FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!

Quiz about English Literature Before 1800

English Literature Before 1800 Quiz

Welcome. Below you'll find the first couple of lines from some famous major English literary works. Some of the texts are presented in a modern translation or in a modernized spelling. It's up to you to identify the work. Good luck.

A multiple-choice quiz by marienbart. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
marienbart

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
71,252

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
9 / 15

Plays
1466

Last 3 plays: Guest 174 (15/15), Guest 64 (1/15), Ampelos (11/15).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. 'So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness. We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.' Hint

Ivanhoe

'Brut' (by Layamon)

The Battle of Maldon

Beowulf

NEXT>

Question 2 of 15

2. 'In a summer season when the sun was mild I clad myself in clothes as I'd become a sheep; In the habit of a hermit unholy of works, Walked wide in this world, watching for wonders.' Hint

'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (by William Shakespeare)

'The Canterbury Tales' (by Geoffrey Chaucer)

'The Vision of Piers Plowman' (by William Langland)

'The Pilgrim's Progress' (by John Bunyan)

NEXT>

Question 3 of 15

3. 'Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime.' Hint

'To His Coy Mistress' (by Andrew Marvell)

'The Good-Morrow' (by John Donne)

'To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time' (by Robert Herrick)

'Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat' (by Thomas Gray)

NEXT>

Question 4 of 15

4. 'What dire offense from amorous cause springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I sing - (...)' Hint

'The Rape of the Lock' (by Alexander Pope)

'The Vanity of Human Wishes' (by Samual Johnson)

'Amoretti' (by Edmund Spenser)

'The Deserted Village' (by Oliver Goldsmith)

5. 'Sithen the sege and the assaut was sesed at Troye, The borgh brittened and brent to brondes and askes, The tulk that the trammes of tresoun ther wroght Was tried for his tricherie, the trewest on erthe.' Hint

Beowulf

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

'Morte D'arthur' (by Sir Thomas Malory)

'Brut' (by Layamon)

NEXT>

Question 6 of 15

6. Witch 1: 'When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?' Witch 2: 'When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won.' Hint

'Tamburlaine' (by Christopher Marlowe)

'Macbeth' (by William Shakespeare)

'The Duchess of Malfi' (by John Webster)

'The Way of the World' (by William Congreve)

NEXT>

Question 7 of 15

7. 'O Thou, that sit'st upon a throne, With harp of high majestic tone, To praise the King of Kings;' Hint

'E Tenebris' (by Oscar Wilde)

'Paradise Lost' (by John Milton)

'A Song to David' (by Christopher Smart)

'Michael' (by William Wordsworth)

NEXT>

Question 8 of 15

8. 'Whan that April with hir showres soote The droughte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veine in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour;' Hint

'The Vision of Piers Plowman' (by William Langland)

'History of the Kings of Britain' (by Geoffrey of Monmouth)

'The Canterbury Tales' (by Geoffrey Chaucer)

'Brut' (by Layamon)

NEXT>

Question 9 of 15

9. 'I do not pretend, in giving you the history of this royal slave, to entertain my reader with the adventures of a feigned hero, whose life and fortunes fancy may manage at the poet's pleasure;' Hint

'The Anatomy of Melancholy' (by Robert Burton)

'Roxana' (by Daniel Defoe)

'Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave' (by Aphra Behn)

'Gulliver's Travels' (by Jonathan Swift)

NEXT>

Question 10 of 15

10. 'Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske, As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, Am now enforst a far unfitter taske, For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine oaten reeds,' Hint

'Hero and Leander' (by Christopher Marlowe)

'The Canterbury Tales' (by Geoffrey Chaucer)

'The Faerie Queene' (by Edmund Spenser)

'Morte D'arthur' (by Sir Thomas Malory)

NEXT>

Question 11 of 15

11. 'Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burdend air; Hungry clouds swag on the deep.' Hint

