MCQs on The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot

Check Important Objective Type English Literature Multiple Choice Question Answers on The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot in Poetry and its major forms. These solved questions answers on English Literature Poetry section of English Literature Objective type question answers (MCQ) are very useful as English Literature Study Material for UGC NET/JRF/STET, TET, and other written examinations (UGC NET English Paper-II & Assistant Professor English Screening Exam) based on objective type multiple choice questions.

(Last Updated: 28.04.2025). Learn English Literature Poetry through these multiple choice objective question answers which are important for the students of English Literature as well as for the candidates who are going to participate in competitive exams based on English Literature General Questions.

 MCQs - The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot - English Literature 

1. What is the opening line of The Waste Land?
A) "Let us go then, you and I"
B) "Once upon a time"
C) "April is the cruellest month"
D) "I wandered lonely as a cloud"
Answer: C) "April is the cruellest month"

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2. Who edited The Waste Land before its publication?
A) Virginia Woolf
B) Ezra Pound
C) James Joyce
D) W.B. Yeats
Answer: B) Ezra Pound

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3. Which literary device is most prominently used in the poem?
A) Allegory
B) Synecdoche
C) Fragmentation
D) Euphemism
Answer: C) Fragmentation

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4. What does the "waste land" primarily symbolize?
A) Agricultural failure
B) Physical drought
C) Spiritual and cultural barrenness
D) A literal battlefield
Answer: C) Spiritual and cultural barrenness

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5. Which myth is central to the poem's symbolic structure?
A) Pandora’s Box
B) The Fisher King and the Holy Grail
C) Orpheus and Eurydice
D) Prometheus
Answer: B) The Fisher King and the Holy Grail

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6. What language appears in the line: “Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch”?
A) Russian
B) Latin
C) French
D) German
Answer: D) German

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7. Who is Tiresias in the poem?
A) A river god
B) A war general
C) A blind prophet representing all humanity
D) A London shopkeeper
Answer: C) A blind prophet representing all humanity

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8. Which religious traditions are referenced in The Waste Land?
A) Only Christianity
B) Hinduism and Buddhism
C) Christianity, Hinduism, and Paganism
D) Only Greek mythology
Answer: C) Christianity, Hinduism, and Paganism

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9. What does the “Unreal City” refer to?
A) Babylon
B) Paris
C) Rome
D) London
Answer: D) London

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10. What type of verse is primarily used in The Waste Land?
A) Rhymed heroic couplets
B) Blank verse
C) Free verse
D) Iambic tetrameter
Answer: C) Free verse

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11. What is “The Fire Sermon” section influenced by?
A) Confucianism
B) Plato’s Republic
C) The Buddha’s sermon on renunciation
D) The Ten Commandments
Answer: C) The Buddha’s sermon on renunciation

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12. What does water symbolize in the poem?
A) Wealth
B) Confusion
C) Destruction and purification
D) Fertility only
Answer: C) Destruction and purification

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13. Which of these lines ends the poem?
A) “Peace comes dropping slow.”
B) “Shantih shantih shantih”
C) “Let us go then, you and I.”
D) “Do I dare disturb the universe?”
Answer: B) “Shantih shantih shantih”

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14. Which section of the poem features the drowned Phoenician, Phlebas?
A) A Game of Chess
B) The Burial of the Dead
C) Death by Water
D) What the Thunder Said
Answer: C) Death by Water

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15. What does the thunder say in What the Thunder Said?
A) “Do not fear”
B) “Let it rain”
C) “Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata”
D) “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
Answer: C) “Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata”

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16. What literary movement is The Waste Land associated with?
A) Romanticism
B) Postmodernism
C) Modernism
D) Symbolism
Answer: C) Modernism

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17. What tone does much of the poem carry?
A) Joyful and celebratory
B) Sarcastic and humorous
C) Pessimistic and fragmented
D) Peaceful and content
Answer: C) Pessimistic and fragmented

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18. What does Eliot attempt by using multiple languages in the poem?
A) To confuse the reader
B) To showcase his academic skill
C) To reflect cultural fragmentation and loss of unity
D) To hide political messages
Answer: C) To reflect cultural fragmentation and loss of unity

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19. What does Phlebas represent?
A) A guide to enlightenment
B) The futility of materialism and the inevitability of death
C) The ideal human
D) A forgotten soldier
Answer: B) The futility of materialism and the inevitability of death

