TEST SERIES- UGC NET- ENGLISH- Sample Questions

Topics: Late Victorian Literature (1832-1900)

2. What year was William Makepeace Thackeray born?
3. a) 1801
4. b) 1811
5. c) 1821
6. d) 1831
7. Where was Thackeray born?
8. a) London
9. b) Calcutta, India
10. c) Dublin
11. d) Edinburgh

 

3. What happened to Thackeray’s wife Isabella?
4. a) She died young
5. b) She left him
6. c) She became permanently insane
7. d) She divorced him

 

4. What periodical did Thackeray work for as satirical journalist?
5. a) The Times
6. b) Punch
7. c) The Spectator
8. d) The Illustrated London News

 

5. How tall was Thackeray?
6. a) 5’8″
7. b) 6’0″
8. c) 6’3″
9. d) 6’6″

 

6. Which magazine did Thackeray edit from 1860–1862?
7. a) Fraser’s Magazine
8. b) Cornhill Magazine
9. c) Blackwood’s Magazine
10. d) Household Words

 

7. What was Thackeray’s relationship with Charles Dickens?
8. a) Close friends
9. b) Mentor and student
10. c) Complex, competitive rivals
11. d) They never met

 

8. What personal tragedy did Thackeray raise his daughters alone after?
9. a) His parents’ death
10. b) His wife’s mental breakdown
11. c) War
12. d) Financial ruin

 

9. What is the narrator’s attitude in Thackeray’s novels?
10. a) Objective and distant
11. b) Omniscient and directly addresses readers
12. c) First-person participant
13. d) Stream of consciousness

 

10. What caused Thackeray’s death?
11. a) Heart attack
12. b) Stroke
13. c) Tuberculosis
14. d) Cancer

 

11. How old was Thackeray when he died?
12. a) 45
13. b) 52
14. c) 59
15. d) 67

 

12. Where is Thackeray’s memorial bust located?
13. a) St. Paul’s Cathedral
14. b) Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner
15. c) Kensal Green Cemetery
16. d) The British Museum

 

13. In Vanity Fair, who is the sweet, passive, wealthy character contrasting with Becky?
14. a) Lady Jane
15. b) Amelia Sedley
16. c) Glorvina O’Dowd
17. d) Lady Bareacres

 

14. At what battle does George Osborne die in Vanity Fair?
15. a) Trafalgar
16. b) Waterloo
17. c) Balaclava
18. d) Crimea

 

15. What biblical/allegorical reference does Vanity Fair invoke?
16. a) Sodom and Gomorrah
17. b) Bunyan’s Vanity Fair
18. c) The Tower of Babel
19. d) The Garden of Eden

 

16. In Pendennis, what is the protagonist’s nickname?
17. a) Harry
18. b) Art
19. c) Pen
20. d) Ned

 

17. Who is Pen’s cynical uncle in Pendennis?
18. a) Colonel Newcome
19. b) Major Pendennis
20. c) Sir Pitt Crawley
21. d) Jos Sedley

 

18. What profession does Pen eventually pursue in Pendennis?
19. a) Law
20. b) Medicine
21. c) Journalism and writing
22. d) Military

 

19. In what century is The History of Henry Esmond set?
20. a) 16th century
21. b) 17th–early 18th century
22. c) 18th century only
23. d) 19th century

 

20. During whose reign does Henry Esmond take place?
21. a) Queen Elizabeth I
22. b) King Charles II
23. c) Queen Anne
24. d) King George III

 

21. What military campaigns does Esmond fight in?
22. a) The Napoleonic Wars
23. b) Marlborough’s campaigns
24. c) The American Revolution
25. d) The Crimean War

 

22. Where do Esmond and Lady Castlewood emigrate at the novel’s end?
23. a) America
24. b) India
25. c) Virginia
26. d) Australia

 

23. What is the final word spoken by Colonel Newcome in The Newcomes?
24. a) “Present”
25. b) “Adsum”
26. c) “Here”
27. d) “Goodbye”

 

24. Where does Colonel Newcome die in The Newcomes?
25. a) At home
26. b) Grey Friars almshouse
27. c) In battle
28. d) In India

 

25. What sequel to Henry Esmond did Thackeray write?
26. a) The Stuarts
27. b) The Americans
28. c) The Virginians
29. d) The Colonies

