Unit Test - II

 

📚 English Literature MCQs

Important Multiple Choice Questions with Answers

📌 For Students: Test your knowledge of three important English texts: The Nightingale and the Rose, On Examination, and The Ballad of Father Gilligan.

🌹 1. The Nightingale and the Rose — Oscar Wilde

Question 1

Who is the author of "The Nightingale and the Rose"?

• A) William Butler Yeats
• B) Oscar Wilde
• C) Winston Churchill
• D) R.K. Narayan

✅ Answer: B) Oscar Wilde

Question 2

Oscar Wilde belonged to which country?

• A) England
• B) Ireland
• C) Scotland
• D) America

✅ Answer: B) Ireland

Question 3

Why was the young Student weeping in his garden?

• A) He failed his philosophy exam
• B) He lost his notebook
• C) There was no red rose in his garden
• D) The Nightingale stopped singing

✅ Answer: C) There was no red rose in his garden

Question 4

Why did the Student need a red rose?

• A) To sell it in the market
• B) To give it to his teacher
• C) To dance with his love at the Prince's ball
• D) To make medicine

✅ Answer: C) To dance with his love at the Prince's ball

Question 5

According to the weeping Student, happiness depends on:

• A) Great wealth
• B) Deep philosophy
• C) Such little things
• D) Power and fame

✅ Answer: C) Such little things

Question 6

How does the Nightingale describe the Student's hair?

• A) Gold as the sun
• B) Dark as the night
• C) Brown as autumn leaves
• D) Red as the rose

✅ Answer: B) Dark as the night

Question 7

How does the Nightingale describe the Student's lips?

• A) Pale as ivory
• B) Sweet as honey
• C) Red as the rose of his desire
• D) Soft as silk

✅ Answer: C) Red as the rose of his desire

Question 8

Why was the Student's face like pale ivory?

• A) He was ill
• B) Passion had made it so
• C) He was cold
• D) He was hungry

✅ Answer: B) Passion had made it so

Question 9

Who was giving a formal ball the next night?

• A) The Professor
• B) The Chamberlain
• C) The Prince
• D) The King

✅ Answer: C) The Prince

Question 10

What did the Nightingale consider the Student to be?

• A) A foolish scholar
• B) A true lover
• C) A proud prince
• D) A careless boy

✅ Answer: B) A true lover

Question 11

What price did the Rose-tree demand for creating a red rose?

• A) A gold coin
• B) The Nightingale's life-blood
• C) A morning song
• D) A tear from the Student

✅ Answer: B) The Nightingale's life-blood

Question 12

According to the Nightingale, what is better than Life?

• A) Philosophy
• B) Power
• C) Love
• D) Knowledge

✅ Answer: C) Love

Question 13

How does the Nightingale describe the wings of Love?

• A) Silver-coloured
• B) Flame-coloured
• C) Sky-blue
• D) Pure white

✅ Answer: B) Flame-coloured

Question 14

What are Love's lips compared to by the Nightingale?

• A) Fresh dew
• B) Red berries
• C) Sweet as honey
• D) Morning sunlight

✅ Answer: C) Sweet as honey

Question 15

What was the single condition the Nightingale asked of the Student?

• A) Never to pick another flower
• B) To be a true lover
• C) To write a poem about her
• D) To care for her nest

✅ Answer: B) To be a true lover

Question 16

What did the Student write about the Nightingale in his notebook?

• A) She is the greatest singer in the world
• B) She has style, but lacks sincerity and practical utility
• C) She is a divine creature sent from heaven
• D) She understands the true meaning of love

✅ Answer: B) She has style, but lacks sincerity and practical utility

Question 17

What must pierce the Nightingale's heart to color the rose?

• A) An arrow
• B) A thorn
• C) A needle
• D) A sharp leaf

✅ Answer: B) A thorn

Question 18

What did the Nightingale sing of first while pressing against the thorn?

• A) The birth of passion in the soul of a man and a maid
• B) The beauty of the morning sky
• C) The sorrow of death
• D) The greatness of philosophy

✅ Answer: A) The birth of passion in the soul of a man and a maid

Question 19

What initial color appeared on the leaves of the rose as the Nightingale sang?

