History of English Literature – The Age of Milton – Exam Based MCQs
1. The Age of Milton roughly belongs to: (UGC NET / SET / PGTRB)
A) 14th century
B) 17th century
C) 18th century
D) 19th century
Ans: B) 17th century
2. The Age of Milton is also often called the: (SET)
A) Romantic Age
B) Victorian Age
C) Puritan Age
D) Augustan Age
Ans: C) Puritan Age
3. The central literary figure of this age is: (UGC NET)
A) John Donne
B) Alexander Pope
C) John Milton
D) William Wordsworth
Ans: C) John Milton
4. The age is called “The Age of Milton” because: (PGTRB)
A) Milton was a king
B) He was the only writer of the period
C) He dominated the literary spirit of the age
D) He wrote only prose
Ans: C) He dominated the literary spirit of the age
5. John Milton is best known as a: (SET)
A) Novelist
B) Poet and prose writer
C) Satirist only
D) Dramatist only
Ans: B) Poet and prose writer
6. Milton’s greatest epic is: (UGC NET)
A) Paradise Regained
B) Samson Agonistes
C) Comus
D) Paradise Lost
Ans: D) Paradise Lost
7. Paradise Lost is mainly based on: (PGTRB)
A) Greek mythology
B) The Bible
C) Roman history
D) Arthurian legend
Ans: B) The Bible
8. The central theme of Paradise Lost is: (SET)
A) Fall of Troy
B) Industrial society
C) Justifying the ways of God to men
D) Courtly love
Ans: C) Justifying the ways of God to men
9. Paradise Lost is written in: (UGC NET)
A) Heroic couplets
B) Blank verse
C) Free verse
D) Spenserian stanza
Ans: B) Blank verse
10. Blank verse means: (PGTRB)
A) Rhymed iambic pentameter
B) Unrhymed iambic pentameter
C) Free rhythm without meter
D) Rhymed tetrameter
Ans: B) Unrhymed iambic pentameter
11. Paradise Lost was first published in: (SET)
A) 1608
B) 1625
C) 1667
D) 1700
Ans: C) 1667
12. Paradise Lost was originally published in: (UGC NET)
A) 6 books
B) 8 books
C) 10 books
D) 12 books
Ans: C) 10 books
13. Later Paradise Lost was revised into: (PGTRB)
A) 8 books
B) 12 books
C) 14 books
D) 16 books
Ans: B) 12 books
14. Milton’s shorter companion epic is: (SET)
A) Lycidas
B) Comus
C) Paradise Regained
D) Il Penseroso
Ans: C) Paradise Regained
15. Paradise Regained mainly deals with: (UGC NET)
A) The fall of Adam and Eve
B) Christ’s temptation in the wilderness
C) Samson’s death
D) Greek wars
Ans: B) Christ’s temptation in the wilderness
16. Samson Agonistes is a: (PGTRB)
A) Pastoral elegy
B) Closet drama / tragic poem
C) Mock-epic
D) Satirical essay
Ans: B) Closet drama / tragic poem
17. Samson Agonistes is based on the story of: (SET)
A) David
B) Moses
C) Samson
D) Job
Ans: C) Samson
18. Comus is best described as a: (UGC NET)
A) Tragedy
B) Masque
C) Satire
D) Epic
Ans: B) Masque
19. Lycidas is a famous: (PGTRB)
A) Sonnet
B) Epic fragment
C) Pastoral elegy
D) Chronicle
Ans: C) Pastoral elegy
20. Lycidas was written on the death of: (SET)
A) Charles I
B) Edward King
C) Oliver Cromwell
D) John Donne
Ans: B) Edward King
21. Milton’s L’Allegro and Il Penseroso are: (UGC NET)
A) Sonnets
B) Companion poems on contrasting moods
C) Tragedies
D) Political pamphlets
Ans: B) Companion poems on contrasting moods
22. The Puritan age was politically marked by: (PGTRB)
A) French Revolution
B) Civil War and Commonwealth
C) Victorian reforms
D) Norman Conquest
Ans: B) Civil War and Commonwealth
23. Oliver Cromwell is associated with the: (SET)
A) Commonwealth
B) Restoration court
C) Tudor monarchy
D) Hanoverian period
Ans: A) Commonwealth
24. Milton politically supported the: (UGC NET)
A) Royalist cause
B) Puritan / Parliamentarian cause
C) French monarchy
D) Jacobite cause
Ans: B) Puritan / Parliamentarian cause
25. Milton wrote prose pamphlets mainly on: (PGTRB)
A) Science only
B) Politics, religion, and liberty
C) Travel and commerce
D) Humour and light essays
Ans: B) Politics, religion, and liberty
26. Areopagitica is Milton’s famous prose work defending: (SET)
A) Absolute monarchy
B) Freedom of the press
C) Divorce law only
D) Theatre censorship
Ans: B) Freedom of the press
27. Areopagitica is best described as a: (UGC NET)
A) Pastoral elegy
B) Prose tract/oration
C) Masque
D) Epic fragment
Ans: B) Prose tract/oration
28. The language of Milton is often described as: (PGTRB)
A) Plain and colloquial only
B) Grand, learned, and elevated
C) Entirely comic
D) Simple journalistic prose
Ans: B) Grand, learned, and elevated
29. A major quality of Milton’s style is: (SET)
A) Miltonic grandeur
B) Slapstick humour
C) Realist dialogue only
D) Scientific precision only
Ans: A) Miltonic grandeur
30. Milton’s invocation in Paradise Lost is addressed to: (UGC NET)