 

26. What historical period does The Virginians cover?
27. a) English Civil War
28. b) Seven Years’ War and American Revolution
29. c) War of 1812
30. d) French Revolution

 

27. What relation are the protagonists in The Virginians?
28. a) Brothers
29. b) Twin grandsons of Henry Esmond
30. c) Father and son
31. d) Cousins

 

28. What was the original publisher’s reaction to The Book of Snobs?
29. a) Immediate success
30. b) Withdrew it after moral outrage
31. c) Rejected it
32. d) Demanded revisions

 

29. From what earlier publication were The Book of Snobs essays collected?
30. a) The Times
31. b) Punch articles
32. c) Fraser’s Magazine
33. d) Cornhill Magazine

 

30. What crime did the real Catherine Hayes commit?
31. a) Theft
32. b) Poisoning
33. c) Murdering her husband
34. d) Treason

 

31. When was Catherine Hayes executed?
32. a) 1706
33. b) 1726
34. c) 1746
35. d) 1766

 

32. What type of novels was Thackeray satirizing with Catherine?
33. a) Gothic novels
34. b) Newgate novels that romanticized criminals
35. c) Historical novels
36. d) Silver-fork novels

 

33. What is Elizabeth Gaskell’s birth name?
34. a) Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson
35. b) Elizabeth Barrett
36. c) Elizabeth Branwell
37. d) Elizabeth Smith

 

34. Where was Elizabeth Gaskell raised?
35. a) London
36. b) Manchester
37. c) Knutsford, Cheshire
38. d) Yorkshire

 

35. What was William Gaskell’s profession?
36. a) Doctor
37. b) Unitarian minister
38. c) Factory owner
39. d) Lawyer

 

36. What personal tragedy motivated Gaskell to begin writing Mary Barton?
37. a) Her father’s death
38. b) Her son William’s death
39. c) Her mother’s death
40. d) Her husband’s illness

 

37. What city did the Gaskells live in throughout their married life?
38. a) London
39. b) Industrial Manchester
40. c) Liverpool
41. d) Birmingham

 

38. Which famous writer did Gaskell write a biography of?
39. a) Jane Austen
40. b) Charlotte Brontë
41. c) George Eliot
42. d) Emily Brontë

 

39. What problem arose with Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte Brontë?
40. a) It was too short
41. b) It required revisions due to libel concerns
42. c) The family rejected it
43. d) It was never published

 

40. Who serialized many of Gaskell’s novels?
41. a) Thackeray
42. b) George Eliot
43. c) Charles Dickens
44. d) Trollope

 

41. In which two Dickens periodicals did Gaskell’s work appear?
42. a) Bentley’s Miscellany and All the Year Round
43. b) Household Words and All the Year Round
44. c) Master Humphrey’s Clock and Household Words
45. d) The Daily News and All the Year Round

 

42. What religious denomination were the Gaskells?
43. a) Anglican
44. b) Methodist
45. c) Unitarian
46. d) Baptist

 

43. How did Elizabeth Gaskell die?
44. a) Illness
45. b) Suddenly from heart failure
46. c) Accident
47. d) Childbirth

 

44. What was Gaskell doing when she died?
45. a) Writing
46. b) Visiting a house she’d just purchased
47. c) Traveling abroad
48. d) Attending church

 

45. What happened to Wives and Daughters?
46. a) It was published complete
47. b) Left unfinished at Gaskell’s death
48. c) It was lost
49. d) She refused to publish it

 

46. In Mary Barton, what labor movement provides background?
47. a) Luddites
48. b) Chartist agitation
49. c) Reform movement
50. d) Trade unions only

 

47. Where do Mary and Jem emigrate at the end of Mary Barton?
48. a) America
49. b) Australia
50. c) Canada
51. d) New Zealand

 

48. In North and South, what is Margaret Hale’s father’s crisis?
49. a) Financial ruin
50. b) Leaving the Anglican church
51. c) Illness
52. d) Scandal

 

49. What does Margaret inherit from Mr. Bell in North and South?
50. a) A house
51. b) Nothing
52. c) Money that enables her to help Thornton
53. d) A business

 

