UGC NET English: Western Classical Criticism (200 Q&A)

This collection covers foundational theories from Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Quintilian, and later classical rhetoric.

1. Q: In The Republic, what are the three levels of reality Plato describes in the "Allegory of the Bed"?
   A: The Idea (created by God), the physical object (created by the carpenter), and the painting/imitation (created by the artist).
2. Q: What is the literal meaning of Plato's term Mimesis?
   A: Imitation or representation.
3. Q: Why does Plato argue that poets should be banished from the Ideal State?
   A: Because poetry is "twice removed from reality" and appeals to the baser emotions rather than reason.
4. Q: In which dialogue does Plato discuss poetic inspiration as a form of "divine madness"?
   A: Ion.
5. Q: What is the "nutritive" argument Plato uses against poetry?
   A: That poetry "feeds and waters the passions" instead of drying them up.
6. Q: Plato compares the poet to a magnet in Ion. What does the magnet represent?
   A: The divine muse, which transmits power through the poet to the rhapsode and finally to the audience.
7. Q: What is the "Superiority Theory" in Plato’s view of comedy?
   A: The idea that we laugh at the misfortunes or ignorance of others because it makes us feel superior.
8. Q: According to Plato, what is the only type of poetry allowed in the Republic?
   A: Hymns to the gods and praises of famous men.
9. Q: Define Dithyrambic poetry in the Platonic context.
   A: Purely narrative poetry where the poet speaks in his own voice.
10. Q: What is the fundamental charge against poetry in Book X of The Republic?
    A: It is ethically harmful and epistemologically unreliable.
11. Q: How does Aristotle define Tragedy in Poetics?
    A: An imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, using embellished language.
12. Q: What are the six formative elements of Tragedy in order of importance?
    A: Plot (Mythos), Character (Ethos), Thought (Dianoia), Diction (Lexis), Song (Melos), and Spectacle (Opsis).
13. Q: What does Aristotle mean by Hamartia?
    A: An "error of judgment" or a "missing of the mark," rather than a fatal moral flaw.
14. Q: Define Anagnorisis.
    A: A change from ignorance to knowledge (Recognition).
15. Q: What is Peripeteia?
    A: A reversal of fortune or circumstances.
16. Q: What is the function of Catharsis?
    A: The purgation or purification of the emotions of pity and fear.
17. Q: Aristotle calls the Plot the "soul of tragedy." Why?
    A: Because tragedy is an imitation of action and life, not of men.
18. Q: Distinguish between "Simple" and "Complex" plots.
    A: A simple plot has no Peripeteia or Anagnorisis; a complex plot includes one or both.
19. Q: What are the three Unities often attributed to Aristotle (though he only emphasized one)?
    A: Unity of Action (essential), Unity of Time (suggested), and Unity of Place (not mentioned by him).
20. Q: What is Spoudaios?
    A: The "higher" or "serious" type of character found in Tragedy.
21. Q: What is the difference between Epic and Tragedy according to Aristotle?
    A: Epic uses a single meter, is narrative in form, and has no fixed time limit, whereas Tragedy is confined to a "single revolution of the sun."
22. Q: Define Discovery by means of reasoning.
    A: A type of Anagnorisis where the character reaches a conclusion through logic (e.g., in The Choëphori).
23. Q: What is Phobous and Eleos?
    A: Fear and Pity.
24. Q: How does Aristotle defend poetry against Plato's charge of it being a lie?
    A: He states that poetry is "more philosophical and higher than history" because it deals with universals, not just particulars.
25. Q: What is the "Ideal Tragic Hero"?
    A: A man not pre-eminently virtuous or just, whose misfortune is brought upon him not by vice or depravity, but by some error (Hamartia).
26. Q: What is Mimesis for Aristotle?
    A: A creative process of representing the "probable" and the "necessary."
27. Q: Define Dianoia.
    A: The power of saying whatever can be said and should be said at a given moment (Thought).
