The Renaissance Period: Elizabethan, Jacobean and Puritan Ages (1500-1660)

1. What is Renaissance?

Ans: Renaissance is the name of a Europe-wide movement which causes fundamental changes in all aspects of life, literature and culture. It literary means re-birth or re-awakening. It indicates the re-birth of classical learning and culture.

2. What is the official date of Renaissance?

Ans: Renaissance is considered to have begun in Italy in the 14th century though some writers would date its origin from reign of Frederick II, 1215—1250.

3. What is the time span of Elizabethan Age?

Ans: The time span of Elizabethan Age is from 1558 to 1603.

4. What kind of movement was 'English Renaissance'? [NU 2013]

Ans: 'English Renaissance' was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th to the early 17th century.

5. Who is John Milton?

Ans: John Milton is an English poet, pamphleteer and historian. He is considered the most significant English author after William Shakespeare.

6. Name the two epics by John Milton.

Ans: The two epics by John Milton are Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.

7. What are Milton's immortal poetical works?

Ans: Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained are Milton's immortal poetical works.

8. What are Milton's masterpieces?

Ans: Milton’s masterpieces are Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes, Areopagitica etc.

9. What type of writing is Milton's Arepagitica? [NU 2015]

Ans: Milton's 'Areopagitica' is a pamphlet having arguments for the liberty of unlicenced printing.

10. What is Paradise Lost?

Ans: Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by John Milton.

11. What is Milton’s purpose behind writing “Paradise Lost”? [NU 2016]

Ans: Milton’s purpose behind writing “Paradise Lost” is to justify the ways of God to men.

12. What was the main source of Milton's "Paradise lost"?

Ans: The Bible’s Book of Genesis was the main source of Milton's "Paradise lost"

13. What is metaphysical poetry?

Ans: Metaphysical poetry is the poetry that goes beyond the physical world of the senses and explores the spiritual world.

14. Who is the leader and founder of the metaphysical school of poetry?

Ans: John Donne is the leader and founder of the metaphysical school of poetry.

15. Who are called the metaphysical poets? [NU 2013, 2017]

Ans: The poets like John Donne, Marvel, Herbert, Cowley, Carew and Vaughan who, according to Johnson, yoked heterogeneous ideas by violence are called the metaphysical poets.

16. Who are the University wits? [NU 2013]

Ans: University wits are Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene and Thomas Nashe, John Lyly, Thomas Lodge and George Peele. Thomas Kyd is also included in this group though he was not a university student.

17. Who is the last University wit?

Ans: Thomas Nashe is the last University wit.

18. What is The Spanish Tragedy?

Ans: The Spanish Tragedy is a revenge tragedy written by Thomas Kyd.

19. Which age is known as the Golden Age of English literature? [NU 2014]

Ans: The Elizabethan Age is known as the 'Golden Age of English Literature’.

20. To which theatre was Shakespeare related?

Ans: Shakespeare was related to the Globe Theatre.

21. What is 'Globe Theatre'? [NU 2015]

Ans: The Globe Theatre, associated with William Shakespeare, was a theatre in London, built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company.

22. Name four plays written by William Shakespeare. [NU 2016]

Ans: As You Like It, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth are the four plays by William Shakespeare.

23. Name some comedies by William Shakespeare.

Ans: As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merchant of Venice are some comedies by William Shakespeare.

24. Name the four great tragedies by William Shakespeare.

Ans: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth are the four great tragedies by William Shakespeare.

25. Name two history plays by Shakespeare.

Ans: Two history plays by Shakespeare are King John and Richard II.

26. What plays of Shakespeare were written during the last period of his dramatic career?

Ans: Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, The Tempest etc. were written during the last period of Shakespeare’s dramatic career.

27. What is the last play by Shakespeare?

Ans: The Tempest is the last play by Shakespeare.

28. What do you mean by "Tragi-comedy"?

Ans: “Tragi-comedy means the genre of comedy that blends elements of both comedy and tragedy.

29. What is a 'sonnet'?

Ans: A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, which employ one of several rhyme schemes and adhere to a tightly structured thematic organization.

30. Name some contemporary Shakespearean dramatists?

Ans: Ben Jonson, John Webster, Christopher Marlowe were contemporary to Shakespeare.

