G.M. Hopkins – “God’s Grandeur” – Exam Based MCQs
1. “God’s Grandeur” is written by: (UGC NET / SET / PGTRB)
A) Alfred Tennyson
B) Robert Browning
C) Gerard Manley Hopkins
D) Matthew Arnold
Ans: C) Gerard Manley Hopkins
2. “God’s Grandeur” is best classified as a: (SET)
A) Sonnet
B) Ballad
C) Ode
D) Elegy
Ans: A) Sonnet
3. The poem’s sonnet pattern is closest to: (UGC NET)
A) Shakespearean only (3 quatrains + couplet)
B) Spenserian stanza
C) Heroic couplets
D) Petrarchan/Italian (octave + sestet)
Ans: D) Petrarchan/Italian (octave + sestet)
4. A common Hopkins technique strongly present in the poem is: (PGTRB)
A) Stream of consciousness
B) Sprung rhythm
C) Dramatic monologue
D) Blank-verse epic
Ans: B) Sprung rhythm
5. The poem opens with the statement that the world is charged with: (SET)
A) The grandeur of God
B) Political power
C) Industrial wealth
D) Human glory alone
Ans: A) The grandeur of God
6. “It will flame out, like shining from shook foil” is an example of: (UGC NET)
A) Litotes
B) Paradox only
C) Simile
D) Allegory
Ans: C) Simile
7. “Shook foil” mainly suggests: (PGTRB)
A) A dull stone surface
B) An animal’s fur
C) A torn book page
D) Sudden flashes of reflected light
Ans: D) Sudden flashes of reflected light
8. The poem criticizes humans for: (SET)
A) Too much prayer
B) Treading and trading until nature is “seared”
C) Loving nature too much
D) Rejecting language
Ans: B) Treading and trading until nature is “seared”
9. The line “And all is seared with trade” mainly expresses: (UGC NET)
A) Industrial/commerce damage to nature
B) Joyful marketplace celebration
C) A love letter
D) Military victory
Ans: A) Industrial/commerce damage to nature
10. Hopkins is often linked with the concepts of: (PGTRB)
A) Objective correlative
B) Stream of consciousness
C) Inscape and instress
D) Neoclassical decorum
Ans: C) Inscape and instress
11. In general, “inscape” refers to: (SET)
A) Political ideology
B) A strict rhyme scheme
C) A narrative plot
D) The unique inner pattern/essence of a thing
Ans: D) The unique inner pattern/essence of a thing
12. In general, “instress” refers to: (UGC NET)
A) A comic device
B) The force that holds/presses inscape on the mind
C) A type of stanza
D) A mythological character
Ans: B) The force that holds/presses inscape on the mind
13. The poem uses strong sound patterns such as: (PGTRB)
A) Alliteration and internal rhyme
B) Only end-rhyme couplets
C) Only free verse
D) Only prose rhythm
Ans: A) Alliteration and internal rhyme
14. “Generations have trod, have trod, have trod” is mainly: (SET)
A) Understatement
B) Irony
C) Repetition for emphasis
D) Euphemism
Ans: C) Repetition for emphasis
15. The phrase “smudge and share man’s smell” suggests: (UGC NET)
A) Nature is perfectly clean always
B) The sea is frozen
C) Love is victorious
D) Human pollution/defilement of the natural world
Ans: D) Human pollution/defilement of the natural world
16. The poem ultimately argues that nature is NOT permanently ruined because: (SET)
A) Humans never harm it
B) “There lives the dearest freshness deep down things”
C) Machines will fix it instantly
D) Trade is always holy
Ans: B) “There lives the dearest freshness deep down things”
17. The central tone of the poem combines: (PGTRB)
A) Complaint + hope
B) Only comedy
C) Only pessimism
D) Only romance
Ans: A) Complaint + hope
18. The poem’s “volta” (turn) occurs: (UGC NET)
A) After line 2
B) Only at the last word
C) After the octave (around line 9)
D) There is no turn at all
Ans: C) After the octave (around line 9)
19. The image of “ooze of oil / crushed” suggests: (SET)
A) A wedding feast
B) A playful dance
C) A peaceful meadow
D) Pressed richness and sudden release of energy
Ans: D) Pressed richness and sudden release of energy
20. Hopkins was a: (PGTRB)
A) Romantic poet
B) Victorian poet and Jesuit priest
C) Metaphysical poet of the 1600s
D) Modernist novelist
Ans: B) Victorian poet and Jesuit priest
21. The phrase “the Holy Ghost” appears with imagery of: (SET)
A) Brooding with bright wings
B) Laughing in a market
C) Riding a horse
D) Holding a sword
Ans: A) Brooding with bright wings
22. “Broods” in the last lines most suggests: (UGC NET)
A) Angry shouting
B) Mechanical movement
C) Protective, nurturing presence
D) Political propaganda
Ans: C) Protective, nurturing presence
23. “And for all this, nature is never spent” implies: (PGTRB)
A) Nature is finished and dead
B) Nature cannot be described
C) Nature is only human-made
D) Nature’s renewing power persists despite damage
Ans: D) Nature’s renewing power persists despite damage
24. The poem contrasts “seared” human activity with: (SET)
A) Courtroom laws
B) A deep freshness still alive in creation
C) A war victory parade
D) A comic theatre scene
Ans: B) A deep freshness still alive in creation
25. The overall theme of “God’s Grandeur” is: (UGC NET)
A) God’s presence in nature despite human destruction
B) A love triangle story
C) A political manifesto
D) A travel diary
Ans: A) God’s presence in nature despite human destruction
26. The poem’s language is notable for: (PGTRB)
A) Plain diary prose
B) Simple nursery rhymes
C) Unusual compound words and compressed syntax
D) Only Latin throughout
Ans: C) Unusual compound words and compressed syntax
