MCQs – History of American Literature

Christopher Columbus was

(a) a Spanish explorer who was born in Genoa and backed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel of Spain

(b) An Italian explorer

(c) A Spanish explorer

(d) An adventure in Spain that Columbus took part in

Question’s Answer:  a Spanish explorer who was born in Genoa and backed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel

 

In what year did Christopher Columbus arrive on the mainland of the United States?

(a) 1492

(b) 1496

(c) 1487

(d) 1499

Question’s Answer: 1496

 

Christopherlanded on American mainland in 1496, it was his

(a) Third attempt

(b) First attempt

(c) Second attempt

(d) Fourth attempt

Question’s Answer: Third attempt

 

The puritans believed in

(a) Their being elected people who will be redeemed

(b) Inherent sinfulness of man.

(c) Man being bad needed total dedication to God

(d) Simplicity of worship, scripture  reading and prayer

Question’s Answer: Man being bad needed total dedication to God

 

Who said this about America: “How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, which no other people”

on earth enjoy.”?

(a) Herbert Hoover

(b) Benjamin Franklin

(c) Thomas Jefferson

(d) James Monroe

Question’s Answer: Thomas Jefferson

 

In what part of America did the Puritans live after setting their home?

(a) East coast

(b) New England

(c) Massachusetts and Connecticut

(d) Virginia

Question’s Answer: Massachusetts and Connecticut

 

Who said,  “Give me liberty, or give me death!”?

(a) Abraham Lincoln

(b) John F. Kennedy

(c) George Washington

(d) Patrick Henry

Question’s Answer: Patrick Henry

 

Who said,  “And fired the shot heard round the world”?

(a) Benjamin Franklin

(b) Edwin Mackham

(c) Ralph Waldo Emersor

(d) George Washington

Question’s Answer: Ralph Waldo Emersor

 

Who said this: “The meaning of the word America flows from one pure source within the soul of America is the freedom of mind and spirit in man”?

(a) Theodore Roosevelt

(b) James Monroe

(c) John Holmes

(d) Herbert

Question’s Answer: Herbert

 

“Speak softly and carry a big stick.” is a quote about American foreign policy. Who said it?

(a) Benjamin Franklin

(b) Jefferson

(c) George Washington

(d) Theodore Roosevelt

Question’s Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

 

What is the contribution of New Englanders in English literature?

(a)  It gave Americans self-discipline and a sense of duty

(b) Inhibited normal development

(c) It gave the American culture strength and moral backbone

(d) Made people industrious

Question’s Answer: It gave the American culture strength and moral backbone

 

 

Who is the author of the an epitaph for Abraham Lincoln’s sweetheart?

(a) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(b) Edgar Lee Masters

(c) Walt Whitman

(d) Robert Frost

Question’s Answer: Edgar Lee Mastersc

 

Democracy in America was strengthened by

(a) Love for the country, people awareness of rights and responsibilities

(b) Voice of dissension

(c) Development of individuality

(d) Free conscientious voice

Question’s Answer: Love for the country, people awareness of rights and duties

 

The most important writing in America in the 18th century was about

(a) American society

(b) Theology

(c) Government and politics

(d) Religion and moral teaching

Question’s Answer: Government and politics

 

Emerson,Thoreau and Whitman represented which aspects of American Romanticism?

(a) Naturalness

(b) Emotions rather than intellect

(c) Individualism and optimism, a bright picture

(d) Spontaneity

Question’s Answer: Individualism and optimism, a bright picture

 

Transcendentalism in/by

(a) Conservatives

(b) New England radicals

(c) Boston

(d) The Brahmins

Question’s Answer: Boston

 

In America, the Enlightenment was about

(a) The world and life

(b) Religious awareness

(c) The supernatural

(d) this world and man’s natural powers after death

Question’s Answer: this world and man’s natural powers after death

 

What were the ways of Paine, Adams, and Jefferson do to shape democracy in the United States?

(a) Battle for victory of people’s will

(b) Advocating natural right of man to rule

(c) Persuasion and debate

(d) arguing for the divine right of kings to rule with people’s representatives

Question’s Answer: Persuasion and debate

 

What world events helped the United States become independent?

(a)The British didn’t care about the English people who moved to America

(b) Writers pushed for people to be in charge of their own lives

(c) French Revolution

(d) Emergence of rationalism

Question’s Answer: French Revolution

 

Who asked for complete political freedom?

(a) Hamilton

(b) Adams

(c) Jefferson

(d) Thomas Paine

Question’s Answer: Thomas Paine

 

Who thought that the government wasn’t there to control people, but to help them?

(a) Thomas Paine

(b) George Washington

(c) Thomas Jefferson

(d) Adams

Question’s Answer: Thomas Jefferson

 

Romanticism brought attention to what part of American life?