50. What fictional town name is Gaskell’s Cranford based on?
51. a) It’s based on actual Knutsford
52. b) Manchester
53. c) Milton
54. d) Barchester

 

UGC NET- ENGLISH

Topics: Late Victorian Literature (1832-1900)

 

1. What years did William Morris live?
   a) 1824–1886
   b) 1834–1896
   c) 1844–1906
   d) 1854–1916
2. What movement was William Morris a key figure in?
   a) Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
   b) Arts and Crafts Movement
   c) Aesthetic Movement
   d) Gothic Revival
3. What is the form of Morris’s The Earthly Paradise?
   a) Novel
   b) Epic poem with narrative retellings
   c) Play
   d) Short story collection
4. How is The Earthly Paradise structured?
   a) Linear narrative
   b) Twelve sections for each month, with two tales per month
   c) Four seasons
   d) Seven days
5. What type of tales are included in The Earthly Paradise?
   a) Only Greek myths
   b) Only Norse sagas
   c) Greek and Scandinavian myths and legends
   d) Only original stories
6. What is the frame story of The Earthly Paradise?
   a) A pilgrimage to Canterbury
   b) Medieval wanderers searching for everlasting life
   c) Knights on a quest
   d) Sailors exploring
7. When was A Dream of John Ball published?
   a) 1878
   b) 1888
   c) 1898
   d) 1908
8. What historical event does A Dream of John Ball concern?
   a) The English Civil War
   b) The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
   c) The Norman Conquest
   d) The Wars of the Roses
9. What narrative device is used in A Dream of John Ball?
   a) Flashback
   b) Multiple narrators
   c) Time-travel
   d) Epistolary
10. What is The Well at the World’s End?
    a) A historical novel
    b) A fantasy romance
    c) A Gothic tale
    d) A realist novel
11. What year was The Well at the World’s End published?
    a) 1886
    b) 1891
    c) 1896
    d) 1901
12. What is the protagonist seeking in The Well at the World’s End?
    a) Treasure
    b) The magical well granting eternal youth
    c) His lost love
    d) A kingdom
13. What is Morris’s News from Nowhere?
    a) A travel guide
    b) A utopian socialist novel
    c) A mystery
    d) A biography
14. Alfred Tennyson was appointed Poet Laureate in what year?
    a) 1840
    b) 1850
    c) 1860
    d) 1870
15. How long did Tennyson serve as Poet Laureate?
    a) 20 years
    b) 30 years
    c) 42 years
    d) 50 years
16. When was Tennyson ennobled as Baron Tennyson?
    a) 1874
    b) 1884
    c) 1894
    d) He was never ennobled
17. Whose death profoundly influenced Tennyson’s work?
    a) His father
    b) His brother
    c) Arthur Henry Hallam
    d) The Duke of Wellington
18. In what year did Arthur Henry Hallam die?
    a) 1823
    b) 1833
    c) 1843
    d) 1853
19. Where is Tennyson buried?
    a) His family estate
    b) Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner
    c) St. Paul’s Cathedral
    d) Cambridge
20. Whom did Tennyson marry in 1850?
    a) Mary Shelley
    b) Emily Sellwood
    c) Elizabeth Barrett
    d) Christina Rossetti
21. Which university did Tennyson attend?
    a) Oxford
    b) Cambridge
    c) Edinburgh
    d) Durham
22. What prize did Tennyson win at Cambridge?
    a) The Chancellor’s Medal
    b) The Newdigate Prize
    c) The Browning Medal
    d) Smith Prize
23. What imagery represents God’s grandeur in Hopkins’ poem God’s Grandeur?
    a) Mountains
    b) Foil when shook or crushed oil
    c) Thunder
    d) Rivers
24. What protects the world according to God’s Grandeur?
    a) Angels
    b) The Holy Spirit brooding like a bird
    c) Prayer
    d) Human kindness
25. In Hopkins’ Pied Beauty, what does “pied” mean?
    a) Sweet
    b) Beautiful
