Table of Contents
- Question 32: Author of The Arte of Rhetorique
- Question 33: Stephen Gosson's Denunciation of Literature
- Question 34: Facts about Sidney's Defence of Poesie
- Question 35: Sidney on the Degradation of Poetry
- Question 36: Alexander Pope's "A little learning..."
- Question 37: Chronology of English Literary Criticism
- Question 38: Dr. Johnson's "Discordia Concors"
- Question 39: Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Man
- Question 40: Facts about Coleridge's Biographia Literaria
Question 32
Who among the following wrote Art of Rhetoric?
Thomas Wilson (1524–1581) authored "The Arte of Rhetorique" in 1553. It stands as a pioneering comprehensive study on rhetoric in English. He also wrote "The Rule of Reason, conteinyng the Arte of Logique" (1551).
Other Explanations:
- Cleanth Brooks wrote The Well Wrought Urn (New Criticism).
- Raymond Williams wrote Culture and Society (Cultural Materialism).
Question 33
Who among the following denounced literary works as the works of the devil?
Stephen Gosson, an English satirist and puritanical figure, vehemently criticized and denounced the English stage and poetry in his 1579 work "The Schoole of Abuse", equating literary and dramatic works to the works of the devil.
It was this specific puritanical attack that prompted Sir Philip Sidney to write his famous rebuttal, An Apology for Poetry.
Question 34
Which among the following are not true about The Defense of Poesie by Philip Sidney?
A. The text was published posthumously in 1595
B. It is also titled as An Apology for Poetry
C. Philip Sidney criticises Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde and Spenser's The Shepheardes Calendar
D. The text is the first major piece of literary criticism in English
E. The text defends Plato for his decision to ban poets from the ideal state as described in Republic
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
The statements that are NOT true are C and E:
(C) is false: Sidney does NOT criticize Chaucer or Spenser; rather, he praises them. He states Chaucer "did excellently in his Troilus and Cressida" and says The Shepherd’s Calendar "hath much poetry in his eclogues."
(E) is false: He does NOT defend Plato's banishment of poets. He specifically rebuts Plato's arguments (and Stephen Gosson's), claiming poets are "the least liars" and that poetry is superior to history and philosophy.
Question 35
Identify the poet who has said that poetry has fallen from its pedestal as the highest estimation of learning... to be the laughingstock of children?
This quote appears in the introduction of Sir Philip Sidney's An Apology for Poetry (The Defence of Poesy).
Sidney laments: "...I have just cause to make a pitiful defense of poor poetry, which from almost the highest estimation of learning is fallen to be the laughing-stock of children..."
Question 36
"A little learning is a dangerous thing, Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”
Which literary critic has expressed the above given thought?
This famous couplet is from Alexander Pope's 1711 poem An Essay on Criticism (Part II).
The "Pierian Spring" is a metaphorical reference to the spring in the Pierian Mountains in Macedonia, which was sacred to the Muses and represented the source of knowledge and inspiration. The same poem also gave us the famous line: "To Err is Human; to Forgive, Divine."
Question 37
Chronologically arrange the following works on literary criticism in order of their publication:
A. An Apologie for Poetrie
B. The Art of Rhetorique
C. Preface to Lyrical Ballads
D. An Essay on Criticism
E. The Metaphysical Poets
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
The correct chronological sequence of these foundational texts in English literary criticism is:
- (B) The Arte of Rhetorique (1553) by Thomas Wilson.
- (A) An Apologie for Poetrie (1595) by Sir Philip Sidney (posthumously).
- (D) An Essay on Criticism (1711) by Alexander Pope.
- (C) Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800/1802) by William Wordsworth.
- (E) The Metaphysical Poets (1921) by T.S. Eliot.
Question 38
"Discordia Concors" a phrase used by Johnson in his Life of Cowley, implies:
A. A term used to refer to ironic inversion of residual ideology in a text
B. A combination of two philosophically similar discourses
C. A term used to refer to diminishing metaphor
D. A combination of dissimilar images
E. A combination of contradictory ideas and concepts
Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
Dr. Samuel Johnson used the term "discordia concors" (harmonious discord) in his essay "Life of Cowley" (from Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets) to critique the Metaphysical poets (like John Donne).
He defined it as "a combination of dissimilar images" (D) or "discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike" where heterogeneous, contradictory ideas are "yoked by violence together" (E).
Question 39
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was written by Mary Wollstonecraft. Who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Man?
There is a trick/flaw in this question. Mary Wollstonecraft actually wrote BOTH A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) AND A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).
Both her 1790 text and Thomas Paine's Rights of Man (1791) were written as direct rebuttals to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. Because Wollstonecraft is not an option, the examiner intended for Thomas Paine (who wrote Rights of Man, sans "A Vindication of...").
Question 40
Which statements among the following are not relevant to Biographia Literaria?
A. The first volume of the text recounts the author's friendship with Robert Southey and William Blake
B. Another edition of the text was published later in 1847 with his daughter Sara's appended notes
C. It is a work by S. T. Coleridge in two volumes
D. In this work, Coleridge discusses the difference between fancy and imagination
E. In the first volume, Coleridge acknowledges his teachers and philosophers including Aristotle and Plato
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
The statements that are NOT relevant/true regarding S.T. Coleridge's 1817 work Biographia Literaria are A and E:
(A) is false: The first volume recounts his friendship with Robert Southey and William Wordsworth, NOT William Blake.
(E) is false: He acknowledges the influence of modern/Enlightenment/German idealist philosophers like Immanuel Kant, Johann Fichte, Friedrich von Schelling, and David Hartley, rather than heavily focusing on Aristotle and Plato in volume one.
Statements B, C, and D are all fundamental facts about the text (including his famous distinction between primary/secondary Imagination and Fancy).
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Philip Sidney write "An Apology for Poetry"?
He wrote it in 1580 (published 1595) primarily as a response to Puritan attacks on the English stage, specifically Stephen Gosson's "The Schoole of Abuse" (1579), which called poetry the "mother of lies."
What does Dr. Johnson mean by "Discordia Concors"?
It is a Latin phrase meaning "harmonious discord." Dr. Johnson used it to critique Metaphysical poets (like John Donne) for violently yoking together vastly dissimilar and contradictory ideas into a single conceit or image.
What is the difference between Fancy and Imagination in Biographia Literaria?
Coleridge defined Fancy as merely a mechanical, memory-based combining of fixed elements. The Imagination (specifically Secondary Imagination) is a vital, transformative ("esemplastic") power that dissolves and recreates to generate new, unified artistic realities.
Did Mary Wollstonecraft write "A Vindication of the Rights of Man"?
Yes. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Men in 1790 as a response to Edmund Burke. Thomas Paine wrote Rights of Man in 1791. Exams sometimes confuse the exact titles between these two authors responding to the French Revolution.