• A) Dark crimson
• B) Delicate flush of pink
• C) Bright yellow
• D) Pure white

✅ Answer: B) Delicate flush of pink

Question 20

What did the Nightingale sing of when the thorn touched her heart?

• A) Love that is perfected by Death
• B) The foolishness of young men
• C) The coldness of the night
• D) The power of nature

✅ Answer: A) Love that is perfected by Death

Question 21

What color did the marvellous rose finally turn into?

• A) Pale pink
• B) Crimson
• C) Scarlet gold
• D) Deep purple

✅ Answer: B) Crimson

Question 22

When did the red rose open its petals?

• A) At midnight
• B) To the cold morning air
• C) At noon
• D) When the Student woke up

✅ Answer: B) To the cold morning air

Question 23

According to the Nightingale, Love is wiser than:

• A) Science
• B) Philosophy
• C) History
• D) Mathematics

✅ Answer: B) Philosophy

Question 24

According to the Nightingale, Love is mightier than:

• A) Death
• B) Kings
• C) Power
• D) Time

✅ Answer: C) Power

Question 25

Where was the Student lying when the Nightingale flew back to talk to him?

• A) Under an oak tree
• B) On the grass
• C) On his bed
• D) Beside the pond

✅ Answer: B) On the grass

Question 26

How did the Nightingale sweep over the garden?

• A) Like a flash of light
• B) Like a shadow
• C) Like a gust of wind
• D) Like a falling leaf

✅ Answer: B) Like a shadow

Question 27

In the fairy tale tradition, animals and non-living beings speak with a:

• A) Musical tone
• B) Human voice
• C) Divine whisper
• D) Echoing sound

✅ Answer: B) Human voice

Question 28

Where did the Student fall asleep after thinking of his love?

• A) On the grass
• B) On his little wooden bed
• C) Under the rose tree
• D) In the library

✅ Answer: B) On his little wooden bed

Question 29

Why did the Rose-tree urge the Nightingale to press closer against the thorn?

• A) Lest the moon fade away
• B) Lest the Day come before the rose is finished
• C) To make the song louder
• D) To speed up her death

✅ Answer: B) Lest the Day come before the rose is finished

Question 30

What happened to the Nightingale right before she gave her last burst of music?

• A) Her wings broke
• B) She felt something choking her in her throat
• C) She fell off the tree
• D) She lost her sight completely

✅ Answer: B) She felt something choking her in her throat

📝 2. On Examinations — Winston S. Churchill

Question 1

Who is the author of "On Examinations"?

• A) Oscar Wilde
• B) W.B. Yeats
• C) Winston S. Churchill
• D) Lord Macaulay

✅ Answer: C) Winston S. Churchill

Question 2

How many times was Winston Churchill the Prime Minister of England?

• A) Once
• B) Twice
• C) Three times
• D) Four times

✅ Answer: B) Twice

Question 3

In which year was Churchill awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature?

• A) 1923
• B) 1940
• C) 1953
• D) 1965

✅ Answer: C) 1953

Question 4

"At Harrow" is an excerpt from which autobiographical work by Churchill?

• A) My Early Life / A Roving Commission
• B) The Second World War
• C) Lays of Ancient Rome
• D) History of English-Speaking Peoples

✅ Answer: A) My Early Life / A Roving Commission

Question 5

How old was Churchill when he entered the "inhospitable regions of examinations"?

• A) Ten years old
• B) Scarcely passed his twelfth birthday
• C) Fourteen years old
• D) Sixteen years old

✅ Answer: B) Scarcely passed his twelfth birthday

Question 6

For how many years was Churchill destined to journey through examination regions?

• A) Five years
• B) Seven years
• C) Ten years
• D) Twelve years

✅ Answer: B) Seven years

Question 7

Which subjects were dearest to Churchill?

• A) Latin and Mathematics
• B) History, poetry and writing essays
• C) Greek and Geography
• D) Science and Grammar

✅ Answer: B) History, poetry and writing essays

Question 8

Which subjects were partial to the examiners?

• A) History and Poetry
• B) English and Essay writing
• C) Latin and Mathematics
• D) Art and Literature

✅ Answer: C) Latin and Mathematics

Question 9

What did Churchill want the examiners to ask him?

• A) What he did not know
• B) What he knew
• C) Difficult mathematical problems
• D) Questions on Latin translation

✅ Answer: B) What he knew

Question 10

What was the constant effort of the examiners towards Churchill?

