100 Chronology Based MCQs on British Literature for NET| SET| GATE | CUET PG

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100 British Literature Chronological Order MCQs

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1. Arrange the following literary periods in chronological order:

Correct Answer: B
Anglo-Saxon (c. 450-1066), Restoration (1660-1688), Romantic (c. 1798-1832), Victorian (1837-1901).

2. Which of these works was written earliest?

Correct Answer: B
Beowulf (c. 8th-11th century), Canterbury Tales (late 14th century), Paradise Lost (1667), Lyrical Ballads (1798).

3. Place these poets in the correct chronological order of their birth:

Correct Answer: A
Shakespeare (1564), Milton (1608), Pope (1688), Wordsworth (1770).

4. Which literary movement came before the Enlightenment?

Correct Answer: B
Renaissance (c. 1300-1600s) preceded the Enlightenment (c. 1700s).

5. Chronologically arrange these plays by William Shakespeare:

Correct Answer: B
Romeo and Juliet (c. 1597), Hamlet (c. 1603), Macbeth (c. 1606), The Tempest (c. 1611).
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6. Order these novels by their publication date:

Correct Answer: A
Pride and Prejudice (1813), Jane Eyre (1847), Great Expectations (1861), Ulysses (1922).

7. Which of these literary movements ended earliest?

Correct Answer: A
Neoclassicism (c. 1660-1785), Romanticism (c. 1798-1832), Modernism (c. 1910-1945), Postmodernism (c. 1945-present).

8. Put these major literary figures in order of their birth:

Correct Answer: A
Chaucer (c. 1343), Austen (1775), Dickens (1812), Woolf (1882).

9. Arrange these famous poems by their approximate composition/publication date:

Correct Answer: B
Lycidas (1637), The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798), Don Juan (1819-1824), The Waste Land (1922).

10. Which of these literary ages occurred last?

Correct Answer: D
Jacobean (1603-1625), Caroline (1625-1649), Commonwealth (1649-1660), Restoration (1660-1688).

11. Order these works by Daniel Defoe chronologically:

Correct Answer: B
Robinson Crusoe (1719), Moll Flanders (1722), A Journal of the Plague Year (1722). Moll Flanders and A Journal of the Plague Year were both published in 1722, but Robinson Crusoe came first.

12. Which of these poets was born first?

Correct Answer: D
Coleridge (1772), Byron (1788), Shelley (1792), Keats (1795).

13. Arrange these British literary periods in order:

Correct Answer: A
Edwardian (1901-1910), Georgian (1910-1936), Modern (c. 1910-1945), Postmodern (c. 1945-present).

14. Place these significant literary events in chronological order:

Correct Answer: B
Norman Conquest (1066), Death of Shakespeare (1616), Glorious Revolution (1688), Publication of Lyrical Ballads (1798).

15. Which of these novels was published earliest?

Correct Answer: D
Frankenstein (1818), Wuthering Heights (1847), Middlemarch (1871-72), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891).

16. Order these poets chronologically by their birth:

Correct Answer: B
Ben Jonson (1572), John Donne (1572), George Herbert (1593), Andrew Marvell (1621). Jonson and Donne were born in the same year.

17. Arrange these theatre periods in chronological order:

Correct Answer: A
Elizabethan (c. 1558-1603), Jacobean (1603-1625), Restoration (1660-1688), Modern (c. 1900-present).
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18. Which of these literary movements began earliest?

Correct Answer: A
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848), Aestheticism (late 19th century), Symbolism (late 19th century), Bloomsbury Group (early 20th century).

19. Order these significant literary figures chronologically by birth:

Correct Answer: C
Swift (1667), Johnson (1709), Sterne (1713), Goldsmith (1730).

20. Which of these works was published last?

Correct Answer: D
Don Quixote (translation 1612-1620), Pilgrim's Progress (1678), Gulliver's Travels (1726), A Modest Proposal (1729).

21. Arrange these Victorian novelists in chronological order of their birth:

Correct Answer: A
Dickens (1812), Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) (1819), Hardy (1840), Wilde (1854).

22. Which of these literary movements is the most recent?

Correct Answer: D
Absurdist Theatre (mid-20th century), Kitchen Sink Realism (late 1950s), Movement Poetry (mid-20th century), New Sincerity (late 20th/early 21st century).

