MCQs - "The Waste Land" by T S Eliot

1. Which of the following is the correct title a poem by T S Eliot?

A. Wasteland

B. The Wasteland

C. The Waste Land

D. Waste Land

 

2. What year was "The Waste Land" published?

A. 1915

B. 1922

C. 1935

D. 1945

 

3. How many sections does The Waste Land contain?

A. Three

B. Four

C. Five

D. Six

 

4. Which sequence correctly orders the five sections of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922)?

A. The Burial of the Dead → A Game of Chess → The Fire Sermon → Death by Water → What the Thunder Said 

B. A Game of Chess → The Burial of the Dead → Death by Water → The Fire Sermon → What the Thunder Said

C. What the Thunder Said → The Fire Sermon → Death by Water → A Game of Chess → The Burial of the Dead

D. The Burial of the Dead → Death by Water → A Game of Chess → The Fire Sermon → What the Thunder Said

 

5. The title A Game of Chess (Section II of The Waste Land) is borrowed from:

A. Middleton’s play Women Beware Women

B. Shakespeare’s The Tempest

C. John Dryden’s All for Love

D. Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus

 

6. The title The Burial of the Dead (Section I of The Waste Land) is derived from:

A. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer (funeral service) 

B. Shakespeare’s Hamlet

C. The Bible’s Book of Revelation

D. Dante’s Inferno

 

7. The ancient vegetation ceremonies referenced in The Waste Land are primarily drawn from:

A. James Frazer’s The Golden Bough

B. Homer’s Odyssey

C. The Bible’s Old Testament

D. Egyptian Book of the Dead

 

8. The title The Fire Sermon (Section III of The Waste Land) is borrowed from:

A. The Buddha’s sermon against sensual desire

B. The Book of Revelation’s lake of fire

C. Dante’s Inferno (Circle of Lust)

D. Zoroastrian fire-worship rituals

 

9. The shortest section of The Waste Land is:

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. A Game of Chess

C. Death by Water

D. The Fire Sermon

 

10. The opening section of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is titled:

A. What the Thunder Said

B. A Game of Chess

C. The Burial of the Dead

D. The Fire Sermon

 

11. Which of the following is NOT a section of The Waste Land?

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. What the Thunder Said

C. The Hollow Men

D. A Game of Chess

 

12. To whom did Eliot dedicate The Waste Land?

A. W.B. Yeats

B. Jean Verdenal

C. Ezra Pound

D. Matthew Arnold

 

13. The phrase "il miglior fabbro" in Eliot’s dedication of The Waste Land refers to:

A. Dante Alighieri

B. Ezra Pound 

C. William Butler Yeats

D. James Joyce

 

14. The Holy Grail legend referenced in The Waste Land is primarily drawn from:

A. Jessie L. Weston’s From Ritual to Romance 

B. Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur

C. Chrétien de Troyes’ Perceval

D. Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival

 

15. The famous opening line of The Waste Land?

A. “April is the cruellest month”

B. “I grow old … I grow old …”

C. “Because I do not hope to turn again”

D. “Let us go then, you and I”

 

16. Who narrates The Waste Land?

A. Only T.S. Eliot himself

B. A single, unnamed character

C. Multiple voices and personas

D. A Greek chorus

 

17. What is the tone of "The Waste Land"?

A. Optimistic and hopeful

B. Pessimistic and despairing

C. Romantic and nostalgic

D. Satirical and humorous

 

18. T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land was first published simultaneously in which two magazines in 1922?

