English 11–12 (Grades 11–12) Midterm — Units 1–2

Part 1: Multiple Choice

1. Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston are major figures of
   1. A. the Harlem Renaissance
   2. B. Transcendentalism
   3. C. the Beat Generation
   4. D. Puritan literature
2. American Romanticism emphasized
   1. A. emotion, imagination, and the individual
   2. B. strict obedience to religious authority
   3. C. scientific objectivity and fact
   4. D. fragmented, experimental narrative forms
3. Which belief is central to Transcendentalism?
   1. A. Art should portray ordinary life with exact realism.
   2. B. Human nature is fixed by heredity and environment.
   3. C. Individuals can find truth through intuition and nature.
   4. D. Strict religious law should govern daily life.
4. Jonathan Edwards's 1741 sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is a product of
   1. A. American Realism after the Civil War
   2. B. the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s
   3. C. the Puritan tradition and the Great Awakening
   4. D. Modernism after World War I
5. In Jack London's "To Build a Fire," a man dies after ignoring warnings about extreme cold. The story best reflects which movement?
   1. A. Puritanism
   2. B. Harlem Renaissance
   3. C. Naturalism
   4. D. Transcendentalism
6. The "Lost Generation" writers, such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald, are associated with
   1. A. disillusionment following World War I
   2. B. optimism about westward expansion
   3. C. the belief that nature is divine
   4. D. religious devotion in colonial New England
7. Which writer is most closely associated with American Transcendentalism?
   1. A. F. Scott Fitzgerald
   2. B. Mark Twain
   3. C. Edgar Allan Poe
   4. D. Ralph Waldo Emerson
8. In Walden, Henry David Thoreau describes
   1. A. working in a crowded city factory
   2. B. fighting as a soldier in the Civil War
   3. C. traveling down the Mississippi on a raft
   4. D. living simply in a small cabin near a pond
9. American Realism aimed to
   1. A. celebrate the imagination and the supernatural
   2. B. break stories into fragmented, experimental forms
   3. C. express religious devotion through sermons and hymns
   4. D. portray ordinary life accurately, without idealizing it
10. Which author is most associated with Dark Romanticism?
    1. A. Ernest Hemingway
    2. B. Langston Hughes
    3. C. Edgar Allan Poe
    4. D. Henry David Thoreau
11. Charles Dickens's novels, which often criticize poverty and child labor, belong to which period?
    1. A. Modernist
    2. B. Romantic
    3. C. Victorian
    4. D. Elizabethan
12. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein blends Romantic ideas with elements of
    1. A. Realism
    2. B. Modernism
    3. C. metaphysical poetry
    4. D. Gothic fiction
13. Beowulf was composed during which period of English literature?
    1. A. Romantic
    2. B. Old English
    3. C. Victorian
    4. D. Elizabethan
14. William Shakespeare wrote most of his plays during which period?
    1. A. The Anglo-Saxon period
    2. B. The Victorian period
    3. C. The Romantic period
    4. D. The English Renaissance
15. Compared to Neoclassical writers, British Romantic writers placed greater value on
    1. A. emotion, nature, and imagination
    2. B. reason, order, and restraint
    3. C. witty satire of city society
    4. D. classical rules of form
16. Virginia Woolf's use of stream of consciousness is characteristic of
    1. A. the Anglo-Saxon period
    2. B. Modernism
    3. C. Romanticism
    4. D. the Victorian period
17. A kenning, such as "whale-road" for the sea, is a feature of
    1. A. Modernist drama
    2. B. Romantic odes
    3. C. Victorian novels
    4. D. Old English poetry
18. Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales was written in
    1. A. Modern English
    2. B. Latin
    3. C. Old English
    4. D. Middle English
19. Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," which suggests the poor sell their children as food, is an example of
    1. A. elegy
    2. B. sonnet
    3. C. satire
    4. D. epic
20. Which poet belongs to the British Romantic period?
    1. A. T. S. Eliot
    2. B. Geoffrey Chaucer
    3. C. Alexander Pope
    4. D. William Wordsworth

Part 2: Written Response

21. Trace one major change in British literature from one period to the next (for example, Neoclassical to Romantic). Explain what changed and why, using at least one author from each period.