28. Q: What is the Complication (Desis) and Unravelling (Lusis)?
    A: Desis is the rising action; Lusis is the falling action or resolution.
29. Q: Why did Aristotle prefer Tragedy over Epic?
    A: Because it possesses all the elements of Epic plus music and spectacle, achieving its effect in a shorter time.
30. Q: What is the "Probability and Necessity" rule?
    A: Events in a plot must follow a logical sequence that makes the outcome seem inevitable.
31. Q: What is the alternative title for Ars Poetica?
    A: Epistola ad Pisones (Epistle to the Pisos).
32. Q: What is the meaning of the phrase Ut Pictura Poesis?
    A: "As is painting, so is poetry."
33. Q: What are the two primary aims of poetry according to Horace?
    A: To please (dulce) and to instruct (utile).
34. Q: What is Decorum in Horatian criticism?
    A: The fitness or appropriateness of style, character, and action to the subject matter.
35. Q: What does In medias res mean?
    A: "In the middle of things"—starting a narrative in the midst of the action.
36. Q: Horace advises poets to keep their work for how long before publishing?
    A: Nine years (nonumque prematur in annum).
37. Q: How many acts does Horace insist a play must have?
    A: Five acts.
38. Q: What is the "purple patch" (purpureus pannus)?
    A: An ornate, descriptive passage that is irrelevant to the work as a whole.
39. Q: What is Horace's view on the Deus ex machina?
    A: A god should not intervene unless the knot of the plot is worthy of such a deliverer.
40. Q: Horace championed the use of which Greek models?
    A: Homer and the Greek tragedians.
41. Q: What is the Greek term for "The Sublime"?
    A: Hypsos.
42. Q: Name the five sources of Sublimity according to Longinus.
    A: Grandeur of Thought, Strong Emotion, Figures of Speech, Noble Diction, and Dignified Composition.
43. Q: Which two sources of the sublime are considered "innate" or "natural"?
    A: Grandeur of Thought and Strong Emotion.
44. Q: What is the primary effect of the Sublime on an audience?
    A: Ecstasy (ecstasis) or transport, rather than mere persuasion.
45. Q: Define Puerility as used by Longinus.
    A: A defect where a writer tries too hard to be original but ends up being pedantic or frivolous.
46. Q: What is Parenthyrson?
    A: False or misplaced emotion (emotion where none is needed).
47. Q: What is Amplification in Longinus's view?
    A: The accumulation of all the details and aspects of a subject to strengthen the argument.
48. Q: How does Longinus view the use of "Figures of Speech"?
    A: They are most effective when the audience does not realize they are being used.
49. Q: To Longinus, what is the relationship between Nature and Art?
    A: Nature provides the impulse, but Art provides the method and restraint.
50. Q: Longinus is often called the first _______ critic.
    A: Romantic (or Comparative).
51. Q: What is the title of Quintilian's major work?
    A: Institutio Oratoria (Institutes of Oratory).
52. Q: What is Quintilian's definition of an orator?
    A: Vir bonus dicendi peritus (A good man skilled in speaking).
53. Q: What are the five stages of composing a speech?
    A: Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery.
54. Q: Quintilian was the first to receive a salary from the state as a teacher of what?
    A: Rhetoric.
55. Q: Which Roman critic emphasized the importance of a "perfect education" for an orator from infancy?
    A: Quintilian.
56. Q: Who first used the term "Tragic Flaw" to translate Hamartia?
    A: It is a later interpretation, often associated with Neo-classical readings of Aristotle.
57. Q: Which classical critic influenced the Neo-classical "Unities" the most?
    A: Lodovico Castelvetro (interpreting Aristotle) and Horace.
58. Q: What is the "affective" approach to criticism?
    A: Criticism that focuses on the effect of the work on the audience (prominent in Longinus).
59. Q: What is Mimesis vs. Poiesis?
    A: Mimesis is imitation; Poiesis is the act of making or creating.
60. Q: Who wrote Philebus and discussed the nature of pleasure and pain in aesthetics?
    A: Plato.
