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Quiz about A Smorgasbord of Female Writers
Quiz about A Smorgasbord of Female Writers

A Smorgasbord of Female Writers Quiz


This quiz contains questions about the lives and works of over twenty different female poets and authors. There should be something for everyone to feast upon.

A multiple-choice quiz by skylarb. Estimated time: 7 mins.
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Author
skylarb
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
114,464
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
25
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
13 / 25
Plays
2986
Awards
Top 10% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 25
1. Which of the following is not a female writer? Hint


Question 2 of 25
2. A strong opponent of any kind of collectivism, this novelist said, "The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow." Hint


Question 3 of 25
3. Today, she is perhaps most famous for her sonnets. Her emotional poem "The Cry of the Children" eventually helped bring about a reform in child labor laws. Hint


Question 4 of 25
4. This 19th century Regency novelist also wrote a satirical "History of England." Hint


Question 5 of 25
5. She had her heroine resist the lure of illicit love with these words: "Laws and principles are not for times when there is no temptation: they are for moments such as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?" Hint


Question 6 of 25
6. The heroine of one of George Eliot's novels achieved no notoriety, but "the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive." Which of these was not one of the names of that heroine? Hint


Question 7 of 25
7. She wrote a novel containing a character named Milkman. Hint


Question 8 of 25
8. She wrote a novel about the clash between two cultures, the Anglo and the Creole. Hint


Question 9 of 25
9. Her works range the gauntlet from "Loose Women," a collection of sexually charged poetry, to "The House on Mango Street," a short story cycle for children. Hint


Question 10 of 25
10. Her works were concerned with human alienation and the relationship between the individual and God. She was crippled by lupus erythematosus, which eventually proved fatal. Hint


Question 11 of 25
11. She recorded her interesting story in her "Book of _____." She was a house wife who had visions and wanted to become chaste. She was ordered by the archbishop not to teach in his diocese, but she did so anyway. Hint


Question 12 of 25
12. This co-author of a famous children's book murdered her mother and wounded her father. Hint


Question 13 of 25
13. She wrote a poetic allegory of the Fall involving fruit and goblins. Hint


Question 14 of 25
14. This American poet said, "I am obnoxious to each carping tongue / Who says my hand a needle better fits." Hint


Question 15 of 25
15. This novelist's "Agnes Grey," unlike the works of her sisters, was not written in a gothic style. Hint


Question 16 of 25
16. In terms of novels, she was the least prolific of the Bronte sisters. She only wrote one. Hint


Question 17 of 25
17. Over 2,000 years ago, she wrote such poems as "Blame Aphrodite" and "It Was You, Atthis." Hint


Question 18 of 25
18. This popular novelist and author of "Breathing Lessons" was raised as a Quaker. Hint


Question 19 of 25
19. Though a 20th century author, she writes Victorian mysteries. Her series contains at least 19 books. Hint


Question 20 of 25
20. She attended the Amherst academy and wrote a total of 1,775 poems. Hint


Question 21 of 25
21. Her original last name was Godwin, her middle name was Wollstonecraft, and she married a poet. Hint


Question 22 of 25
22. What Jane Austen heroine is described as follows: "Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her. Her father was a clergyman, without being neglected, or poor, and a very respectable man, though his name was Richard." Hint


Question 23 of 25
23. There are some scholars who argue that this Biblical epistle may have been written by a woman. Hint


Question 24 of 25
24. The "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys was a prequel to a book by what female author? Hint


Question 25 of 25
25. Which one of these people is doing her own thing? Which one of these people is not like the others? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Which of the following is not a female writer?

Answer: Evelyn Waugh

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. George Sand was the pen name of the writer Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, Baronne Dudevant, who had a long term relationship with the composer Chopin. Evelyn Waugh is a male and author of such brilliant satires as "The Loved One" and "A Handful of Dust."
2. A strong opponent of any kind of collectivism, this novelist said, "The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow."