• A) To test his speed
• B) To expose his ignorance
• C) To encourage his talent
• D) To reward his memory

✅ Answer: B) To expose his ignorance

Question 11

Who was the Headmaster of Harrow School during his entrance exam?

• A) Mr. Somervell
• B) Dr. Welldon
• C) Mr. Amery
• D) Lord Macaulay

✅ Answer: B) Dr. Welldon

Question 12

What did Churchill write on his Latin entrance paper?

• A) A short essay on Rome
• B) His name, question number "(I)", a blot, and smudges
• C) Three complete Latin sentences
• D) A translation of a poem

✅ Answer: B) His name, question number "(I)", a blot, and smudges

Question 13

How long did Churchill gaze at his blank Latin paper?

• A) One hour
• B) Two whole hours
• C) Half an hour
• D) Three hours

✅ Answer: B) Two whole hours

Question 14

Who collected Churchill's paper at the end of the examination?

• A) Dr. Welldon
• B) Merciful ushers
• C) Mr. Somervell
• D) Senior boys

✅ Answer: B) Merciful ushers

Question 15

Why did Dr. Welldon decide to pass Churchill into Harrow?

• A) Churchill's father forced him
• B) He saw potential and looked beneath the surface of paper manifestations
• C) Churchill answered the mathematics paper perfectly
• D) Churchill recited poetry during the exam

✅ Answer: B) He saw potential and looked beneath the surface of paper manifestations

Question 16

What was the name of the school swimming bath at Harrow?

• A) Ducker
• B) Harrow Pool
• C) The Plunge
• D) High Bath

✅ Answer: A) Ducker

Question 17

Whom did Churchill push into the swimming bath as a prank?

• A) Dr. Welldon
• B) Amery
• C) Somervell
• D) A Fourth Form boy

✅ Answer: B) Amery

Question 18

What form was Amery in when Churchill pushed him?

• A) Fourth Form
• B) Fifth Form
• C) Sixth Form
• D) Third Form

✅ Answer: C) Sixth Form

Question 19

What was Amery wearing when he was pushed into the water?

• A) His school uniform
• B) A gym kit
• C) A bath-towel
• D) A football suit

✅ Answer: C) A bath-towel

Question 20

Why did Churchill mistakenly push Amery into the pool?

• A) Because Amery challenged him
• B) Because Amery was small in stature and wrapped only in a towel
• C) Because Amery tripped him first
• D) As a planned revenge

✅ Answer: B) Because Amery was small in stature and wrapped only in a towel

Question 21

Which of the following was NOT one of Amery's titles to fame at school?

• A) Head of his House
• B) Champion at Gym
• C) Football colours holder
• D) Headmaster's assistant

✅ Answer: D) Headmaster's assistant

Question 22

How did Churchill apologize to Amery after realizing his mistake?

• A) Sent him a written letter
• B) Approached him in lively trepidation and explained he mistook him for a Fourth Form boy
• C) Offered him his gym trophy
• D) Ran away without saying anything

✅ Answer: B) Approached him in lively trepidation and explained he mistook him for a Fourth Form boy

Question 23

What political relationship did Churchill and Amery share later in life?

• A) Rival party leaders
• B) Cabinet colleagues
• C) Foreign ambassadors
• D) Military judges

✅ Answer: B) Cabinet colleagues

Question 24

What was the age difference between Churchill and Amery at school?

• A) One year
• B) Three years
• C) Five years
• D) Two years

✅ Answer: B) Three years

Question 25

Which school prize open to the whole school did Churchill win?

• A) Latin prose translation
• B) Reciting 1200 lines of Macaulay's 'Lays of Ancient Rome' without a mistake
• C) Mathematics olympiad
• D) Essay writing competition on British history

✅ Answer: B) Reciting 1200 lines of Macaulay's 'Lays of Ancient Rome' without a mistake

Question 26

How many lines of Macaulay's poem did Churchill recite without a single mistake?

• A) 500 lines
• B) 1000 lines
• C) 1200 lines
• D) 1500 lines

✅ Answer: C) 1200 lines

Question 27

Why was Churchill's achievement in winning the recitation prize considered incongruous?

