William Wordsworth – Preface to Lyrical Ballads – Exam Based MCQs
1. The “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” was written by: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) S. T. Coleridge
B) William Wordsworth
C) John Keats
D) Samuel Johnson
Ans: B) William Wordsworth
2. The Preface was composed for the ____ edition of Lyrical Ballads. (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) First (1798)
B) Fourth (1805)
C) Second (1800)
D) Fifth (1815)
Ans: C) Second (1800)
3. The Preface was greatly expanded in the edition of: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) 1802
B) 1791
C) 1819
D) 1832
Ans: A) 1802
4. In 1802 Wordsworth added an appendix titled: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) The Sublime
B) The Ancient Mariner
C) Dramatic Monologue
D) Poetic Diction
Ans: D) Poetic Diction
5. Wordsworth defines poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” which is: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) created by strict rules
B) recollected in tranquillity
C) written only for kings
D) always epic and long
Ans: B) recollected in tranquillity
6. The Preface is often regarded as a manifesto of: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Romanticism
B) Restoration comedy
C) Neo-classicism only
D) Victorian realism
Ans: A) Romanticism
7. Wordsworth’s main aim was to choose “incidents and situations from”: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) royal courts
B) mythological wars
C) common life
D) scientific laboratories
Ans: C) common life
8. Wordsworth says he used a “selection of language really used by”: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) scholars only
B) kings only
C) angels
D) men
Ans: D) men
9. Wordsworth chose “humble and rustic life” because in that condition: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) essential passions of the heart find a simpler expression
B) people speak only in Latin
C) imagination is impossible
D) nature is absent
Ans: A) essential passions of the heart find a simpler expression
10. Wordsworth wanted to throw over common life “a certain colouring of”: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) satire
B) imagination
C) propaganda
D) mathematics
Ans: B) imagination
11. The Preface attacks “poetic diction” as: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) necessary for every poem
B) the only true language
C) a divine command
D) artificial and over-ornamented
Ans: D) artificial and over-ornamented
12. According to Wordsworth, the Poet is chiefly: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) a warrior
B) a court historian
C) a man speaking to men
D) a machine-like recorder
Ans: C) a man speaking to men
13. Wordsworth says the poet has: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) more lively sensibility and more enthusiasm than common people
B) no feelings at all
C) only scientific training
D) only aristocratic birth
Ans: A) more lively sensibility and more enthusiasm than common people
14. Wordsworth insists that poetry should give: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) only fear
B) pleasure
C) only hatred
D) only boredom
Ans: B) pleasure
15. The Preface argues that poetry is closely allied to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) chemistry
B) military strategy
C) banking
D) the heart / human passions
Ans: D) the heart / human passions
16. Wordsworth claims there is no essential difference between the language of: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) prose and metrical composition (in good writing)
B) poetry and algebra
C) drama and law
D) epic and science
Ans: A) prose and metrical composition (in good writing)
17. Wordsworth rejects personifications of abstract ideas as an “ordinary device” to: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) simplify meaning
B) increase realism
C) elevate style above prose
D) shorten poems
Ans: C) elevate style above prose
18. The Preface emphasises that poetry should represent: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) only kings and heroes
B) ordinary life and common emotions
C) only mythology
D) only city life
Ans: B) ordinary life and common emotions
19. Wordsworth’s poetic theory opposes the 18th-century stress on: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) imagination
B) simplicity
C) nature
D) artificial ornament and rigid rules
Ans: D) artificial ornament and rigid rules
20. Wordsworth says poetry takes its origin from: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) emotion
B) pure logic
C) royal patronage
D) ancient mythology only
Ans: A) emotion
21. For Wordsworth, metre is important mainly because it: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) makes poems scientific
B) removes feeling
C) adds pleasure and helps regulate emotion
D) replaces meaning
Ans: C) adds pleasure and helps regulate emotion
22. Wordsworth values rustic language because it is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) full of courtly metaphors
B) always Latinised
C) only humorous
D) closer to real passions and lasting forms of nature
Ans: D) closer to real passions and lasting forms of nature
23. Wordsworth suggests that poetry should be understood as a form of: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) economic calculation
B) truth carried alive into the heart by passion
C) legal instruction
D) political propaganda only
Ans: B) truth carried alive into the heart by passion
24. The Preface defends the choice of “low and rustic life” as suitable for studying: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) the primary laws of our nature
B) court etiquette
C) naval warfare
D) industrial technology
Ans: A) the primary laws of our nature
25. Wordsworth argues that poetry is not limited to “poetic diction” but can use: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) only Greek words
B) only rare words
C) only religious words
D) a selection from real, everyday speech
Ans: D) a selection from real, everyday speech
26. The Preface is a blend of literary criticism and: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) poetic theory
B) detective plot
C) medical case study
D) war memoir
Ans: A) poetic theory
27. The Preface suggests that poetry should present ordinary things in: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) a purely scientific form
