Arnold as a Literary Critic (Practice Test)

1. Arnold’s concept of “high seriousness” refers to:
(A) Complex poetic meters
(B) Moral depth in great literature
(C) Political propaganda
(D) Lengthy philosophical treatises

2. What did Arnold mean by “touchstones”?
(A) Rhyme schemes
(B) Publishing contracts
(C) Passages that reveal poetic excellence
(D) Author biographies

3. Arnold’s criticism emphasized:
(A) Historical context above all
(B) “Disinterestedness” in analysis
(C) Authorial biography
(D) Strict genre classifications

4. Which work contains Arnold’s “Function of Criticism” essay?
(A) Culture and Anarchy
(B) The Scholar-Gipsy
(C) Essays in Criticism (First Series)
(D) Thyrsis

5. Arnold valued criticism that:
(A) Promotes specific ideologies
(B) Prioritizes contemporary works
(C) Focuses only on technical form
(D) Creates “a current of fresh ideas”

6. His famous definition of culture is:
(A) “Art for art’s sake”
(B) “The best that has been thought and said”
(C) “Language as revolution”
(D) “The mirror of society”

7. Arnold opposed which critical approach?
(A) Textual analysis
(B) Historical research
(C) Personal estimates and prejudices
(D) Comparative literature

8. He compared great poetry to:
(A) “A criticism of life”
(B) “Legal arguments”
(C) “Religious dogma”
(D) “Mathematical proofs”

9. Arnold’s critical method favored:
(A) Reader-response theory
(B) Isolated textual readings
(C) Author interviews
(D) European intellectual tradition

10. He believed poetry would replace:
(A) Scientific inquiry
(B) Political systems
(C) Religion as a moral guide
(D) Economic theories