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Middle English Literature Trivia Quiz

Refresh your knowledge or broaden your horizons with this survey of Middle English Literature. Here, you'll find more than just Chaucer, though you'll find him too!

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

Author
skylarb

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
116,444

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
20

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
11 / 20

Plays
2147

Awards
Top 5% quiz!

Last 3 plays: Guest 223 (4/20), Guest 171 (18/20), Guest 171 (10/20).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 20

1. In 1381, peasants used phrases from this work in their revolt rhetoric. Hint

Everyman

The Second Shepherd's Play

Noah's Flood

Piers Plowman

NEXT>

Question 2 of 20

2. This work was written in Latin by a Breton cleric during the Middle English period. Hint

The Canterbury Tales

The History of the Kings of Britain

Piers Plowman

Everyman

NEXT>

Question 3 of 20

3. Who, during part of the Middle English period, served as the archbishop of Canterbury? Hint

St Thomas Becket

St. Augustine

Venerable Bede

St. Jerome

NEXT>

Question 4 of 20

4. Who dictated the first autobiography written in English? Hint

Margery Kempe

Geoffrey Chaucer

Julian of Norwich

Geoffrey of Monmouth

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Question 5 of 20

5. He translated "The Fall of Princes" from the French. Hint

John Lydgate

Geoffrey of Monmouth

William Langland

Sir Thomas Malory

NEXT>

Question 6 of 20

6. Who wrote a sequel to Chaucer's "The Nun's Priest's Tale"? Hint

Robert Henryson

Margery Kempe

William Langland

Geoffrey Chaucer

NEXT>

Question 7 of 20

7. He wrote a series of Arthurian romances from prison. Hint

John Bunyan

Sir Thomas Malory

Geoffrey Chaucer

William Langland

NEXT>

Question 8 of 20

8. This work was written in the Midland dialect, from which Modern English descends. Hint

Piers Plowman

The Canterbury Tales

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The Second Shepherd's Play

NEXT>

Question 9 of 20

9. This writer of "Troilus and Criseide" was the son of a wealthy wine merchant. Hint

Geoffrey Chaucer

Sir Thomas Mallory

William Langland

Robert Henryson

NEXT>

Question 10 of 20

10. What work contains these lines: "There hurls in at the hall-door an unknown rider . . . Half a giant on earth I hold him to be."

Hint

Piers Plowman

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Morte D'arthur

Canterbury Tales

NEXT>

Question 11 of 20

11. It is thought that this man was the author of "Piers Plowman" because of a play on words in the text. Hint

Geoffrey Chaucer

William Langland

Sir Thomas Malory

Geoffrey of Monmouth

NEXT>

Question 12 of 20

12. She wrote a book meditating on the meaning of her 'ghostly' visions. Hint

Queen Anne

Margarey Kempe

Julian of Norwich

Jane Austen

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Question 13 of 20

13. This play contains the characters Coll, Gib, Daw, and Mak. Hint

Noah's Flood

Piers Plowman

Everyman

The Second Shepherd's Play

NEXT>

Question 14 of 20

14. Characters in this play include Knowledge, Beauty, Five-Wits, and Discretion. Hint

Everyman

Noah's Flood

Piers Plowman

The Second Shepherd's Play

NEXT>

Question 15 of 20

15. This Middle English ballad inspired many 20th century songs, including Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A Gonna' Fall." Hint

Bonny Barbara Allen

Judas

Lord Randall

A Gest of Robyn Hode

NEXT>

Question 16 of 20

16. In what Middle English ballad does the speaker say, "O mother, mother, make my bed / O make it soft and narrow. / Since my love died for me today, / I'll die for him tomorrow"? Hint

Bonny Barbara Allen

Judas

Lord Randall

A Gest of Robyn Hode

NEXT>

Question 17 of 20

17. In this poem, Chaucer solicits his patron Henry IV to provide him with some cash. Hint

Complaint to His Purse

Truth

Merciless Beauty

To Henry

18. In "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", Gawain engages in a "swap game" with his host. He takes three kisses and a magic belt from his host's wife. Which of these does he then return to the host? Hint

The three kisses

Two kisses

The magic belt

One kiss

NEXT>

Question 19 of 20

19. What work begins, "It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon, when he was king of all England, and so reigned, that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time"? Hint

Piers Plowman

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Le Morte d'Arthur

Canterbury Tales

NEXT>

Question 20 of 20

20. This Middle English writer once escaped from Coleshill prison by swimming a moat. He also escaped from Colchester jail, apparently by fighting his way out. Hint

Sir Thomas Malory

William Langland

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Monmouth

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Most Recent Scores

Apr 20 2024 : Guest 223: 4/20
Apr 16 2024 : Guest 171: 18/20
Apr 16 2024 : Guest 171: 10/20
Apr 16 2024 : Guest 194: 6/20
Apr 12 2024 : Guest 46: 1/20
Apr 10 2024 : Guest 96: 14/20
Apr 08 2024 : Guest 49: 14/20
Apr 04 2024 : Guest 106: 9/20
Apr 03 2024 : Guest 49: 7/20

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In 1381, peasants used phrases from this work in their revolt rhetoric.