(a) Individualism

(b) Emotional aspirations

(c) Intellectual life

(d) Frustration

Question’s Answer: Individualism

 

American transcendentalism, stands for

(a) Metaphysical justification

(b) Reality can be known through spiritual insight

(c) German philosophers and English interpretors

(d) Romantic distrust of the.intellect and exaltation of intuition

Question’s Answer: Romantic distrust of the.intellect and exaltation of intuition

 

___ are all important members of the Transcendental group.

(a) Hawthorne

(b) Ralph Waldo Emerson

(c) Melville

(d) Walt Whitman

Question’s Answer: Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Rationalism made people optimistic because

(a) Progress is inevitable if pursued rationally

(b) Progress is through human effort

(c) Happy society is possible and within reach of man

(d) God and nature are good and want to live in harmony

Question’s Answer: Progress is inevitable if pursued rationally

 

What was the Emerson’s main message?

(a) Social-reform

(b) Self-reliance

(c) Confidence

(d) Progress and virtue

Question’s Answer: Self-reliance

 

Henry David Thoreau believed in which of the following?

(a) Self-denial

(b) Philosophic anarchism

(c) Non-conformism

(d) Rugged and uncompromising New Englander

Question’s Answer: Non-conformism

 

Some of the significant conservatives are

(a) Emerson

(b) Thoreau

(c) Edgar Allan Poe

(d) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne

Question’s Answer: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

Thoreau lived as a hermit and wrote a famous book called

(a) Concord

(b) The Scarlet Letter

(c) Walden

(d) Autocrat of the Breakfast Table

Question’s Answer: Walden

 

Most of the conservative New Englanders were from

(a) Virginia

(b) Cleveland

(c) Philadelphia

(d) Harvard

Question’s Answer: Harvard

 

The conservatives among the New Englanders disapproved of the transcendentalists and

(a) were generally Unitarians mercantile oligarchy

(b) Believed in a “genteel tradition”

(c) Trusted intellectualism

(d) Adhered to traditional values of Boston

Question’s Answer: were generally Unitarians mercantile oligarchy

 

After the Civil War, conservatives’ ideas changed to ____ .

(a) Democracy

(b) Introspection

(c) Abolitionism

(d) Genteel tradition

Question’s Answer: Genteel tradition

 

Some writers of the South, where literary renaissance reached late, are

(a) Longfellow

(b) Emerson

(c) Edgar Allan Poe

(d) Hawthorne

Question’s Answer: Edgar Allan Poe

 

Some significant New Yorkers are

(a) Herman Melville and Walt Whitman

(b) Fernimore Cooper

(c) Longfellow

(d) Hawthorne

Question’s Answer: Herman Melville and Walt Whitman

 

Which of the following are shown by American literature After 1890?

(a) The world wars

(b) The complexity and changes in the nature of American life

(c) Economic depression leading to introspection

(d) Emergence of a wide reading public

Question’s Answer: The complexity and changes in the nature of American life

 

American literature besides fiction achieved significance in

(a) General prose writing

(b) Journalism

(c) History biography, criticism. social-political writings.

(d) Argumentative writings, debate etc.

Question’s Answer: History biography, criticism. social-political writings

 

The vast land and variety of cultural background gave birth to.

(a) Literature of negroes

(b) literature of New Englanders

(c) literature of West and Mid-West

(d) Regionalism

Question’s Answer: Regionalism

 

What were the factors in the 20th century, which helped conformity in literature and life

(a) Uniformity of purpose-to safeguard freedom

(b) The idea of one nation

(c) Trans-continental railroad. radio, television and newspapers

(d) Moral and religious values

Question’s Answer: Trans-continental railroad. radio, television and newspapers

 

The naturalistic writers were more interested in which of the following?

(a) The question of free-will

(b) Determinism in their viewing of man

(c) Expository interpretation

(d) Dominant bias

Question’s Answer: Determinism in their viewing of man

 

During 1890-1965 period what other factors aided in a new American culture and life?

(a) Economic prosperity

(b) Scientific advancements

(c) Education, universities and schools

(d) Leisure

Question’s Answer: Education, universities and schools

 

Naturalism brought to American literature

(a) Man in his natural habitat

(b) Modification of realism

(c) Romantic nostalgia

(d) Scientific objectivity and man’s natural passions and instincts

Question’s Answer: Scientific objectivity and man’s natural passions and instincts

 

Oratory has always been a proud American tradition and a natural habit which has the most important factor of

(a) Total appeal

(b) Rhetoric means of persuasion

(c) Choice of words

(d) Observing all the available

Question’s Answer: Observing all the available

 

The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln  consists of

(a) Well-thought, balanced

(b) Much brooding in solitude,laced with profound emotions

(c) Strong emotional connections

(d) Complete commitment

Question’s Answer: Much brooding in solitude,laced with profound emotions

 

Which literary work helped Abraham Lincoln become American President?