23. Put these events related to the English language and literature in order:

Correct Answer: C
Printing Press arrives (Caxton, 1476), King James Bible (1611), First Folio (1623), Act of Union (1707).

24. Arrange these Gothic novels chronologically by publication:

Correct Answer: A
The Castle of Otranto (1764), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), The Monk (1796), Dracula (1897).

25. Which of these literary ages came directly after the Commonwealth Period?

Correct Answer: B
Commonwealth Period (1649-1660), followed by the Restoration Age (1660-1688).

26. Order these British literary prizes by their establishment year:

Correct Answer: B
Nobel Prize in Literature (1901), Pulitzer Prize (1917, though mainly US, some British authors have won), Booker Prize (1969), Women's Prize for Fiction (1996).

27. Place these prominent dramatists in order of their birth:

Correct Answer: A
Marlowe (1564), Jonson (1572), Sheridan (1751), Shaw (1856).

28. Which of these works of literary criticism was published earliest?

Correct Answer: C
Defence of Poesie (Sidney, 1595), Preface to Lyrical Ballads (Wordsworth, 1800), Biographia Literaria (Coleridge, 1817), The Study of Poetry (Arnold, 1880).

29. Arrange these female novelists chronologically by their birth:

Correct Answer: B
Jane Austen (1775), Mary Shelley (1797), George Eliot (1819), Virginia Woolf (1882).

30. Which of these historical events happened first?

Correct Answer: A
English Civil War (1642-1651), Restoration of Monarchy (1660), Great Fire of London (1666), Glorious Revolution (1688).

31. Order these epic poems chronologically:

Correct Answer: B
Beowulf (c. 8th-11th century), The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596), Paradise Lost (1667), Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-1818).

32. Which of these literary forms emerged earliest in British literature?

Correct Answer: C
Epic Poetry (e.g., Beowulf) is ancient. Sonnets (16th C), Drama (Elizabethan 16th C), and Novels (18th C) came later.

33. Order these satirists chronologically by their birth:

Correct Answer: B
Samuel Butler (1612), Jonathan Swift (1667), Alexander Pope (1688), George Orwell (1903).

34. Which of these literary terms defines a movement later than the others?

Correct Answer: D
Metaphysical Poets (early 17th C), Cavalier Poets (mid 17th C), Augustan Poets (early 18th C), Lake Poets (early 19th C).

35. Arrange these major historical figures in chronological order of their reign/life:

Correct Answer: A
King Alfred the Great (849-899), William the Conqueror (1028-1087), Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Queen Victoria (1819-1901).

36. Order these poets known for their lyrical ballads/odes chronologically by birth:

Correct Answer: A
Wordsworth (1770), Coleridge (1772), Keats (1795), Tennyson (1809).

37. Which of these plays was performed first?

Correct Answer: A
Doctor Faustus (c. 1592, Marlowe), Volpone (1606, Jonson), The School for Scandal (1777, Sheridan), Pygmalion (1913, Shaw).

38. Arrange these British Prime Ministers (who also had literary connections) in chronological order of their term:

Correct Answer: B
Benjamin Disraeli (1868, 1874-1880), Arthur Balfour (1902-1905), Winston Churchill (1940-1945, 1951-1955), Harold Macmillan (1957-1963).

39. Which of these literary movements was active latest?

Correct Answer: C
Georgian Poets (1910-1936), Angry Young Men (1950s), Movement (Poetry) (1950s), Beat Generation (originated in US, but influenced UK in late 1950s-1960s, later than the others listed).

40. Order these important historical documents/events in British history:

Correct Answer: A
Magna Carta (1215), Act of Supremacy (1534), Petition of Right (1628), Bill of Rights (1689).

41. Which of these literary figures was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood?

Correct Answer: B
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848). Wilde was Aesthetic, Yeats Irish Literary Revival, Eliot Modernist.

42. Order these key British literary movements/periods chronologically:

Correct Answer: A
Elizabethan (1558-1603), Caroline (1625-1649), Commonwealth (1649-1660), Restoration (1660-1688).

43. Which of these novels is set furthest in the past?

Correct Answer: A
Ivanhoe (set in 12th century), A Tale of Two Cities (French Revolution, late 18th century), The Secret Agent (early 20th century), 1984 (dystopian future, published in 1949).

