John Keats – Ode to a Nightingale – Exam Based MCQs
1. Ode to a Nightingale is written by: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) William Wordsworth
B) S.T. Coleridge
C) John Keats
D) P.B. Shelley
Ans: C) John Keats
2. The poem belongs to Keats’s famous group of: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) 1819 Odes
B) Metaphysical lyrics
C) Victorian monologues
D) Restoration satires
Ans: A) 1819 Odes
3. The poem begins with the line: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan…”
B) “I wandered lonely as a cloud…”
C) “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness…”
D) “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains…”
Ans: D) “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains…”
4. The speaker says he feels as though he had drunk: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) nectar from Olympus
B) hemlock / dull opiate
C) seawater
D) pure spring water
Ans: B) hemlock / dull opiate
5. The main “escape” the speaker seeks is from: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) human suffering, sickness, and mortality
B) mathematical problems
C) courtroom justice
D) trade regulations
Ans: A) human suffering, sickness, and mortality
6. The bird addressed in the poem is a symbol of: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) industrial progress
B) political revolution
C) legal authority
D) seemingly timeless song/beauty
Ans: D) seemingly timeless song/beauty
7. The speaker initially wishes to “fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget” the world of: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) childhood games
B) heroic epics
C) weariness, fever, and fret
D) scientific discoveries
Ans: C) weariness, fever, and fret
8. Keats imagines drinking a “beaker full of the warm South” linked with: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) war
B) wine and sensual pleasure
C) legal punishment
D) factory labour
Ans: B) wine and sensual pleasure
9. “Flora and the country green” suggests: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) flowers/nature in springtime
B) city life
C) courtroom rituals
D) naval travel
Ans: A) flowers/nature in springtime
10. The speaker rejects Bacchus and his “pards” and instead flies to the bird on: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) ships
B) war-horses
C) money
D) the viewless wings of Poesy
Ans: D) the viewless wings of Poesy
11. The phrase “viewless wings of Poesy” refers to: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) political power
B) imagination/poetic flight
C) legal authority
D) scientific instruments
Ans: B) imagination/poetic flight
12. The “embalmed darkness” scene emphasizes: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) clear daylight realism
B) comedy and satire
C) rich sensory experience (smell/sound) in the dark
D) industrial smoke
Ans: C) rich sensory experience (smell/sound) in the dark
13. “Darkling I listen” mainly means: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) listening in the dark
B) listening in a courtroom
C) listening with anger
D) listening on a ship
Ans: A) listening in the dark
14. The speaker says he has been “half in love with”: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) victory
B) wealth
C) fame
D) easeful Death
Ans: D) easeful Death
15. The poem strongly contrasts the bird’s song with human: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) laws
B) mortality and pain
C) engineering
D) business plans
Ans: B) mortality and pain
16. The line “Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies” highlights: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) political triumph
B) religious conversion
C) the inevitability of aging and death
D) comic exaggeration
Ans: C) the inevitability of aging and death
17. “Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards” uses a reference to: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) Greek/Roman mythology
B) medieval history
C) industrial Britain
D) courtroom practice
Ans: A) Greek/Roman mythology
18. The nightingale is called “immortal” mainly because: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) it never sleeps
B) it lives 1000 years
C) it rules a kingdom
D) its song seems timeless across generations
Ans: D) its song seems timeless across generations
19. The poem includes the biblical figure “Ruth” to suggest: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) Roman politics
B) exile/solitude and ancient listening
C) factory work
D) courtroom verdict
Ans: B) exile/solitude and ancient listening
20. “Charm’d magic casements” open on: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) perilous seas in faery lands forlorn
B) London streets
C) courtroom benches
D) factories and mills
Ans: A) perilous seas in faery lands forlorn
21. The word “Forlorn!” is described as: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) like a drum
B) like a trumpet
C) like a bell that tolls him back
D) like a fire
Ans: C) like a bell that tolls him back
22. The ending question “Do I wake or sleep?” suggests: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) a solved mystery
B) a political speech
C) a scientific proof
D) uncertainty between vision and reality
Ans: D) uncertainty between vision and reality
23. The poem’s structure is: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) eight stanzas of ten lines each
B) a 14-line sonnet
C) a five-act play
D) an epic in cantos
Ans: A) eight stanzas of ten lines each
24. The poem was written in: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) 1798
B) 1819
C) 1832
D) 1850
Ans: B) 1819
25. The poem was first published (first appearance) in: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) Lyrical Ballads
B) The Morning Post
C) Sibylline Leaves
D) Annals of the Fine Arts (July 1819)
Ans: D) Annals of the Fine Arts (July 1819)
26. The speaker says “Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!” which is an example of: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) understatement
B) irony about laws
C) apostrophe (direct address)
D) courtroom narration
