LITERATURE QUESTIONS
CULTURAL AND LITERARY (18TH 19TH) CENTURIES
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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England’s power to overcome the recent plague and the great fire of London
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The monarch’s ability to squelch continuing Puritan resistance
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The church’s potential to unify the populace after the English revolution
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Parliament’s ability to restrain the power of the King
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Detailed explanation-1: -Dryden’s poem narrates the events of the Great Fire of London, from its beginning at night in the bakery on Pudding Lane, to its final extinguishment after King Charles II ordered houses to be torn down or blown up with gunpowder to create ‘fire breaks’ which prevent the flames from spreading.
Detailed explanation-2: -Dryden’s longest poem to date, Annus Mirabilis (1667), was a celebration of two victories by the English fleet over the Dutch and the Londoners’ survival of the Great Fire of 1666. In this work Dryden was once again gilding the royal image and reinforcing the concept of a loyal nation united under the best of kings.
Detailed explanation-3: -Dryden the poet is best known today as a satirist, although he wrote only two great original satires: Mac Flecknoe (1682) and The Medall (1682). His most famous poem, Absalom and Achitophel (1681) contains several brilliant satiric portraits. But unlike satire, it comes to a final, tragic resolution.
Detailed explanation-4: -With Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666 John Dryden published his first major nondramatic poem, and his last major poem utilizing the heroic quatrain format.