History of English Literature – The Present Age – Exam Based MCQs
1. The Present Age in English literature generally refers to: (UGC NET / SET / PGTRB)
A) The medieval period
B) The contemporary period from the later 20th century onward
C) The Restoration age
D) The Augustan age
Ans: B) The contemporary period from the later 20th century onward
2. The Present Age is often associated with: (SET)
A) Postmodernism and plurality
B) Pure neo-classicism
C) Medieval allegory only
D) Heroic couplets only
Ans: A) Postmodernism and plurality
3. A major feature of the Present Age is: (UGC NET)
A) Uniformity of style
B) One single literary rule
C) Diversity of voices and forms
D) Rejection of prose fiction
Ans: C) Diversity of voices and forms
4. The Present Age gives importance to: (PGTRB)
A) Multiple perspectives
B) Only aristocratic life
C) Only pastoral themes
D) Only religious certainties
Ans: A) Multiple perspectives
5. Postmodern literature often questions: (SET)
A) Grand narratives and fixed truths
B) Language only as grammar
C) Nature poetry only
D) Only stage performance
Ans: A) Grand narratives and fixed truths
6. A common technique in the Present Age is: (UGC NET)
A) Intertextuality
B) Only blank verse
C) Strict unities
D) Alliterative meter only
Ans: A) Intertextuality
7. Intertextuality means: (PGTRB)
A) Total rejection of earlier texts
B) A text’s relationship with other texts
C) Only translation from one language to another
D) Writing without reference
Ans: B) A text’s relationship with other texts
8. A frequent theme of the Present Age is: (SET)
A) Identity and alienation
B) Only feudal warfare
C) Chivalric romance only
D) Court satire only
Ans: A) Identity and alienation
9. Contemporary literature often reflects: (UGC NET)
A) Globalization and migration
B) Only village pastoralism
C) Only Victorian morality
D) Pure classicism
Ans: A) Globalization and migration
10. One major characteristic of the Present Age is the rise of: (PGTRB)
A) Marginalized voices
B) Only courtly poets
C) Mystery plays
D) Epic similes only
Ans: A) Marginalized voices
11. The Present Age includes greater attention to: (SET)
A) Gender, race, class, and ethnicity
B) Only kings and queens
C) Only mythology
D) Only rural shepherd life
Ans: A) Gender, race, class, and ethnicity
12. Feminist criticism in the Present Age mainly examines: (UGC NET)
A) Patriarchy and representation of women
B) Only rhyme schemes
C) Only stage directions
D) Only poetic meter
Ans: A) Patriarchy and representation of women
13. Postcolonial literature often deals with: (PGTRB)
A) Empire, identity, and resistance
B) Only pastoral innocence
C) Only medieval theology
D) Only comic entertainment
Ans: A) Empire, identity, and resistance
14. A major Indian writer in English of the Present Age is: (SET)
A) Salman Rushdie
B) Ben Jonson
C) Dryden
D) Pope
Ans: A) Salman Rushdie
15. Salman Rushdie’s famous novel is: (UGC NET)
A) Midnight’s Children
B) Jude the Obscure
C) Sons and Lovers
D) A Passage to India
Ans: A) Midnight’s Children
16. Midnight’s Children is closely linked with: (PGTRB)
A) Indian history and magical realism
B) Only Victorian London
C) Greek mythology only
D) Pure detective fiction
Ans: A) Indian history and magical realism
17. “Magical realism” refers to: (SET)
A) Mixing realistic narrative with magical elements
B) Pure fantasy with no reality
C) Only fairy tales
D) Science report writing
Ans: A) Mixing realistic narrative with magical elements
18. Another major contemporary Indian English novelist is: (UGC NET)
A) Arundhati Roy
B) Christopher Marlowe
C) Sheridan
D) Goldsmith
Ans: A) Arundhati Roy
19. Arundhati Roy wrote: (PGTRB)
A) The God of Small Things
B) The Way of the World
C) Paradise Lost
D) Tom Jones
Ans: A) The God of Small Things
20. Another major present-age writer of Indian English fiction is: (SET)
A) Amitav Ghosh
B) Milton
C) Thomson
D) Congreve
Ans: A) Amitav Ghosh
21. Amitav Ghosh is known for novels such as: (UGC NET)
A) The Shadow Lines
B) Rasselas
C) Ulysses
D) The Prelude
Ans: A) The Shadow Lines
22. Contemporary British drama is strongly influenced by: (PGTRB)
A) Social and political concerns
B) Only mythological subjects
C) Only heroic kings
D) Only pastoral comedy
Ans: A) Social and political concerns
23. A major contemporary dramatist is: (SET)
A) Tom Stoppard
B) Ben Jonson
C) Dryden
D) Kyd
Ans: A) Tom Stoppard
24. Tom Stoppard wrote: (UGC NET)
A) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
B) Waiting for Godot
C) Volpone
D) Comus
Ans: A) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
25. A major contemporary British-Indian playwright is: (PGTRB)
A) Girish Karnad
B) Thomas Kyd
C) Marlowe
D) Synge
Ans: A) Girish Karnad
26. Girish Karnad is known for plays like: (SET)
A) Hayavadana
B) Hamlet
C) Riders to the Sea
D) Volpone
Ans: A) Hayavadana
27. A contemporary Indian playwright in English is: (UGC NET)
A) Mahesh Dattani
B) Sheridan
C) Congreve
D) Jonson
Ans: A) Mahesh Dattani
28. Mahesh Dattani wrote: (PGTRB)
A) Dance Like a Man
B) The Tempest
C) Samson Agonistes
D) The Country Wife
Ans: A) Dance Like a Man
29. A major contemporary African writer in English is: (SET)
A) Chinua Achebe
B) Milton
C) Pope
D) Coleridge
Ans: A) Chinua Achebe
30. Chinua Achebe’s famous novel is: (UGC NET)
A) Things Fall Apart
B) Great Expectations