A. The Egoist (UK) and The Little Review (US)

B. The Athenaeum (UK) and The Dial (US)

C. The Criterion (UK) and The Dial (US)

D. The London Mercury (UK) and Poetry (US)

 

 19. Which of the following is not a recurring motif in "The Waste Land"?

A. Water

B. Fire

C. Death

D. Wind

 

20. Which of the following literary techniques is not dominant in "The Waste Land"?

A. Stream of consciousness

B. Allusion

C. Symbolism

D. Rhyme

 

21. Which literary movements influenced "The Waste Land"?

A. Romanticism

B. Realism

C. Modernism

D. Postmodernism

 

22. Before Ezra Pound’s edits, T.S. Eliot’s working title for The Waste Land was:

A. The Desert

B. He Do the Police in Different Voices 

C. Fragments of an Elegy

D. The Unreal City

 

23. What is the epigraph of "The Waste Land"?

A. "April is the cruelest month"

B. "Shantih shantih shantih"

C. "I will show you fear in a handful of dust"

D. "Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere"

 

24. The epigraph of The Waste Land is taken from:

A. Petronius’ Satyricon (Latin) 

B. Dante’s Inferno (Italian)

C. Homer’s Odyssey (Greek)

D. Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal (French)

 

25. The Sibyl in the epigraph is trapped in a:

A. Glass jar 

B. Iron cage

C. Stone tomb

D. Burning tree

 

26. The Cumaean Sibyl in the epigraph is granted eternal life but not:

A. Eternal youth 

B. Prophetic power

C. Freedom from pain

D. Divine wisdom

 

27. In which section of "The Waste Land" does the speaker describe a barren and lifeless landscape?

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. A Game of Chess

C. The Fire Sermon

D. What the Thunder Said

 

28. The line "I will show you fear in a handful of dust" appears in:

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. A Game of Chess

C. The Fire Sermon

D. What the Thunder Said

 

29. The lines "Unreal City, / Under the brown fog of a winter dawn" refer to

A. Paris

B. London

C. New York

D. Rome

 

30. What is the theme of The Waste Land?

A. Romantic love and longing

B. War and heroism

C. Spiritual and cultural decay

D. The beauty of nature

 

31. In which section of "The Waste Land" does Tiresias appear?

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. A Game of Chess

C. The Fire Sermon

D. What the Thunder Said

 

32. "A Game of Chess" opens with the setting of ?

A. A bustling city street

B. A luxurious, ornate room

C. A barren wasteland

D. A crowded pub

 

33. Philomela has been transformed into

A. Nightingale

B. Sparrow

C. Pigeon

D Parrot

 

34. In the myth referenced in The Waste Land, Philomela is raped by:

A. King Minos

B. King Tereus

C. The god Apollo

D. Theseus

 

35. In The Waste Land, the myth of Philomela is primarily drawn from:

A. Homer’s Iliad

B. Ovid’s Metamorphoses 

C. Virgil’s Aeneid

D. Dante’s Inferno

 

36. The sound "jug jug" in The Fire Sermon mimics:

A. The laughter of Thames nymphs

B. The Philomela’s song

C. A London pub’s closing call

D. The typist’s mechanical sobs

 

37. The phrase "so rudely forced" in The Fire Sermon refers to:

A. Philomela’s rape by Tereus 

B. The typist’s consensual affair

C. The Fisher King’s wound

D. A London police raid

 

38. In the pub scene, what is the main topic of conversation between Lil and the narrator?

A. The horrors of war

B. Lil’s marital troubles and appearance

C. The beauty of London

D. A philosophical debate

 

39. Who is Lil’s husband?

A. John

B. Bill

C. Albert

D. Tom

 

40. Which section of The Waste Land includes the line "HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME"?

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. A Game of Chess

C. The Fire Sermon

D. Death by Water

 

41. The character Tiresias in The Waste Land is:

A. A blind prophet from Greek mythology

B. A modern businessman

C. A war veteran

D. A drowned sailor

 

42. In which section of "The Waste Land" does the speaker describe a surreal encounter with a typist?

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. A Game of Chess

C. The Fire Sermon

D. The Waste Land

 

43. Who is the typist’s lover in the section “The Fire Sermon”?

A. Phlebas

B. Tiresias

C. The young man carbuncular

D. Mr. Eugenides

 

44. Who is Madame Sosostris in "The Waste Land"?

A. A clairvoyant

B. A prostitute

C. A wealthy socialite

D. A politician

 

