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History of English Literature – The Age of Dryden – Exam Based MCQs
1. The Age of Dryden roughly belongs to: (UGC NET / SET / PGTRB)
A) Early 15th century
B) Late 17th century
C) Early 19th century
D) Mid 20th century
Ans: B) Late 17th century
2. The Age of Dryden is also commonly known as the: (SET)
A) Romantic Age
B) Victorian Age
C) Restoration Age
D) Age of Chaucer
Ans: C) Restoration Age
3. The Restoration began in: (UGC NET)
A) 1642
B) 1660
C) 1688
D) 1700
Ans: B) 1660
4. The Restoration refers to the restoration of: (PGTRB)
A) Parliament only
B) The theatre only
C) Classical learning
D) The monarchy under Charles II
Ans: D) The monarchy under Charles II
5. The central literary figure of the age is: (SET)
A) John Milton
B) Alexander Pope
C) John Dryden
D) Jonathan Swift
Ans: C) John Dryden
6. John Dryden is important as a: (UGC NET)
A) Poet, dramatist, and critic
B) Novelist only
C) Essayist only
D) Ballad writer only
Ans: A) Poet, dramatist, and critic
7. The Age of Dryden is called so because Dryden: (PGTRB)
A) Was the only writer of the age
B) Dominated the literary spirit of the period
C) Founded the Royal Society
D) Wrote the first English novel
Ans: B) Dominated the literary spirit of the period
8. The age is marked by a movement toward: (SET)
A) Romantic imagination
B) Classicism and order
C) Medieval mysticism
D) Pure symbolism
Ans: B) Classicism and order
9. Dryden is often considered a precursor of the: (UGC NET)
A) Augustan age
B) Romantic age
C) Victorian age
D) Modern age
Ans: A) Augustan age
10. The dominant verse form of Dryden’s age was the: (PGTRB)
A) Blank verse
B) Spenserian stanza
C) Heroic couplet
D) Ballad stanza
Ans: C) Heroic couplet
11. A heroic couplet consists of: (SET)
A) Two rhymed iambic pentameter lines
B) Two unrhymed iambic pentameter lines
C) Four tetrameter lines
D) One octave and one sestet
Ans: A) Two rhymed iambic pentameter lines
12. Dryden’s famous critical essay is: (UGC NET)
A) Preface to Lyrical Ballads
B) An Essay of Dramatic Poesy
C) The Defence of Poesy
D) Biographia Literaria
Ans: B) An Essay of Dramatic Poesy
13. An Essay of Dramatic Poesy mainly discusses: (PGTRB)
A) The English novel
B) Drama and dramatic principles
C) Religious controversy
D) Pastoral poetry only
Ans: B) Drama and dramatic principles
14. Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel is mainly a: (SET)
A) Pastoral elegy
B) Religious hymn
C) Political satire
D) Comedy of manners
Ans: C) Political satire
15. Absalom and Achitophel uses Biblical names to comment on: (UGC NET)
A) The Trojan War
B) Contemporary English politics
C) Roman religion
D) Medieval pilgrimage
Ans: B) Contemporary English politics
16. Another major satirical poem by Dryden is: (PGTRB)
A) Lycidas
B) Mac Flecknoe
C) Tintern Abbey
D) Epipsychidion
Ans: B) Mac Flecknoe
17. Mac Flecknoe is a satire directed mainly against: (SET)
A) Thomas Shadwell
B) Alexander Pope
C) Ben Jonson
D) John Milton
Ans: A) Thomas Shadwell
18. Dryden’s Religio Laici is concerned with: (UGC NET)
A) Religious discussion
B) Love poetry
C) Dramatic theory
D) Heroic tragedy
Ans: A) Religious discussion
19. The Hind and the Panther is also mainly about: (PGTRB)
A) Rural life
B) Religion and doctrinal conflict
C) Chivalric romance
D) Sea voyages
Ans: B) Religion and doctrinal conflict
20. Dryden also gained great fame as a: (SET)
A) Translator
B) Scientist
C) Philosopher only
D) Novelist
Ans: A) Translator
21. Dryden translated works of: (UGC NET)
A) Virgil
B) Homer only
C) Dante only
D) Sophocles only
Ans: A) Virgil
22. The drama of Dryden’s age is especially noted for the rise of: (PGTRB)
A) Mystery plays
B) Restoration drama
C) Morality plays
D) Closet drama only
Ans: B) Restoration drama
23. Restoration drama became possible because: (SET)
A) Theatres reopened after 1660
B) Printing stopped
C) Puritans encouraged drama
D) Drama disappeared completely
Ans: A) Theatres reopened after 1660
24. One important form of Restoration drama is: (UGC NET)
A) Comedy of manners
B) Miracle play
C) Liturgical drama
D) Morality interlude
Ans: A) Comedy of manners
25. Comedy of manners mainly deals with: (PGTRB)
A) Rustic peasant life
B) Polite, fashionable society and its wit
C) Biblical history
D) Pastoral shepherds
Ans: B) Polite, fashionable society and its wit
26. One of the most famous writers of Restoration comedy is: (SET)
A) William Congreve
B) John Milton
C) Thomas Gray
D) George Eliot
Ans: A) William Congreve
27. William Congreve wrote: (UGC NET)
A) The Way of the World
B) Samson Agonistes
C) Paradise Lost
D) The Faerie Queene
Ans: A) The Way of the World
28. Another important dramatist of Restoration comedy is: (PGTRB)
A) William Wycherley
B) Christopher Marlowe
