Charles Lamb – “Dream-Children; A Reverie” – Exam Based MCQs
1. “Dream-Children; A Reverie” is an essay by: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) William Hazlitt
B) Thomas De Quincey
C) Charles Lamb
D) Francis Bacon
Ans: C) Charles Lamb
2. The essay belongs to the collection: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) The Spirit of the Age
B) Essays of Elia
C) Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
D) The Lives of the Poets
Ans: B) Essays of Elia
3. “Elia” is the persona/pseudonym used by: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) Coleridge
B) Hazlitt
C) Leigh Hunt
D) Charles Lamb
Ans: D) Charles Lamb
4. The essay first appeared in print in: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) The London Magazine
B) The Spectator
C) The Tatler
D) The Times
Ans: A) The London Magazine
5. The essay is framed as a conversation between Elia and his: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Students
B) Servants
C) Dream-children
D) Soldiers
Ans: C) Dream-children
6. The names of Elia’s dream-children are: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Lucy and Edwin
B) Dora and Henry
C) Jane and Charles
D) Alice and John
Ans: D) Alice and John
7. The children request stories about their: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) School principal
B) Great-grandmother Field
C) Sea voyages
D) War victories
Ans: B) Great-grandmother Field
8. Great-grandmother Field lived in a great house in: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Norfolk
B) Kent
C) Yorkshire
D) Cornwall
Ans: A) Norfolk
9. The tone of the essay is best described as: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Pure satire only
B) Scientific and factual
C) Tender, nostalgic, and pathetic
D) Purely didactic
Ans: C) Tender, nostalgic, and pathetic
10. The “reverie” in the title suggests: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) A legal debate
B) A war report
C) A political speech
D) A daydream/fantasy meditation
Ans: D) A daydream/fantasy meditation
11. “Cousin Bridget” in the essay is generally understood to represent: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Mary Lamb
B) Jane Austen
C) Dorothy Wordsworth
D) Mary Shelley
Ans: A) Mary Lamb
12. A major theme in the essay is: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Colonial conquest
B) Unfulfilled love and loneliness
C) Heroic warfare
D) Scientific progress
Ans: B) Unfulfilled love and loneliness
13. The essay blends humour with: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Epic grandeur
B) Gothic horror
C) Pure romance
D) Pathos
Ans: D) Pathos
14. Elia tells his children about his “Uncle John,” who becomes: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) A king
B) A sailor
C) Lame in old age
D) A wealthy landlord
Ans: C) Lame in old age
15. One striking feature of the essay is its: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Sudden dream-breaking ending revelation
B) Detective plot twist
C) Strict logical argument only
D) Mythic battle scenes
Ans: A) Sudden dream-breaking ending revelation
16. The dream-children finally reveal that the children of Alice call ____ father. (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Elia
B) Bartram
C) Field
D) Bridget
Ans: B) Bartram
17. The “Alice” mentioned as the children’s mother refers to Elia’s: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Sister
B) Daughter
C) Teacher
D) Lost beloved / unfulfilled love
Ans: D) Lost beloved / unfulfilled love
18. The essay is largely autobiographical because it reflects: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Lamb’s military career
B) Lamb’s travel in India
C) Lamb’s personal memories and emotional life
D) Lamb’s scientific experiments
Ans: C) Lamb’s personal memories and emotional life
19. Great-grandmother Field is remembered as: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) A gentle, dignified figure of the old house
B) A cruel tyrant
C) A comic thief
D) A war general
Ans: A) A gentle, dignified figure of the old house
20. The genre of “Dream-Children; A Reverie” is best described as: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Epic poem
B) One-act drama
C) Scientific report
D) Familiar/personal essay
Ans: D) Familiar/personal essay
21. The essay ends with Elia waking up and finding: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) A crowd applauding
B) Bridget sitting by his side
C) Alice calling him
D) The children playing
Ans: B) Bridget sitting by his side
22. The chief emotional effect of the ending is: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Sudden heartbreak and awareness of reality
B) Joyful reunion
C) Comic triumph
D) Horror and suspense
Ans: A) Sudden heartbreak and awareness of reality
23. The essay’s narrative situation is mainly set in: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) A battlefield
B) A courtroom
C) Elia’s room/arm-chair while daydreaming
D) A ship
Ans: C) Elia’s room/arm-chair while daydreaming
24. The main literary technique used in the essay is: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Allegory of a pilgrimage
B) Stream of consciousness (modernist)
C) Epistolary narration
D) Reverie/dream-frame with reminiscence
Ans: D) Reverie/dream-frame with reminiscence
25. The essay shows Lamb’s mastery in combining: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Myth and science
B) Humour and melancholy
C) Politics and propaganda
D) Fantasy and horror
Ans: B) Humour and melancholy
26. The essay is admired especially for its: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Personal revelation and poignant simplicity
B) Complex scientific argument
C) Political satire only
D) Adventure plot
Ans: A) Personal revelation and poignant simplicity
27. The children’s fading at the end symbolizes: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Their victory in a game
B) A magic spell
C) A journey to school
D) The dissolution of the dream/illusion
