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Quiz about English Literature Before 1800

English Literature Before 1800 Quiz

Welcome. Below you'll find the first couple of lines from some famous major English literary works. Some of the texts are presented in a modern translation or in a modernized spelling. It's up to you to identify the work. Good luck.

A multiple-choice quiz by marienbart. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
marienbart

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
71,252

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
9 / 15

Plays
1457

Last 3 plays: jwwells (12/15), colbymanram (8/15), Guest 72 (8/15).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. 'So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness. We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.' Hint

'Brut' (by Layamon)

Ivanhoe

Beowulf

The Battle of Maldon

NEXT>

Question 2 of 15

2. 'In a summer season when the sun was mild I clad myself in clothes as I'd become a sheep; In the habit of a hermit unholy of works, Walked wide in this world, watching for wonders.' Hint

'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (by William Shakespeare)

'The Canterbury Tales' (by Geoffrey Chaucer)

'The Vision of Piers Plowman' (by William Langland)

'The Pilgrim's Progress' (by John Bunyan)

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Question 3 of 15

3. 'Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime.' Hint

'To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time' (by Robert Herrick)

'Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat' (by Thomas Gray)

'The Good-Morrow' (by John Donne)

'To His Coy Mistress' (by Andrew Marvell)

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Question 4 of 15

4. 'What dire offense from amorous cause springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I sing - (...)' Hint

'The Deserted Village' (by Oliver Goldsmith)

'Amoretti' (by Edmund Spenser)

'The Rape of the Lock' (by Alexander Pope)

'The Vanity of Human Wishes' (by Samual Johnson)

5. 'Sithen the sege and the assaut was sesed at Troye, The borgh brittened and brent to brondes and askes, The tulk that the trammes of tresoun ther wroght Was tried for his tricherie, the trewest on erthe.' Hint

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

'Morte D'arthur' (by Sir Thomas Malory)

Beowulf

'Brut' (by Layamon)

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Question 6 of 15

6. Witch 1: 'When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?' Witch 2: 'When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won.' Hint

'Tamburlaine' (by Christopher Marlowe)

'Macbeth' (by William Shakespeare)

'The Duchess of Malfi' (by John Webster)

'The Way of the World' (by William Congreve)

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Question 7 of 15

7. 'O Thou, that sit'st upon a throne, With harp of high majestic tone, To praise the King of Kings;' Hint

'A Song to David' (by Christopher Smart)

'Michael' (by William Wordsworth)

'Paradise Lost' (by John Milton)

'E Tenebris' (by Oscar Wilde)

NEXT>

Question 8 of 15

8. 'Whan that April with hir showres soote The droughte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veine in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour;' Hint

'History of the Kings of Britain' (by Geoffrey of Monmouth)

'The Vision of Piers Plowman' (by William Langland)

'Brut' (by Layamon)

'The Canterbury Tales' (by Geoffrey Chaucer)

NEXT>

Question 9 of 15

9. 'I do not pretend, in giving you the history of this royal slave, to entertain my reader with the adventures of a feigned hero, whose life and fortunes fancy may manage at the poet's pleasure;' Hint

'Roxana' (by Daniel Defoe)

'The Anatomy of Melancholy' (by Robert Burton)

'Gulliver's Travels' (by Jonathan Swift)

'Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave' (by Aphra Behn)

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Question 10 of 15

10. 'Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske, As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, Am now enforst a far unfitter taske, For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine oaten reeds,' Hint

'The Faerie Queene' (by Edmund Spenser)

'Morte D'arthur' (by Sir Thomas Malory)

'The Canterbury Tales' (by Geoffrey Chaucer)

'Hero and Leander' (by Christopher Marlowe)

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Question 11 of 15

11. 'Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burdend air; Hungry clouds swag on the deep.' Hint

'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' (by William Blake)

'Prometheus Unbound' (by Percy Byssche Shelley)