C) Ben Jonson
D) John Donne
Ans: A) William Wycherley
29. William Wycherley wrote: (SET)
A) The Country Wife
B) Volpone
C) Doctor Faustus
D) Comus
Ans: A) The Country Wife
30. Another important dramatist of the age is: (UGC NET)
A) John Webster
B) George Etherege
C) Thomas Kyd
D) Philip Sidney
Ans: B) George Etherege
31. Restoration heroic tragedy is associated with: (PGTRB)
A) Dryden
B) Wordsworth
C) Austen
D) Bunyan
Ans: A) Dryden
32. Dryden’s heroic play is: (SET)
A) All for Love
B) The Country Wife
C) The Way of the World
D) Every Man in His Humour
Ans: A) All for Love
33. All for Love is based on the story of: (UGC NET)
A) Hamlet and Ophelia
B) Antony and Cleopatra
C) Samson and Delilah
D) Adam and Eve
Ans: B) Antony and Cleopatra
34. Dryden was appointed Poet Laureate in: (PGTRB)
A) 1668
B) 1600
C) 1707
D) 1642
Ans: A) 1668
35. The literature of the age often values: (SET)
A) Restraint, clarity, and reason
B) Wild subjectivity only
C) Mystical obscurity only
D) Medieval allegory
Ans: A) Restraint, clarity, and reason
36. The prose style of the age became more: (UGC NET)
A) Ornate and obscure only
B) Clear, direct, and balanced
C) Entirely poetic
D) Mythological only
Ans: B) Clear, direct, and balanced
37. Samuel Butler belongs broadly to the age and is known for: (PGTRB)
A) Hudibras
B) The Pilgrim’s Progress
C) Paradise Regained
D) Religio Medici
Ans: A) Hudibras
38. Restoration literature was influenced by: (SET)
A) French neoclassical taste
B) Old English alliterative verse
C) Anglo-Saxon chronicles only
D) Pure medieval romance
Ans: A) French neoclassical taste
39. A major intellectual tendency of the age is: (UGC NET)
A) Irrational mysticism only
B) Rationalism and critical spirit
C) Pastoral escapism only
D) Primitive heroism
Ans: B) Rationalism and critical spirit
40. Which pair is correctly matched? (PGTRB)
A) Dryden — An Essay of Dramatic Poesy
B) Congreve — Paradise Lost
C) Wycherley — Samson Agonistes
D) Butler — The Country Wife
Ans: A) Dryden — An Essay of Dramatic Poesy
41. The Age of Dryden is important because it prepared the way for the: (SET)
A) Augustan age
B) Romantic age
C) Victorian age
D) Modern age
Ans: A) Augustan age
42. Dryden’s importance in criticism lies in his: (UGC NET)
A) Foundational role in English literary criticism
B) Rejection of all criticism
C) Purely romantic theory
D) Scientific method only
Ans: A) Foundational role in English literary criticism
43. The tone of much Restoration comedy is: (PGTRB)
A) Grave and tragic only
B) Witty, polished, and worldly
C) Mystical and symbolic
D) Rustic and pastoral
Ans: B) Witty, polished, and worldly
44. The period after the Puritan severity shows: (SET)
A) Return of court influence and social gaiety
B) Complete rejection of drama
C) Total disappearance of satire
D) Pure religious solemnity only
Ans: A) Return of court influence and social gaiety
45. Which statement is TRUE about the Age of Dryden? (UGC NET)
A) It is mainly an age of medieval allegory
B) It is marked by Restoration drama, satire, classicism, and Dryden’s leadership
C) It is the age of Shakespearean romance
D) It has no prose criticism
Ans: B) It is marked by Restoration drama, satire, classicism, and Dryden’s leadership
46. The Age of Dryden values literary qualities such as: (PGTRB)
A) Harmony, balance, and correctness
B) Wild emotionalism only
C) Fragmentation only
D) Medieval obscurity
Ans: A) Harmony, balance, and correctness
47. Dryden’s literary versatility is seen in his work as: (SET)
A) Poet, critic, dramatist, and translator
B) Novelist and biographer only
C) Short story writer only
D) Essayist only
Ans: A) Poet, critic, dramatist, and translator
48. Which statement best suits the Restoration spirit? (UGC NET)
A) Severe Puritan austerity only
B) Urbanity, wit, and social sophistication
C) Medieval mysticism
D) Romantic nature worship
Ans: B) Urbanity, wit, and social sophistication
49. Which statement best suits The Age of Dryden? (PGTRB)
A) It is an age of epic pastoralism
B) It is an age of satire, drama, criticism, and classical order
C) It is mainly an age of romantic lyric
D) It is the age of medieval dream allegory
Ans: B) It is an age of satire, drama, criticism, and classical order
50. Which statement best describes The Age of Dryden? (UGC NET)
A) It is the 14th-century age of Middle English poetry
B) It is the late 17th-century Restoration age centered on Dryden, satire, criticism, heroic couplets, and Restoration drama
C) It is the Renaissance age of Shakespearean theatre
D) It is the Romantic age of imagination and nature
Ans: B) It is the late 17th-century Restoration age centered on Dryden, satire, criticism, heroic couplets, and Restoration drama
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