Collection of important MCQs on Dr Samuel Johnson
The Age of Johnson covers the period:
(A) 1745-1798
(B) 1760-1770
(C) 1750-1790
(D) 1745-1802
Question’s Answer: 1745-1798
According to Dr. Johnson “Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and lays
down, and forgets to take up again.” Why according to Johnson?
(A) Because no reader has so much patience.
(B) Because its language is very difficult.
(C) Because its perusal is a hard duty
(D) Because there is want of human interest in it.
Question’s Answer: Because there is want of human interest in it.
Dr Johnson’s prose-style is highly ____.
(A) Obscure
(B) Idiomatic
(C) Simple
(D) Latinised
Question’s Answer: Latinised
“The Lives of the English Poets is the richest, most beautiful, and indeed most perfect production of Johnson’s pen.” Who has that opinion?
(A) Joshua Reynolds
(B) Boswell
(C) Gibbon
(D) Burke
Question’s Answer: Boswell
On what grounds does Johnson defend Shakespeare’s violation of Unities in his plays:
(A) The observation of the Unities is not possible on the stage
(B) Strict observation of the Unities spoil the dramatic effect
(C) Strict observation of the three Unities is not possible in real life
(D) The observation of the Unities is artificial
Question’s Answer: Strict observation of the three Unities is not possible in real life
“Shakespeare’s plays are neither pure Tragedies nor pure Comedies,” Which is the exact meaning of Johnson by this observation?
(A) Art is not meant to preach any philosophy of life.
(B) Real life is not entirely tragic.
(C) Real life is not entirely comic.
(D) Shakespeare’s plays are true copies of real life.
Question’s Answer: Shakespeare’s plays are true copies of real life.
Johnson’s Rambler is still relevant because the Papers published in it _____ .
(A) Contains Johnson’s principles of criticism
(B) Give a true picture of eighteenth century life
(C) Brief and interesting
(D) Non-Controversial
Question’s Answer: Contains Johnson’s principles of criticism
In 1749 Dr Samuel Johnson published Irene as a _____.
(A) A long poem
(B) A tragedy
(C) A comedy
(D) A long satire
Question’s Answer: A tragedy
Who is the writer of  Johnson’s famous Biography?
(A) Goldsmith
(B) Boswell
(C) Joshua Reynolds
(D) Gibbon
Question’s Answer: Boswell
Dr Johnson whole-heartedly belonged to which literary School?
(A) Romantic School
(B) Victorian School
(C) Augustan School
(D) Restoration School
Question’s Answer: Augustan School
Dr. Johnson’s The Vanity of Human Wishes was written in:
(A) Blank Verse
(B) Hexameter CoupleClosed
(C) Free Verse
(D) Heroic Couplets
Question’s Answer: Closed Heroic Couplets
Dr. Johnson’s most ambitious work was A Dictionary of the English Language How many
years he took in finishing it?
(A) Nine years from 1746-55
(B) Seven years from 1748-55
(C) Eight years from 1747-55
(D) None of these
Question’s Answer: Eight years from 1747-55
Another equally ambitious work of Dr Johnson was Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets. The Lives of how many poets were written by him?
(A) 50
(B) 54
(C) 52
(D) 55
Question’s Answer: 52
According to Johnson, why did Milton write The Paradise Lost in Blank Verse?
(A) Because Milton had no musical sense.
(B) Because Milton could not write in rhyming ver
(C) Because it is easier to write in Blank verse than in rhyming verse.
(D) Because Blank verse was in vogue in Milton’s times.
Question’s Answer: Because it is easier to write in Blank verse than in rhyming verse.
“In this poem there is no nature, for there is no truth; there is no art, for there is nothing new” About which poem does Johnson hold this view?
(A) L’Allegro
(B) Lycidas
(C) Il Penseroso
(D) Comus
Question’s Answer: Lycidas
What is Milton’s Comus?
(A) A Masque
(B) A sonnet
(C) An allegorical poem
(D) A Pamphlet
Question’s Answer: A Masque
Dr. Johnson was a great force to continue:
(A) The Romantic Tradition
(B) The Elizabethan Tradition
(C) The Augustan Tradition
(D) The Restoration Tradition
Question’s Answer: The Augustan Tradition
Dr. Johnson was born in which year?
(A) 1708
(B) 1711
(C) 1710
(D) 1709
Question’s Answer: 1709
What was the name of the Periodical which Johnson started in imitiation of the Spectator?
(A) The Awakener
(B) The Grumbler
(C) The Rambler
(D) The Morning Star
Question’s Answer: The Rambler
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