'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (by Samual Taylor Coleridge)

'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' (by William Blake)

'Prometheus Unbound' (by Percy Byssche Shelley)

'Endymion: A Poetic Romance' (by John Keats)

NEXT>

Question 12 of 15

12. 'Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, (...)' Hint

'The Rape of the Lock' (by Alexander Pope)

'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' (by George Gordon, Lord Byron)

'Brut' (by Layamon)

'Paradise Lost' (by John Milton)

NEXT>

Question 13 of 15

13. 'In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin Before polygamy was made a sin; When man on many multiplied his kind, Ere one to one was cursedly confined;' Hint

'Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem' (by John Dryden)

'The Rape of the Lock' (by Alexander Pope)

'Paradise Lost' (by John Milton)

'The Good-Morrow' (by John Donne)

NEXT>

Question 14 of 15

14. 'Another lay to you I'll tell, Of the adventure that befell A noble vassal whom they call In the Breton tongue Lanval.' Hint

'Lanval' (by Queen Elizabeth)

'Lanval' (by Aemilia Lanyer)

'Lanval' (by Marie de France)

'Lanval' (by Margery Kempe)

NEXT>

Question 15 of 15

15. The last question is slightly different. Can you tell me who wrote the play 'The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus'? Only the surname suffices.

Answer: (7 letters)

(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

Select a User ID:

Choose a Password:

Your Email:

Most Recent Scores

Dec 17 2024 : Guest 174: 15/15
Nov 13 2024 : Guest 64: 1/15
Oct 25 2024 : Ampelos: 11/15

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. 'So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness. We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.'

Answer: Beowulf

The present translation is by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995.

2. 'In a summer season when the sun was mild I clad myself in clothes as I'd become a sheep; In the habit of a hermit unholy of works, Walked wide in this world, watching for wonders.'

Answer: 'The Vision of Piers Plowman' (by William Langland)

The translation is by E.T. Donaldson and is based on 'Piers Plowman: The B Version', edited by George Kane and E.T. Donaldson.

3. 'Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime.'

Answer: 'To His Coy Mistress' (by Andrew Marvell)

4. 'What dire offense from amorous cause springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I sing - (...)'

Answer: 'The Rape of the Lock' (by Alexander Pope)

Answer: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Translation: 'After the siege and the assault was ceased at Troy, the city crumbled and burned to brands and ashes, the man who the plots of treason there wrought was tried for his treachery, the truest on earth.'

6. Witch 1: 'When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?' Witch 2: 'When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won.'

Answer: 'Macbeth' (by William Shakespeare)

7. 'O Thou, that sit'st upon a throne, With harp of high majestic tone, To praise the King of Kings;'

Answer: 'A Song to David' (by Christopher Smart)

8. 'Whan that April with hir showres soote The droughte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veine in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour;'

Answer: 'The Canterbury Tales' (by Geoffrey Chaucer)

Answer: 'Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave' (by Aphra Behn)

10. 'Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske, As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, Am now enforst a far unfitter taske, For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine oaten reeds,'

Answer: 'The Faerie Queene' (by Edmund Spenser)

11. 'Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burdend air; Hungry clouds swag on the deep.'

Answer: 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' (by William Blake)

The entire text was put to music by the Norwegian band Ulver and released as 'Themes from William Blake's the marriage of heaven and hell' on Jester Records.

12. 'Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, (...)'

Answer: 'Paradise Lost' (by John Milton)

13. 'In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin Before polygamy was made a sin; When man on many multiplied his kind, Ere one to one was cursedly confined;'

Answer: 'Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem' (by John Dryden)

14. 'Another lay to you I'll tell, Of the adventure that befell A noble vassal whom they call In the Breton tongue Lanval.'

Answer: 'Lanval' (by Marie de France)

15. The last question is slightly different. Can you tell me who wrote the play 'The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus'? Only the surname suffices.

Answer: Marlowe

Source: Author marienbart

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.