English Literature
Lecture 4: Exercises
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Exercises
 I. Fill in each blank
th century in England was a
 1.The 16
period of the breaking up of feudal
relations and the establishing of the
foundations of ______.
 2.Thomas More wrote his famous
prose work "_______" .
 3.In
Elizabethan Period, ___wrote
more than fifty excellent essays, which
made him one of the best essayists in
English literature.
4._________is often referred to as "the
poets' poet".
 5.Spenser is generally regarded as the
greatest non-dramatic poet of the
Elizabethan Age. His fame is chiefly
based on his masterpiece "_______"

6."So long lives this, and this gives
life to thee." Is the last line of a
sonnet
written
by.__________________.

7.In the Elizabethan Period, the
greatest playwright of England is
_______.

8. Francis Bacon wrote many
excellent essays, such as "_____,
____", etc.

9. William Shakespeare's four great
tragedies
generally
refer
to
"______","______","______",
and
"______".

10.The most gifted of the university
wits is _________. He produced in all
six plays and several poems.

11."Shall I compare thee to a
summer's day" is one of
_______'s best known sonnets.

12."The Tragical History of Doctor
Faustus" is one of _______'s best plays.

13."Of Youth and Age" is one of
the essays written by ________.
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II. Choose one or more than one suitable
answers for each statement.
 1.The first person to introduce the
sonnet into English literature is _____.
 a. Thomas Wyatt
 b. William Shakespeare
 c. Philip Sidney
 d. Thomas Campion
2.The epoch of Renaissance witnessed
a particular development of English
drama. It was ______who made blank
verse the principal vehicle of
expression in drama.
 a. Christopher Marlowe
 b. Thomas Loge
 c. Edmund Spenser
 d. Thomas More

3. At the beginning of the 16th century
the outstanding humanist in England
_______wrote his Utopia in which he
gave a profound and truthful picture of
the people's suffering and put forward
his ideal of a future happy society.
 a. Thomas More
 b. Thomas Marlowe
 c. Francis Bacon
 d. William Shakespeare

4.During the reign of ___absolute
monarchy in England reached its
summit.
 a. Henry VIII
b. Queen Elizabeth
 c. William
d. Queen Victoria
 5.English Renaissance Period was an
age of ________.
 a. prose and novel
 b. poetry and drama
 c. essays and journals
 d. ballads and songs

6.The greatest and most distinctive
achievement of Elizabethan literature
is drama. Thus appeared a group of
excellent dramatists. Mainly they are
_________.
 a. John Lyly
 b. Thomas Kyd
 c. George Peele
 d. Christopher Marlowe
 e. William Shakespeare

7.Choose the “University Wits”
from the following playwrights.
 a. John Lyly
 b. Robert Greene
 c. William Shakespeare
 d. Christopher Marlowe
 e. Thomas Kyd

8.Choose the works written by Fancis
Bacon.
 a. The Advancement of Learning
 b. The New Instrument
 c. Essays
 d. The new Atlantics
 e. Venus and Adonis

9. Marlowe's best plays include _____.

a. Tamburlaine the Great

b. The Jew of Malta

c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

d. Cymbeline


 10.One
of Ben Jonson's best-known
comedies is "________”.
 a. The Merchant of Venice
 b. Utopia
 c. The Winter's Tale
 d. Volpone
11. Shakespeare was the son of a
___________.
 a. clerk
b. landlord
 c. trader
d. lawyer
 12. Most of Shakespeare's best plays
were written in the _______ period of
his dramatic career.
 a. first
b. second
 c. third
d. fourth

13.The well-known soliloquy by
Hamlet "To be, or not to be …"
shows his _________.
 a. hatred for his uncle
 b. love for life
 c. resolution of revenge
 d. inner conflict

14."Nor shall Death brag thou
wander'st in his shade" (Sonnet
18). This means that you
_________.
 a. are in the shadow of death
 b. will die peacefully
 c. are not afraid of death
 d. will live forever

15."Grieve not that I am fall'n to this
for you;…I'll pay it presently with all
my heart." (in Merchant of Venice).
This shows ________.
 a. Portia's love to Bassanio
 b. Antonio's friendship with Bassanio
 c. Shylock's cruelty to Antonio
 d. Gratiano's friendship with Bassanio

16.Which is the first book to
contain a long discussion on the
social conditions of England and
shows us a realistic picture of
early 16th century England?
 a. The Canterbury Tales
 b. The Fairy Queen
 c. Utopia
 d. Doctor Faustus

III. Paraphrase the following .
 1.To die, to sleep; /To sleep! Perchance
to dream. (Hamlet)
 2.How shalt thou hope for mercy,
rendering none? (by Duke of Venice)
 3.My deeds upon my head! I crave the
law,/ The penalty and forfeit of my
bond.(by Shylock)
 4.For thy sweet love rememb'red such
wealth brings/That then I scorn to
change my state with kings. (Sonnet 29)

IV.Find the relevant match from column B
for each item in column A
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1. (
2. (
3. (
4. (
5. (
6. (
7. (
Part I
A
B
) Christopher Marlowe a. Utopia
) Shakespeare
b. The Jew of Malta
) Edmund Spenser
c. The Faerie Queene
) Thomas More
d. The Merchant of Venice
) Francis Bacon
e. The New Instrument
) Ben Jonson
f. The Canterbury Tales
) Geoffrey Chaucer
g. Volpone
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Part II
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8. (
9. (
10. (
11. (
12. (
13. (
14. (
A
) The Merchant of Venice
) As You Like It
) Hamlet
) King Lear
) Othello
) Romeo and Juliet
) Henry IV
B
h. Desdemona
i. Cordelia
j. Juliet
k. Ophelia
l. Falstaff
m. Rosalind
n. Portia

V. Questions (Choose one of them)
 1.Tell what you know about the following.
 1) Shylock
 2) Portia
 2. Give a summary about the English
literature in the Renaissance period.
 3. What are the characteristics of Spenser's
poetry? What is Spenserian Stanza?

4. What is the writing style of Bacon's
essays?
 5. What did Shakespeare tell us in his
comedies?
 6. What were Shakespeare's main tragedies?
What did he write about in his tragedies?

7. Make comments on the heroines in
Shakespeare's comedies.