRB 2022)
A) Female sexuality and desire
B) Medieval chivalry
C) Puritan morality
D) Epic heroism
Ans: A) Female sexuality and desire
17. The poem’s resistance is mainly against: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Social and patriarchal restrictions
B) Scientific ideas
C) Nature imagery
D) Classical unities
Ans: A) Social and patriarchal restrictions
18. Kamala Das belongs mainly to: (SET 2017; UGC NET 2018)
A) Indian English writing (post-independence)
B) Old English poetry
C) Restoration comedy
D) Elizabethan drama
Ans: A) Indian English writing (post-independence)
19. “An Introduction” is written in: (PGTRB 2019; SET 2020)
A) Strict sonnet form
B) Free verse
C) Heroic couplet
D) Spenserian stanza
Ans: B) Free verse
20. The poem’s style is notable for: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2021)
A) Ornate classical diction
B) Direct, conversational tone
C) Medieval archaism
D) Myth-only language
Ans: B) Direct, conversational tone
21. The poem challenges the idea that English is: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2022)
A) Only for natives
B) Unsuitable for Indians
C) A dead language
D) Only scientific
Ans: B) Unsuitable for Indians
22. “The language I speak becomes mine” suggests: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2021)
A) Language ownership through use
B) Language cannot be learned
C) Only one language exists
D) Only grammar matters
Ans: A) Language ownership through use
23. Kamala Das is often called: (UGC NET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) The first metaphysical poet
B) A major confessional voice in Indian English poetry
C) A Victorian sage
D) A medieval mystic
Ans: B) A major confessional voice in Indian English poetry
24. The poem’s assertion “I am what I am” reflects: (SET 2018; PGTRB 2021)
A) Self-acceptance and identity
B) Epic destiny
C) Colonial loyalty
D) Mythic prophecy
Ans: A) Self-acceptance and identity
25. A major concern in the poem is: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2020)
A) Nature worship
B) Female autonomy
C) Courtly love
D) Heroic war
Ans: B) Female autonomy
26. Kamala Das’s poetry often reveals: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2019; PGTRB 2022)
A) Inner conflict and personal truth
B) Only mythology
C) Only nature lyricism
D) Only satire
Ans: A) Inner conflict and personal truth
27. The poem portrays marriage as: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Always liberating
B) Often restrictive for the female self
C) A heroic quest
D) A spiritual ceremony only
Ans: B) Often restrictive for the female self
28. “Be Amy, or be Kamala” suggests: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019)
A) Freedom of self-naming and identity
B) Fixed identity rules
C) Mythic destiny
D) Epic tradition
Ans: A) Freedom of self-naming and identity
29. “An Introduction” is significant in Indian English poetry for its: (PGTRB 2020; SET 2021)
A) Confessional frankness
B) Strict neoclassical form
C) Epic grandeur
D) Pure symbolism
Ans: A) Confessional frankness
30. The poem argues that language is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020)
A) Owned by a single nation
B) Shaped by the speaker and context
C) Unchangeable
D) Only classical
Ans: B) Shaped by the speaker and context
31. “The category they branded me with was ‘woman’” highlights: (UGC NET 2017; PGTRB 2022)
A) Gender labeling and oppression
B) Nature imagery
C) Medieval romance
D) Metaphysical wit
Ans: A) Gender labeling and oppression
32. Kamala Das is widely read as a poet of: (SET 2018; UGC NET 2016; PGTRB 2020)
A) Selfhood and female experience
B) Only nationalism
C) Only war
D) Only metaphysics
Ans: A) Selfhood and female experience
33. The poem uses “confession” mainly to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2021)
A) Reveal personal truth and protest
B) Praise monarchy
C) Narrate myths
D) Teach grammar
Ans: A) Reveal personal truth and protest
34. “An Introduction” can be read as a critique of: (PGTRB 2019; SET 2020)
A) Patriarchy and linguistic nationalism
B) Epic tradition
C) Neoclassical decorum
D) Metaphysical conceits
Ans: A) Patriarchy and linguistic nationalism
35. The poem’s “I” voice is best linked with: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2019; PGTRB 2021)
A) Autobiography
B) Epic heroism
C) Allegory only
D) Satire only
Ans: A) Autobiography
36. Kamala Das’s “An Introduction” is often discussed with the idea of: (SET 2017; PGTRB 2022)
A) Self-representation
B) Dramatic unities
C) Objective correlative
D) Epic simile
Ans: A) Self-representation
37. The poem’s protest against “fit in” demands suggests: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2018)
A) Resistance to conformity
B) Acceptance of stereotypes
C) Only humor
D) Only devotion
Ans: A) Resistance to conformity
38. Kamala Das’s “An Introduction” is most directly related to: (PGTRB 2020; SET 2019)
A) Identity, gender, language
B) Epic warfare
C) Pastoral life
D) Medieval romance
Ans: A) Identity, gender, language
39. The poem is important because it gives voice to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) A woman’s lived experience
B) A king’s conquest
C) A mythic prophecy
D) A medieval saint
Ans: A) A woman’s lived experience
40. The poem’s language is best described as: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2019)
A) Simple, direct, personal
B) Highly ornate and classical
C) Strictly archaic
D) Only symbolic
Ans: A) Simple, direct, personal
41. Kamala Das’s speaker insists that English she uses is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2021)
A) Borrowed and fake
B) Her own, shaped by her use
C) Only British property
D) Only for grammar
Ans: B) Her own, shaped by her use
42. The poem presents a conflict between the “self” and: (PGTRB 2021; SET 2020)
A) Social expectations
B) Nature only
C) Myth only
D) Meter only
Ans: A) Social expectations
43. “An Introduction” is commonly placed in the tradition of: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2018; PGTRB 2022)
A) Confessional poetry
B) Augustan satire
C) Metaphysical conceit
D) Pastoral elegy
Ans: A) Confessional poetry
44. The poem’s autobiographical method helps to: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Challenge cultural norms
B) Glorify monarchy
C) Teach epic rules
D) Defend neoclassicism
Ans: A) Challenge cultural norms
45. The poem’s key concern is freedom to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Define the self and speak
B) Conquer lands
C) Follow strict rules
D) Avoid language
Ans: A) Define the self and speak
46. Kamala Das’s poem is often read as: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2021)
A) A feminist self-assertion
B) A mock-epic
C) A chivalric romance
D) A metaphysical meditation
Ans: A) A feminist self-assertion
47. The poem rejects the demand that the speaker must be: (PGTRB 2019; SET 2020)
A) Only “wife” and “mother” roles
B) Only a soldier
C) Only a saint
D) Only a mythic figure
Ans: A) Only “wife” and “mother” roles
48. The line “I too call myself I” conveys: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2018; PGTRB 2022)
A) Assertion of individuality
B) Epic prophecy
C) Courtly love
D) Metaphysical conceit
Ans: A) Assertion of individuality
49. Kamala Das is often placed among major Indian English poets like: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2021)
A) Nissim Ezekiel and A. K. Ramanujan
B) Chaucer and Spenser
C) Dryden and Pope
D) Milton and Wordsworth
Ans: A) Nissim Ezekiel and A. K. Ramanujan
50. Overall, “An Introduction” is best understood as: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) A poem of self-definition, language, and gender protest
B) A purely mythological hymn
C) A pastoral celebration
D) A neoclassical satire
Ans: A) A poem of self-definition, language, and gender protest
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