History of English Literature – The Age of Chaucer – Important MCQs (UGC NET / SET / PGTRB)

History of English Literature – The Age of Chaucer – Exam Based MCQs

1. The Age of Chaucer roughly belongs to: (UGC NET / SET / PGTRB)

A) 14th century

B) 16th century

C) 18th century

D) 20th century

Ans: A) 14th century

2. Geoffrey Chaucer is often called the: (SET)

A) Father of English drama

B) Father of English poetry

C) Father of English novel

D) Father of satire

Ans: B) Father of English poetry

3. The language chiefly used by Chaucer in his major works is: (UGC NET)

A) Old English

B) Latin

C) Middle English

D) French only

Ans: C) Middle English

4. The most famous work of Chaucer is: (PGTRB)

A) Piers Plowman

B) Morte d’Arthur

C) The Faerie Queene

D) The Canterbury Tales

Ans: D) The Canterbury Tales

5. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of: (SET)

A) Ballads

B) Plays

C) Tales told by pilgrims

D) Sonnets

Ans: C) Tales told by pilgrims

6. The pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales are going to the shrine of: (UGC NET)

A) St. Thomas Becket

B) St. Peter

C) St. Augustine

D) St. Paul

Ans: A) St. Thomas Becket

7. The starting point of the pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales is: (PGTRB)

A) Oxford

B) The Tabard Inn, Southwark

C) London Bridge

D) Canterbury Cathedral

Ans: B) The Tabard Inn, Southwark

8. The host of the Tabard Inn is: (SET)

A) Harry Bailly

B) Absolon

C) Arcite

D) Pandarus

Ans: A) Harry Bailly

9. The General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales is important because it: (UGC NET)

A) Ends the poem

B) Introduces the pilgrims vividly

C) Contains only moral lessons

D) Is written in prose only

Ans: B) Introduces the pilgrims vividly

10. Chaucer is called a representative poet because he: (PGTRB)

A) Wrote only religious poems

B) Represented many classes of medieval society

C) Avoided realism

D) Wrote only for nobles

Ans: B) Represented many classes of medieval society

11. The dominant verse form used by Chaucer in much of The Canterbury Tales is: (SET)

A) Blank verse

B) Heroic couplet

C) Spenserian stanza

D) Free verse

Ans: B) Heroic couplet

12. Chaucer’s age is also known for the growth of: (UGC NET)

A) Elizabethan drama

B) Romantic lyric

C) Middle English literature

D) Modernist poetry

Ans: C) Middle English literature

13. One major contemporary of Chaucer was: (PGTRB)

A) John Milton

B) William Langland

C) Alexander Pope

D) John Dryden

Ans: B) William Langland

14. William Langland is associated with: (SET)

A) Piers Plowman

B) Troilus and Criseyde

C) Morte d’Arthur

D) Everyman

Ans: A) Piers Plowman

15. Piers Plowman is mainly a: (UGC NET)

A) Mock-epic

B) Dream allegory

C) Tragedy

D) Historical chronicle

Ans: B) Dream allegory

16. Another important literary figure of the age is: (PGTRB)

A) William Shakespeare

B) John Gower

C) Ben Jonson

D) Thomas Hardy

Ans: B) John Gower

17. John Gower wrote: (SET)

A) Confessio Amantis

B) Utopia

C) Doctor Faustus

D) The Shepheardes Calender

Ans: A) Confessio Amantis

18. Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde is based on a story of: (UGC NET)

A) Arthurian legend

B) Trojan love and war

C) Biblical history

D) Roman politics

Ans: B) Trojan love and war

19. Chaucer’s House of Fame is an example of: (PGTRB)

A) Ballad

B) Dream vision poem

C) Morality play

D) Pastoral elegy

Ans: B) Dream vision poem

20. The Parliament of Fowls is notable for: (SET)

A) Scientific prose

B) Bird allegory and debate on love

C) War song

D) Religious sermon

Ans: B) Bird allegory and debate on love

21. Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women deals with: (UGC NET)

A) Saints only

B) Famous virtuous women from legend/history

C) Kings of England

D) Monastic life

Ans: B) Famous virtuous women from legend/history

22. The Age of Chaucer is historically marked by events like: (PGTRB)

A) The Norman Conquest and Beowulf period

B) The Renaissance and Reformation

C) The Black Death and Peasants’ Revolt

D) The Industrial Revolution

Ans: C) The Black Death and Peasants’ Revolt

23. A major social feature of the Age of Chaucer was: (SET)

A) Complete social equality

B) Feudal society in transition

C) Modern democracy

D) Industrial capitalism

Ans: B) Feudal society in transition

24. Chaucer is admired for his: (UGC NET)

A) Psychological realism and humor

B) Pure religious fanaticism

C) Strict classical imitation only

D) Absence of characterization

Ans: A) Psychological realism and humor

25. Chaucer’s Prologue portraits are notable for: (PGTRB)

A) Abstract moral preaching only

B) Lively characterization and irony

C) Pure mythology

D) Scientific objectivity

Ans: B) Lively characterization and irony

26. The Wife of Bath is one of Chaucer’s most famous: (SET)

A) Narrators and characters

B) Kings

C) Priests

D) Translators

Ans: A) Narrators and characters

27. The Pardoner’s Tale is mainly about: (UGC NET)

A) Courtly love

B) Greed as the root of evil

C) Farming life

D) Heroic battle

Ans: B) Greed as the root of evil

28. “Radix malorum est cupiditas” means: (PGTRB)

