Charles Lamb – Essays of Elia (Christ’s Hospital) – Exam Based MCQs
1. Essays of Elia is a collection written by: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Francis Bacon
B) Joseph Addison
C) Charles Lamb
D) Samuel Johnson
Ans: C) Charles Lamb
2. Lamb’s essays were first published mainly in: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) The London Magazine
B) The Spectator
C) The Tatler
D) The Rambler
Ans: A) The London Magazine
3. Essays of Elia was first published in book form in: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) 1798
B) 1807
C) 1833
D) 1823
Ans: D) 1823
4. “Elia” in Essays of Elia is: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) A fictional king
B) Lamb’s pseudonym/persona
C) A Greek philosopher
D) A newspaper editor
Ans: B) Lamb’s pseudonym/persona
5. In the essay “Christ’s Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago,” Lamb speaks of himself as: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) “L”
B) “Bridget”
C) “R”
D) “X”
Ans: A) “L”
6. “Christ’s Hospital” in Lamb’s essay refers to a: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Medical hospital
B) Monastery
C) Charity boarding school (Bluecoat School)
D) Prison
Ans: C) Charity boarding school (Bluecoat School)
7. Christ’s Hospital was founded in: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) 1603
B) 1660
C) 1707
D) 1552
Ans: D) 1552
8. Christ’s Hospital is popularly known as the: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Redcoat School
B) Bluecoat School
C) Greencoat School
D) Whitecoat School
Ans: B) Bluecoat School
9. The essay “Christ’s Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago” is mainly: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) A nostalgic recollection of school life
B) A political satire on Parliament
C) A travel narrative to France
D) A scientific treatise
Ans: A) A nostalgic recollection of school life
10. Lamb’s close school friend in the essay is: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) John Keats
B) William Hazlitt
C) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
D) Thomas Hardy
Ans: C) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
11. The essay highlights the “wit-combats” (verbal duels) of: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) Lamb and Byron
B) Keats and Shelley
C) Pope and Dryden
D) Coleridge and a fellow student
Ans: D) Coleridge and a fellow student
12. A feared schoolmaster figure associated with Christ’s Hospital in Lamb’s recollections is: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Dr. Arnold
B) James Boyer
C) Mr. Gradgrind
D) Mr. Pecksniff
Ans: B) James Boyer
13. Lamb’s style in “Elia” essays is usually described as: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Personal and conversational
B) Purely scientific
C) Legal and technical
D) Epic and heroic only
Ans: A) Personal and conversational
14. In Essays of Elia, Mary Lamb is represented as: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Aunt Tabitha
B) Sister Anne
C) Cousin Bridget
D) Lady Macbeth
Ans: C) Cousin Bridget
15. “Christ’s Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago” belongs to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Last Essays of Elia
B) The Spectator papers
C) Lyrical Ballads
D) Essays of Elia
Ans: D) Essays of Elia
16. The phrase “Five-and-Thirty Years Ago” signals that the essay is built on: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Future predictions
B) Memory and retrospection
C) Scientific experiments
D) Court judgments
Ans: B) Memory and retrospection
17. The essay portrays Coleridge at school as a: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Gifted, talkative, bookish boy
B) Professional soldier
C) Silent athlete only
D) Sea captain
Ans: A) Gifted, talkative, bookish boy
18. The setting of the essay is primarily: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Oxford University
B) A rural farm
C) Christ’s Hospital school environment
D) A battlefield camp
Ans: C) Christ’s Hospital school environment
19. Christ’s Hospital boys traditionally wore: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Red coats and black hats
B) Green coats and white socks
C) Grey suits
D) Long blue coats and yellow stockings
Ans: D) Long blue coats and yellow stockings
20. Lamb’s “Elia” essays are admired mainly for their: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Mathematical proofs
B) Charm, humour, and intimacy of tone
C) Military history
D) Scientific discoveries
Ans: B) Charm, humour, and intimacy of tone
21. Christ’s Hospital had a royal charter granted in: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) 1553
B) 1605
C) 1702
D) 1801
Ans: A) 1553
22. The essay is often used to study Lamb’s use of: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Epic invocation
B) Detective narration
C) Autobiographical recollection in essay form
D) Scientific method
Ans: C) Autobiographical recollection in essay form
23. The essay’s emotional centre is largely: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Triumph in war
B) Political revolution
C) Industrial progress
D) Friendship and memory
Ans: D) Friendship and memory
24. Lamb and Coleridge met each other at: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Cambridge University
B) Christ’s Hospital
C) Eton College
D) Westminster Abbey
Ans: B) Christ’s Hospital
25. Lamb’s essays under “Elia” began appearing around: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) 1820
B) 1765
C) 1850
D) 1798
Ans: A) 1820
26. In the essay, “Boyer” is primarily remembered as: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) A comedian
B) A sailor
C) A strict classical master/teacher
D) A king
Ans: C) A strict classical master/teacher
27. Christ’s Hospital historically served the education of: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Only royal heirs
B) Only army officers
C) Only clergy members
D) Children from disadvantaged backgrounds (charity foundation)
Ans: D) Children from disadvantaged backgrounds (charity foundation)
