View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Based on "What is Theory?" which of the following words can be used to describe theory?
(a) Scattered.
(b) None of these.
(c) Literal.
(d) Unfocused.

2. Readers often respond emotionally to a particular use of language due to _____________.
(a) Context of the words.
(b) Personal experience.
(c) Difficulty of text.
(d) Level of education.

3. Who wrote "Jane Eyre"?
(a) Virginia Wolff.
(b) Kate Campion.
(c) Jane Austen.
(d) Charlotte Bronte.

4. What was Richard Rorty's area of expertise?
(a) Math.
(b) Philosophy.
(c) Science.
(d) Literature.

5. According to Culler, what do literary theorists work to expose in literature?
(a) Exceptional sentence structure.
(b) Underlying themes.
(c) Bad writing.
(d) Inaccuracies.

Short Answer Questions

1. What non-fiction literary device does "Jane Eyre" mimic?

2. According to Goethe, "life devoid of passion" is ___________.

3. In Chapter 3, "Literature and Cultural Studies," what does the production of literature drive in society?

4. What has literary theory helped add to the study of classics?

5. According to Chapter 4, what is a secret message placed within the broader scope of a text?

Short Essay Questions

1. Compare the approach used by theorists when analyzing cultural studies versus literary theory.

2. What types of writing topics have been used to create literary theory and why?

3. According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, what does language determine?

4. According to Chapter 3, how have cultural studies expanded the literary canon?

5. According to Chapter 4, what does "reader-response" criticism depend upon?

6. According to Chapter 2, why was it significant that many works of English literature allowed the low class worker to surpass the aristocrat?

7. What do theorists mean when they say that a reader is limited by his "horizon of expectations"?

8. Why is publishing considered a stamp of approval on a literary work?

9. According to Chapter 4, "Meaning and Interpretation," what does society have to do with the understanding of words?

10. What factors determine what will be read by a particular society?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 565 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample