Matthew Arnold – Dover Beach – Exam Based MCQs
1. “Dover Beach” is written by: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Alfred Tennyson
B) Matthew Arnold
C) Robert Browning
D) Thomas Hardy
Ans: B) Matthew Arnold
2. “Dover Beach” was first published in: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) 1832
B) 1842
C) 1859
D) 1867
Ans: D) 1867
3. The poem is usually associated with the: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Victorian Age
B) Renaissance
C) Restoration
D) Modernist Age
Ans: A) Victorian Age
4. The opening setting is at: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Lake District
B) London
C) Dover (English Channel coast)
D) Scotland
Ans: C) Dover (English Channel coast)
5. “The sea is calm tonight” mainly creates a mood of: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Violent excitement
B) Quiet beauty that soon turns uneasy
C) Comic celebration
D) Political anger
Ans: B) Quiet beauty that soon turns uneasy
6. The poem asks the beloved to: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Leave the shore immediately
B) Fight a battle
C) Write a letter
D) “Come to the window”
Ans: D) “Come to the window”
7. The “grating roar” refers to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Waves dragging pebbles on the shore
B) A city factory
C) Cannons in war
D) Train engines
Ans: A) Waves dragging pebbles on the shore
8. A key sound device in “grating roar” is: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Pun
B) Metonymy
C) Auditory imagery
D) Allegory only
Ans: C) Auditory imagery
9. The poem mentions an ancient Greek writer: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) Homer
B) Plato
C) Aristotle
D) Sophocles
Ans: D) Sophocles
10. Sophocles heard a similar sound on the: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) River Thames
B) Aegean Sea
C) Atlantic Ocean
D) Red Sea
Ans: B) Aegean Sea
11. The sound of the sea is linked with: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Pure joy
B) Comic relief
C) “The eternal note of sadness”
D) A patriotic anthem
Ans: C) “The eternal note of sadness”
12. “Sea of Faith” is a metaphor for: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Religious faith (once full, now withdrawing)
B) Fishing economy
C) Tourism
D) Naval power
Ans: A) Religious faith (once full, now withdrawing)
13. The “Sea of Faith” is described as having a: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Joyful roar
B) Golden silence
C) Thunderous laughter
D) “melancholy, long, withdrawing roar”
Ans: D) “melancholy, long, withdrawing roar”
14. The poem’s central theme is primarily: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Triumph of empire
B) Loss of certainty/faith in the modern world
C) Celebration of rural harvest
D) Mythological heroism
Ans: B) Loss of certainty/faith in the modern world
15. “Ah, love, let us be true / To one another!” suggests: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Love is impossible
B) Love is only a joke
C) Personal love as a refuge in a troubled world
D) Love is a political movement
Ans: C) Personal love as a refuge in a troubled world
16. The phrase “a land of dreams” is presented as: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) An illusion—appearing beautiful but lacking real joy/love/light
B) A perfect paradise
C) A travel brochure
D) A medieval legend
Ans: A) An illusion—appearing beautiful but lacking real joy/love/light
17. The poem ends with the image of: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) A sunny meadow
B) A wedding feast
C) A peaceful church
D) “ignorant armies” clashing by night
Ans: D) “ignorant armies” clashing by night
18. “darkling plain” most nearly suggests: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) A bright playground
B) Confusion and uncertainty in the modern world
C) A sea voyage
D) A royal palace
Ans: B) Confusion and uncertainty in the modern world
19. The tone of the poem is mainly: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Melancholic and reflective
B) Purely comic
C) Only celebratory
D) Only heroic
Ans: A) Melancholic and reflective
20. The poem’s form is best described as: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Strict sonnet
B) Heroic couplets throughout
C) Lyric with irregular rhyme/variable line lengths
D) Epic in blank verse only
Ans: C) Lyric with irregular rhyme/variable line lengths
21. The speaker addresses: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) A king
B) A political crowd
C) A soldier
D) A beloved/companion
Ans: D) A beloved/companion
22. The poem’s setting is at night with: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) The sun blazing overhead
B) The moon lying fair upon the straits
C) Snow falling heavily
D) A storm already raging in the first line
Ans: B) The moon lying fair upon the straits
23. In the opening, the speaker notes lights on the French coast that: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Never move
B) Grow brighter all night
C) “Gleams and is gone”
D) Turn into a lighthouse poem
Ans: C) “Gleams and is gone”
24. The poem’s movement shifts from description to: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Meditation on human faith and modern life
B) A detective plot
C) A mythological story
D) A comic dialogue
Ans: A) Meditation on human faith and modern life
25. “The world … hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light” expresses: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Complete optimism
B) Comic exaggeration
C) National pride
D) Spiritual/modern disillusionment
Ans: D) Spiritual/modern disillusionment
26. A major poetic device in “Sea of Faith” is: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Onomatopoeia only
B) Extended metaphor
C) Hyperlink
D) Stage direction
Ans: B) Extended metaphor
27. The “withdrawing” of the Sea of Faith implies: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Decline of religious certainty
B) Growth of superstition
C) Arrival of a king
D) Return of medieval chivalry
Ans: A) Decline of religious certainty