45. The name "Madame Sosostris" in The Waste Land is an allusion to:

A. Dante’s Divine Comedy

B. Aldous Huxley's Chrome Yellow

C. Wagner’s Opera

D. Shakespeare’s The Tempest

 

46.In The Waste Land, the "wisest woman in Europe / With a wicked pack of cards" refers to:

A. Madame Sosostris, the clairvoyant 

B. Virginia Woolf

C. Cleopatra

D. The Cumaean Sibyl

 

47. How many Tarot cards are picked up by Madame Sosostris in The Burial of the Dead?

A. 4

B. 5 

C. 6

D. 7

 

48. Which of the following is not a Tarot card in The Waste Land?

A. The Tower

B. The Drowned Phoenician Sailor

C. The Man with Three Staves

D. The Wheel

 

49. The "Drowned Phoenician Sailor" card foreshadows which later section of The Waste Land?

A. A Game of Chess

B. The Fire Sermon

C. Death by Water

D. What the Thunder Said

 

50. The hyacinth girl is a reference to:

A. A lost love

B. A mythological figure

C. A religious symbol

D. A war victim

 

51. The "One-Eyed Merchant" card alludes to:

A. Mr. Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant 

B. Tiresias

C. The drowned Phlebas

D. The Fisher King

 

52. Who is the "Man with Three Staves"

A. Belladona

B. Tiresias

C. The drowned Phlebas

D. The Fisher King

 

53. The line "Old man with wrinkled female breasts" in The Waste Land describes:

A. Tiresias

B. The Fisher King

C. Phlebas the Phoenician

D. Mr. Eugenides

 

54. The line "When lovely woman stoops to folly" in The Waste Land is an allusion to:

A. Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) 

B. Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock

C. John Milton’s Paradise Lost

D. William Blake’s Songs of Innocence

 

55.The Fisher King in The Waste Land is taken from:

A. Celtic mythology

B. Arthurian legend

C. Greek mythology

D. Biblical references

 

56. Belladona is also called as

A. Lady of Rocks

B. Lady of Death

C. Lady of Fire

D. Lady of Water

 

57. The character Tiresias in The Fire Sermon is borrowed from:

A. Homer’s Iliad

B. Ovid’s Metamorphoses 

C. Virgil’s Aeneid

D. Dante’s Inferno

 

58. Which of the following lines is not by TS Eliot

A. "April is the cruellest month"

B. "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons"

C. "Do I dare / Disturb the universe?"

D. "The horror! The horror!"

 

59. What is the significance of the title "The Waste Land"?

A. It refers to the physical wasteland of World War I

B. It represents the emotional and psychological wasteland of modern society

C. It symbolizes the decay of Western civilization

D. All of the above

 

60. Which literary critic in his work “Man Without Art”, criticized the Waste Land poem as a “cross-word puzzle of synthetic literary chronology, of spurious verbal algebra”?

A. Wyndham Lewis

B. F H Bradley

C. C S Lewis

D. Mathew Arnold

 

61. Which of the following poets is not alluded to in "The Waste Land"?

A. Dante Alighieri

B. William Shakespeare

C. John Milton

D. Emily Dickinson

 

62. What is the significance of the figure of the Fisher King in "The Waste Land"?

A. He is a symbol of rebirth and renewal

B. He represents the decay of Western civilization

C. He is a Christ-like figure who sacrifices himself for the greater good

D. He symbolizes the loss of fertility and the decline of the natural world

 

63. In which section of "The Waste Land" does the speaker describe a crowd of people crossing London Bridge?

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. A Game of Chess

C. The Fire Sermon

D. Death by Water

 

64. Who claims to be “I am not Russian at all; I come from Lithuania, I am a true German.” in The Waste Land?

A. Madame Sosostris

B. Marie

C. The Hyacinth Girl

D. Tiresias

 

65. What childhood experience does Marie recall in The Waste Land?

A. Riding horses in Vienna

B. Reading tarot cards

C. Going sledging with her cousin

D. Walking through a forest alone

 