    c) Multi-colored or dappled
    d) Pure
26. What animals are mentioned in Pied Beauty?
    a) Horses and dogs
    b) Brindled cows, trout, and finches
    c) Sheep and cattle
    d) Eagles and swans
27. Who was Hopkins’ friend that published his poems posthumously?
    a) Gerard Manley Hopkins Sr.
    b) Robert Bridges
    c) John Henry Newman
    d) Matthew Arnold
28. What religious order did Hopkins join?
    a) Benedictines
    b) Franciscans
    c) Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
    d) Dominicans
29. Where was Hopkins Professor of Greek?
    a) Oxford
    b) Cambridge
    c) University College Dublin
    d) Trinity College
30. What caused Hopkins’ death?
    a) Tuberculosis
    b) Typhoid fever
    c) Heart disease
    d) Stroke
31. How old was Hopkins when he died?
    a) 34
    b) 44
    c) 54
    d) 64
32. What medieval philosopher influenced Hopkins’ concept of “inscape”?
    a) Thomas Aquinas
    b) Duns Scotus
    c) Augustine
    d) Anselm
33. What term describes Hopkins’ perception of an object’s unique essence?
    a) Instress
    b) Inscape
    c) Both terms are relevant – inscape is the essence, instress is perceiving it
    d) Individuation
34. In The Windhover, to whom is the poem dedicated?
    a) The Virgin Mary
    b) Christ our Lord
    c) St. Ignatius
    d) God the Father
35. What type of bird is observed in The Windhover?
    a) An eagle
    b) A hawk/falcon
    c) A dove
    d) A swallow
36. How many years did Hopkins work on The Wreck of the Deutschland?
    a) 1 year (1875–76)
    b) 5 years
    c) 10 years
    d) It was written in one sitting
37. To whose memory is The Wreck of the Deutschland dedicated?
    a) Hopkins’ mother
    b) Five Franciscan nuns
    c) All drowning victims
    d) German sailors
38. What two parts divide The Wreck of the Deutschland?
    a) Past and present
    b) Personal spiritual autobiography and the disaster’s narrative
    c) Earth and heaven
    d) Question and answer
39. What collection are Hopkins’ late spiritual struggles called?
    a) The dark poems
    b) The terrible sonnets
    c) The despair collection
    d) The Dublin poems
40. In Carrion Comfort, what does Hopkins refuse?
    a) Love
    b) Despair
    c) Faith
    d) Life
41. What biblical figure does Hopkins reference in Carrion Comfort?
    a) Job
    b) Jacob wrestling the angel
    c) David
    d) Moses
42. What profession does Felix Randal have in Hopkins’ poem?
    a) Soldier
    b) Farmer
    c) Farrier (blacksmith)
    d) Sailor
43. What sacrament does Hopkins give Felix Randal?
    a) Baptism
    b) Confession and anointing
    c) Marriage
    d) Ordination
44. In As Kingfishers Catch Fire, what do all things do according to Hopkins?
    a) Praise God
    b) “Deal out that being indoors each one dwells”
    c) Die
    d) Change
45. Through how many places does Christ “play” according to As Kingfishers Catch Fire?
    a) A thousand
    b) Seven thousand
    c) Ten thousand
    d) Infinite
46. What is Oscar Wilde’s birth year?
    a) 1844
    b) 1854
    c) 1864
    d) 1874
47. Where was Oscar Wilde born?
    a) London
    b) Dublin, Ireland
    c) Edinburgh
    d) Paris
48. What movement was Wilde a leading proponent of?
    a) Realism
    b) “Art for art’s sake” and Aesthetic Movement
    c) Naturalism
    d) Modernism
49. Which university did Wilde attend?
    a) Trinity College Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford
    b) Cambridge
    c) Edinburgh
    d) Only Oxford
50. What prize did Wilde win at Oxford?
    a) The Chancellor’s Medal
    b) The Newdigate Prize for poetry
    c) The Browning Award
    d) The Rhodes Scholarship

