These are the famous opening lines of John Dryden's monumental 1681 political satire, Absalom and Achitophel.

The poem uses the biblical story of King David's rebellion (led by his illegitimate son Absalom) as an allegory for the Exclusion Crisis in England. The "Israel's monarch" in these lines is a satirical representation of King Charles II, gently mocking his notorious sexual promiscuity ("vigorous warmth") and his many illegitimate children, including the Duke of Monmouth (Absalom).

The Deserted Village is a famous pastoral elegy written by Oliver Goldsmith in 1770.

The poem passionately condemns rural depopulation, the destruction of traditional agrarian life (the fictional village of "Auburn"), and the greedy enclosure movement that forced poor peasants to emigrate in favor of creating massive, private aristocratic estates. It is notable for its use of heroic couplets.

Lord Byron wrote several "closet dramas" (plays intended to be read rather than performed).

• (A) Sardanapalus (1821) is a historical tragedy about the last king of Assyria.
• (C) Cain: A Mystery (1821) is his highly controversial, sympathetic portrayal of the biblical figure.
• (D) The Two Foscari (1821) is a historical tragedy set in Venice.

Why B and E are wrong: Hellas (a lyrical drama about Greek independence) and The Cenci (a horrific tragedy based on a true Roman family) were both written by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

While Robert Browning is legendary for his "dramatic monologues," he also attempted to write traditional stage plays ("pure dramas").

• (A) Strafford (1837) is a historical tragedy written at the request of the actor William Macready.
• (C) A Blot in the 'Scutcheon (1843) is another formal stage tragedy.

Why the others are wrong: The Last Ride Together and Porphyria's Lover are classic dramatic monologues (poems, not stage plays). Pippa Passes is a verse drama or "closet drama," structurally too fragmented to be considered a standard "pure drama" for the stage.

Identifying the major works of the Victorian essayist, philosopher, and historian Thomas Carlyle:

• (A) On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History (1841): A famous lecture series proposing the "Great Man" theory of history (that history is driven by exceptional individuals).
• (B) The French Revolution: A History (1837): His intense, highly subjective, and dramatic historical account that inspired Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities.

Why the others are wrong: Of Human Bondage is a 1915 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The Hour and the Man is a novel by Harriet Martineau. Hudibras is a 17th-century satire by Samuel Butler.

Robert Burns (1759–1796) is the national poet of Scotland.

Known affectionately as the "Ploughman Poet" or the "Bard of Ayrshire," he famously wrote his poetry in the Scots language and dialect (as well as Standard English). His works, such as "Auld Lang Syne," "To a Mouse," and "Tam o' Shanter," are central to Scottish cultural identity and the early Romantic movement.

In Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1820 lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound, the mysterious, shapeless entity Demogorgon personifies the ultimate, irresistible force of Necessity or Fate.

Residing in the dark underworld, Demogorgon is the primeval force that even the tyrant god Jupiter (Jove) cannot escape. In Act III, it is Demogorgon who rises from the abyss to overthrow Jupiter, representing the inevitable historical necessity of tyranny falling to allow the triumph of universal love and freedom.

Dr. Charles Primrose is the naive, inherently good, but frequently unfortunate protagonist and narrator of Oliver Goldsmith's famous 1766 novel, The Vicar of Wakefield.

The novel follows the story of Job-like suffering, as the vicar and his family lose their wealth, are swindled, imprisoned, and face numerous disasters before their fortunes are happily restored at the end.

This heartbreaking passage is from Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented.

It describes the tragic secret burial of Tess's illegitimate infant son, whom she named "Sorrow." Because the baby was illegitimate and unbaptized by a priest (Tess baptizes him herself before he dies), the rigid, unforgiving rules of Victorian society and the church dictate that the baby must be buried in the neglected, weed-filled corner of the graveyard reserved for the "damned." It perfectly encapsulates Hardy's critique of religious hypocrisy.

Matching iconic quotes from Modern Drama to their source plays:

A. "You can't eat the orange..." — (III) Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller). Spoken by Willy Loman, raging against being discarded by his company after years of service.

B. "Liberty means responsibility..." — (I) Man and Superman (George Bernard Shaw). A famous aphorism from "Maxims for Revolutionists," appended to the play.

C. "Nobody thinks, nobody cares..." — (IV) Look Back in Anger (John Osborne). Spoken by Jimmy Porter, capturing the post-war apathy and "angry young man" disillusionment of the 1950s.

D. "Our home has been nothing but a playroom..." — (II) A Doll's House (Henrik Ibsen). Spoken by Nora Helmer during her devastating final realization of patriarchal oppression before she leaves her family.