Answer: Ayn Rand

Rand argued against all forms of collectivism, including communism, socialism, and feminism. She defended the rights of the individual against the collective and created "objectivism," a philosophy that underlies such novels as "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged."
3. Today, she is perhaps most famous for her sonnets. Her emotional poem "The Cry of the Children" eventually helped bring about a reform in child labor laws.

Answer: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

In the poem, the children ask how long the cruel nation will "stand, to move the world, on a child's heart" and cry, " Our blood splashes upwards, O our tyrants, / And your purple shows your path, / But the child's sob in silence curses deeper / Than the strong man's in his wrath." Browning is perhaps best known for her "Sonnets from the Portuguese," which are often ridiculed by modern academics as being "too sentimental." Though she was the more popular poet in her own time, her husband Robert Browning has garnered greater respect in modern times. Elizabeth's father disinherited her for marrying Robert.
4. This 19th century Regency novelist also wrote a satirical "History of England."

Answer: Jane Austen

The history was humorously subtitled "by a partial prejudiced and ignorant historian." Austen is best known for her novels "Pride and Prejudice," "Sense and Sensibility," "Emma," "Persuasion," "Northanger Abbey," and "Mansfield Park."
5. She had her heroine resist the lure of illicit love with these words: "Laws and principles are not for times when there is no temptation: they are for moments such as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?"

Answer: Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte's heroine Jane Eyre refused to stay with Mr. Rochester while he remained married. Rather than compromise her principles, she threw herself out into the world, and she experienced much hardship before being rescued by St. John Rivers and his sisters.
6. The heroine of one of George Eliot's novels achieved no notoriety, but "the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive." Which of these was not one of the names of that heroine?

Answer: Dorothea Lydgate

Brooke was her maiden name. Casaubon and Ladislaw were her married names. Dorothea never married Lydgate. She comes from the novel "Middlemarch," which Virginia Woolf referred to as the first novel "written for adults." Eliot concludes her novel "Middlemarch" by reminding us that "the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
7. She wrote a novel containing a character named Milkman.

Answer: Toni Morrison

Milkman appears in Morrison's "Song of Solomon." Toni Morrison was the first black woman to win a Nobel Prize in Literature, which she received in 1993.
8. She wrote a novel about the clash between two cultures, the Anglo and the Creole.

Answer: Kate Chopin

In Kate Chopin's "The Awakening," the main character marries a Creole man and finds herself immersed in a new, freer culture, leading to her so called "awakening." The book is usually interpreted in a feminist framework.
9. Her works range the gauntlet from "Loose Women," a collection of sexually charged poetry, to "The House on Mango Street," a short story cycle for children.

Answer: Sandra Cisnernos

The contrast continues with "My Wicked Wicked Ways," a collection of poetry, and "Hairs Pelitos," an illustrated children's book. Cisnernos is also noted as an author of short stories, with such credits to her name as "Never Marry a Mexican" and "Woman Hollering Creek."
10. Her works were concerned with human alienation and the relationship between the individual and God. She was crippled by lupus erythematosus, which eventually proved fatal.

Answer: Flannery O'Connor

O'Connor died when she was just 39, after producing such books as "Wise Blood" and "The Violent Bear it Away."
11. She recorded her interesting story in her "Book of _____." She was a house wife who had visions and wanted to become chaste. She was ordered by the archbishop not to teach in his diocese, but she did so anyway.

Answer: Margery Kemp

Margery Kemp lived in the Early 15th century. She actually knew Julian of Norwhich, and went to ask her if her visions were real.
12. This co-author of a famous children's book murdered her mother and wounded her father.

Answer: Mary Lamb

Mary co-wrote "Tales from Shakespeare" with her brother, the Romantic essayist Charles Lamb. When she was returned from the asylum, her brother cared for her for the rest of her life, and he never married.
13. She wrote a poetic allegory of the Fall involving fruit and goblins.