UGC NET-JRF- ENGLISH LITERATURE

Topics: Late Victorian Literature (1832-1900)

1. Whom did Oscar Wilde marry in 1884?
   a) Constance Lloyd
   b) Lily Langtry
   c) Ada Leverson
   d) Lillie Wilde
2. How many sons did Wilde have?
   a) None
   b) One
   c) Two (Cyril and Vyvyan)
   d) Three
3. What was Wilde convicted of in 1895?
   a) Theft
   b) “Gross indecency” (homosexual acts)
   c) Fraud
   d) Treason
4. How long was Wilde’s prison sentence?
   a) Six months
   b) One year
   c) Two years hard labor
   d) Five years
5. Who was Wilde’s lover whose relationship led to his prosecution?
   a) Robert Ross
   b) Lord Alfred Douglas (“Bosie”)
   c) Reginald Turner
   d) More Adey
6. Whose father brought charges against Wilde?
   a) The Prince of Wales
   b) The Marquess of Queensberry
   c) Lord Salisbury
   d) The Duke of Westminster
7. What name did Wilde use in exile?
   a) Mr. Smith
   b) C.3.3
   c) Sebastian Melmoth
   d) John Gray
8. Where did Wilde die?
   a) London
   b) Paris, France
   c) Rome
   d) Dublin
9. What caused Wilde’s death?
   a) Heart attack
   b) Cerebral meningitis
   c) Tuberculosis
   d) Suicide
10. How old was Wilde when he died?
    a) 36
    b) 46
    c) 56
    d) 66
11. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, who wishes the portrait would age instead of him?
    a) Basil Hallward
    b) Lord Henry Wotton
    c) Dorian Gray
    d) James Vane
12. What happens to the portrait in Dorian Gray?
    a) It stays the same
    b) It becomes more beautiful
    c) It becomes increasingly grotesque
    d) It is destroyed early in the novel
13. Who does Dorian murder in The Picture of Dorian Gray?
    a) Lord Henry
    b) Sibyl Vane
    c) Basil Hallward
    d) Alan Campbell
14. In The Importance of Being Earnest, what does Algernon invent?
    a) Ernest
    b) Bunbury (an invalid friend)
    c) A brother
    d) A business
15. Who will only marry someone named Ernest in Wilde’s comedy?
    a) Lady Bracknell
    b) Gwendolen and Cecily
    c) Miss Prism
    d) The Duchess
16. Where was Jack Worthing found as a baby in The Importance of Being Earnest?
    a) In a basket
    b) In a handbag at a railway station
    c) On a doorstep
    d) In a church
17. What profession does Canon Chasuble have in The Importance of Being Earnest?
    a) Doctor
    b) Lawyer
    c) Clergyman
    d) Professor
18. In Lady Windermere’s Fan, what is Mrs. Erlynne’s sacrifice?
    a) Her money
    b) Her reputation to save her daughter
    c) Her life
    d) Her marriage
19. At what event does the main action of Lady Windermere’s Fan occur?
    a) A wedding
    b) Lady Windermere’s birthday ball
    c) A funeral
    d) Christmas dinner
20. In A Woman of No Importance, what position does Lord Illingworth offer Gerald?
    a) Secretary
    b) Business partner
    c) Political aide
    d) Estate manager
21. Why does Rachel Arbuthnot object in A Woman of No Importance?
    a) Illingworth is her brother
    b) Illingworth is Gerald’s father who abandoned her
    c) Illingworth is bankrupt
    d) She wants Gerald to be independent
22. What biblical character gives Wilde’s play Salomé its title?
    a) Delilah
    b) Salomé
    c) Judith
    d) Esther
23. For whom does Salomé perform the Dance of the Seven Veils?
    a) Her father
    b) Her stepfather Herod
    c) John the Baptist
    d) The high priest
24. What does Salomé do with John the Baptist’s severed head?
    a) Buries it
    b) Kisses it passionately
    c) Throws it away
    d) Presents it to her mother
25. Who orders Salomé killed at the play’s end?
    a) Her mother Herodias
    b) Herod
    c) The guards
    d) The people
26. What is the title story of The Happy Prince and Other Tales about?
    a) A living prince
    b) A bejeweled statue and a swallow
    c) A king
    d) A merchant
27. In The Happy Prince, what happens to the statue?
    a) It’s preserved
    b) It gives away its gold and jewels, then is melted down
    c) It comes to life
    d) It’s stolen
28. What is The Selfish Giant about?