Ans: C) apostrophe (direct address)
27. The central movement of the poem is from: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) numbness → imaginative flight → return to reality
B) comedy → satire → politics
C) war → victory → coronation
D) science → experiment → result
Ans: A) numbness → imaginative flight → return to reality
28. “Lethe” in the poem is associated with: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) law courts
B) forgetfulness (river of oblivion)
C) money
D) sea trade
Ans: B) forgetfulness (river of oblivion)
29. “Hippocrene” refers to: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) a London street
B) a courtroom rule
C) a factory machine
D) a mythical fountain linked with poetic inspiration
Ans: D) a mythical fountain linked with poetic inspiration
30. The nightingale’s song is described as “full-throated,” stressing: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) mechanical sound
B) legal speech
C) natural abundance and richness
D) silence
Ans: C) natural abundance and richness
31. The poem’s mood is best described as: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) melancholic and meditative, with imaginative ecstasy
B) purely comic
C) strictly scientific
D) political and satirical
Ans: A) melancholic and meditative, with imaginative ecstasy
32. “Fancy cannot cheat so well” implies that imagination: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) always wins permanently
B) has no power
C) is more reliable than reality
D) cannot sustain escape forever
Ans: D) cannot sustain escape forever
33. The poem’s key Romantic theme is the tension between: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) law and punishment
B) transience of life and permanence of art/song
C) factory and farm
D) comedy and satire
Ans: B) transience of life and permanence of art/song
34. The phrase “sole self” refers to: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) the bird’s nest
B) a king’s identity
C) the speaker’s individual human reality
D) a legal contract
Ans: C) the speaker’s individual human reality
35. The poem is an example of: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) lyric ode
B) mock-epic
C) Restoration comedy
D) Victorian novel
Ans: A) lyric ode
36. The “murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves” is an example of: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) legal jargon
B) industrial vocabulary
C) comic dialogue
D) sensory (auditory) imagery
Ans: D) sensory (auditory) imagery
37. “Now more than ever seems it rich to die” shows the speaker’s: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) desire for wealth
B) temptation toward death as release
C) political ambition
D) fear of nature
Ans: B) temptation toward death as release
38. The nightingale’s song is associated with historical continuity (emperor/clown). This suggests: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) the poem is a war report
B) birds live forever physically
C) the song repeats across time and cultures
D) London is the setting
Ans: C) the song repeats across time and cultures
39. The “faery lands forlorn” image belongs to the poem’s: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) Romantic medieval/magical imagination
B) strict realism
C) scientific reasoning
D) courtroom argument
Ans: A) Romantic medieval/magical imagination
40. The poem’s final movement occurs when the bird’s music: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) becomes louder and closer forever
B) turns into a speech
C) proves a scientific law
D) fades away, ending the vision
Ans: D) fades away, ending the vision
41. The line “Was it a vision, or a waking dream?” indicates: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) certainty about facts
B) blurred boundary between imagination and reality
C) political satire
D) legal conclusion
Ans: B) blurred boundary between imagination and reality
42. The poem is written in the period known as: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) Renaissance
B) Restoration
C) Romantic Age
D) Modernist Age
Ans: C) Romantic Age
43. Which is NOT a major element of the poem? (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) social satire of London factories
B) mortality and suffering
C) imaginative escape
D) beauty of birdsong
Ans: A) social satire of London factories
44. The “nightingale” here functions primarily as a: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) political leader
B) legal witness
C) scientific example
D) poetic symbol for transcendent art/nature
Ans: D) poetic symbol for transcendent art/nature
45. The poet tries to join the bird mainly through: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) money and travel
B) poetic imagination
C) political power
D) scientific experiment
Ans: B) poetic imagination
46. The speaker’s “drowsy numbness” is caused by: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) hatred for the bird
B) pure joy only
C) overwhelming empathy/poetic intoxication at the song
D) political defeat
Ans: C) overwhelming empathy/poetic intoxication at the song
47. The poem ends with: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) “Do I wake or sleep?”
B) “The child is father of the man”
C) “To be, or not to be”
D) “Time’s winged chariot”
Ans: A) “Do I wake or sleep?”
48. The poem’s central “turn back” from vision to reality happens when: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) the poet wins a prize
B) Bacchus arrives
C) a war begins
D) the word “Forlorn!” tolls him back
Ans: D) the word “Forlorn!” tolls him back
49. The poem’s overall form is best described as: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) epic narrative
B) ode (lyric meditation)
C) five-act tragedy
D) novel chapter
Ans: B) ode (lyric meditation)
50. The poem’s key effect is created by blending: (UGC NET; SET; PGTRB)
A) legal reasoning + science
B) satire + comedy
C) sensuous imagery + philosophical reflection on life/death
D) politics + history
Ans: C) sensuous imagery + philosophical reflection on life/death
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