Mr. Greene's (mostly) English Literature Quiz

Shakespeare

100

What country is Shakespeare from? 

England or Britain NOT the U.K. 

200

In what country does Hamlet take place? 

Denmark

300

Which drama is often called "The Scottish Play"? 

Macbeth

400

What English did Shakespeare use? Old English, Middle English, or Modern English?

Modern English

500

What is the meter or metric line that most of Shakespeare's works were written in? 

Iambi Pentameter

American Literature

100

What type of bird is Edgar Allen Poe's most famous poem named after? 

Raven

200

In what state is most of horror author Stephen King's work based? (Hint: He's also from there)

Maine

300

Children's author Theodor Geisel is more widely known by which name? 

Dr. Seuss

400

Sleepy Hollow, NY is home to which famous literary monster? 

The Headless Horseman 

500

Transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau's most famous work is titled after what body of water? 

Walden Pond

British Literature

100

This famous detective worked out of 221B Baker Street in London. 

Sherlock Holmes

200

What are the two cities in Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities? 

London and Paris

300

What Secret Service spy was created by author Ian Fleming?

James Bond (not 007 as other spies can use that moniker)

400

What is widely considered to be the first piece of literature written in Old English? 

Beowulf 

500

The fantasy novel "Watership Down" is based around what kind of animal?

Rabbits

Poetry

100

What is the Japanese form of poetry consists of lines containing 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively when written in English?

Haiku

200

A sonnet consists of how many lines? 

14

300

20th century poet Dylan Thomas is from which part of the United Kingdom?

Wales

400

Italian poet Dante's work "Inferno" takes place in what Biblical location? 

Hell

500

Which month is the cruelest according to the first line of T.S. Elliot's "The Wasteland"?

April

Miscellaneous

100

Art Spielgelman's graphic novel "Maus" is largely based on which tragic 20th century event?

The Holocaust

200

What is the name of the first English science fiction novel, written by the wife of British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley?

Frankenstein 

300

The dramatist who wrote the plays "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Named Desire" is named after which U.S. state?

Tennessee 

400

The Beatles named themselves after this generation of writers? 

The Beats or Beat Generation

500

What novel, named after a common women's product, is subtitled "The Story of a Murderer"?

Perfume