MCQs - GREEK AND LATIN LITERARY CRITICISM

MCQs - GREEK AND LATIN LITERARY CRITICISM

1. Who is often considered the father of literary criticism in ancient Greece?

a) Socrates                  

b) Homer                   

c) Aristotle                  

d) Plato

 

2.Which Latin poet is known for his work "Ars Poetica," a treatise on the art of poetry?

a) Virgil                        

b) Ovid           

c) Horace                    

d) Cicero

 

3.What term, derived from Aristotle's "Poetics," refers to the emotional release or cleansing experienced by the audience in response to a tragedy?

a) Hubris                     

b) Anagnorisis           

c) Catharsis                 

d) Deus ex machina

 

4.Accoring to aristotle, which is soul of tragedy?

a) plot                         

b)character                

c)diction                      

d)spectacle

 

5.Who is the author of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey," two epic poems that had a profound influence on ancient Greek literature and criticism?

a) Aesop                      

b) Homer                   

c) Sophocles               

d) Euripides

 

6.Who said “Tragedy is even greater to Epic”?

a) Socrates                  

b) Homer                   

c) Aristotle                  

d) Plato

 

7.Who said “Poetry is mother of all lies” ?

a) Socrates                  

b) Homer                   

c) Aristotle                  

d) Plato

 

8.In ancient Greek drama, what term refers to the tragic flaw or error in judgment that leads to the downfall of a hero?

a) Anagnorisis             

b) Peripeteia              

c) Hamartia                 

d) Hubris

 

9.Triad of Beds/Chairs is a concept by?

a) Socrates                  

b) Homer                   

c) Aristotle                  

d) Plato

 

10.Who is the Roman poet known for his epic poem "Metamorphoses," which contains numerous mythological narratives and has been a source of inspiration for later literature and criticism?

a) Horace                    

b) Seneca                   

c) Ovid                         

d) Lucretius

 

11.What term, often used in literary criticism, refers to a sudden, profound realization or discovery by a character in a play or story?

a) Anagnorisis             

b) Hamartia               

c) Catharsis                 

d) Hubris

 

12.Who is the ancient Greek playwright known for his tragedies, including "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone," which continue to be studied for their dramatic structure and themes?

a) Aeschylus                

b) Sophocles              

c) Euripides                 

d) Aristophanes

 

13.In Aristotle's "Poetics," what term refers to the sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances that occurs in a tragedy?

a) Hubris                     

b) Peripeteia              

c) Catharsis                 

d) Hamartia

 

14 Which of the fowwloing is an early example of Utopia?

a)The Republic            

b)Metamorphosis

c)Oedipus Rex             

d)Ars Poetica

 

15. Ut pictura poesis is a Latin phrase literally means……?

a) as is poetry so is painting            

b) as is painting so is poetry

c)   as is music so is poetry                

d) as is poetry so is music

 

16.Which is not true about Dues Ex Machina

a) It’s a plot device in drama.     

b) Literally God from machine

c) It provides an artificial solution.   

d)Socrates used it for the first time

 

17.What is the meaning of In Medias Res   

a)In the beginning      

b)In the end   

c)In the middle           

d)None of the above

 

18.Instituto Oratio is written by

a) Horace                    

b) Seneca                   

c) Ovid                         

d) Quntillion

 

19.In Aristotle’s six elements of tragedy, Which of the following is not a “Object of Imitation”

a)Plot              

b)Character   

c)Thought       

d)diction

 

20. ‘Frogs’, ‘Wasps’ are plays by

a) Aschylus                  

b) Euripedus              

c) Aristophanes          

d) Ovid

Answers:

1.C	2.C	3.C	4.A	5.B	6.C	7.D	8.C	9.D	10.C
11.A	12.B	13.B	14.A	15.B	16.D	17.C	18.D	19.D	20.C

 MCQs - Greek and Latin Literary Criticism

Previous NET Questions:

1. In his theory of Mimesis, Plato says that all art is mimetic by nature; art is an imitation of life. To argue his case he gives the example of a:

(A) cloud

(B) chair

(C) tree

(D) river

 

2. Aristotle argued that poetry provides a/an …………... outlet for the release of intense emotions.

(a)safe

(b)dangerous

(c)uncertain

(d)unreliable

 

3. Plato censured poetry because he believed it

(A) eliminates the ego.

(B) promotes sensuality.

(C) distorts reality.

(D) cripples the imagination.

 

4. Who among the ancients prescribed that poetry should both instruct and delight?

(A) Longinus

(B) Plotinus

(C) Aristotle

(D) Horace

 

5. What does the phrase ut pictura poesis from Horace's Art of Poetry mean?

(A) "as in painting, so in poetry".