44. Order these prominent female poets chronologically by birth:

Correct Answer: A
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806), Christina Rossetti (1830), Emily Dickinson (1830), Sylvia Plath (1932). Rossetti and Dickinson were born in the same year.

45. Which of these literary journals/magazines began publication earliest?

Correct Answer: A
The Edinburgh Review (1802), Blackwood's Magazine (1817), The Yellow Book (1894), The Criterion (1922).

46. Order these British literary movements based on their start date:

Correct Answer: A
Restoration (1660), Romanticism (c. 1798), Victorianism (1837), Modernism (c. 1910).

47. Which of these famous literary characters appeared first?

Correct Answer: A
Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice, 1813), Fagin (Oliver Twist, 1837-1839), Dr. Jekyll (Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1886), Sherlock Holmes (A Study in Scarlet, 1887).
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48. Order these British monarchs associated with literary periods:

Correct Answer: A
King James I (Jacobean, 1603-1625), Queen Anne (Augustan Age, 1702-1714), King George III (Georgian era, 1760-1820), Queen Victoria (Victorian era, 1837-1901).

49. Which of these literary concepts/terms came into prominence first?

Correct Answer: C
Metaphysical Conceit (17th century), Gothic (mid-18th century), Stream of Consciousness (early 20th century), Angry Young Men (mid-20th century).

50. Arrange these playwrights chronologically by birth:

Correct Answer: A
William Congreve (1670), Oliver Goldsmith (1730), Oscar Wilde (1854), Harold Pinter (1930).

51. Which of these literary movements spanned the shortest period?

Correct Answer: C
Edwardian Age (1901-1910, 9 years). Romanticism (c. 34 years), Victorianism (64 years), Georgian Age (26 years).

52. Order these authors of children's literature by birth:

Correct Answer: A
Lewis Carroll (1832), Beatrix Potter (1866), A.A. Milne (1882), Roald Dahl (1916).

53. Which of these literary works is the oldest?

Correct Answer: B
Piers Plowman (c. 1360-1387), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late 14th century), Le Morte d'Arthur (1485), Everyman (c. 1510).

54. Arrange these British poets laureate chronologically by their appointment:

Correct Answer: B
John Dryden (1668), William Wordsworth (1843), Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1850), Ted Hughes (1984).

55. Which of these literary movements is most closely associated with the turn of the 20th century?

Correct Answer: C
Romanticism (early 19th C), Realism (mid to late 19th C), Decadence (late 19th C, strongly associated with fin de siècle), Postmodernism (mid 20th C onwards).

56. Order these major literary awards for British authors by their establishment year:

Correct Answer: A
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1919), Carnegie Medal (1936), Costa Book Awards (1971, formerly Whitbread), Man Booker International Prize (2005).

57. Arrange these figures associated with the Irish Literary Revival in chronological order of their birth:

Correct Answer: A
Lady Gregory (1852), W.B. Yeats (1865), J.M. Synge (1871), Seamus Heaney (1939).

58. Which of these literary theories/approaches gained prominence earliest?

Correct Answer: C
Psychoanalytic Criticism (early 20th C, based on Freud), New Criticism (mid-20th C), Structuralism (mid-20th C), Post-structuralism (late 20th C).

59. Order these major literary events chronologically:

Correct Answer: A
Opening of Globe Theatre (1599), Milton publishes Paradise Lost (1667), Samuel Johnson publishes Dictionary (1755), First performance of The Mousetrap (1952).

60. Which of these poets is from the earliest period?

Correct Answer: A
John Gower (c. 1330-1408, contemporary of Chaucer), Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542), Philip Sidney (1554-1586), Edmund Spenser (c. 1552-1599).

61. Order these literary ages/periods chronologically:

Correct Answer: A
Augustan (early 18th C), Age of Sensibility (mid-late 18th C), Romantic (early 19th C), Victorian (mid-late 19th C).

62. Which of these British literary locations is oldest?

Correct Answer: A
Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace, 16th C), Grub Street (18th C literary hack, London), Dove Cottage (Wordsworth's home, late 18th/early 19th C), Bloomsbury (early 20th C intellectual group, London).

63. Order these critical works by T.S. Eliot chronologically by publication:

Correct Answer: A
Tradition and the Individual Talent (1919), The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933), Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948).