A) A classical muse only
B) Heavenly Muse / Holy Spirit
C) Shakespeare
D) Queen Elizabeth I
Ans: B) Heavenly Muse / Holy Spirit
31. Satan in Paradise Lost is notable for being: (PGTRB)
A) A comic servant
B) A powerfully drawn rebellious character
C) Completely absent
D) A mere historical figure
Ans: B) A powerfully drawn rebellious character
32. Milton became blind: (SET)
A) In childhood
B) In old age only after Paradise Lost
C) In middle life before his great epics were completed
D) He was never blind
Ans: C) In middle life before his great epics were completed
33. Milton dictated Paradise Lost because: (UGC NET)
A) He disliked writing
B) He was blind
C) He was travelling constantly
D) He was imprisoned without paper
Ans: B) He was blind
34. The Puritan age generally favored: (PGTRB)
A) Pleasure and courtly luxury
B) Moral seriousness and spiritual discipline
C) Frivolous comedy only
D) Romantic escapism only
Ans: B) Moral seriousness and spiritual discipline
35. A feature of the age is the decline of: (SET)
A) Epic poetry
B) Public theatre under Puritan rule
C) Prose controversy
D) Religious writing
Ans: B) Public theatre under Puritan rule
36. The theatres were officially closed by the Puritans in: (UGC NET)
A) 1603
B) 1625
C) 1642
D) 1688
Ans: C) 1642
37. Another important prose writer of the age was: (PGTRB)
A) Sir Thomas Browne
B) Daniel Defoe
C) Joseph Addison
D) Charles Lamb
Ans: A) Sir Thomas Browne
38. Jeremy Taylor is known mainly for his: (SET)
A) Religious prose
B) Epic poetry
C) Blank verse drama
D) Satirical essays
Ans: A) Religious prose
39. John Bunyan belongs broadly to the later 17th century and is known for: (UGC NET)
A) The Pilgrim’s Progress
B) Hudibras
C) Absalom and Achitophel
D) Religio Medici
Ans: A) The Pilgrim’s Progress
40. The Age of Milton is significant because it combines: (PGTRB)
A) Humanism and Puritan seriousness
B) Romantic medievalism only
C) Restoration wit only
D) Victorian realism only
Ans: A) Humanism and Puritan seriousness
41. Which pair is correctly matched? (SET)
A) Milton — Areopagitica
B) Bacon — Lycidas
C) Jonson — Paradise Lost
D) Bunyan — Comus
Ans: A) Milton — Areopagitica
42. The age is often divided into: (UGC NET)
A) Caroline, Commonwealth, and Restoration phases
B) Anglo-Saxon and Norman phases
C) Augustan and Romantic phases
D) Victorian and Modern phases
Ans: A) Caroline, Commonwealth, and Restoration phases
43. The “Caroline Age” refers to the reign of: (PGTRB)
A) Charles I
B) Charles II only
C) James II
D) William III
Ans: A) Charles I
44. Milton’s poetry is often marked by: (SET)
A) Simplicity of colloquial speech only
B) Lofty style, classical allusion, and moral seriousness
C) Pure comic realism
D) Fragmented modernist form
Ans: B) Lofty style, classical allusion, and moral seriousness
45. Which statement is TRUE about the Age of Milton? (UGC NET)
A) It is an age of novel writing only
B) It is marked by Puritanism, civil conflict, and Milton’s genius
C) It is the age of Shakespearean drama
D) It rejected prose controversy
Ans: B) It is marked by Puritanism, civil conflict, and Milton’s genius
46. Milton’s contribution to English literature is greatest in the field of: (PGTRB)
A) Epic poetry
B) Comic drama
C) Novel
D) Short story
Ans: A) Epic poetry
47. The Puritan spirit of the age encouraged literature that was: (SET)
A) Morally earnest
B) Entirely frivolous
C) Free from religion
D) Purely pastoral
Ans: A) Morally earnest
48. Which statement best suits Milton’s age? (UGC NET)
A) It is the age of cheerful court comedy alone
B) It is an age of epic imagination, prose controversy, and Puritan seriousness
C) It is an age of medieval romance
D) It is purely a satirical age
Ans: B) It is an age of epic imagination, prose controversy, and Puritan seriousness
49. The Age of Milton prepared the way for: (PGTRB)
A) Later Restoration literature
B) Old English epic
C) Romantic medievalism only
D) Anglo-Saxon prose only
Ans: A) Later Restoration literature
50. Which statement best describes The Age of Milton? (UGC NET)
A) It is the medieval age of Chaucerian realism
B) It is the 17th-century Puritan age centered on Milton, epic poetry, prose controversy, and moral seriousness
C) It is the Renaissance age of Shakespearean theatre
D) It is the Augustan age of satire and wit
Ans: B) It is the 17th-century Puritan age centered on Milton, epic poetry, prose controversy, and moral seriousness
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