Table of Contents
- Question 1: Match List - The Four Humours
- Question 2: Praise for Chaucer's Roman de la Rose
- Question 3: Match List - Shakespearean Quotes
- Question 4: Plays by Robert Greene
- Question 5: Plays by George Peele
- Question 6: Milton's Lines on Shakespeare
- Question 7: Author of The Power of Love (1643)
- Question 8: Chronology of British Texts
- Question 9: Joseph Addison's Ambition for Philosophy
- Question 10: Author of A Woman Killed with Kindness
Question 1
Match List I with List II
| List I (Bodily Fluid) | List II (Temperament) |
|---|---|
| A. Blood | I. Phlegmatic |
| B. Yellow Bile | II. Sanguine |
| C. Phlegm | III. Melancholy |
| D. Black bile | IV. Choleric |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
These are the four temperaments or humours from ancient Greek and Roman medicine (Galen and Hippocrates), heavily influential in early modern European thought and Renaissance literature (such as Ben Jonson's "comedy of humours"):
- A. Blood — (II) Sanguine: Characterized by an outgoing, sociable, and optimistic nature.
- B. Yellow Bile — (IV) Choleric: Characterized by a hot-tempered, aggressive, and decisive nature.
- C. Phlegm — (I) Phlegmatic: Characterized by a calm, unemotional, and passive nature.
- D. Black bile — (III) Melancholy: Characterized by a sad, introverted, and thoughtful nature.
Question 2
Who among the following praised Chaucer's translation of Roman de la rose?
The French poet and contemporary of Chaucer, Eustache Deschamps, explicitly praised Chaucer's translation of the Roman de la Rose in a famous ballade addressed to him.
Deschamps referred to Chaucer as the "great translator" and "Socrates full of philosophy, Seneca in morals," celebrating his role in bringing French poetic forms to the English language.
(Note: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun were the original French authors of the Roman de la Rose, not reviewers of the English translation).
Question 3
Match List I with List II
| List I (Quote) | List II (Play) |
|---|---|
| A. "Some are born great, others achieve greatness." | I. The Tempest |
| B. "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." | II. The Comedy of Errors |
| C. "Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word." | III. A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| D. "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." | IV. Twelfth Night |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Matching iconic Shakespearean lines to their respective plays:
A. "Some are born great..." — (IV) Twelfth Night. Read aloud by Malvolio from the forged letter tricking him.
B. "Love looks not with the eyes..." — (III) A Midsummer Night's Dream. Spoken by Helena, reflecting on the irrationality of love.
C. "Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word." — (II) The Comedy of Errors. Spoken by Luciana.
D. "We are such stuff as dreams are made on..." — (I) The Tempest. Spoken by Prospero, reflecting on the ephemeral nature of life and theater.
Question 4
Which of the following are the plays written by Robert Greene?
A. The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First
B. Alphonsus
C. A Moon for the Misbegotten
D. The Old Wives’ Tale
E. King of Aragon
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Identifying the works of the University Wit, Robert Greene:
Greene wrote The Comical History of Alphonsus, King of Aragon (c. 1590). The NTA question splits the title into two parts to form the options (B. Alphonsus, and E. King of Aragon).
Why the others are wrong: The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First (A) and The Old Wives' Tale (D) are plays by his contemporary, George Peele. A Moon for the Misbegotten (C) is a 20th-century play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill.
Question 5
Which of the following are written by George Peele?
A. The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First
B. A Moon for the Misbegotten
C. The Arraignment of Paris
D. The Scottish Historie of James the Fourth
E. The Old Wives’ Tale
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Identifying the works of the Elizabethan playwright George Peele:
- (A) The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First (1593)
- (C) The Arraignment of Paris (1581): A pastoral mythological play presented before Queen Elizabeth.
- (E) The Old Wives' Tale (1595): A brilliant early English comedy combining folklore and satire.
