Here’s the Brit Lit midterm I gave my students. Not very tough, really.
See how much you know….
Multiple Choice
(2 points each)
Circle the letter before the correct answer.
1. Who wrote Pride and Prejudice?
A. Jane Eyre
B. Jane Austen
C. Charlotte Bronte
D. Elizabeth Bennet
2. What language was the Canterbury Tales written in?
A. Old English
B. Middle English
C. Modern English
D. Latin
3. How many lines are in a Shakespearian sonnet?
A. 10
B. 8
C. 20
D. 14
4. Who wrote the Holy Sonnets?
A. William Shakespeare
B. John Milton
C. John Donne
D. John Keats
5. Which of these is a poet from the 17th Century?
A. Daniel Defoe
B. William Wordsworth
C. Jane Austen
D. John Milton
6. What is a rhyme scheme?
A. The pattern of syllables in a poem
B. The pattern of rhyming words
C. A trick that poets play on readers
D. The number of lines in a sonnet
7. What is the pseudonym of Charlotte Bronte?
A. Acton Bell
B. Currier Bell
C. Ellis Bell
D. pseudonym? What’s that?
8. Who did Elizabeth Bennet marry?
A. Mr. Darcy
B. Mr. Rochester
C. Mr. Bingly
D. Mr. Wickham
9. Who is the “madwoman in the attic”?
A. Blanche Ingram
B. Bessie
C. Bertha Mason
D. Mrs. Reed
10. A Gothic novel does NOT include which of the following:
A. Ghosts
B. A host of golden daffodils
C. Romance
D. Supernatural events
Fill in the Blank
(3 points each)
Write the missing information on the line.
1. John Keats wrote ________________________.
2. Romeo and Juliet was about a feud between ______________ and _____________.
3. ________________ wrote “She Walks in Beauty”.
4. _________________ was one of the Romantic Poets.
5. Emily, Anne, and _________________ were three sisters who were all writers.
6. Jane Eyre is a _________ novel.
7. William Shakespeare is famous for writing sonnets and ___________.
8. In Paradise Lost, the first man and woman created were named ________ and _______.
9. _____________ wrote many books about women and marriage.
10. A famous novel about Satan and the fall of man was written by ______________.
Essay
(25 points each)
Choose 2 of the following essays to answer. Make sure you clearly label which two you are answering. If you answer more than one, you do not get extra credit. I will only read the first two responses you write.
Write your response on the back of this paper. You may not write more than you can fit on the back. If you make a mistake, you may ask for a new piece of paper, but you may not write more than fits the back, so use your space wisely!
In your answers, please show me that you have done some outside research to find information that I haven’t given you in class.
1. What is feminism and how does it apply to any of the literature we’ve read?
2. Explain what is happening in the poem that we read by John Donne- “The Flea”. What is the poem about? How do you know that?
3. Explain the symbolism in Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.
Where is the symbolism found? What does it represent?
I Wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
4. What are the rules for writing sonnets? How would you go about writing one?
5. Why is The Canterbury Tales an important piece of literature? Why do we still read it today?