64. Which of these major historical events in Britain happened earliest?

Correct Answer: B
Act of Supremacy (1534), Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-1541), Spanish Armada (1588), Gunpowder Plot (1605).

65. Order these prominent literary critics/theorists by birth:

Correct Answer: A
Samuel Johnson (1709), Matthew Arnold (1822), I.A. Richards (1893), Raymond Williams (1921).

66. Which of these British literary movements is the most recent?

Correct Answer: D
Kitchen Sink Drama (late 1950s), Confessional Poetry (British, 1960s), Martian Poetry (late 1970s), Punk Poetry (late 1970s/early 1980s). Martian and Punk Poetry are very close in time, but Punk Poetry emerged slightly later.

67. Order these works of dystopian fiction by their publication date:

Correct Answer: A
Brave New World (1932), Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), The Handmaid's Tale (1985), The Children of Men (1992).

68. Arrange these British poets known for their war poetry chronologically by birth:

Correct Answer: B
Rupert Brooke (1887), Siegfried Sassoon (1886), Isaac Rosenberg (1890), Wilfred Owen (1893). Oops, actually: Sassoon (1886), Brooke (1887), Rosenberg (1890), Owen (1893). So the order for the correct answer is B but the explanation needs adjustment. Corrected: Siegfried Sassoon (1886), Rupert Brooke (1887), Isaac Rosenberg (1890), Wilfred Owen (1893). So, option B is correct as per the listed order.

69. Which of these literary concepts/terms came into prominence latest?

Correct Answer: C
Rationalism (17th-18th C), Empiricism (17th-18th C), The Sublime (18th C, particularly Romantic period), Postcolonialism (mid-late 20th C).

70. Order these important literary groups/circles chronologically by their formation:

Correct Answer: A
The Scriblerus Club (early 18th C, Swift, Pope), The Lake Poets (late 18th/early 19th C), The Bloomsbury Group (early 20th C), The Movement (1950s).

71. Which of these plays by Harold Pinter was first performed earliest?

Correct Answer: A
The Birthday Party (1958), The Caretaker (1960), No Man's Land (1975), Betrayal (1978).

72. Order these influential literary figures chronologically by their death:

Correct Answer: A
John Milton (1674), Alexander Pope (1744), Lord Byron (1824), Charles Dickens (1870).

73. Which of these collections of poetry was published first?

Correct Answer: A
Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Blake, 1794), Leaves of Grass (Whitman, 1855), The Wreck of the Deutschland (Hopkins, 1876, though not published until 1918), Prufrock and Other Observations (Eliot, 1917). Considering the actual *publication* date for Hopkins, Blake is still first.

74. Order these historical developments relevant to British literature:

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Correct Answer: A
Rise of Puritanism (late 16th/early 17th C), English Civil War (1642-1651), Restoration (1660), Industrial Revolution (late 18th/early 19th C).

75. Which of these literary movements is most associated with the mid-20th century?

Correct Answer: A
Fin de siècle (late 19th C), Georgian Poetry (early 20th C), Bloomsbury Group (early 20th C), The Angry Young Men (mid-20th C, specifically 1950s).

76. Order these British literary prizes chronologically by their first award:

Correct Answer: A
Hawthornden Prize (1919), Somerset Maugham Award (1947), Women's Prize for Fiction (1996), Dylan Thomas Prize (2006).

77. Which of these novels by Virginia Woolf was published earliest?

Correct Answer: D
Jacob's Room (1922), Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), Orlando (1928).

78. Order these British literary periods historically:

Correct Answer: A
Middle English (c. 1066-1500), Renaissance (c. 1500-1660), Restoration (1660-1688), Romantic (c. 1798-1832).

79. Which of these British historical events occurred first?

Correct Answer: C
The Black Death (1348-1350), The Peasants' Revolt (1381), The Wars of the Roses (1455-1487), The Reformation (in England, started early 16th C).

80. Order these important literary works by their publication date:

Correct Answer: A
Utopia (1516), Leviathan (1651), Candide (English translation, 1759), A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).

81. Which of these literary movements had its peak earliest?

Correct Answer: D
Romantic Novel (early 19th C), Victorian Novel (mid to late 19th C), Aestheticism/Art for Art's Sake (both related, late 19th C).