B) a courtroom language
C) an unusual aspect (through imagination)
D) a newspaper headline style
Ans: C) an unusual aspect (through imagination)
28. Wordsworth holds that the poet should have deeper knowledge of: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) chemistry
B) human nature
C) military tactics
D) astronomy only
Ans: B) human nature
29. The Preface implies that strong emotions in poetry should be: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) deleted completely
B) mocked
C) replaced by reason only
D) shaped and controlled through reflection and metre
Ans: D) shaped and controlled through reflection and metre
30. Wordsworth views poetry as having a closer connection to: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) feelings and emotions than to external action/plot
B) only grand heroic action
C) only political history
D) only satire
Ans: A) feelings and emotions than to external action/plot
31. Wordsworth’s Preface insists that good poetry can be written about: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) only gods and heroes
B) only city crowds
C) ordinary people and daily life
D) only kings and palaces
Ans: C) ordinary people and daily life
32. Wordsworth’s theory is most opposed to “gaudiness and inane phraseology” of: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Romantic poetry
B) much 18th-century “poetic diction”
C) folk songs
D) rustic speech
Ans: B) much 18th-century “poetic diction”
33. The Preface treats the poet as someone who can “rejoice more than other men” in: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) legal disputes
B) war victories
C) business profits
D) the spirit of life that is in everything
Ans: D) the spirit of life that is in everything
34. Wordsworth argues that poetry can be morally valuable because it: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) strengthens sympathy and enlarges the mind
B) teaches only arithmetic
C) removes all feeling
D) is written only for elites
Ans: A) strengthens sympathy and enlarges the mind
35. Wordsworth says that the poet’s purpose includes giving “immediate pleasure” and: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) destroying imagination
B) hiding truth
C) conveying truth and feeling
D) promoting luxury
Ans: C) conveying truth and feeling
36. “Emotion recollected in tranquillity” suggests poetry is created through: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) instant copying without thought
B) reflection on past feeling in a calm state
C) mechanical rule-following
D) political debate
Ans: B) reflection on past feeling in a calm state
37. The Preface suggests that poetry is more philosophic than: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) love
B) nature
C) music
D) ordinary prose writing on the same subject
Ans: D) ordinary prose writing on the same subject
38. According to Wordsworth, poetry is the “breath and finer spirit of”: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) all knowledge
B) war
C) trade
D) court ceremony
Ans: A) all knowledge
39. The Preface belongs to the tradition of: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) detective fiction
B) epic theatre
C) critical theory / literary criticism
D) gothic romance
Ans: C) critical theory / literary criticism
40. Wordsworth’s Preface is closely connected to the volume titled: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) The Rape of the Lock
B) Lyrical Ballads
C) Paradise Lost
D) Utopia
Ans: B) Lyrical Ballads
41. Wordsworth’s “selection of language” means: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) copying slang without choice
B) using only foreign words
C) using only ancient words
D) choosing simple, natural words suitable to feeling
Ans: D) choosing simple, natural words suitable to feeling
42. The Preface insists that poetry should explore: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) universal human emotions in natural settings
B) only royal genealogy
C) only scientific laws
D) only urban gossip
Ans: A) universal human emotions in natural settings
43. Wordsworth criticizes “poetic diction” because it often separates poetry from: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) rhyme
B) rhythm
C) real human speech and experience
D) imagination
Ans: C) real human speech and experience
44. Wordsworth believes that the poet’s feelings are: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) weaker than ordinary people’s
B) more intense and more durable
C) completely absent
D) purely artificial
Ans: B) more intense and more durable
45. In the Preface, Wordsworth links poetry strongly to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) stock markets
B) court politics
C) military conquest
D) nature and the common mind
Ans: D) nature and the common mind
46. The Preface argues that poetry can be a tool against the “degrading thirst” for: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) sensational stimulation and trivial excitement
B) moral sympathy
C) quiet contemplation
D) natural speech
Ans: A) sensational stimulation and trivial excitement
47. Wordsworth’s Preface is important mainly because it: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) is a legal defense
B) is a war report
C) explains new poetic principles of the Romantic age
D) is a medieval romance
Ans: C) explains new poetic principles of the Romantic age
48. The Preface argues that the best subject for poetry is: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) court intrigue
B) mythic battles
C) stock trading
D) ordinary life, feelings, and situations
Ans: D) ordinary life, feelings, and situations
49. The Preface is frequently used for exam questions because it contains Wordsworth’s: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) definition of poetry
B) autobiography of Milton
C) rules of epic war
D) theory of drama only
Ans: A) definition of poetry
50. Which statement is TRUE about the Preface? (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) It was written for the first edition (1798) only
B) It outlines Wordsworth’s poetic principles and rejects artificial poetic diction
C) It is a tragedy play by Wordsworth
D) It is a scientific treatise on astronomy
Ans: B) It outlines Wordsworth’s poetic principles and rejects artificial poetic diction
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