61. Q: Aristotle's Rhetoric identifies three types of oratory. What are they?
    A: Forensic (legal), Deliberative (political), and Epideictic (ceremonial).
62. Q: In Poetics, what is the "Medium" of imitation for poetry?
    A: Language, rhythm, and harmony.
63. Q: According to Aristotle, what is the "least artistic" type of Discovery?
    A: Discovery by signs or marks (e.g., scars or necklaces).
64. Q: What is the difference between Ethos and Pathos in classical rhetoric?
    A: Ethos is the character/credibility of the speaker; Pathos is the emotional appeal to the audience.
65. Q: Which critic discusses the concept of "The Echo of a Great Soul"?
    A: Longinus (referring to Sublimity).
66. Q: What is the "Art of Arts" according to Quintilian?
    A: Rhetoric.
67. Q: What is the "lower" form of imitation according to Plato?
    A: Phantastike (creating deceptive illusions).
68. Q: What is Eicos in Aristotelian terms?
    A: Probability.
69. Q: Define Bombast in the context of Longinus.
    A: Swelling or turgid language that exceeds the requirements of the subject.
70. Q: Which classical work is the first to systematically analyze the "Parts of Speech"?
    A: Aristotle’s Poetics (Chapter 20).
71. Q: What is the "Socratic Method" called?
    A: Elenchus (cross-examination).
72. Q: Who coined the term "censor" for the role of a critic?
    A: Horace (implied through his strict rules).
73. Q: What is Chiasmus?
    A: A rhetorical figure where words are repeated in reverse order (A-B-B-A).
74. Q: Aristotle suggests that Tragedy should evoke "pity for the ______ and fear for the ______."
    A: Pity for the unmerited misfortune; fear for the man like ourselves.
75. Q: What is the Logos in rhetoric?
    A: Logical appeal based on facts and reason.
76. Q: Plato’s "Ion" is a dialogue between Socrates and who?
    A: Ion, a rhapsode.
77. Q: What is the "Iambic" meter’s significance according to Aristotle?
    A: It is the most "conversational" of all meters.
78. Q: Who wrote the Laws, further discussing the censorship of the arts?
    A: Plato.
79. Q: What is Aporia?
    A: A state of puzzlement or logical impasse, common in Socratic dialogues.
80. Q: Horace compares the poet to a _______ in terms of hard work.
    A: A whetstone (cos), which sharpens others but cannot cut itself.
81. Q: What is "The Great Code"?
    A: A term later critics used to describe the influence of classical rhetoric on Western literature.
82. Q: Longinus cites which Hebrew text as an example of the sublime?
    A: Genesis ("Let there be light").
83. Q: What is Aesthetic Distance (though a modern term, its roots are here)?
    A: The gap between the viewer's reality and the fictional world.
84. Q: What is the "Episodic" plot?
    A: A plot where episodes follow one another without probable or necessary sequence; Aristotle called this the worst type.
85. Q: What is Kairos?
    A: The opportune moment for a speech or action.
86. Q: Define Epanalepsis.
    A: A figure of speech where the beginning of a clause is repeated at the end.
87. Q: Who is the "Father of Literary Criticism"?
    A: Aristotle.
88. Q: What is Mimetic Desire (Platonic root)?
    A: The idea that humans imitate the desires of others.
89. Q: Horace’s Ars Poetica was written in what form?
    A: Hexameter verse.
90. Q: Which source of the sublime deals with the arrangement of words?
    A: Dignified Composition.
91. Q: Aristotle says comedy represents men as _______ than they are.
    A: Worse.
92. Q: Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" is found in which book of The Republic?
    A: Book VII.
93. Q: What is the "Golden Mean" in Aristotelian ethics/criticism?
    A: Balance between two extremes.
94. Q: Who is the "ideal listener" in Horace’s Ars Poetica?
    A: Quintilius Varus.
95. Q: Define Peroration.
    A: The concluding part of a speech.