82. Arrange these Irish writers (who influenced British literature) by birth:

Correct Answer: A
Jonathan Swift (1667), Oliver Goldsmith (1730), W.B. Yeats (1865), Samuel Beckett (1906).

83. Which of these literary styles is the oldest?

Correct Answer: A
Anglo-Saxon Alliterative Verse (Old English period), Blank Verse (16th C), Heroic Couplet (17th/18th C), Free Verse (late 19th/early 20th C).

84. Order these works by Joseph Conrad chronologically by publication:

Correct Answer: A
Heart of Darkness (1899), Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), Under Western Eyes (1911).

85. Which of these literary movements/periods is the most recent?

Correct Answer: D
Neo-Georgian (early 20th C, as a reaction to Modernism), The Movement (1950s), New Generation Poets (1990s), Performance Poetry (late 20th C onwards).

86. Order these figures from the British literary scene chronologically by birth:

Correct Answer: A
Samuel Pepys (1633), Fanny Burney (1752), Thomas Carlyle (1795), John Ruskin (1819).

87. Which of these literary forms gained widespread popularity earliest?

Correct Answer: A
Sonnet Sequence (Elizabethan era, late 16th C), The Essay (early 17th C, Bacon), The Picaresque Novel (18th C), The Dramatic Monologue (Victorian era, 19th C).

88. Order these notable anthologies/collections of British literature by publication:

Correct Answer: A
Tottel's Miscellany (1557), Lyrical Ballads (1798), Palgrave's Golden Treasury (1861), The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900).

89. Which of these literary movements was primarily a reaction against Romanticism?

Correct Answer: B
Victorian Realism was a significant reaction against the excesses of Romanticism. Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was related to art, but also had literary connections. Modernism was a reaction against Victorianism. Neoclassicism preceded Romanticism.

90. Order these important literary texts chronologically:

Correct Answer: A
Piers Plowman (c. 1360-1387), Utopia (1516), Areopagitica (1644), Common Sense (1776).

91. Which of these literary groups/schools is the most recent?

Correct Answer: D
The Imagists (early 20th C), The War Poets (WWI, early 20th C), The Auden Group (1930s), The Martians (late 1970s).

92. Order these significant literary events in British history:

Correct Answer: A
Closure of Theatres (1642), Publication of Pamela (1740), Great Exhibition (1851), Invention of the Internet (late 20th C - specifically the WWW in 1989/1990).

93. Which of these forms of publishing became popular earliest?

Correct Answer: B
Chapbooks (17th-19th C), Subscription publishing (18th C), Serialized novels (19th C), E-books (late 20th/early 21st C).

94. Order these works of literary theory/criticism chronologically by publication:

Correct Answer: B
Culture and Anarchy (Arnold, 1869), Practical Criticism (Richards, 1929), The Formalist Critics (Brooks, 1951), Signs of the Times (Hall, 1988).

95. Which of these British literary figures lived earliest?

Correct Answer: D
John Skelton (c. 1460-1529), Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Roger Ascham (1515-1568), Francis Bacon (1561-1626).

96. Order these British literary awards based on their first presentation:

Correct Answer: A
Somerset Maugham Award (1947), Faber Memorial Prize (1963), National Poetry Competition (1978), Forward Prizes for Poetry (1991).

97. Which of these literary concepts/terms emerged earliest?

Correct Answer: A
Humanism (Renaissance, 14th-17th C), Existentialism (19th-20th C), Absurdism (mid-20th C), Deconstruction (late 20th C).

98. Order these British authors by their birth:

Correct Answer: A
Aphra Behn (1640), Mary Wollstonecraft (1759), Jane Austen (1775), George Eliot (1819).

99. Which of these historical literary periods is the longest?

Correct Answer: A
Anglo-Saxon (c. 450-1066, approx 616 years), Middle English (c. 1066-1500, approx 434 years), Victorian (1837-1901, 64 years), Modern (c. 1910-1945, 35 years).

100. Order these literary movements/periods based on their beginning:

Correct Answer: A
Age of Johnson (c. 1740-1785), Age of Sensibility (c. 1745-1798), Romantic Age (c. 1798-1832), Victorian Age (1837-1901). Note: Age of Johnson and Age of Sensibility overlap and are often used interchangeably for parts of the 18th century, but Johnson's influence is more specifically mid to late 18th, while Sensibility extends to the cusp of Romanticism.
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