(B) "poetry beggars pictorial description"

(C) "as in poetry, so in painting"

(D) "picture above all poetry".

 

6. According to Longinus, the sublime has the following features except:

(A) It is the essence of all great poetry and oratory

(B) It is interested in the usual rhetorical goal of persuasion.

(C) It valorizes a special use of language.

(D) It is a matter of reader- response.

 

7. The issue of privileging speech over writing was taken up for discussion in Plato's:

(A) Ion

(B) Republic Book III

(C) Republic Book X

(D) Phaedrus

 

8. Which one of the following of Plato's beliefs/acts was Shelley countering by saying that 'poets are the acknowledged legislators of mankind"?

(A) Banishment of from the republic

(B) Distrust of value of poetry for mankind

(C) Preference for legislators over poets

(D) Description of poets as mad men

 

9. Of the five conditions of the Sublime, according to Longinus, the most important condition is:

(A) Vigorous treatment of passions

(B) Majesty of the structure

(C) A lofty cast of mind

(D) A wide range of thoughts

 

10. What does Socrates mean when in Plato's Ion, he says "Poets are nothing but the interpreters of gods"?

(A) The Poets are the markers of their poems

(B) The Poets are acutely aware of gods in composing their poems

(C) The Poets are divinely possessed when they compose their poems

(D) The Poets first hear what gods say then put than into words

 

11.Following Plato, which two of the following statements about 'Phantasm and Semblance' are correct?

1. 'Phantasm' is an image, while 'Semblance is the real object'.

2. Phantasm' is the real object while 'Semblance is only a resemblance'.

3. 'Phantasm' unlike semblance has the same proportional as the object.

4. Semblance is unreal' but looks 'real' as compared to phantasm

Choose the correct option:

(A) (b) and (c)

(B) (c) and (d)

(C) (a) and (b)

(D) (d) and (a):

 

12.Which of the following is true of Aristotle's Critical Position?

(A) Writers are likely to be mere entertainers who appeal to the emotions and passions of the audience.

(B) Texts created by poets are almost inevitably inaccurate and defective as limitations

(C) The best artistic texts will be both complex and unified: every part of the work will be essential to it and will be linked to every other part.

(D) Texts should be judged on the basis of how accurately they imitate philosophical truth.

 

13.What, among the following, is ruled out by Longinus as a way of achieving the sublime?

(A) great thoughts

(B) immoderate emotion

(C) noble diction

(D) dignified and elevated word arrangement

 

14.In Aristotle's Poetics we read that it is the imitation of an action that is complete and whole, and of a certain magnitude.... having a beginning, a middle, and an end'. What is 'it'?

(A) Tragedy

(B) Epic

(C) Poetry

(D) Farce

 

15.Which of the following characters finds that complete happiness is elusive and that "while you are making the choice of life, you neglect to live"?

(A) Lovelace in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa

(B) Johnson's Rasselas

(C) Matthew Bramble in Tobias Smollett's Humphry Clinker

(D) Harley in Henry Mackenzie's The Man of Feeling

 

16.Why did Plato banish the poet from his ideal state?

(A) Poetry makes an artificial distinction between fonn and content

(B) Poetry deals with form, to the neglect of content.

(C) the poet can never produce a completely accurate replica of the reality it seeks to represent,

and (moreover) the purpose of art is not to describe reality but to change it.

(D) In representing the sensual aspects of reality, the poet fails to discern the transcendent reality behind mere appearance.

 

17.Which one of the following statements is true about Aristotle's poetics?

(A) He asserted the value of poetry by integrating rhetoric and imitation (mimesis).

(B) He asserted the value of poetry by focusing on both rhetoric and imitation (mimesis).

(C) He asserted the value of poetry by giving preference to rhetoric over imitation (mimesis).

(D) He asserted the value of poetry by focusing on imitation (mimesis) rather than rhetoric.

 

18.Who commented that "Even today the Poetics continues to be studied and prescribed as text books in schools and colleges from California to Calcutta"?

(a) F L Lucas                

(b) Dr. Johnson

(c) Atkins                     

(d) E V Lucas

 

19.The word "Catharsis" signifies:

(A) Pontification

(B) Personification

(C) Purgation

(D) Publication

 

20.  Who is the first literary critic who said that "Art is twice removed from reality" ?

(A) Plato

(B) Aristotle

(C) Longinus

(D) Horace

 

Answers:

1.B	2.A	3.B	4.D	5.A	6.B	7.D	8.C	9.C	10.C
11.B	12.C	13.B	14.A	15.B	16.D	17.D	18.D	19.C	20.A