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Modernist Literature

T S Eliot Practice Questions

20 free T S Eliot practice questions for the English Literature. Tap an option to answer — you get instant feedback, the correct answer, and a detailed explanation for every question.

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Question 1 of 20 Medium

In 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', which feature of his appearance does Prufrock imagine others remarking is growing thin?

  1. A His beard
  2. B His eyebrows
  3. C His moustache
  4. D His hair

Correct answer: His hair

Prufrock expresses deep social anxiety and aging through the lines 'They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"' This reflects the Modernist theme of individual inadequacy and the passage of time.

Question 2 of 20 Medium

To whom did T. S. Eliot dedicate 'The Waste Land', famously referring to them as 'il miglior fabbro'?

  1. A James Joyce
  2. B W. B. Yeats
  3. C Ezra Pound
  4. D Virginia Woolf

Correct answer: Ezra Pound

Eliot dedicated the poem to Ezra Pound, using the Italian phrase meaning 'the better craftsman'. This was in recognition of Pound's extensive editing and significant reduction of the original manuscript.

Question 3 of 20 Medium

Which critical concept did Eliot introduce in his essay 'Hamlet and His Problems' to describe the artistic evocation of emotion?

  1. A Negative Capability
  2. B Dissociation of Sensibility
  3. C The Anxiety of Influence
  4. D Objective Correlative

Correct answer: Objective Correlative

The 'objective correlative' is a set of objects, a situation, or a chain of events that serve as the formula for a particular emotion. Eliot argued that Hamlet was an artistic failure because it lacked this specific structural element.

Question 4 of 20 Medium

What is the opening line of 'The Waste Land'?

  1. A Let us go then, you and I,
  2. B A cold coming we had of it,
  3. C Midwinter spring is its own season
  4. D April is the cruellest month,

Correct answer: April is the cruellest month,

The poem famously begins with 'April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land'. This subverts the traditional literary association of spring with rebirth and joy, setting a tone of spiritual dryness.

Question 5 of 20 Medium

In 'The Waste Land', which section features the typist and the 'young man carbuncular'?

  1. A The Burial of the Dead
  2. B A Game of Chess
  3. C The Fire Sermon
  4. D Death by Water

Correct answer: The Fire Sermon

Section III, 'The Fire Sermon', depicts a sordid, mechanical sexual encounter between the typist and the clerk. This scene serves to highlight the degradation of human relationships in the modern world.

Question 6 of 20 Medium

Which historical period did Eliot identify as the beginning of the 'dissociation of sensibility' in English poetry?

  1. A The early 14th Century
  2. B The mid-19th Century
  3. C The early 20th Century
  4. D The late 17th Century

Correct answer: The late 17th Century

In his essay 'The Metaphysical Poets', Eliot argued that a split between thought and feeling occurred in the 17th century. He believed that poets like Donne possessed a unified sensibility that was lost in the era of Milton and Dryden.

Question 7 of 20 Medium

In 'The Hollow Men', how does the world end, according to the final stanza?

  1. A With a bang
  2. B With a scream
  3. C With a sigh
  4. D With a whimper

Correct answer: With a whimper

The poem concludes with the famous lines: 'This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper.' This emphasizes the spiritual paralysis and pathetic insignificance of the hollow men.

Question 8 of 20 Medium

Which of the following is NOT one of the Four Quartets?

  1. A Burnt Norton
  2. B East Coker
  3. C Little Gidding
  4. D Gerontion

Correct answer: Gerontion

T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets are Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages, and Little Gidding. 'Gerontion' is a separate, earlier Eliot poem (1920) and is not part of the Four Quartets.

Question 9 of 20 Medium

What is the primary theme of Eliot's play 'Murder in the Cathedral'?

  1. A The assassination of Julius Caesar
  2. B The corruption of the Borgia family
  3. C The trials of Joan of Arc
  4. D The martyrdom of Thomas Becket

Correct answer: The martyrdom of Thomas Becket

Written for the Canterbury Festival, the play portrays the 1170 murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket. It explores the conflict between temporal power and spiritual authority.

Question 10 of 20 Medium

In 'The Waste Land', who is the 'blind' narrator that 'sees' the typist and the clerk?

  1. A Phlebas
  2. B Madame Sosostris
  3. C Tiresias
  4. D The Fisher King

Correct answer: Tiresias

Tiresias is a central figure who unites the various fragments of the poem. As a blind prophet who has lived as both man and woman, he witnesses the modern desolation with a perspective that spans history.

