The Soupçon MCQ Series. 2

1) "I call this meeting to order" is an example of a)imperative b) explicit performative c) mimetic discourse d) assertion. As per the analysis by Austin, 'b' is the correct option because "I call this meeting to order" is "a sentence  whose utterance itself, when executed under appropriate institutional conditions, brings about the state of affairs that it signifies." 

2) The classic twenty-five-line description of "Zimri" in Dryden's "Absolam and Achitophel" is an example of a) travesty b) parody c) lampoon d) tragi-comedy. The correct option is 'c' because a lampoon can either be a short  satire or a passage in a longer work wherein it uses caricaturing to describe the appearance and personality of an individual to render it ridiculous. Zimri, as we all know, is a lampooning of the Duke of Buckingham. 

3) "The Defence of Poesy" is written by a)Shelley b) Arnold c) Coleridge d) Sir Philip Sidney. The correct option is 'd'. The more well-known title of the treatise is "An Apology for Poetry". Incidentally, 'poesy' might be spelt as 'poesie' and 'apologie' is an accepted alternative spelling, too.

Pratima Agnihotri                                                         Pune

N.B.:                                                                                  *I must clarify that Soupçon MCQ Series is a sheer and pure academic exercise. I do NOT run any "coaching"  classes. Nor am I affiliated in any way to any "teaching" institution/institute, et al. I have NO contacts whatsoever with anybody in the UGC/in the NET/SET exam committee.  I am NOT associated with anybody in  the publication industry, online and/or offline. I will NOT be responsible for any misuse of these publically and honourably shared bits of literary/intellectual awareness.*                             Pratima Agnihotri