66. In The Waste Land, Marie is believed to represent which historical figure?

A. Madame Sosostris

B. Countess Marie Larisch

C. Princess Sophia of Prussia

D. Empress Elisabeth of Austria

 

67. Which literary work is quoted at the beginning of the poem?

A. The Divine Comedy

B. The Canterbury Tales

C. The Wasteland Chronicles

D. The Odyssey

 

68. In The Waste Land, what does the “red rock” symbolise according to critic Rosenthal (1960)?

A. War-torn Europe

B. The tomb of Christ

C. The Church

D. The throne of God

 

69. In the Tarot reading, Belladonna is a symbolic reference to which Christian figure?

A. Saint Paul

B. The Virgin Mary

C. John the Baptist

D. Jesus Christ

 

70. Madame Sosostris’s vision of "crowds of people, walking around in a ring" is likely an allusion to:

A. Egyptian burial rituals

B. Greek theatre

C. Circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno

D. A medieval dance

 

71 Where did the narrator and Stetson allegedly fight together?

A. Battle of Waterloo

B. Battle of Mylae

C. Battle of Hastings

D. Battle of Troy

 

72. First section ends with a line addressing the reader as ‘hypocrite lecteur, — mon semblable, — mon frère!’ This is taken from which poet’s work?

A. Rimbaud

B. Verlaine

C. Baudelaire

D. Mallarmé

 

73. What is the significance of the hyacinth girl in "The Waste Land"?

A. She represents a lost love

B. She symbolizes the beauty and fragility of life

C. She represents the hopelessness of modern existence

D. All of the above

 

74. Which of the following phrases is not repeated throughout "The Waste Land"?

A. "A crowd flowed over London Bridge"

B. "In the mountains, there you feel free"

C. "I will show you fear in a handful of dust"

D. "Hurry up please, it's time"

 

75. In which section of "The Waste Land" does the speaker describe women sitting in a bar, discussing their failed relationships with women?

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. A Game of Chess

C. The Fire Sermon

D. Death by Water

 

76. The drowned Phoenician sailor in ‘Death by Water’ is named:

A. Phlebas

B. Tiresias

C. Stetson

D. Albert

 

77. The phrase "Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies" is borrowed from:

A. Hamlet

B. Macbeth

C. King Lear

D. The Tempest

 

78. The phrase "Those are pearls that were his eyes" is borrowed from:

A. The Tempest (Shakespeare)

B. Hamlet (Shakespeare)

C. Macbeth (Shakespeare)

D. King Lear (Shakespeare)

 

79. Who is the author of “The Golden Bough,” a book that influenced Eliot’s work?

A. Joseph Conrad

B. James Joyce

C. T.S. Eliot

D. James Frazer

80. Who is Sweeney in the poem, and what is his mythological counterpart?

A. A fisherman; Poseidon

B. A clerk; Mercury

C. A modern hunter; Actaeon

D. A poet; Orpheus

 

81. In which section of "The Waste Land" does the speaker describe a drowned sailor?

A. The Burial of the Dead

B. A Game of Chess

C. The Fire Sermon

D. Death by Water

  

82. The phrase "DA / Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata,." is derived from:

A. The Bible

B. The Bhagavad Gita

C. The Upanishads

D. The Quran

 

83. What does the phrase “Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata” mean?

A. Give, sympathize, control

B. Love, hope, endure

C. Destroy, rebuild, rise

D. Sing, pray, celebrate

 

84. The line "Weialala leia / Wallala leialala" mimics:

A. A nursery rhyme

B. A Wagnerian opera (Götterdämmerung)

C. A biblical psalm

D. A folk song

 

85. The phrase "Hieronymo’s mad againe" refers to:

A. A character from The Spanish Tragedy

B. A Greek myth

C. A Shakespearean fool

D. A medieval saint

 

86. The line "The river sweats / Oil and tar" describes:

A. The Thames

B. The Mississippi

C. The Nile

D. The Rhine

 