(a) Uncle Tom’s Cabin

(b) Moby Dick

(c) Walden

(d) Aunt Phillis’s Cabin

Question’s Answer: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

 

Stowe influenced Harriet Beecher American life as

(a) Story writer

(b) Intellectual aristocracy

(c) Introspective nature

(d) Political realist

Question’s Answer: Political realist

 

______ are the first American orators.

(a) Lay leaders

(b) Priests

(c) Preachers

(d) Politicians

Question’s Answer: Preachers

 

Oratory concerns mainly

(a) People

(b) The democratic institutions

(c) Public life of society

(d) Something of a private life with public dimensions

Question’s Answer: The democratic institutions

 

The early American orators were trained in

(a) Sprinkling of slangs and dialects

(b) Need of the hour

(c) Aristotelian rhetorical devices

(d) Compulsion to reach the audience by any means

Question’s Answer: Aristotelian rhetorical devices

 

What other quality of a brilliant orator contributes to his success?

(a) Highly educated audience

(b) A willing, anxious informed and attentive listener

(c) Situation can make even an indifferent audience a great listener

(d) Inherent capacity to listen attentively

Question’s Answer: A willing, anxious informed and attentive listener

 

“Literacy and learning were not widespread, but the capacity to listen

to speakers and to criticize them know no bounds.” These lines demonstrate which concept?

(a) Ability to listen so

(b) Why America benefited much from oratory

(c) Ability to listen carefully and speak forcefully

(d) How American society was committed to freedom of speech

Question’s Answer: Why America benefited much from oratory

 

______ is/are known as the giants of American oratorical tradition.

(a) Salmon P. Chase

(b) Stephan A. Douglas

(c) Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln

(d) Edward Everett

Question’s Answer: Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln

 

What are the two cultural traditions that have improved American literature and language?

(a) Indian folklore and Negro spirituals

(b) Religious traditions and magic

(c) Sayings and tales

(d) Indian songs and Negro dreams

Question’s Answer: Indian folklore and Negro spirituals

 

The American folklore consists of which of the followings?

(a) British folklore

(b) Combination of British, French and Spanish

(c) Indian and Negro folklores in combination traditions with European

(d) Chinese and Asian

Question’s Answer: Indian and Negro folklores

combined with European traditions

 

 

The annual influx of millions of immigrants after 1870 brought up a number of difficulties, but the following were the most significant:

(a) Housing problem

(b) Language of communications

(c) Job front

(d) Native culture and native tongue

Question’s Answer: Native culture and native tongue

 

Americans were influenced by native Indian traditions widely. They are what?

(a) Oral tradition

(b) Riddles and anecdotes fairy tale and the myth

(c) Chant, incantation, the

(d) Humour

Question’s Answer: Chant, incantation, the

 

American humour eventually acquired

(a) A new shape

(b) A uniqueness of native origin

(c) Dark humour

(d) Sophistication, urbanity

Question’s Answer: Sophistication, urbanity

 

What novel is considered a “propaganda novel”?

(a) Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp

(b) Aunt Phillis’s Cabin

(c) Tom Sawyer

(d) Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Question’s Answer: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

 

Purchase of Louisiana opened the vast

(a) The area with vast possibilities

(b) The unknown land

(c) West and the frontier

(d) Rough territory

Question’s Answer: West and the frontier

 

The author of the Venetian Life (1866) and Italian Journeys (1867) is ____ .

(a) Mark Twain

(b) William Dean Howells

(c) Ralph Waldo Emerson

(d) Nathaniel Hawthorne

Question’s Answer: William Dean Howells

 

The West as seen from the East was  a _________.

(a) A new experience

(b) Wild land to be tamed

(c) A challenge

(d) Unknown territory

Question’s Answer: Unknown territory

 

At this time period (1870–1890) and after, Americans had the enormous job of labouring towards

(a) National self-discovery and expression

(b) Articulation of human desires

(c) National customs and culture

(d) Materialism economy and market

Question’s Answer: National self-discovery and expression

 

Who are called the pilgrims?

(a) The second generation went to see the land of their forefathers

(b) Voyages for pleasure and to see things for themselves

(c) Americans of European origin visiting their country in Europe

(d) Some returned to their land of origin to take part in freedom struggle

Question’s Answer: Americans of European origin visiting their country in Europe

 

William Dean Howells, Henrey James, and ____  American authors handled realism brilliantly.

(a) Melville

(b) Mark Twain

(c) Emerson

(d) Hawthorne

Question’s Answer: Hawthorne

 

In 1880, “A Tramp Abroad” a book  was proudly written by

(a) Mark Twain

(b) W.D. Howells

(c) H.W. Longfellow

(d) Emerson

Question’s Answer: Mark Twain

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