A) Love conquers all

B) Time and tide wait for none

C) Truth is beauty

D) The root of evil is greed

Ans: D) The root of evil is greed

29. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is best described as a: (SET)

A) Beast fable

B) Revenge tragedy

C) Lyric ode

D) Chronicle history

Ans: A) Beast fable

30. Which tale is associated with chivalric romance? (UGC NET)

A) The Miller’s Tale

B) The Knight’s Tale

C) The Pardoner’s Tale

D) The Reeve’s Tale

Ans: B) The Knight’s Tale

31. The Miller’s Tale is an example of: (PGTRB)

A) Fabliau

B) Epic

C) Morality play

D) Ballad

Ans: A) Fabliau

32. A fabliau is usually: (SET)

A) A solemn religious hymn

B) A short comic tale, often coarse and realistic

C) A heroic epic

D) A pastoral elegy

Ans: B) A short comic tale, often coarse and realistic

33. Chaucer borrowed much from: (UGC NET)

A) Italian and French literature

B) Sanskrit drama only

C) Russian novels

D) Modernist poetry

Ans: A) Italian and French literature

34. One important Italian influence on Chaucer was: (PGTRB)

A) Boccaccio

B) Virgil

C) Aristotle

D) Sophocles

Ans: A) Boccaccio

35. Chaucer is important in literary history because he helped establish: (SET)

A) Latin as literary language

B) English as a major literary language

C) Greek drama in England

D) Free verse tradition

Ans: B) English as a major literary language

36. The age is called “The Age of Chaucer” because: (UGC NET)

A) He was the only writer

B) He dominated the literary spirit of the period

C) He founded a university

D) He was a king

Ans: B) He dominated the literary spirit of the period

37. Which work belongs to Chaucer? (PGTRB)

A) The Book of the Duchess

B) Doctor Faustus

C) Astrophil and Stella

D) Lycidas

Ans: A) The Book of the Duchess

38. The Book of the Duchess is mainly: (SET)

A) A dream elegy

B) A morality play

C) A satire on church

D) A beast fable

Ans: A) A dream elegy

39. The prose work associated with the age is mainly represented by: (UGC NET)

A) Wycliffe and the Bible translation movement

B) Bacon’s essays

C) Defoe’s journalism

D) Swift’s pamphlets

Ans: A) Wycliffe and the Bible translation movement

40. John Wycliffe is important because he is associated with: (PGTRB)

A) English Bible translation

B) Epic theatre

C) Romantic poetry

D) Metaphysical conceits

Ans: A) English Bible translation

41. Chaucer’s humor is best described as: (SET)

A) Bitter and destructive only

B) Humane and ironic

C) Entirely absent

D) Pure slapstick

Ans: B) Humane and ironic

42. Chaucer’s characters are memorable because they are: (UGC NET)

A) Flat allegorical abstractions only

B) Realistic, individualized, and socially rooted

C) Mythical gods

D) Entirely symbolic with no realism

Ans: B) Realistic, individualized, and socially rooted

43. The Age of Chaucer is part of: (PGTRB)

A) Old English literature

B) Middle English literature

C) Restoration literature

D) Modern literature

Ans: B) Middle English literature

44. Which pair is correctly matched? (SET)

A) Chaucer — The Canterbury Tales

B) Langland — Hamlet

C) Gower — Paradise Lost

D) Wycliffe — The Faerie Queene

Ans: A) Chaucer — The Canterbury Tales

45. The Age of Chaucer laid the foundation for: (UGC NET)

A) Later development of English poetry and prose

B) Only scientific prose

C) Only stage tragedy

D) Only metaphysical poetry

Ans: A) Later development of English poetry and prose

46. Chaucer’s contribution to versification includes: (PGTRB)

A) Popularizing decasyllabic line and couplet form

B) Inventing blank verse

C) Writing only prose

D) Rejecting meter

Ans: A) Popularizing decasyllabic line and couplet form

47. A key quality of Chaucer’s poetry is: (SET)

A) Dry abstraction

B) Variety of tone and genre

C) Complete seriousness only

D) Lack of observation

Ans: B) Variety of tone and genre

48. Which statement is TRUE about The Age of Chaucer? (UGC NET)

A) It belongs to the 18th century

B) It is dominated by Middle English writing and Chaucer’s genius

C) It is the age of Shakespearean drama

D) It is mainly a period of novels

Ans: B) It is dominated by Middle English writing and Chaucer’s genius

49. The Age of Chaucer is significant because it shows: (PGTRB)

A) Complete disappearance of religion

B) The flowering of English literature in a new national language

C) Only courtly Latin literature

D) The triumph of free verse

Ans: B) The flowering of English literature in a new national language

50. Which statement best describes The Age of Chaucer? (UGC NET)

A) It is the age of English epic drama

B) It is the early modern age of prose fiction

C) It is the medieval age centered on Chaucer, Middle English, and social realism

D) It is a purely religious age with no humor

Ans: C) It is the medieval age centered on Chaucer, Middle English, and social realism