28. The essay shows Lamb’s characteristic blend of: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Humour and pathos
B) Only sarcasm
C) Only tragedy
D) Only scientific logic
Ans: A) Humour and pathos
29. “Christ’s Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago” is best classified as: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Epic poem
B) Familiar essay (personal essay)
C) One-act play
D) Detective story
Ans: B) Familiar essay (personal essay)
30. The friendship described in the essay is between Lamb and: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) Tennyson
B) Milton
C) Coleridge
D) Spenser
Ans: C) Coleridge
31. Lamb is best known in English literature as: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) A Victorian novelist
B) A dramatist of Restoration comedy
C) A metaphysical poet
D) An English essayist (Elia)
Ans: D) An English essayist (Elia)
32. The essay often contrasts childhood hardship with: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) The warmth of remembered friendship
B) A war campaign
C) Colonial travel success
D) Scientific breakthroughs
Ans: A) The warmth of remembered friendship
33. Which of the following is TRUE about Christ’s Hospital? (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) It began as a university in 1800
B) It has roots as a charitable school founded in the 16th century
C) It is a military academy founded in 1900
D) It was created for theatre training only
Ans: B) It has roots as a charitable school founded in the 16th century
34. The essay is valuable for literary study mainly because it presents: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Only historical dates
B) Only philosophical proofs
C) A vivid portrait of school culture and character
D) A guide to farming
Ans: C) A vivid portrait of school culture and character
35. The essay shows Lamb’s interest in: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Astronomy only
B) Chemistry only
C) Warfare only
D) Memory, personality, and the past
Ans: D) Memory, personality, and the past
36. The narrative voice of the essay is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) First-person with playful self-distancing (Elia)
B) Pure third-person objective narrator only
C) Newspaper reporter voice
D) Scientific lab report voice
Ans: A) First-person with playful self-distancing (Elia)
37. “Christ’s Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago” is often quoted for its depiction of: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Court politics
B) Coleridge’s youthful genius
C) Scientific machines
D) Sea voyages
Ans: B) Coleridge’s youthful genius
38. The essay belongs to which broader tradition? (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Gothic romance
B) Epic mythology
C) English familiar essay tradition
D) Detective fiction
Ans: C) English familiar essay tradition
39. “Last Essays of Elia” was published in: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) 1800
B) 1815
C) 1823
D) 1833
Ans: D) 1833
40. One key effect of Lamb’s humour in the essay is to: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Make suffering bearable through gentle irony
B) Remove all emotion
C) Turn the essay into a science lesson
D) Prove a mathematical theorem
Ans: A) Make suffering bearable through gentle irony
41. Christ’s Hospital’s distinctive uniform tradition dates back to: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) 1902 only
B) The 16th century (mid-1500s)
C) The 21st century
D) The Roman Empire
Ans: B) The 16th century (mid-1500s)
42. In “Elia” essays, Lamb often blends fact with: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Only statistics
B) Only legal codes
C) Imaginative reshaping and persona
D) Only laboratory notes
Ans: C) Imaginative reshaping and persona
43. The essay is important for understanding Lamb’s relationship with: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Alexander Pope
B) Thomas Gray
C) John Donne
D) Coleridge
Ans: D) Coleridge
44. The essay’s mood is best described as: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Nostalgic and reflective
B) Purely epic and martial
C) Entirely cynical and cold
D) Only romantic adventure
Ans: A) Nostalgic and reflective
45. Which is NOT a feature of Lamb’s Elia style? (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Intimacy
B) Purely impersonal objectivity throughout
C) Gentle humour
D) Personal memory
Ans: B) Purely impersonal objectivity throughout
46. In Essays of Elia, Lamb’s “Elia” persona is best seen as: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) A medieval knight
B) A scientific researcher
C) A semi-fictional self-portrait of Lamb
D) A Greek god
Ans: C) A semi-fictional self-portrait of Lamb
47. The essay’s school scenes help reveal the broader theme of: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Space exploration
B) Treasure hunting
C) Court intrigue
D) The shaping of identity through childhood experience
Ans: D) The shaping of identity through childhood experience
48. The essay is frequently studied under the topic: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Romantic prose / familiar essay
B) Elizabethan drama only
C) Medieval allegory only
D) Modern cyber literature only
Ans: A) Romantic prose / familiar essay
49. The phrase “Bluecoat” primarily refers to: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) A navy uniform
B) A police coat
C) The traditional school uniform of Christ’s Hospital
D) A royal cloak
Ans: C) The traditional school uniform of Christ’s Hospital
50. Which statement is TRUE? (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) “Elia” is a real king of England
B) “Christ’s Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago” is an Elia essay recalling school days
C) The essay is a detective story set in Paris
D) It is a scientific essay about medicine
Ans: B) “Christ’s Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago” is an Elia essay recalling school days
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