• A) He was the youngest boy in school
• B) He stagnated in the lowest form while winning a school-wide prize
• C) He was not allowed to study English
• D) He failed his preliminary military test

✅ Answer: B) He stagnated in the lowest form while winning a school-wide prize

Question 28

Churchill succeeded in passing the preliminary examination for which organization while near the bottom of the school?

• A) The Navy
• B) The Army
• C) The Foreign Civil Service
• D) The Bar Council

✅ Answer: B) The Army

Question 29

What treatment did Churchill say examination questions caused him?

• A) It made him excel quickly
• B) It exposed his ignorance and caused him not to do well
• C) It made him love Latin
• D) It earned him scholarships

✅ Answer: B) It exposed his ignorance and caused him not to do well

Question 30

What emotion convulsed Churchill after pushing Amery into the pool?

• A) Joy and pride
• B) Terror and guilt of sacrilege
• C) Anger and disappointment
• D) Indifference

✅ Answer: B) Terror and guilt of sacrilege

⛪ 3. The Ballad of Father Gilligan — W.B. Yeats

Question 1

Who is the author of "The Ballad of Father Gilligan"?

• A) Winston Churchill
• B) Oscar Wilde
• C) William Butler Yeats
• D) Robert Frost

✅ Answer: C) William Butler Yeats

Question 2

In which year was W.B. Yeats awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature?

• A) 1913
• B) 1923
• C) 1939
• D) 1953

✅ Answer: B) 1923

Question 3

What nationality was W.B. Yeats?

• A) English
• B) Irish
• C) Scottish
• D) Welsh

✅ Answer: B) Irish

Question 4

Why was old priest Peter Gilligan weary night and day?

• A) He was traveling long distances
• B) Half his flock were sick in bed or lying under green sods
• C) He was building a new church
• D) He was fasting for days

✅ Answer: B) Half his flock were sick in bed or lying under green sods

Question 5

What does the phrase "under green sods lay" signify in the poem?

• A) Sleeping on the grass
• B) Dead and buried in graves
• C) Resting in the fields
• D) Farming the countryside

✅ Answer: B) Dead and buried in graves

Question 6

At what time of day was Father Gilligan nodding on his chair when sent for?

• A) Dawn
• B) The moth-hour of eve
• C) Midnight
• D) High noon

✅ Answer: B) The moth-hour of eve

Question 7

What did Father Gilligan cry out in exhaustion when another poor man sent for him?

• A) "I will not go!"
• B) "I have no rest, nor joy, nor peace, for people die and die"
• C) "Why does God test me so?"
• D) "Send another priest!"

✅ Answer: B) "I have no rest, nor joy, nor peace, for people die and die"

Question 8

Why did Father Gilligan immediately ask God for forgiveness after complaining?

• A) He realized his parishioner heard him
• B) He realized his body spoke, not his devoted heart ("My body spake, not I!")
• C) He was afraid of his superiors
• D) His horse neighed in warning

✅ Answer: B) He realized his body spoke, not his devoted heart

Question 9

What was Father Gilligan doing when he fell into a deep sleep?

• A) Reading his Bible
• B) Riding his horse
• C) Kneeling and leaning on a chair in prayer
• D) Sitting at the sick man's bedside

✅ Answer: C) Kneeling and leaning on a chair in prayer

Question 10

What imagery is used to show the progression of the night as the priest slept?

• A) Thunder and heavy rain
• B) Stars peeping and slowly growing into millions
• C) Dark clouds covering the moon
• D) Howling winds in the fen

✅ Answer: B) Stars peeping and slowly growing into millions

Question 11

How does the poet describe God's action as night covered the world?

• A) God watched in anger
• B) God covered the world with shade and whispered to mankind
• C) God woke the priest with rain
• D) God blew out the stars

✅ Answer: B) God covered the world with shade and whispered to mankind

Question 12

At what time did Father Gilligan wake up from his deep slumber?

• A) Midnight
• B) Upon the time of sparrow-chirp / moth-hour of dawn
• C) Noon the next day
• D) Evening twilight

✅ Answer: B) Upon the time of sparrow-chirp / moth-hour of dawn

Question 13

What Irish cry of grief did Father Gilligan utter upon waking?