28. The poem’s final simile compares the world to: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) A garden in spring
B) A glowing temple
C) A quiet library
D) A dark plain with armies clashing at night
Ans: D) A dark plain with armies clashing at night
29. The poem suggests that in a faithless world, the best hope is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Empire and conquest
B) Wealth and luxury
C) Truth and fidelity between lovers
D) Total isolation
Ans: C) Truth and fidelity between lovers
30. “Dover Beach” is often read as a poem of: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Religious doubt and modern anxiety
B) Pastoral celebration
C) War propaganda
D) Satire on parliament
Ans: A) Religious doubt and modern anxiety
31. The first part of the poem mainly uses: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Scientific equations
B) Mythic genealogy
C) Political slogans
D) Visual + auditory imagery of sea and shore
Ans: D) Visual + auditory imagery of sea and shore
32. The phrase “moon-blanched land” suggests: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Bright noon sunlight
B) Pale whiteness under moonlight
C) Desert sandstorm
D) Firelight in a hall
Ans: B) Pale whiteness under moonlight
33. The shift from calm sea to “turbid ebb and flow” indicates: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Inner disturbance beneath outward beauty
B) A fishing lesson
C) A comic turn
D) A historical summary only
Ans: A) Inner disturbance beneath outward beauty
34. The poem’s perspective is mainly: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Third-person omniscient
B) Purely objective, no feelings
C) First-person speaker addressing “love”
D) Chorus of many speakers
Ans: C) First-person speaker addressing “love”
35. The poem’s concluding mood is best described as: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Pure joy and certainty
B) Light humour
C) Celebration of faith’s return
D) Bleak uncertainty with a plea for human loyalty
Ans: D) Bleak uncertainty with a plea for human loyalty
36. A key contrast in the poem is between: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Summer and winter
B) Beautiful appearance and harsh reality
C) Rich and poor only
D) City and village only
Ans: B) Beautiful appearance and harsh reality
37. “Listen!” is an example of: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Apostrophe/Direct address urging attention
B) Oxymoron
C) Litotes
D) Paradox only
Ans: A) Apostrophe/Direct address urging attention
38. The poem suggests modern life is like a battlefield because: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Everyone becomes a soldier literally
B) Britain is invading France
C) People struggle blindly without clear truth/faith
D) The sea is full of ships
Ans: C) People struggle blindly without clear truth/faith
39. “Sophocles long ago” mainly functions as: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Comic parody
B) A scientific reference
C) A political warning
D) A historical/literary allusion showing sadness is timeless
Ans: D) A historical/literary allusion showing sadness is timeless
40. The “Sea of Faith” was once like a: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Burning forest
B) “bright girdle furled” around the world
C) Stone wall
D) City highway
Ans: B) “bright girdle furled” around the world
41. “Dover Beach” is most accurately called a: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Ballad of folk heroes
B) Epic of war
C) Lyric meditation (often read as dramatic monologue)
D) Satirical newspaper column
Ans: C) Lyric meditation (often read as dramatic monologue)
42. The speaker’s plea “be true” emphasizes: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Fidelity and honesty amid uncertainty
B) Military loyalty to a king
C) Trade loyalty to merchants
D) A strict religious ritual
Ans: A) Fidelity and honesty amid uncertainty
43. The poem’s imagery of retreating faith resembles: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Rising mountain
B) Growing fire
C) Expanding city
D) A tide withdrawing from shore
Ans: D) A tide withdrawing from shore
44. The poem connects nature’s sound to human history to show: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Nature is always cheerful
B) Human sorrow repeats across ages
C) Nature causes wars directly
D) The sea is made of sand
Ans: B) Human sorrow repeats across ages
45. The phrase “naked shingles of the world” suggests: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Bare exposure after faith retreats
B) A luxury roof
C) A comic costume
D) A royal crown
Ans: A) Bare exposure after faith retreats
46. The poem’s meaning is strengthened mainly by the contrast of: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Comedy and slapstick
B) War and sport
C) Calm surface and underlying despair
D) School and office
Ans: C) Calm surface and underlying despair
47. Which line best expresses the speaker’s final warning about the world? (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) “The sea is calm tonight.”
B) “Come to the window.”
C) “The tide is full.”
D) “Where ignorant armies clash by night.”
Ans: D) “Where ignorant armies clash by night.”
48. “Dover Beach” is often studied for its: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Simple fairy-tale plot
B) Crisis of faith and modern disillusionment
C) Celebration of industrial cities
D) Humorous satire on kings
Ans: B) Crisis of faith and modern disillusionment
49. The speaker’s argument finally suggests that the world without faith is: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Confused, unstable, and lacking certainty
B) Perfectly safe and bright
C) Completely silent
D) A joyful festival
Ans: A) Confused, unstable, and lacking certainty
50. The poem’s key message can be summarized as: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Nature guarantees happiness
B) Wealth solves all problems
C) Faith is retreating; only human love/truth offers comfort
D) War is glorious
Ans: C) Faith is retreating; only human love/truth offers comfort
Let me know your doubts