English Literature - Read Mode
Browse questions and answers at your own pace
Explanation
Blank verse is poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It is the most common rhythm in English poetry.
Explanation
William Shakespeare lived from 1564 to 1616. He wrote most of his famous works in the late 1500s, making him a famous 16th-century (and early 17th) playwright.
Explanation
John Milton is the celebrated author of "Paradise Lost" (1667), an epic poem in blank verse concerning the biblical story of the Fall of Man.
Explanation
D.H. Lawrence wrote "Lady Chatterley's Lover," first published in 1928. The novel is famous for its explicit descriptions of sex and its critique of class distinctions.
Explanation
William Wordsworth is pre-eminently a poet of nature. He viewed nature not just as a setting, but as a living force and a spiritual guide.
Explanation
This period is known as the Middle English Period, starting with the Norman Conquest (1066) and ending roughly with the introduction of the printing press and the beginning of the Renaissance.
Explanation
A limerick is a short, humorous form of light verse. It typically consists of five lines with a specific rhythm and rhyme scheme (AABBA).
Explanation
Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the poem "Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a Dream." It is famous for its exotic imagery and for allegedly being composed under the influence of opium.
Explanation
Edmund Spenser is often called the "Poet's Poet" because his artistic excellence and complex use of language and allegory strongly influenced many later poets.
Explanation
Dr. Samuel Johnson compiled the "A Dictionary of the English Language" (1755), which remained the standard English dictionary for over 150 years.