96. Q: What is Asteismos?
    A: Refined, witty irony.
97. Q: Aristotle defines Metaphor as what?
    A: Giving a thing a name that belongs to something else.
98. Q: Which classical critic most influenced Philip Sidney’s An Apology for Poetry?
    A: Aristotle (and Horace).
99. Q: What is the "Art of Hiding Art"?
    A: Ars est celare artem (A concept central to Horace and Longinus).
100. Q: What is the "Literary Quarrel" (Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes) rooted in?
     A: The debate over whether modern writers could ever surpass the classical masters like Homer and Virgil.
101. Q: What is the "Bed of the Craftsman" in Plato's hierarchy of reality?
     A: The physical bed, which is an imitation of the "Form" or "Idea" of a bed.
102. Q: In The Republic, what does Plato call the "Science of Dialectic"?
     A: The highest form of knowledge that leads to the understanding of the Good.
103. Q: What is Mimesis of the second degree?
     A: Art, because it imitates the physical world, which is itself an imitation of the world of Forms.
104. Q: Which dialogue of Plato explores the origin of language?
     A: Cratylus.
105. Q: Plato classifies "Imitative Art" into two types in The Sophist. What are they?
     A: Iconomic (faithful representation) and Phantastic (distorted representation for visual effect).
106. Q: What is the "Myth of Er"?
     A: The concluding story in The Republic regarding the afterlife and reincarnation, used to emphasize moral responsibility.
107. Q: How does Plato view the "Truth" of a poet vs. a "Truth" of a philosopher?
     A: The poet deals with shadows/appearances; the philosopher deals with the essential Form.
108. Q: What is the "Chariot Allegory" in Phaedrus?
     A: A metaphor for the human soul: a charioteer (Reason) driving two horses (Spirit and Appetite).
109. Q: Why did Plato dislike the "Dithyramb"?
     A: Because its emotional and ecstatic nature was seen as disruptive to the rational mind.
110. Q: What is the "Great Lie" or "Noble Lie" in The Republic?
     A: A myth told to citizens to ensure social harmony and acceptance of their class.
111. Q: What does Aristotle mean by Magnitude (Megethos)?
     A: The length or scale of a tragedy; it must be long enough to allow a change of fortune but short enough to be remembered.
112. Q: Aristotle lists three "Means of Imitation." What are they?
     A: Rhythm, Language, and Harmony.
113. Q: What is Opsis?
     A: Spectacle; the visual stagecraft, which Aristotle considered the "least artistic" element.
114. Q: In which chapter of Poetics does Aristotle discuss the "Ideal Plot"?
     A: Chapter 13.
115. Q: What is the difference between Praxis and Poiesis?
     A: Praxis is action/doing; Poiesis is making/creating.
116. Q: Define Anagnorisis by "Memory."
     A: A recognition triggered by seeing something that awakens a past feeling or event.
117. Q: What is the "Double Plot"?
     A: A plot where there is a different outcome for the good and the bad (Aristotle considered this inferior for Tragedy).
118. Q: Aristotle says Epic poetry is written in what specific meter?
     A: Heroic Hexameter.
119. Q: What is the "Irrational" in Epic?
     A: Elements of the supernatural or improbable that are more acceptable in Epic than in Tragedy.
120. Q: What is Mythos?
     A: The arrangement of the incidents (The Plot).
121. Q: Define Ethos as a formative element.
     A: The moral element in a character that reveals their choices and habits.
122. Q: What is the "Universal" (Katholou) in poetry?
     A: What a person of a certain character will say or do according to probability or necessity.
123. Q: How does Aristotle define Diction?
     A: The expression of meaning in words.
124. Q: What is the "Three Unities" myth?
     A: The false belief that Aristotle mandated Unity of Time, Place, and Action; he only strictly mandated Unity of Action.
125. Q: What is Enargia?
     A: Pictorial vividness in words, making the audience "see" the action.
