A Horatian Ode (named after the Roman poet Horace) is generally calm, meditative, and structured in regular, uniform stanzas, unlike the passionate, irregular Pindaric Ode.

• (B) Andrew Marvell's "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland": As the title literally states, it is a masterclass in the balanced, stoic Horatian style.
• (C) Alexander Pope's "Ode on Solitude": Written when Pope was just twelve, this is a quiet, reflective poem in strict, regular stanzas, perfectly capturing the Horatian ideal of a peaceful, retired life.

Why the others are wrong: Jonson's "Ode to Cary and Morison" is the most famous example of an English Pindaric Ode (using the Turn, Counter-Turn, and Stand structure).

The famous "Proviso Scene" occurs in Act IV of William Congreve's Restoration comedy, The Way of the World (1700).

In this scene, the witty lovers Mirabell and Millamant negotiate the terms (provisos) of their future marriage. Instead of traditional romantic vows, they lay out strict legal and social conditions for how they will behave (e.g., Millamant demands to keep her privacy and not be called annoying pet names; Mirabell demands she not wear tight corsets or drink alcohol with other men). It is the pinnacle of witty, pragmatic Restoration romance.

In Robert Browning's dramatic monologue "Caliban upon Setebos" (1864), Setebos is the brutal, capricious god worshipped by Caliban.

Drawing on the character from Shakespeare's The Tempest, Browning imagines Caliban hiding in the mud and theologizing about his god. Caliban imagines Setebos to be exactly like himself: a cruel, moody, powerful being who creates and destroys out of sheer boredom or spite. The poem is a brilliant Victorian satire on natural theology and the tendency of humans to create gods in their own flawed image.

The texts listed span massive time periods, but the options provided are structurally flawed (e.g., repeating the letter E). The general historical sequence of the identifiable works is:

• The Complaint of Troilus (likely a reference to Henryson's 15th-century Testament of Cresseid or a later adaptation).
• Adonais (1821) by P.B. Shelley.
• The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) by Oscar Wilde.
• The Pisan Cantos (1948) by Ezra Pound.

Matching female characters to their respective Charles Dickens novels:

A. Barnaby Rudge — (ii) Miss Dolly. Dolly Varden is the coquettish daughter of the locksmith Gabriel Varden.

B. Little Dorrit — (iv) Mrs. Flintwinch. Affery Flintwinch is the nervous, abused servant in the creepy Clennam household.

C. Nicholas Nickleby — (i) Miss La Creevy. A cheerful, talkative miniature-portrait painter who befriends the Nicklebys.

D. Our Mutual Friend — (iii) Mrs Boffin. The kind-hearted, newly wealthy wife of the "Golden Dustman," Mr. Boffin.

Mr. Pumblechook is the pompous, hypocritical corn-chandler in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations.

He is Pip's uncle (technically, Joe Gargery's uncle). Before Pip gets his fortune, Pumblechook constantly berates and bullies him. However, the moment Pip inherits his "great expectations," Pumblechook immediately fawns over him and falsely takes the credit for making Pip a gentleman by introducing him to Miss Havisham.

The year 1859 is considered an "annus mirabilis" (year of wonders) in Victorian literature and science.

• (A) On the Origin of Species: Charles Darwin published his world-changing theory of evolution on November 24, 1859.
• (B) A Tale of Two Cities: Charles Dickens published his French Revolution masterpiece in 1859.

Why C and D are wrong: George Eliot's Silas Marner was published in 1861. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published in 1865.

In Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, Jane is sent to the bleak, hypocritical charity institution known as Lowood Institution (School).

It is run by the cruel and tyrannical Mr. Brocklehurst, who starves the girls and forces them to wear plain clothes to suppress their "pride." It is here that Jane meets her saintly friend Helen Burns, who tragically dies of consumption during a typhus outbreak at the school.

(Note: Hailsham is the school in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go).

George Bernard Shaw wrote the 1910 short comedy The Dark Lady of the Sonnets.

In this humorous one-act play, a young William Shakespeare goes to the palace to secretly meet the "Dark Lady" (the subject of his later sonnets). In the dark, he accidentally bumps into Queen Elizabeth I instead. Shaw cleverly wrote the play to support a campaign for the creation of a National Theatre in England.

This highly unique premise occurs in Rudyard Kipling's 1902 short story "Wireless."

The story blends early sci-fi with the supernatural. While a man is experimenting with the newly invented "wireless" radio telegraph in the back of a pharmacy, the consumptive (tubercular) pharmacist, Mr. Shaynor, falls into a trance. The narrator realizes that Shaynor's brain is acting as a human radio receiver, "tuning in" to the exact poetic frequency of the dead poet John Keats and slowly recreating Keats's poem "The Eve of St. Agnes" line by line.