Why the others are wrong: The Scottish Historie of James the Fourth (D) is widely attributed to Robert Greene. A Moon for the Misbegotten (B) is by Eugene O'Neill.
Question 6
"What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones
The labour of an age in piled stones?
Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid
Under a star-pointing pyramid?"
These lines are written by:
These are the opening lines of John Milton's 1630 poem, "On Shakespeare".
The poem was first published anonymously in the Second Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1632. Milton argues that Shakespeare does not need a physical monument or a "star-pointing pyramid" to preserve his memory, because his enduring plays have built a "live-long Monument" in the minds of his readers.
Question 7
The pamphlet The Power of Love (1643) proclaiming the importance of brotherhood as a means of achieving a radical change in social relationships was written by:
The Power of Love (1643) was a foundational political pamphlet written by William Walwyn.
Walwyn was a prominent leader of the Levellers, a radical political movement during the English Civil War that fought for popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, religious tolerance, and equality before the law. His tract argued for intense Christian brotherhood and community cohesion against the rigid hierarchies of the time.
(Note: Gerrard Winstanley was the leader of a similar but separate radical group called the "Diggers" or "True Levellers").
Question 8
Choose the correct chronological sequence in which the following texts were published.
A. The Tower
B. The Hind and the Panther
C. The Wild Swans at Coole
D. Mac Flecknoe
E. The Whitsun Weddings
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
The correct chronological sequence spanning the Restoration to the mid-20th century:
- (D) Mac Flecknoe (1682): John Dryden's legendary mock-heroic satire against Thomas Shadwell.
- (B) The Hind and the Panther (1687): John Dryden's beast fable defending Catholicism.
- (C) The Wild Swans at Coole (1919): W.B. Yeats's acclaimed poetry collection.
- (A) The Tower (1928): W.B. Yeats's high-modernist collection.
- (E) The Whitsun Weddings (1964): Philip Larkin's famous volume of post-war English poetry.
Question 9
"I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have brought Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries, Schools and Colleges, to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-Tables, and in Coffee-Houses."
To whom do you attribute this famous statement?
This is the defining mission statement of the 18th-century periodical The Spectator (Issue No. 10), written by Joseph Addison.
Addison and his collaborator Richard Steele aimed to democratize learning and polite culture. They wanted to take philosophical, moral, and literary debates out of the dusty, elitist universities and inject them into the emerging, vibrant public sphere of London's coffeehouses and fashionable tea tables.
Question 10
Name the playwright who composed the play A Woman Killed with Kindness.
A Woman Killed with Kindness (1603) is widely considered the masterpiece of the Elizabethan/Jacobean dramatist Thomas Heywood.
It is the quintessential example of early modern domestic tragedy. The play breaks from the era's typical tragedies involving kings and grand political assassinations, focusing instead on a middle-class household. When John Frankford discovers his wife Anne has been unfaithful, he subverts traditional expectations of bloody revenge, instead punishing her "with kindness" by banishing her to live a comfortable but entirely solitary life, which ultimately breaks her heart.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the "Four Humours" theory?
Rooted in ancient medical theory by Hippocrates and Galen, it posited that human health and temperament were controlled by four bodily fluids: Blood (Sanguine/Optimistic), Phlegm (Phlegmatic/Calm), Yellow Bile (Choleric/Angry), and Black Bile (Melancholic/Depressed). This heavily influenced Renaissance character writing.
Who were the Levellers?
During the English Civil War (mid-1600s), the Levellers were a radical political movement led by figures like William Walwyn (author of The Power of Love). They demanded extended voting rights, equality before the law, and religious tolerance, vastly ahead of their time.
What is "Domestic Tragedy"?
A subgenre of drama (like Thomas Heywood's A Woman Killed with Kindness) that focuses on the personal, intimate tragedies of middle-class or ordinary citizens, moving away from classical Aristotelian tragedies that required protagonists to be royalty or nobility.