126. Q: Aristotle compares poetry to what other art form to explain Mimesis?
     A: Painting.
127. Q: What is Agon?
     A: A formal debate or contest between two characters in a play.
128. Q: What is a "Fatality" plot?
     A: A plot where the hero’s downfall is purely the result of external fate (Aristotle preferred internal Hamartia).
129. Q: What is Lusis?
     A: The resolution or "untying" of the plot.
130. Q: Aristotle states that the "best" recognition occurs simultaneously with what?
     A: Reversal (Peripeteia).
131. Q: Horace’s Ars Poetica is addressed to whom?
     A: Lucius Calpurnius Piso and his two sons.
132. Q: What is the Limae labor?
     A: "The labor of the file"—the meticulous process of revising and polishing a poem.
133. Q: What is the "Art of Appropriateness" in Horace?
     A: Decorum.
134. Q: How should a poet handle traditional stories (e.g., Achilles)?
     A: They should follow tradition and keep the characters consistent with their established traits.
135. Q: What is Horace's view on the Chorus?
     A: It should act as an actor, sustain a friendly role, and not sing anything between acts that doesn't advance the plot.
136. Q: Define Ab ovo.
     A: Starting a story "from the egg" (the very beginning), which Horace advises against in favor of In medias res.
137. Q: What is the "Slavish Imitator"?
     A: Someone who copies others too closely without original contribution.
138. Q: What is the Horatian view on "New Words"?
     A: They are permissible if used with restraint and derived from Greek sources.
139. Q: What is the "Profit and Pleasure" principle?
     A: Aut prodesse aut delectare (To be useful or to delight).
140. Q: Horace says a poem is like a _______?
     A: A picture (Ut pictura poesis).
141. Q: Why does Longinus criticize the Odyssey compared to the Iliad?
     A: He views the Odyssey as the "ebbing tide" of Homer’s genius, focusing more on character and narrative than sublime passion.
142. Q: What is the "Vocation of the Critic" according to Longinus?
     A: To appreciate and point out the greatness in literature.
143. Q: Define Asyndeton in Longinus's rhetoric.
     A: The omission of conjunctions to create a sense of urgency and rapid emotion.
144. Q: What is Polyptoton?
     A: The repetition of words derived from the same root but with different endings.
145. Q: How does Longinus distinguish between the "Sublime" and "Amplification"?
     A: Sublimity is a certain "elevation," while amplification is "quantity" or accumulation.
146. Q: What is Phantasia?
     A: The power of "visualization" or "images" that allow a writer to see what they are describing.
147. Q: Longinus argues that a "flawed greatness" is better than what?
     A: Flawless mediocrity.
148. Q: What is the "Transport of the Soul"?
     A: The feeling of being elevated as if the reader themselves had produced the great thought.
149. Q: Which figure of speech does Longinus call "the most effective"?
     A: The Hyperbaton (inversion of normal word order).
150. Q: What is the "Moral decay" argument for the decline of the sublime?
     A: Longinus suggests that the loss of political liberty and the rise of greed led to the decline of great literature.
151. Q: What are the three functions of an orator?
     A: To instruct (docere), to move (movere), and to delight (delectare).
152. Q: What is Inventio?
     A: Finding the arguments for a speech.
153. Q: What is Elocutio?
     A: The choice of style and language.
154. Q: Quintilian’s preferred style of rhetoric was modeled after whom?
     A: Cicero.
155. Q: What is the Progymnasmata?
     A: Preliminary rhetorical exercises used in classical education.
156. Q: Define Ethopoeia.
     A: The art of creating a character’s voice or speech.
157. Q: What is Antonomasia?
     A: Substituting a proper name with an epithet (e.g., "The Philosopher" for Aristotle).
158. Q: What is the "Attic" style?
     A: A plain, simple, and direct style of rhetoric.
159. Q: What is the "Asiatic" style?
     A: An ornate, florid, and emotional style of rhetoric.
160. Q: What is Copis?
     A: Abundance or fullness of expression.