27. The poem uses “electric” imagery mainly to express: (SET)
A) Farming season
B) Wedding joy
C) War propaganda
D) Divine energy suddenly revealing itself
Ans: D) Divine energy suddenly revealing itself
28. “Why do men then now not reck his rod?” mainly asks: (UGC NET)
A) Why men study science
B) Why humans ignore God’s authority/power
C) Why birds migrate
D) Why trade is necessary
Ans: B) Why humans ignore God’s authority/power
29. The poem’s main conflict is between: (PGTRB)
A) Human exploitation vs divine/natural renewal
B) Two lovers
C) Two kings
D) Two armies
Ans: A) Human exploitation vs divine/natural renewal
30. Hopkins is famous for creating: (SET)
A) Heroic couplets as a rule
B) Epic novels
C) Sprung rhythm and intense sound patterns
D) Restoration comedy
Ans: C) Sprung rhythm and intense sound patterns
31. “Crust” in the poem most likely implies: (UGC NET)
A) A cake recipe
B) A courtroom witness
C) A river bank only
D) The earth’s surface hardened/marked by labor
Ans: D) The earth’s surface hardened/marked by labor
32. The poem’s religious view is MOST consistent with: (PGTRB)
A) Total atheism
B) Christian theology (God + Holy Ghost)
C) Pure political ideology
D) Myth-only paganism
Ans: B) Christian theology (God + Holy Ghost)
33. The poem’s imagery moves from: (SET)
A) Human damage → divine renewal/hope
B) Love → jealousy
C) War → victory
D) Comedy → tragedy only
Ans: A) Human damage → divine renewal/hope
34. “Bare now, nor can foot feel” implies: (UGC NET)
A) Feet have wings
B) Nature is louder
C) Humans are disconnected from the earth
D) The earth is frozen forever
Ans: C) Humans are disconnected from the earth
35. Hopkins’s style in this poem is MOST known for: (PGTRB)
A) Simple conversational prose
B) Only long narrative storytelling
C) No sound devices
D) Dense musicality (alliteration, assonance, sprung rhythm)
Ans: D) Dense musicality (alliteration, assonance, sprung rhythm)
36. Which pair is correctly associated with Hopkins criticism? (SET)
A) Objective correlative – Eliot
B) Inscape – Hopkins
C) Dramatic monologue – Keats
D) Pastoral elegy – Pope
Ans: B) Inscape – Hopkins
37. The poem’s “freshness” line supports the idea of: (UGC NET)
A) Regeneration and resilience in nature
B) Total emptiness in the world
C) Pure industrial victory
D) A detective plot twist
Ans: A) Regeneration and resilience in nature
38. “God’s Grandeur” is often read as a response to: (PGTRB)
A) Medieval chivalry
B) Pure romantic love
C) Industrialization’s harm to nature
D) Renaissance painting only
Ans: C) Industrialization’s harm to nature
39. The “rod” in “reck his rod” most likely symbolizes: (SET)
A) A fishing tool
B) A flute
C) A pen
D) Authority / divine power
Ans: D) Authority / divine power
40. Hopkins is sometimes described as a precursor to: (UGC NET)
A) Restoration drama
B) Modern poetic experimentation
C) Medieval mystery plays
D) Classical epic only
Ans: B) Modern poetic experimentation
41. The poem’s final image is primarily: (SET)
A) The Holy Ghost over the bent world with bright wings
B) A king’s palace
C) A battlefield
D) A wedding banquet
Ans: A) The Holy Ghost over the bent world with bright wings
42. The phrase “Have trod” repeated mainly conveys: (PGTRB)
A) Nature’s laughter
B) A legal judgment
C) Long, continuous human impact across time
D) A single moment’s action only
Ans: C) Long, continuous human impact across time
43. In the poem, “nature is never spent” most nearly equals: (UGC NET)
A) Nature cannot be seen
B) Nature is always dirty
C) Nature is purely human-made
D) Nature’s energy renews itself again and again
Ans: D) Nature’s energy renews itself again and again
44. The poem’s diction (seared, smeared, smudge, smell) creates a sense of: (SET)
A) Pure celebration
B) Stain/defilement and human corruption
C) Comic fun
D) Romantic courtship
Ans: B) Stain/defilement and human corruption
45. A major theme of the poem is: (PGTRB)
A) Divine immanence (God present in the world)
B) Political revolution
C) Pure escapist fantasy
D) Court satire
Ans: A) Divine immanence (God present in the world)
46. Hopkins’s “sprung rhythm” mainly emphasizes: (UGC NET)
A) Equal syllable count every line
B) Only rhyme, not stress
C) Strong stresses (beats) rather than fixed syllables
D) No rhythm at all
Ans: C) Strong stresses (beats) rather than fixed syllables
47. “God’s Grandeur” is NOT mainly about: (SET)
A) God’s power in creation
B) Human damage to nature
C) Nature’s renewal
D) A literal historical battle narrative
Ans: D) A literal historical battle narrative
48. The structure “octave + sestet” suggests the poem has: (PGTRB)
A) 12 lines
B) 14 lines
C) 16 lines
D) 10 lines
Ans: B) 14 lines
49. Hopkins’s poetry is known for “compression,” meaning: (UGC NET)
A) Packed meaning with condensed syntax and sound
B) Very long simple sentences
C) Only plain everyday speech
D) No imagery
Ans: A) Packed meaning with condensed syntax and sound
50. Which statement is TRUE about “God’s Grandeur”? (UGC NET)
A) It is a comedy play
B) It is a pastoral epic of 12 books
C) It is a short story in prose
D) It is a religious sonnet mixing critique of industry with hope of renewal
Ans: D) It is a religious sonnet mixing critique of industry with hope of renewal
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