• A) "Alas, alas!"
• B) "Mavrone, mavrone!"
• C) "Ochone, ochone!"
• D) "Mercy, mercy!"

✅ Answer: B) "Mavrone, mavrone!"

Question 14

What is the literal meaning of the Irish word "Mavrone"?

• A) My Lord
• B) My sorrow
• C) Forgive me
• D) Wake up

✅ Answer: B) My sorrow

Question 15

How did Father Gilligan ride his horse to the sick man's home?

• A) Slowly and carefully
• B) He rode as he never rode, with little care
• C) On foot leading the horse
• D) Hesitantly through the dark

✅ Answer: B) He rode as he never rode, with little care

Question 16

What landscape features did Father Gilligan ride across?

• A) Deep rivers and high trees
• B) Rocky lane and fen
• C) Green fields and sand dunes
• D) Paved roads and bridges

✅ Answer: B) Rocky lane and fen

Question 17

What does the word "fen" mean in the context of the poem?

• A) A rocky hill
• B) Wet, marsh land
• C) A narrow pathway
• D) A dense forest

✅ Answer: B) Wet, marsh land

Question 18

Who opened the door when Father Gilligan reached the sick man's home?

• A) The sick man himself
• B) The sick man's wife
• C) An angel
• D) A doctor

✅ Answer: B) The sick man's wife

Question 19

What were the first words spoken by the sick man's wife upon seeing the priest?

• A) "Why are you late?"
• B) "Father! you come again!"
• C) "He is still alive!"
• D) "Where have you been?"

✅ Answer: B) "Father! you come again!"

Question 20

When had the sick man died?

• A) Just as the priest arrived
• B) An hour ago
• C) During the previous night
• D) Two days ago

✅ Answer: B) An hour ago

Question 21

How did the sick man die according to his wife?

• A) In great pain
• B) As merry as a bird
• C) Crying for help
• D) Quietly in his sleep

✅ Answer: B) As merry as a bird

Question 22

Why did the wife say "Father! you come again!"?

• A) She thought he forgot his bag
• B) God had sent an angel in Father Gilligan's form to minister to her husband earlier
• C) Father Gilligan had visited them earlier that morning
• D) She was confused and mistook him for someone else

✅ Answer: B) God had sent an angel in Father Gilligan's form to minister to her husband earlier

Question 23

What did Father Gilligan do immediately when he heard the wife's words?

• A) He wept in shame
• B) He knelt down in humble prayer and gratitude
• C) He turned back home
• D) He blessed the house

✅ Answer: B) He knelt down in humble prayer and gratitude

Question 24

Who was sent by God to help Father Gilligan in his time of need?

• A) A heavenly saint
• B) One of His great angels
• C) A neighbor
• D) A divine vision

✅ Answer: B) One of His great angels

Question 25

How is God described in terms of attire in the final stanzas?

• A) Wrapped in golden robes
• B) Wrapped in purple robes
• C) Covered in white light
• D) Clothed in stars

✅ Answer: B) Wrapped in purple robes

Question 26

What does God have under His care according to Father Gilligan?

• A) Kingdoms
• B) Planets
• C) Oceans
• D) Angels

✅ Answer: B) Planets

Question 27

Whom does God have pity on at the end of the poem?

• A) Only the dying man
• B) The least of things asleep upon a chair (Father Gilligan)
• C) The wealthy rulers
• D) The whole parish

✅ Answer: B) The least of things asleep upon a chair (Father Gilligan)

Question 28

What is the standard poetic form of "The Ballad of Father Gilligan"?

• A) Sonnet
• B) Ballad
• C) Elegy
• D) Free verse

✅ Answer: B) Ballad

Question 29

What is the typical rhyme scheme of the four-line stanzas in this ballad?

• A) a b a b
• B) a b c b
• C) a a b b
• D) a b b a

✅ Answer: B) a b c b

Question 30

What central theme does the poem glorify?

• A) The physical strength of human priestcraft
• B) God's infinite mercy and care for even His weary servants
• C) The inevitability of tragedy
• D) The speed and power of horses

✅ Answer: B) God's infinite mercy and care for even His weary servants

🎯 Exam Tip: Read every question carefully. Try to answer the questions yourself before checking the highlighted answer.

📖 Keep Learning • Keep Practising • Keep Improving!
English Literature MCQ Practice