161. Q: Who wrote the Treatise on Style?
     A: Demetrius.
162. Q: What are the "Four Styles" mentioned by Demetrius?
     A: Plain, Elevated, Elegant, and Forcible.
163. Q: What is Stichomythia?
     A: Dialogue in alternate lines, usually used in moments of high tension.
164. Q: What is the "Great Chain of Being" root in Plato?
     A: The principle of "Plenitude" found in the Timaeus.
165. Q: Who is the first person to use the word "Critic"?
     A: It is traced back to the Greek Kritikos, but its literary use solidified in the Alexandrian period.
166. Q: What is Aporia in a literary text?
     A: An irresolvable internal contradiction.
167. Q: What is Hysteron Proteron?
     A: A figure of speech where what should come second is put first (e.g., "put on your shoes and socks").
168. Q: What is Meiosis?
     A: Understatement.
169. Q: What is Zeugma?
     A: A figure of speech where a single verb applies to two nouns in different senses.
170. Q: Who were the "Sophists"?
     A: Teachers in ancient Greece who specialized in rhetoric and the art of persuasion.
171. Q: What is Encomium?
     A: A speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly.
172. Q: Define Parataxis.
     A: A style of writing that uses short, simple sentences without subordinating conjunctions.
173. Q: What is Hypotaxis?
     A: A style of writing using complex sentences with many subordinate clauses.
174. Q: What is the "Socratic Irony"?
     A: Feigning ignorance to lure others into revealing their own lack of knowledge.
175. Q: What is Euphemism?
     A: Substituting a harsh word with a milder one.
176. Q: What is the "Hermeneutic Circle"?
     A: The idea that one's understanding of the text as a whole is established by reference to the individual parts and vice versa.
177. Q: What is Ekphrasis?
     A: A vivid, often dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art.
178. Q: What is the Skene in a Greek theatre?
     A: The background building to which the platform stage was connected.
179. Q: What is Parodos?
     A: The entrance song of the Chorus.
180. Q: What is Exodos?
     A: The final scene or departure of the play.
181. Q: Aristotle’s Poetics was "lost" to the West for centuries. Who preserved it?
     A: Arabic scholars like Averroes and Avicenna.
182. Q: What is Hecate? (In a literary context)
     A: Often used as a symbol of the dark, supernatural elements Plato wanted to banish.
183. Q: What is the "Objective Correlative" root?
     A: Though T.S. Eliot coined it, the concept of linking emotion to specific objects is seen in Aristotle’s Poetics.
184. Q: What is Aporia in Socratic dialogue?
     A: The state of "no way out"—a logical puzzle.
185. Q: Who wrote Characters, a series of brief sketches of various moral types?
     A: Theophrastus.
186. Q: What is Prosopopoeia?
     A: Personification; giving a voice to an inanimate object.
187. Q: What is Litotes?
     A: A form of understatement using a double negative (e.g., "Not bad").
188. Q: What is Anaphora?
     A: Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
189. Q: What is Epistrophe?
     A: Repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.
190. Q: What is the "Art of Grammar" in the classical world?
     A: The study of literature and language, the first step in the Trivium.
191. Q: What is the Trivium?
     A: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.
192. Q: What is the Quadrivium?
     A: Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy.
193. Q: What is Metonymy?
     A: Substituting the name of an attribute for that of the thing meant (e.g., "The Crown" for the King).
194. Q: What is Synecdoche?
     A: A part used to represent the whole (e.g., "All hands on deck").
195. Q: What is Pleonasm?
     A: The use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning.
196. Q: What is Tmesis?
     A: Breaking a word into two parts with another word in between.
197. Q: What is Oxymoron?
     A: Two contradictory terms used together.
198. Q: What is Allegory?
     A: A story with a hidden meaning, typically moral or political.
199. Q: What is Pathos?
     A: A quality that evokes pity or sadness.
200. Q: Who said, "Nature is the first and primary cause of all things"?
     A: Longinus.