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20. Which of the following is not a feature of the poem?
A) Stream-of-consciousness narration
B) Mythical references
C) Hopeful romantic love
D) Multiple narrators
Answer: C) Hopeful romantic love

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21. T.S. Eliot dedicated The Waste Land to which literary figure?
A) W.B. Yeats
B) Ezra Pound
C) James Joyce
D) F.H. Bradley
Answer: B) Ezra Pound

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22. Which poetic tradition most strongly influenced The Waste Land’s style?
A) Romantic
B) Classical
C) Symbolist
D) Pastoral
Answer: C) Symbolist

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23. “A heap of broken images” suggests which of the following?
A) Unity of vision
B) Religious revelation
C) Cultural and spiritual disintegration
D) Nature’s resilience
Answer: C) Cultural and spiritual disintegration

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24. What work of literature is directly referenced in the line “I had not thought death had undone so many”?
A) The Bible
B) Dante’s Inferno
C) Homer’s Odyssey
D) Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Answer: B) Dante’s Inferno

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25. What is the effect of Eliot’s use of allusion in the poem?
A) It modernizes ancient texts
B) It creates a playful tone
C) It draws on literary and cultural memory to enrich meaning
D) It simplifies the message
Answer: C) It draws on literary and cultural memory to enrich meaning

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26. What classical myth is echoed in the “hyacinth girl” episode?
A) Pygmalion
B) Orpheus and Eurydice
C) Apollo and Hyacinthus
D) Narcissus
Answer: C) Apollo and Hyacinthus

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27. What literary work does the line “Those are pearls that were his eyes” reference?
A) The Tempest
B) Hamlet
C) Othello
D) Paradise Lost
Answer: A) The Tempest

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28. Which section portrays an unromanticized, mechanical sexual encounter?
A) The Fire Sermon
B) The Burial of the Dead
C) Death by Water
D) A Game of Chess
Answer: A) The Fire Sermon

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29. What is one reason Tiresias is a central figure in the poem?
A) He is a classical hero
B) He unites the experiences of both genders
C) He provides comic relief
D) He represents nature
Answer: B) He unites the experiences of both genders

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30. “London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down” implies:
A) The city’s resilience
B) Childhood innocence
C) The collapse of civilization
D) A natural disaster
Answer: C) The collapse of civilization

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31. The repeated use of different languages contributes to which theme?
A) Global unity
B) Cultural confusion and fragmentation
C) Religious celebration
D) Educational superiority
Answer: B) Cultural confusion and fragmentation

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32. “Madame Sosostris” functions as:
A) A Greek goddess
B) A spiritual guide
C) A fake fortune teller symbolizing superficiality
D) A war widow
Answer: C) A fake fortune teller symbolizing superficiality

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33. Eliot’s style in The Waste Land is often described as:
A) Gothic
B) Realist
C) Modernist
D) Neoclassical
Answer: C) Modernist

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34. The phrase “HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME” is repeated in which setting?
A) A battlefield
B) A pub
C) A train station
D) A courtroom
Answer: B) A pub

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35. The line “Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.” is derived from:
A) The Vedas
B) The Quran
C) The Upanishads
D) The Bhagavad Gita
Answer: C) The Upanishads

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36. The term “Shantih” repeated at the end means:
A) Destruction
B) Hope
C) Peace
D) Death
Answer: C) Peace

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37. What does Eliot use as a symbol of renewal in the poem?
A) Thunder
B) Fire
C) Snow
D) Desert
Answer: A) Thunder

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38. Which of the following best describes the poem’s narrative voice?
A) A single, consistent speaker
B) Multiple, shifting voices and personas
C) A divine narrator
D) An omniscient third-person observer
Answer: B) Multiple, shifting voices and personas

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39. What is the significance of the Tarot cards in the poem?
A) They predict war
B) They offer spiritual guidance
C) They symbolize arbitrary fate and confusion
D) They represent religious orthodoxy
Answer: C) They symbolize arbitrary fate and confusion

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40. The overall tone of The Waste Land can best be described as:
A) Nostalgic and cheerful
B) Ironically hopeful
C) Bleak, fragmented, and reflective
D) Romantic and idealistic
Answer: C) Bleak, fragmented, and reflective

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