    a) A giant who hoards treasure
    b) A giant whose garden only blooms when he welcomes children
    c) A giant who terrorizes a village
    d) A giant who becomes king
29. In what year was The Ballad of Reading Gaol published?
    a) 1888
    b) 1895
    c) 1898
    d) 1900
30. What execution does The Ballad of Reading Gaol witness?
    a) A political prisoner
    b) Charles Thomas Wooldridge for murdering his wife
    c) A fellow writer
    d) A thief
31. What is C.3.3 in The Ballad of Reading Gaol?
    a) A code
    b) Wilde’s cell number
    c) The execution date
    d) The prisoner’s number
32. In Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, what profession predicts Lord Arthur will murder?
    a) A fortune teller
    b) A palm-reader
    c) An astrologer
    d) A medium
33. Whom does Lord Arthur eventually kill in Wilde’s story?
    a) His fiancée
    b) A random victim
    c) The palm-reader himself
    d) He doesn’t kill anyone
34. What is The Canterville Ghost about?
    a) A British family haunted
    b) An American family unmoved by an English ghost
    c) A ghost’s revenge
    d) A haunted castle
35. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, what company employs Marlow?
    a) British East India Company
    b) A Belgian trading company
    c) Dutch traders
    d) French colonial service
36. What is Kurtz collecting in Heart of Darkness?
    a) Slaves
    b) Ivory
    c) Diamonds
    d) Rubber
37. What displays human heads on stakes in Heart of Darkness?
    a) The company station
    b) Kurtz’s station
    c) Native villages
    d) The riverboats
38. What does Marlow lie about to Kurtz’s Intended in Heart of Darkness?
    a) Kurtz’s wealth
    b) Kurtz’s final words
    c) Kurtz’s profession
    d) Where Kurtz died
39. In Lord Jim, what ship does Jim serve on?
    a) The Narcissus
    b) The Patna
    c) The Hispaniola
    d) The Nostromo
40. What are the Patna’s passengers in Lord Jim?
    a) European colonists
    b) Muslim pilgrims
    c) Cargo
    d) Soldiers
41. Where does Jim become “Lord Jim”?
    a) Burma
    b) Patusan
    c) Singapore
    d) Borneo
42. Who does Jim love in Conrad’s Lord Jim?
    a) Jewel
    b) Pearl
    c) Ruby
    d) Coral
43. How does Jim finally die in Lord Jim?
    a) In battle
    b) By disease
    c) He accepts responsibility and walks to his death
    d) By accident
44. What is the setting for Conrad’s Nostromo?
    a) Africa
    b) Fictional South American republic of Costaguana
    c) Southeast Asia
    d) India
45. What mineral is central to Nostromo?
    a) Gold
    b) Silver
    c) Copper
    d) Tin
46. Who operates the mine in Nostromo?
    a) Nostromo
    b) Martin Decoud
    c) Charles Gould
    d) Captain Mitchell
47. What happens to Nostromo in Conrad’s novel?
    a) He becomes honest
    b) He’s corrupted by secretly keeping silver
    c) He dies a hero
    d) He returns to Italy
48. What does Nostromo mean?
    a) “The sailor”
    b) “Our man”
    c) “The Italian”
    d) “The trusted one”
49. Where does Martin Decoud die in Nostromo?
    a) In battle
    b) On a deserted island (he commits suicide)
    c) At sea
    d) In the revolution
50. In what year did Thomas Hardy die?
    a) 1918
    b) 1923
    c) 1928
    d) 1933
51. .Match the Victorian Reform Acts with their years:

Column A	Column B
i) The Great Reform Act	a) 1867
ii) The Second Reform Act	b) 1832
iii) The Third Reform Act	c) 1884
iv) The Secret Ballot Act	d) 1872

1. a) i-b, ii-a, iii-c, iv-d
   b) i-a, ii-b, iii-d, iv-c
   c) i-c, ii-d, iii-a, iv-b
   d) i-d, ii-c, iii-b, iv-a

 

52.Match the social reforms with their purposes:

Column A	Column B
i) Factory Acts (1833-1878)	a) Established state-funded elementary education
ii) Public Health Act (1848)	b) Regulated child labor and working hours
iii) Education Act (1870)	c) Addressed sanitation in overcrowded cities
iv) Married Women’s Property Act (1882)	d) Allowed married women to own property

a) i-b, ii-c, iii-a, iv-d
b) i-a, ii-d, iii-b, iv-c
c) i-c, ii-a, iii-d, iv-b
d) i-d, ii-b, iii-c, iv-a