Which characteristic is generally absent from neoclassical poetry?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: C. Use of the rhymed couplet
Explanation
Neoclassical poetry favored rational, structured, and conventional comparisons over extravagant metaphors. Fantastic or bizarre comparisons belong instead to the metaphysical school of poetry. Neoclassicists preferred clear, balanced, and orderly figurative language grounded in decorum. Neoclassicism dominated English literature during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Poets emulated ancient Greek and Roman literary masters, prioritizing wit, order, and reason. Alexander Pope and John Dryden mastered the closed heroic couplet as their primary verse tool.
Literary movements often define themselves in opposition to the stylistic excesses of preceding eras. Understanding neoclassical poetics helps appreciate the sharp satirical wit characteristic of the period. Rational discourse and formal control were prized values in Enlightenment-era British society. Imitation of classical forms and mythology was a defining hallmark of neoclassical poetry. Representing human nature accurately through verse aligned with neoclassical aesthetic goals. Using the rhymed heroic couplet served as the quintessential structural signature of neoclassical poets.
- Subject
- English
- Category
- English Literature
- Topic
- —
- Difficulty
- medium
Related questions
Q1. What motif regularly appears in visionary literature?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. All of the above
Visionary literature typically features otherworldly journeys, a separation of soul and body, and guides. These structural motifs allow mortal authors to convey divine revelations and moral warnings. The tradition spans...
Q2. Which option is NOT a primary theme found in the poetry of William Wordsworth?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: B. The promises of technology
Wordsworth consistently criticized the dehumanizing effects of industrialization and technological progress. His poetry celebrates pristine natural landscapes rather than factory machinery and technological expansion. He...
Q3. Which of the following figures was a female novelist of the 19th century?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. George Eliot
George Eliot was the male pseudonym used by Mary Ann Evans to ensure her serious realist fiction was taken seriously. As one of the most important novelists of the Victorian age, she wrote masterpieces examining provinci...
Q4. Which of the following attributes is NOT associated with the Enlightenment?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: C. Political
The Enlightenment prioritized reason, scientific inquiry, deism, and skepticism, making political too broad. While political philosophy evolved, the core intellectual tenets centered on rationalism and empiricism. Labeli...
Q5. What formal requirement is essential for a dramatic monologue?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: A. It has a speaker as well as an implied reader.
A dramatic monologue requires a single distinct speaker addressing an implied silent listener. The psychological revelation of the speaker occurs during a critical moment of tension. This structural definition separates...
Q6. Which trait is NOT a hallmark of “Realism” as an artistic and literary trend?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: C. Realism gives up the search for truth and instead embraces moral relativism.
Realist literature famously maintains a rigorous commitment to exploring social truth and objective moral dilemmas within society. Abandoning the search for truth in favor of moral relativism contradicts the foundational...