31. Who was known as the father of English Dictionary? [NU 2013]

Ans: Dr. Samuel Johnson was known as the father of English Dictionary.

32. What is called the Poet's poet? [NU 2014]

Ans: Edmund Spenser is called the 'Poet's poet' in English literature.

33. Who is called the child of Renaissance and Reformation?

Ans: Edmund Spenser is called the child of renaissance and reformation.

34. What is the famous epic by Edmund Spenser?

Ans: The Faerie Queene is the famous epic by Edmund Spenser.

35. What is The Faerise Queene?

Ans: The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem written by Edmund Spenser.

36. Write the names of four contemporary poets of Edmund Spenser.

Ans: Sir Philip Sidney, Shakespeare, John Donne and Samuel Daniel are four contemporary poets of Edmund Spenser.

37. What is "Utopia"?

Ans: ‘Utopia’ is an epoch-making work of Thomas More. More conceives Utopia as an imaginary island. The ideal social order of the Utopians is the main theme of More’s romance.

38. Why did Sir Thomas More write Utopia in Latin? [NU 2016]

Ans: Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia in Latin because English had no prestige outside England.

39. Who was Sir Thomas More?

Ans: Sir Thomas More was a noted Renaissance humanist. He wrote Utopia.

40. Who is Sir Philip Sidney?

Ans: Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier, scholar, and soldier, who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age.

41. What is Arcadia?

Ans: Arcadia is a long prose work by Sir Philip Sidney, written towards the end of the 16th century.

42. What is An Apology for Poetry?

Ans: An Apology for Poetry is a work of literary criticism by Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sydney.

43. Who is Francis Bacon?

Ans: Francis Bacon is an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, and author. He is well known as the father of English prose.

44. Which age is known as the age of decadence? [NU 2018]

Ans: Caroline age is known as the age of decadence.

45. Give an example of a 'Decadent Play'.

Ans: An example of a 'Decadent Play’ is 'The Lady of Pleasure’ by James Shirley.

46. What is "Comedy of Humours"? [NU 2017]

Ans: ‘Comedy of Humours’ is a genre of comedy that focuses on a character or range of characters, each of whom reveals two or more overriding traits or ‘humours’ that dominate their personality, desires and conduct.

47. What is the first successful tragedy in English Literature?

Ans: “Ferrex and Porrex” or “Gorboduc” is the first successful tragedy in English Literature.

48. Who wrote Gorboduc? [NU 2013]

Ans: Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton wrote Gorboduc.

49. What is the first English comedy?

Ans: “Ralph Roister Doister” is the first English comedy.

50. Who composed the first English comedy?

Ans: Nicholas Udall composed the first English comedy.

51. Who are the Stuart kings?

Ans: James I, Charles I, Charles II and James II are the Stuart kings.

52. Who was the first Stuart King?

Ans: James I was the first Stuart King.

53. Who was the father of Stuart Dynasty?

Ans: King James I of England and James VI of Scotland was the father of Stuart Dynasty.

54. Which royal dynasty was established in the resolution of the so-called War of the Roses and continued through the reign of Elizabeth I? [NU 2016]

Ans: The royal dynasty which was established in the resolution of the so-called War of the Roses and continued through the reign of Elizabeth I is Tudor.

55. What is The Pilgrim’s Progress? [NU 2016]

Ans: The Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegorical novel written by John Bunyan.

56. What is Religio Medici?

Ans: Religio Medici (The Religion of a Doctor) by Sir Thomas Browne is a spiritual testament and an early psychological self-portrait published in 1643.

57. What is 'Humanism'? [NU 2013]

Ans: 'Humanism' is a system of thought that focuses on humans, their interests, values, capacities, dignity and worth. It emphasizes human potential to attain excellence and equal treatment of everyone irrespective of religion and belief.

58. What is Puritanism? [NU 2014]

Ans: Puritanism is a religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th centuries that sought to purify the Church of England.

59. Who are the Cavalier poets? [NU 2014]

Ans: The English secular poets of the 17th century, who supported King Charles I during the English Civil War are called Cavalier poets. The best known Cavalier poets are Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace, Thomas Carew, and Sir John Suckling.

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The Renaissance Period: Elizabethan, Jacobean and Puritan Ages (1500-1660); Brief-answer Questions