Important Literary Terms of English Literature

Important Literary Terms of English Literature & Suggestions- 01 What is ‘Beowulf’? Ans: Beowoulf is the oldest document of English literature. It is an epic of 3000 lines and the writer anonymous. Who is regarded as the father of the English prose? Ans: Geoffery Chaucer What is the first English comedy? Ans: “Ralph Roister Doister” It was written by Nicolus Udail. What is the first comedy of English literature? Ans: Gorbuduc. It was jointly written by Norton and Sackville. Which age is called the nest of singing birds? Ans: The Elizabethan age Who is called the father of English essays? Ans: Francis Bacon (1561-1626) What are the first and last plays of Shakespeare? Ans: Love’s labor lost and The tempest. When and where Shakespeare was born? Ans: Shakespeare was born on 23rd June 1564 in the village of Stratford on Avon on the Warwickshire. What is the first historical drama in English? Ans: Marlowe’s Edward II Who is the greatest poet of the 17th century? Ans: John Milton Who is the greatest epic poet of the English literature? Ans: John Milton. What is the first novel of English literature? Ans: Pamela which was written by Samuel Richardson. (1740) Who is considered as the father of English novel? Ans: Henry Fielding Who composed the first English dictionary? Ans: Samuel Johnson. Who is the most famous satirist in English literature? Ans: Jonathon Swift Who is called the poet of nature? Ans: William Wordsworth Who is called the poet of beauty? Ans: John Keats Who is called the Rebel poet? Ans: Lord Byron Who is called the revolutionary poet? Ans: P.B Shelly Who was a surgeon among the Romantic poets? Ans: John Keats Who is the best representative of the Victorian age? Ans: Alfred Tennyson. Who is the best writer of the Dramatic Monologue? Ans: Robert Browning. Who was George Eliot? Ans: George Eliot was a famous woman novelist of the Victorian period. It is her pen-name. Her real name was Mary Ann Evans. Who was the English poet who helped Rabindranath to translate his Gitanjali into English? Ans: W.B Yeats. Who is the greatest dramatist of the 20th century? Ans: G.B. Shaw. Who was the English statesman to win the Nobel prize? Ans: Winston Churchill. Who is the modern philosopher to win the Nobel prize in literature? Ans: Barterned Russell. What is the real name of American short story writer O’Henry? Ans: Sydney William Porter. Who is famous for writing historical novels? Ans: Sir Walter Scott. Writing (Ivanhoe) What are the four greatest tragedies of Shakespeare? Ans: Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet and King Lear. What is Lyrical Ballads? Ans: The Lyrical Ballads is a book of poems written in collaboration by Wordsworth and Coleridge. It was published in 1798 and created a new era of English literature. Where was Charls Dicknes born? Ans: At Landport in Hamshire. Where was Robert Browning born? Ans: He was born in San Francisco, USA. Where was William Somerset Maugham born? Ans: In Paris, France. Who was Bertrand Russell? Ans: He was both a philosopher and Mathematician as well as an essayist. Where was Jonathon swift born? Ans: In Dublin. Name a greatest novelist and short story writer? Ans: William Somerset Maugham Who was Charles Dickens? Ans: He was born in England and a wide-fame author. He was born in 1812 and passed away in 1870. The Great Expectation, A Tale of Two Cities are his best creation. Name a famous women novelist? Ans: Jane Austen. Who is the author of the poem “On first looking into Chapman’s Homer”? Ans: John Keats. What is the name of the famous book of Maxim Gorky? Ans: Mother. Which English poet was also a famous painter? Ans: William Blake. Which English novelist studied medicine but never practiced in life? Ans: William Somerset Maugham. Name the poet who was drowned in the sea? Ans: P.B. Shelly. Who wrote ‘Shahnama’? Ans: Ferdousi. What is the first comedy in English literature? Ans: Pamela. Which is the oldest period of English literature? Ans: Anglo-Saxon. Who was English poet addicted to opium? Ans: S.T. Coleridge. “To be one not to be that is the question”- From where this sentence is taken? Ans: Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Name a famous works by Winston Churchill. Ans: The History of the Second World War, History of the English speaking people, Life in Marlborough. 51. Which stage is called Victorian Age? Ans: 1830-1880 52. Who is the author of Sherlock Holmes? Ans: Sir. Arthur Conan Dowel 53. A passage to India is written by whom? Ans: Foster 54. Who is called the “Well of English Undefiled”? Ans: Geoffrey Chachar 55. Which poet was related with French Revolution? Ans: P.B Shelly 56. Who is called Poet of Renaissance? Ans: John Milton. 57. The child is the father of man. Who said this? Ans: William Wordsworth. 58. Who wrote the Poem “Under the Greenwood Tree”? Ans: William Shakespeare. 