C) Tess of the d’Urbervilles
D) Sons and Lovers
Ans: A) Things Fall Apart
31. A major contemporary Canadian writer in English is: (PGTRB)
A) Margaret Atwood
B) Tennyson
C) Gray
D) Arnold
Ans: A) Margaret Atwood
32. Margaret Atwood is known for: (SET)
A) The Handmaid’s Tale
B) The Duchess of Malfi
C) Doctor Faustus
D) The Deserted Village
Ans: A) The Handmaid’s Tale
33. A major present-age poetic concern is: (UGC NET)
A) Urban life and fragmentation
B) Only courtly love
C) Only feudal heroism
D) Only liturgical devotion
Ans: A) Urban life and fragmentation
34. Contemporary poetry often uses: (PGTRB)
A) Free verse and experimental forms
B) Only heroic couplets
C) Only sonnet sequences
D) Only classical hexameter
Ans: A) Free verse and experimental forms
35. The Present Age is shaped by media such as: (SET)
A) Print, film, television, and digital culture
B) Only handwritten manuscripts
C) Only oral ballads
D) Only stage acting
Ans: A) Print, film, television, and digital culture
36. A key feature of present-age fiction is: (UGC NET)
A) Fragmented narrative
B) Only linear epic narration
C) Only verse form
D) Total rejection of experimentation
Ans: A) Fragmented narrative
37. The Present Age frequently explores: (PGTRB)
A) Memory and trauma
B) Only heroic kingship
C) Only pastoral shepherds
D) Only comic intrigue
Ans: A) Memory and trauma
38. Which pair is correctly matched? (SET)
A) Rushdie — Midnight’s Children
B) Atwood — Jude the Obscure
C) Achebe — The Prelude
D) Roy — Volpone
Ans: A) Rushdie — Midnight’s Children
39. Which statement is TRUE about the Present Age? (UGC NET)
A) It is marked by variety, experimentation, and global perspectives
B) It follows only one fixed literary rule
C) It rejects prose fiction completely
D) It is only an age of pastoral poetry
Ans: A) It is marked by variety, experimentation, and global perspectives
40. Contemporary criticism often includes approaches such as: (PGTRB)
A) Feminist, postcolonial, psychoanalytic, and cultural studies
B) Only classical rhetoric
C) Only neo-classical decorum
D) Only medieval exegesis
Ans: A) Feminist, postcolonial, psychoanalytic, and cultural studies
41. The Present Age values literature that is: (SET)
A) Inclusive and open to new experiences
B) Limited only to aristocratic subjects
C) Restricted to one nation only
D) Bound only to fixed classical rules
Ans: A) Inclusive and open to new experiences
42. A major strength of present-age literature is its: (UGC NET)
A) Ability to represent complex modern realities
B) Dependence only on court patronage
C) Repetition of one old form
D) Rejection of character and plot altogether
Ans: A) Ability to represent complex modern realities
43. The Present Age is often linked with the idea of: (PGTRB)
A) Multiculturalism
B) Feudal hierarchy
C) Divine right only
D) Only romantic escapism
Ans: A) Multiculturalism
44. Which statement best suits present-age drama? (SET)
A) It often engages with politics, gender, identity, and society
B) It deals only with kings and queens
C) It rejects all experimentation
D) It uses only verse dialogue
Ans: A) It often engages with politics, gender, identity, and society
45. Which statement best suits present-age fiction? (UGC NET)
A) It is often hybrid, global, and self-aware
B) It is only epic in structure
C) It avoids history completely
D) It uses only medieval themes
Ans: A) It is often hybrid, global, and self-aware
46. Which statement best suits present-age poetry? (PGTRB)
A) It allows formal freedom and varied subject matter
B) It must always follow strict heroic couplets
C) It rejects personal experience
D) It avoids contemporary themes
Ans: A) It allows formal freedom and varied subject matter
47. Which statement best suits the Present Age? (SET)
A) It is an age of openness, plurality, and literary experimentation
B) It is purely neo-classical
C) It is only a religious age
D) It is mainly an age of heroic drama
Ans: A) It is an age of openness, plurality, and literary experimentation
48. Which statement best suits the Present Age? (UGC NET)
A) It reflects rapid social, political, technological, and cultural change
B) It is static and unchanging
C) It repeats only medieval traditions
D) It excludes new media influences
Ans: A) It reflects rapid social, political, technological, and cultural change
49. Which statement best suits the Present Age? (PGTRB)
A) It is an age of global English literature and cross-cultural exchange
B) It is only an age of British court poetry
C) It is purely a Victorian continuation
D) It rejects postcolonial voices
Ans: A) It is an age of global English literature and cross-cultural exchange
50. Which statement best describes The Present Age? (UGC NET)
A) It is the contemporary age of English literature marked by postmodernism, globalization, multicultural voices, experimentation, and diverse forms of fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism
B) It is the medieval age of Chaucer
C) It is the Restoration age of Dryden
D) It is the Romantic age of Wordsworth alone
Ans: A) It is the contemporary age of English literature marked by postmodernism, globalization, multicultural voices, experimentation, and diverse forms of fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism
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