Answer: Christina Rossetti

The poem is called "Goblin Market" and tells the story of two sisters. It deals allegorically with themes of temptation, redemption, the Fall, and the Crucifixion.
14. This American poet said, "I am obnoxious to each carping tongue / Who says my hand a needle better fits."

Answer: Anne Bradstreet

This quote comes from "The Prologue." Bradstreet lived in the 17th century and wrote such famous poems as "The Author to Her Book," "The Flesh and the Spirit," and "Upon the Burning of Our House" (which is about the importance of spiritual rather than material things).
15. This novelist's "Agnes Grey," unlike the works of her sisters, was not written in a gothic style.

Answer: Anne Bronte

Anne Bronte, though not as famous as her sisters Emily and Charlotte, wrote two novels ("Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall") as well as several poems in which she struggled with her faith (including "The Doubter's Prayer," "A Word to the 'Elect'," and "Self-Communion".) Branwell was her brother.
16. In terms of novels, she was the least prolific of the Bronte sisters. She only wrote one.

Answer: Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte wrote only one novel, "Wuthering Heights." Anne wrote two and Charlotte wrote four.
17. Over 2,000 years ago, she wrote such poems as "Blame Aphrodite" and "It Was You, Atthis."

Answer: Sappho

Plato called this 6th century BC Greek lyric poet "the tenth Muse." She was reputed to have had both male and female lovers.
18. This popular novelist and author of "Breathing Lessons" was raised as a Quaker.

Answer: Anne Tyler

She is perhaps best known for her novel "The Accidental Tourist," which was made into a 1988 movie starring William Hurt.
19. Though a 20th century author, she writes Victorian mysteries. Her series contains at least 19 books.

Answer: Anne Perry

The series began with the "Carter Street Hangman" and follows the adventures of married couple Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. "Bedford Square" is the 19th book in the series.
20. She attended the Amherst academy and wrote a total of 1,775 poems.

Answer: Emily Dickinson

Dickinson's family was prominent in Amherst, Massachusetts, though she spent her later years as a recluse, dedicating herself to writing poetry in her solitude.
21. Her original last name was Godwin, her middle name was Wollstonecraft, and she married a poet.

Answer: Mary Shelley

She became Mary Shelley in 1816, when she married the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, whose abandoned wife had killed herself. She is most well known for her novel "Frankenstein."
22. What Jane Austen heroine is described as follows: "Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her. Her father was a clergyman, without being neglected, or poor, and a very respectable man, though his name was Richard."

Answer: Catherine Morland

Jane Eyre is a Bronte heroine. This description comes from "Northanger Abbey," a clever parody on the gothic romance novel, with a fabulous anti-heroine.
23. There are some scholars who argue that this Biblical epistle may have been written by a woman.

Answer: Hebrews

A serious claim for female authorship has been made for only one of these four books: "Hebrews." Some attribute the epistle to the Apostle Paul, some to Luke, some to Apollos, and some to an unknown female writer. None of the other books are epistles, either.
24. The "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys was a prequel to a book by what female author?

Answer: Charlotte Bronte

The book, a prequel to "Jane Eyre," tells the story of Rochester's mad wife Bertha. A sequel has been written to Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind," called "Scarlett." Several sequels have been written based on Jane Austen's novels as well.
25. Which one of these people is doing her own thing? Which one of these people is not like the others?

Answer: Jane Eyre

All except Jane Eyre are creations of Virginia Woolf. Mrs. Ramsay comes from her novel "To the Lighthouse," and the other two may be found in "Mrs. Dalloway."
Source: Author skylarb

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Bruyere before going online.
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Related Quizzes
This quiz is part of series Themed Literature Quizzes:

Each of these literature quizzes focuses on a specific theme - women authors, the short story, fanfiction, spurned suitors, and religious fiction.

  1. Spurned Suitors Tough
  2. A Smorgasbord of Female Writers Tough
  3. The Short Story Tough
  4. Fanfiction Average
  5. Religious Fiction Through the Ages Difficult

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