87. Who invites the narrator to join him for lunch at Cannon Street Hotel and a weekend at the Metropole?

A. Eugenides

B. Tiresias

C. Stetson

D. Albert

 

88. Which of the following is not a theme explored in "The Waste Land"?

A. The fragmentation of modern society

B. The search for spiritual renewal and redemption

C. The joys of youthful innocence and romance

D. The corruption of Western civilization

 

89. What is the meaning of the line "April is the cruellest month" in "The Waste Land"?

A. It represents the pain and suffering of rebirth and renewal

B. It reflects Eliot's disdain for the optimism and hope associated with spring

C. It symbolizes the emptiness and decay of modern society

D. None of the above

 

90. The phrase "Jug Jug" in The Waste Land mimics the sound of:

A. A nightingale

B. A car horn

C. A typewriter

D. Church bells

 

91. The "Waste Land" itself symbolizes:

A. A post-war dystopia

B. Spiritual desolation

C. Environmental decay

D. Both a and b

 

92. The line ‘To Carthage then I came’ refers to:
A) A city in England
B) St. Augustine’s transformation

C) A battle scene
D) A shipwreck

 

93. The “third who walks always beside you” is often interpreted as a reference to:
A) Jesus Christ
B) Tiresias
C) The Fisher King
D) Dante

94. Which of the following is not a cultural reference found in "The Waste Land"?

A. Dante's Inferno

B. Shakespeare's Hamlet

C. Wagner’s Opera

D. F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

 

95. The lines "Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata."  are taken from:
A. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 
B. The Bhagavad Gita
C. The Mundaka Upanishad
D. The Katha Upanishad

 

96. The line "I had not thought death had undone so many" is taken from:
A) The Canterbury Tales
B) Inferno by Dante
C) Paradise Lost by Milton
D) Hamlet by Shakespeare

97. “Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song” is a line borrowed from:
A) Shakespeare’s The Tempest
B) Spenser’s Prothalamion
C) A modern pop song
D) A line written by Eliot himself

 

98. Who is the protagonist of “The Waste Land”?
A. Tiresias
B. J. Alfred Prufrock
C. The Fisher King
D. Eliot himself

99. The opening description of the rich, royal setting in The Waste Land refers to:
A) Dante’s Inferno
B) Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
C) The Bible’s Book of Revelation
D) Homer’s Odyssey

What are the last words of The Waste Land?
A. “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see”
B. “This is the way the world ends”
C. “Shantih shantih shantih”
D. “Not with a bang but a whimper”

Answers: The Waste Land
1.   C	2.   B	3.   C	4.   A	5.   A	6.   A	7.   A	8.   A	9.   C	10.   C
11.   C	12.   C	13. B	14. A	15. A	16.  C	17. B	18. C	19. D	20. D
21.   C	22.   B	23. D	24. A	25. A	26. A	27. A	28. A	29. B	30.   C
31.   C	32.   B	33. A	34. B	35. B	36. B	37. A	38. B	39. C	40.  B
41.   A	42.   C	43. C	44. A	45. B	46. A	47. C	48. A	49. C	50.   A
51.   A	52. D	53. A	54. A	55. B	56. A	57. B	58. D	59. D	60.   A
61. D	62. D	63. A	64. B	65. C	66. C	67. C	68. C	69. B	70.   C
71.   B	72.   C	73. D	74. B	75. A	76. A	77. A	78. A	79. D	80.   C
81. D	82.   C	83. A	84. B	85. A	86. A	87. A	88. C	89. A	90.   A
91. D	92.   B	93. A	94. D	95. A	96. B	97. B	98. A	99. B	100. C

 

SET-II THE WASTE LAND

1. According to this poet, what is the cruellest month?

A.  April✅

B.  August

C.  July

D.  June

 

2. What does the cruellest month breed?

A.  Loneliness

B.  Lambs

C.  Lilacs✅

D.  Love

 