Question 11 of 20 Medium

Eliot's poem 'Journey of the Magi' is told from the perspective of:

  1. A A servant who travelled with the caravan
  2. B A shepherd present at the nativity
  3. C The Virgin Mary
  4. D One of the Magi in old age

Correct answer: One of the Magi in old age

The poem is a dramatic monologue by one of the Magi who reflects on the arduous journey and the spiritual displacement caused by the birth of Christ. It marks Eliot's transition toward overtly Christian themes.

Question 12 of 20 Medium

According to Eliot’s 'Tradition and the Individual Talent', what should a poet undergo to achieve the 'impersonality' of art?

  1. A A continual extinction of personality
  2. B A deliberate cultivation of a personal voice
  3. C A total withdrawal from society
  4. D A deep immersion in personal trauma

Correct answer: A continual extinction of personality

Eliot argued that the progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice and a 'continual extinction of personality'. He believed art should be an escape from emotion rather than an expression of it.

Question 13 of 20 Medium

What mythological figure's ritual serves as a structural foundation for 'The Waste Land'?

  1. A The dying god Adonis
  2. B Persephone
  3. C Orpheus
  4. D The Fisher King

Correct answer: The Fisher King

Eliot drew heavily on Jessie Weston's 'From Ritual to Romance', which explores the Grail legend and the Fisher King. The king's impotence is mirrored by the infertility of the modern land.

Question 14 of 20 Medium

The epigraph to 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' is taken from which literary work?

  1. A The Odyssey
  2. B Paradise Lost
  3. C Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
  4. D Dante's Inferno

Correct answer: Dante's Inferno

The epigraph features Guido da Montefeltro speaking from the eighth circle of Hell in Dante's Inferno. It suggests that Prufrock's 'confession' is only shared because he believes his audience cannot escape their own 'hell' to tell others.

Question 15 of 20 Medium

In 'The Waste Land', what are the three Sanskrit commands given by the thunder?

  1. A Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
  2. B Om, Mani, Padme
  3. C Karma, Dharma, Artha
  4. D Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata

Correct answer: Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata

In the final section, 'What the Thunder Said', the thunder speaks 'Datta' (Give), 'Dayadhvam' (Sympathize), and 'Damyata' (Control). These offer a glimpse of potential spiritual salvation from the waste land.

Question 16 of 20 Medium

T. S. Eliot was a leading figure in which 20th-century critical movement?

  1. A New Criticism
  2. B Deconstruction
  3. C Marxist Criticism
  4. D Post-Colonialism

Correct answer: New Criticism

Eliot’s essays on the autonomy of the poem and the importance of close reading provided the theoretical foundation for New Criticism. This movement dominated American literary studies in the mid-20th century.

Question 17 of 20 Medium

Which bird’s song in 'The Waste Land' is represented by the onomatopoeic 'Tereu'?

  1. A The Nightingale
  2. B The Hermit Thrush
  3. C The Swallow
  4. D The Cock

Correct answer: The Nightingale

The nightingale's song 'Jug Jug' to 'dirty ears' and the 'Tereu' refer to the myth of Philomela. It signifies the transformation of suffering into art, though modern ears perceive it only as noise.

Question 18 of 20 Medium

Which Eliot poem contains the line, 'I have measured out my life with coffee spoons'?

  1. A Mr. Eliot's Sunday Morning Service
  2. B Sweeney Among the Nightingales
  3. C The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
  4. D Rhapsody on a Windy Night

Correct answer: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

This line from 'Prufrock' perfectly encapsulates the protagonist’s sense of a trivial, meticulously planned, yet ultimately meaningless existence. It highlights the banality of his social life.

Question 19 of 20 Medium

What major event influenced the somber and religious tone of Eliot's 1930 poem 'Ash-Wednesday'?

  1. A The onset of the Great Depression
  2. B The death of his father in 1919
  3. C His conversion to Anglicanism
  4. D The end of the First World War

Correct answer: His conversion to Anglicanism

Eliot was baptized into the Church of England in 1927. 'Ash-Wednesday' is his first long poem following his conversion, dealing with the struggle of moving from spiritual despair to hope.

Question 20 of 20 Medium

In 'The Waste Land', Madame Sosostris is a 'famous clairvoyante' who uses which medium?

  1. A An astrological birth chart
  2. B The lines of the palm
  3. C A wicked pack of cards
  4. D A clouded crystal ball

Correct answer: A wicked pack of cards

Madame Sosostris uses a Tarot deck, which Eliot uses to introduce key symbols like the Drowned Phoenician Sailor and the Lady of the Rocks. This scene parodies the modern search for meaning in cheap occultism.

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