59. Which poet was related to the French Revolution? Ans: John Keats 60. Name the poet who was drowned in the sea. Ans: P. B Shelly. Have clear idea of the Literary Terms given below in the table. Terms Meaning in Bengali Definition 1 Anthology A collection of writings, usually on the same subject. The writing in an anthology are often chosen from different books or writers that is Norton’s Anthology of English literature. 2 Autobiography An account of a person’s life written by himself. As for example Bill Clinton’s My life. 3 Biography The history of life of a particular person written by someone else. As for example Bowell’s The life of Doctor Johnson. 4 Ballad A simple story in verse, generally dealing with some patriotic or romantic themes. It is full of heroic deeds and supernatural happenings. As for example, Keat’s La Belle Dame Sans Merci. 5 Comedy A form of drama that is intended to amuse and that ends happily. As for example, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. 6 Drama A work designed to be performed on a stage. The story of a drama is represented by the actions and dialogues of the actors. Most dramatic works are broadly classified as Tragedy and Comedy. 7 Elegy A lyrical poem of mourning or lamentation-usually. Commemorating a particular person’s death. As for example, Shelly’s Adonis. 8 Epic A long narrative poem dealing with heroic characters and written in an elevated style. As for example Homer’s Iliad, Milton’s Paradise lost etc. 9 Lyric A short personal poem usually turning on a single thought emotion or situation. The ballad, ode, elegy and sonnets are special forms of lyric. 10 Novel A long narrative prose fiction containing characters and action portrayed in the from of a plot. The novel aims to present a picture of real life over a period of time and the society in which it is set. As for example Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two cities. 11 Ode A lyric poem expressing exalted or exhausted emotion. An ode is often addressed to a person or and abstraction. As for example Shelly’s Ode to west winds. 12 Poem A written composition in metrical form characterized by qualities of imagination and appropriate language. 13 Poetry A composition that evokes emotion and imagination by the use of vivid, intense, language usually arranged in a pattern of words or lines with a regularly repeated accent or stress. 14 Prose The ordinary form of spoken or written language which is not marked by rhyme or metrical structure. Novels, essays, short stories, biographies and most modern dramas are written in prose. 15 Romance A mediaeval tale in prose or verse about knights, their ladies and their adventures. As for example Malory’s Morte D’Aurther. 16 Satire A composition in prose or verse that ridicules frailties in human customs and institutions with a reformative zeal. 17 Sonnet A lyric poem of fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameter and with a formal rhyme scheme. Keats, Arnold, Shakespeare are noble writers of sonnet. 18 Climax The highest point of interest in a literary work. As for example ‘The trial scene in the Merchant of Venice.” By other words it can be said, part of the story at which a crisis is reached and resolution achieved. 19 Didactic Writing designed to teach moral lessons. 20 Irony Saying one thing but meaning the opposite or other. The punctual boy came after the roll call. Here by the word Punctual indicates the opposite meaning as late. 21 Metre The regular recurrence of a rhythmic pattern within the line and the corresponding line of a poem. 22 Octave A stanza of first lines of a sonnet. 23 Sestet The stanza of the last six lines of a sonnet. 24 Plot The framework of a piece of drama or fiction, the planned series of interrelated incidents that make up the story being told. 25 Supernaturalism Something that is above and beyond what is natural; events which cannot be directly explained by known laws and observations. 26 Blank verse Unrhymed heroic verse which is commonly employed in English dramatic and epic poetry. 27 Folk song It belongs to oral tradition and is thus passed on from mouth to muth. 28 Dramatic monologue A lyric poem that reveals “A soul in action” through the conversation of one character in a dramatic situation. 29 Monologue A term used in a number of senses, with the basic meaning of a single person speaking alone with or without an audience. 30 Pathos The quality in a work of art which evokes feeling of tenderness, pity or sorrow. 31 Paradox A statement or opinion seemingly self contradictory or absurd that may actually be well-founded or true. 32 Simile A comparison of anything to another resembling it in some respects as to ‘Mercy droppedth as the gentle rain from heaven. 33 Folksong A tradition song passed through mouth to mouth. 34 Jargon A mixture of two or more languages. 35 Jingle A verse with rhythm. 36 Minstrel A wondering poet musician of middle age. 37 Opera A musical drama. 38 Prologue Introduction to a play or literary work. 39 Paradox A self contradictory opinion / statement. 40 Thriller . A suspenseful story