Ans: D) The dissolution of the dream/illusion
28. “Dream-Children” is often read as an essay about: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Royal succession
B) Trade and commerce
C) Memory, loss, and the life not lived
D) Sea exploration
Ans: C) Memory, loss, and the life not lived
29. The essay is called “Dream-Children” primarily because: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) The children exist only in Elia’s imagination
B) It is a children’s fairy tale
C) It is about bedtime rules
D) It describes a school curriculum
Ans: A) The children exist only in Elia’s imagination
30. The essay belongs to the tradition of: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Epic narrative
B) Familiar essay (personal prose)
C) Gothic novel
D) Pastoral drama
Ans: B) Familiar essay (personal prose)
31. The essay most clearly reflects Lamb’s interest in: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) Warfare and diplomacy
B) Natural science
C) Colonial travel
D) Domestic memory and emotional introspection
Ans: D) Domestic memory and emotional introspection
32. Which is TRUE about the conclusion? (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Elia marries Alice
B) The children become real
C) Elia realizes the children are only dreams
D) Elia wins a court case
Ans: C) Elia realizes the children are only dreams
33. The essay is praised for its: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Simple conversational style
B) Strict formal logic
C) Dense technical vocabulary
D) Scientific diagrams
Ans: A) Simple conversational style
34. The atmosphere of the essay is mainly: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Violent and thrilling
B) Gentle, intimate, and nostalgic
C) Political and argumentative
D) Scientific and analytical
Ans: B) Gentle, intimate, and nostalgic
35. The narrator’s storytelling shows the children’s love for: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Grammar rules
B) War stories
C) Business plans
D) Family history and elders
Ans: D) Family history and elders
36. The essay’s dominant mood shifts from warmth to: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Heroic pride
B) Comic victory
C) Sudden sorrow
D) Romantic celebration
Ans: C) Sudden sorrow
37. “Dream-Children” is most suitable for discussing which concept? (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Illusion vs reality
B) Epic heroism
C) Scientific method
D) Colonial administration
Ans: A) Illusion vs reality
38. The essay’s style is best termed: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Tragic drama
B) Scientific essay
C) Gothic romance
D) Familiar essay / personal prose
Ans: D) Familiar essay / personal prose
39. The essay is notable for its: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Complex plot twists throughout
B) Autobiographical undercurrent beneath a fictional frame
C) Historical battle scenes
D) Pure moral preaching
Ans: B) Autobiographical undercurrent beneath a fictional frame
40. The “children” function in the essay mainly as: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Comic villains
B) Political agents
C) Listeners who draw out Elia’s memories
D) Judges in a trial
Ans: C) Listeners who draw out Elia’s memories
41. The central technique of recollection in the essay supports: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Nostalgia
B) Pure satire
C) Scientific proof
D) Political propaganda
Ans: A) Nostalgia
42. Which statement best captures the essay’s final meaning? (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Dreams always become true
B) Wealth ends sorrow
C) History is always comic
D) The deepest losses are revealed through imagined happiness
Ans: D) The deepest losses are revealed through imagined happiness
43. The essay is written mainly in the: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Third-person objective style
B) First-person personal voice
C) Second-person imperative only
D) Chorus voice
Ans: B) First-person personal voice
44. The essay can be called a “prose-poem” mainly because of its: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Rhyme scheme
B) Strict metre
C) Lyric tenderness and emotional intensity in prose
D) Use of stage directions
Ans: C) Lyric tenderness and emotional intensity in prose
45. The essay reflects the Romantic-era fascination with: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Memory and the inner life
B) Factories and machines
C) Colonial bureaucracy
D) Medieval warfare
Ans: A) Memory and the inner life
46. The essay’s main setting in the past is connected to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) A desert camp
B) A royal palace
C) A battlefield
D) The great house where Field served
Ans: D) The great house where Field served
47. A key feature of Lamb’s essays of Elia is their: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Purely political focus
B) Personal, conversational charm
C) Scientific demonstrations
D) Epic heroic form
Ans: B) Personal, conversational charm
48. The essay reveals that Elia’s imagined domestic happiness is: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Fully real and permanent
B) A public celebration
C) Only a dream, ending in loneliness
D) A political plan
Ans: C) Only a dream, ending in loneliness
49. “Dream-Children; A Reverie” is best remembered for its: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Quiet tragedy of a life without marriage/children
B) Political satire against kings
C) Military adventure story
D) Detective mystery
Ans: A) Quiet tragedy of a life without marriage/children
50. Which statement is TRUE about the essay? (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) It is a sonnet sequence
B) It is a scientific treatise
C) It is a stage play in five acts
D) It is a personal essay using a dream-frame to express memory and loss
Ans: D) It is a personal essay using a dream-frame to express memory and loss
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