'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (by Samual Taylor Coleridge)

'Endymion: A Poetic Romance' (by John Keats)

NEXT>

Question 12 of 15

12. 'Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, (...)' Hint

'The Rape of the Lock' (by Alexander Pope)

'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' (by George Gordon, Lord Byron)

'Brut' (by Layamon)

'Paradise Lost' (by John Milton)

NEXT>

Question 13 of 15

13. 'In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin Before polygamy was made a sin; When man on many multiplied his kind, Ere one to one was cursedly confined;' Hint

'Paradise Lost' (by John Milton)

'Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem' (by John Dryden)

'The Rape of the Lock' (by Alexander Pope)

'The Good-Morrow' (by John Donne)

NEXT>

Question 14 of 15

14. 'Another lay to you I'll tell, Of the adventure that befell A noble vassal whom they call In the Breton tongue Lanval.' Hint

'Lanval' (by Aemilia Lanyer)

'Lanval' (by Marie de France)

'Lanval' (by Margery Kempe)

'Lanval' (by Queen Elizabeth)

NEXT>

Question 15 of 15

15. The last question is slightly different. Can you tell me who wrote the play 'The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus'? Only the surname suffices.

Answer: (7 letters)

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Most Recent Scores

Apr 11 2024 : jwwells: 12/15
Mar 07 2024 : colbymanram: 8/15
Mar 07 2024 : Guest 72: 8/15
Mar 04 2024 : 1995Tarpon: 15/15
Feb 21 2024 : Guest 199: 0/15

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. 'So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness. We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.'

Answer: Beowulf

The present translation is by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995.

2. 'In a summer season when the sun was mild I clad myself in clothes as I'd become a sheep; In the habit of a hermit unholy of works, Walked wide in this world, watching for wonders.'

Answer: 'The Vision of Piers Plowman' (by William Langland)

The translation is by E.T. Donaldson and is based on 'Piers Plowman: The B Version', edited by George Kane and E.T. Donaldson.

3. 'Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime.'

Answer: 'To His Coy Mistress' (by Andrew Marvell)

4. 'What dire offense from amorous cause springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I sing - (...)'

Answer: 'The Rape of the Lock' (by Alexander Pope)

Answer: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Translation: 'After the siege and the assault was ceased at Troy, the city crumbled and burned to brands and ashes, the man who the plots of treason there wrought was tried for his treachery, the truest on earth.'

6. Witch 1: 'When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?' Witch 2: 'When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won.'

Answer: 'Macbeth' (by William Shakespeare)

7. 'O Thou, that sit'st upon a throne, With harp of high majestic tone, To praise the King of Kings;'

Answer: 'A Song to David' (by Christopher Smart)

8. 'Whan that April with hir showres soote The droughte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veine in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour;'

Answer: 'The Canterbury Tales' (by Geoffrey Chaucer)

Answer: 'Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave' (by Aphra Behn)

10. 'Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske, As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, Am now enforst a far unfitter taske, For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine oaten reeds,'

Answer: 'The Faerie Queene' (by Edmund Spenser)

11. 'Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burdend air; Hungry clouds swag on the deep.'

Answer: 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' (by William Blake)

The entire text was put to music by the Norwegian band Ulver and released as 'Themes from William Blake's the marriage of heaven and hell' on Jester Records.

12. 'Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, (...)'

Answer: 'Paradise Lost' (by John Milton)

13. 'In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin Before polygamy was made a sin; When man on many multiplied his kind, Ere one to one was cursedly confined;'

Answer: 'Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem' (by John Dryden)

14. 'Another lay to you I'll tell, Of the adventure that befell A noble vassal whom they call In the Breton tongue Lanval.'

Answer: 'Lanval' (by Marie de France)

15. The last question is slightly different. Can you tell me who wrote the play 'The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus'? Only the surname suffices.

Answer: Marlowe

Source: Author marienbart

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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