3. What does the cruelest month mix together?

A.  Memory and Desire✅

B.  Beauty and Hatred

C.  The Past and the Future

D.  Love and Death

 

4. What does the poet say keeps us warm in the winter?

A.  Snow✅

B.  Fires

C.  Hope

D.  Embraces

 

5. What does the poet say summer does to us?

A.  Surprises us✅

B.  Leaves us

C.  Encourages us

D.  Baths us

 

6. Where does the narrator spend his summers?

A.  The Maldahasee

B.  The Sternbergersee✅

C.  The Tatnoogeese

D.  The Gerbertensee

 

7. In the Burial of the Dead, what is drunk at Hofgarten?

A.  Cider

B.  Wine

C.  Coffee✅

D.  Whiskey

 

8. In the Burial of the Dead, why are German phrases added to the poem?

A.  To paint a vivid picture

B.  To fit the rhyme scheme

C.  To symbolize the war✅

D.  To confuse the reader

 

9. In the Burial of the Dead, what frightens Marie?

A.  Sledding✅

B.  A mountain

C.  A bear

D.  The snow

 

Which month is the "cruellest"?

December

September

May

April ✅

 

Where is the Starnbergersee?

near Munich ✅

just outside London

in Michigan

in Paris

 

"The river sweats...

oil and tar." ✅

water."

saffron and lilac."

fumes and fire."

 

Who is demobbed?

Sweeney

Madame Sosostris

Lil's husband ✅

Prufrock

 

"Demobbed" means:

"awarded with a medal of honor"

"lynched"

"killed"

"released from the army" ✅

 

What battle did Stetson supposedly participate in?

the Battle of Britain

Waterloo

the Battle of the Bulge

Mylae ✅

 

"By the waters of ____ I sat down and wept..."

Leman ✅

the Thames

the Nile

the Seine

 

Which of the following cities is mentioned in "The Waste Land"?

Marseilles

Novgorod

Vienna✅

Timbuktu

 

Magnus Martyr is a:

ocean

football stadium

church✅

epic poem

 

The opening section of "The Waste Land" is entitled:

"Shantih"

"Death by Water"

"The Burial of the Dead"✅

"The Fire Sermon"

 

Who visits the typist?

Prufrock

a Bradford millionaire

Mrs. Porter

the young man carbuncular✅

 

Who witnesses the visit of young man to typist?

Madame Sosostris

Ezra Pound

Vivienne

Tiresias✅

 

The clairvoyant is named

Madame Sosostris✅

Vivienne

Aldous Huxley

Mrs. Porter

 

Mr. Eugenides is a:

merchant✅

filmmaker

poet

witch doctor

 

Mr. Eugenides invites the Narrator to:

the Cannon Street Hotel✅

the Plaza

the Ritz Carlton

Venice

 

"the _____ hour"✅

turquoise

aqua

violet✅

indigo

 

Who is "throbbing between two lives"?

Mr. Eugenides

the typist

Tiresias✅

Phlebas

 

The narrator is told that he should fear death by:

fire

starvation

water✅

disease

 

"When lovely woman stoops to folly" is an allusion to:

Hamlet

Ovid's Metamorphoses

Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield✅

the Koran

 

Who rapes Philomela? ✅

Zeus

the typist

Odysseus

Tereus

 

Translate "Oed' und leer das Meer"

"The ship has arrived, appearing on the horizon"

"Isolde is lost forever"

"Desolate and empty is the sea"✅

"A kiss is just a kiss"

 

Which of the following works of literature does Eliot NOT cite?

The Inferno

Hamlet

The Spanish Tragedie

On The Road✅

 

In what city is Queen Victoria Street (in the poem)?

New York

London✅

Boston

Gloucester

 

What does the Narrator know when confronted with the hyacinth girl?

the way to restore fruitfulness to the wasteland

the meaning of life

nothing✅

the reason he is in love

 

Who is "known to be the wisest woman in Europe, / With a wicked pack of cards"?

Madame Sosostris✅

Mrs. Porter

Cleopatra

the typist