Answer: Piers Plowman

"Piers Plowman," a medieval allegory and dream vision, exhibits much sympathy for the commoner.

2. This work was written in Latin by a Breton cleric during the Middle English period.

Answer: The History of the Kings of Britain

Geoffrey of Monmouth produced this book in the 12th century, and much of his history is invented. Monmouth named Brutus, who he said had descended from Aeneas, as the founder of Britain.

3. Who, during part of the Middle English period, served as the archbishop of Canterbury?

Answer: St Thomas Becket

Becket figures in "The Canterbury Tales." The pilgrims are making a journey to the martyr's tomb.

4. Who dictated the first autobiography written in English?

Answer: Margery Kempe

Her "Book of Margery Kempe" tells the story of her visions, which inspired the housewife to become chaste and travel to the Holy Land.

5. He translated "The Fall of Princes" from the French.

Answer: John Lydgate

He also translated "The Siege of Thebes." "The Fall of Princes" is based on another work by Boccaccio. Lydgate is little known today, but in his own time he was nearly as renowned as Chaucer.

6. Who wrote a sequel to Chaucer's "The Nun's Priest's Tale"?

Answer: Robert Henryson

He also wrote a sequel to Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseide."

7. He wrote a series of Arthurian romances from prison.

Answer: Sir Thomas Malory

His collected tales are called the "Le Morte D'Arthur", and they received that title from his printer William Caxton. He was in prison for presumably stealing cattle. He spent about eight years there, awaiting trial, though he was bailed out from time to time, during which respites he apparently engaged in further theft.

8. This work was written in the Midland dialect, from which Modern English descends.

Answer: The Canterbury Tales

The Midland dialect of Chaucer was spoken in London.

9. This writer of "Troilus and Criseide" was the son of a wealthy wine merchant.

Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer was a part of the growing middle class, but his wife was more noble. His sister-in-law was Katherine Swynford, the wife of John of Gaunt, the father of King Henry IV.

10. What work contains these lines: "There hurls in at the hall-door an unknown rider . . . Half a giant on earth I hold him to be."

Answer: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The author of this Arthurian tale is unknown, but he is thought to have also written the poems "Patience", "Pearl", and "Purity."

11. It is thought that this man was the author of "Piers Plowman" because of a play on words in the text.

Answer: William Langland

He says that he has "lived in land" and also that his name is "Long Will." A longer version of Will is William, and adding that to Land, scholars have surmised that the author is indeed William Langland. The work is told as a dream vision and is a spiritual allegory.

12. She wrote a book meditating on the meaning of her 'ghostly' visions.

Answer: Julian of Norwich

Julian's visions, which are depicted in "A Book of Showings", convinced her to become an anchoress. Margarey Kempe visited the anchoress to discuss her own visions.

13. This play contains the characters Coll, Gib, Daw, and Mak.

Answer: The Second Shepherd's Play

This mystery play about Christ's nativity includes a comic subplot. The play was performed as part of a cycle of plays in the town of Wakefield. The author of the play is unknown. Several authors probably worked on the cycle, but scholars hypothesize that there was one "Wakefiled Master" who wrote most of them. For more information, see http://www.msu.edu/user/dwyerdav/papers/reconstuction.htm.

14. Characters in this play include Knowledge, Beauty, Five-Wits, and Discretion.

Answer: Everyman

"Everyman" is a morality play and differs from a mystery play because it is (1) not part of a cycle and (2) tells an allegory of spiritual struggle rather than retelling a Bible story. The author of the play is unknown.

15. This Middle English ballad inspired many 20th century songs, including Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A Gonna' Fall."

Answer: Lord Randall

The ballad's speaker asks, "Oh where ha'e ye been, Lord Randall my son? / Where ha'e ye been, my handsome young man?" Dylan's song begins, "Oh where have you been, my blue eyed son? / Where have you been, my darling young one?"

16. In what Middle English ballad does the speaker say, "O mother, mother, make my bed / O make it soft and narrow. / Since my love died for me today, / I'll die for him tomorrow"?

Answer: Bonny Barbara Allen

This ballad was popularized in the 20th century by folk musician Joan Baez.

17. In this poem, Chaucer solicits his patron Henry IV to provide him with some cash.

Answer: Complaint to His Purse

The "Complaint" is written like a love poem, but the object is money, not a woman.

Answer: The three kisses

Gawain retains the magic belt to protect him in his match with the Green Knight, whom he had previously beheaded.

19. What work begins, "It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon, when he was king of all England, and so reigned, that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time"?

Answer: Le Morte d'Arthur

Uther Pendragon was the legendary father of King Arthur.

20. This Middle English writer once escaped from Coleshill prison by swimming a moat. He also escaped from Colchester jail, apparently by fighting his way out.

Answer: Sir Thomas Malory

Malory was switched about from jail to jail. He was finally freed and pardoned in 1460, and he never actually had a trial. For this and more on his fascinating life, see http://www.malory.net.

Source: Author skylarb

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