Sonnet 18 MCQ
Sonnet 18 – Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? – A Love Sonnet
William Shakespeare [1564-1616]
MCQ – 1 Mark
SET – I
1. Shakespeare is known as the ‘Bard of________’
(A) England
(B) Avon
(C) New York
(D) Wales.
2. How many sonnets has Shakespeare written altogether?
(A) 164
(B) 154
(C) 145
(D) 146.
3. How many lines does a Shakespearean sonnet have?
(A) 11
(B) 14
(C) 18
(D) 12.
4. *“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” is a sonnet no.
(A) 16
(B) 17
(C) 18
(D) 19.
5. *What form of sonnet is this?
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) Elizabethan
(B) Shakespearean
(C) Spenserian
(D) Petrarchan.
6. *“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” is
(A) an ode
(B) a sonnet
(C) an elegy
(D) a ballad.
7. *The sonnet ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?’ begins with
(A) personification
(B) an alliteration
(C) an interrogation and metaphor
(D) metaphor.
8. *‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?’ is
(A) a love poem
(B) a nature poem
(C) a philosophical poem
(D) an elegiac poem.
9. The sonnet contains
(A) three quatrains and a couplet
(B) two quatrains and two couplets
(C) one quatrain and three couplets
(D) no quatrain and four couplets.
10. *Who is the sonnet addressed to?
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) A young man
(B) Queen Elizabeth
(C) A young woman
(D) Shakespeare’s wife.
11. *Shakespeare claims that the sonnet he has penned for the young man is
(A) perpetual
(B) transient
(C) provisional
(D) ephemeral.
12. *What is the controlling simile in the poem?
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) summer’s day
(B) eternal summer
(C) clouds
(D) flowers.
13. The poet compares his beloved to a
(A) wintry day
(B) spring day
(C) summer’s day
(D) sunny day.
14. *“Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” The word ‘thou’ refers to
(A) the poet’s ladylove
(B) the poet’s mother
(C) the poet’s friend
(D) the poet himself.
15. *Shakespeare’s young friend is more lovely and more temperate than the
(A) buds of May
(B) eye of heaven
(C) summer’s day
(D) rough winds.
16. *The word ‘temperate’ means
(A) warm
(B) moderate
(C) friendly
(D) temporary.
17. The fair youth’s beauty surpasses the beauty of
(A) summer
(B) nature
(C) winter
(D) autumn.
18. *The winds that blow in summer Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 are
[WBCHSE H.S. 2016]
(A) balmy
(B) weak
(C) hot
(D) rough.
19. *Buds of May are
(A) tender
(B) sweet
(C) beautiful
(D) darling.
20. *Rough winds in summer days destroy
(A) flowers
(B) trees
(C) fruits
(D) buds.
21. *The ‘darling buds’ are shaken by rough winds in
[WBCHSE H.S. 2017]
(A) March
(B) April
(C) May
(D) June.
22. *The expression ‘summer’s lease’ is suggestive of
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) the brevity of the summer
(B) the eternal presence of summer
(C) the sporadic presence of summer
(D) the silence of summer.
23. *The poet states that summer
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) is not eternal
(B) is hot and humid
(C) is eternal
(D) is constant.
24. *“Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines.” The reference here is to
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) the Mars
(B) the Sun
(C) the Moon
(D) the Jupiter.
25. *The eye of heaven in Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. 18 refers to
[WBCHSE H.S. 2015]
(A) the sun
(B) the moon
(C) the poet
(D) the clouds.
26. *“……his gold complexion dimmed.” Here ‘his’ refers to
[WBCHSE H.S. 2019]
(A) the sun
(B) the sky
(C) poet’s friend
(D) poet himself.
27. What kind of complexion does the sun have?
(A) pink
(B) yellow
(C) silver
(D) golden.
28. How is the gold-complexion of the sun dimmed?
(A) by the clouds
(B) by the shade of the tree
(C) by a canopy
(D) by the shade of a building.
29. *The poet states that ‘fair’
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) is subject to change
(B) is the opposite of unfair
(C) can only diminish marginally
(D) is never subject to change.
30. *Nature’s changing course is
[WBCHSE H.S. 2018]
(A) dimmed
(B) temperate
(C) untrimmed
(D) lovely.
31. *“But thy eternal summer shall not fade.” The word opposite to the meaning to ‘eternal’ is
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) universal
(B) momentary
(C) temporal
(D) decayed.
32. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” — here ‘thy’ refers to
[WBCHSE H.S. 2020]
(A) Shakespeare
(B) the sun
(C) Shakespeare’s friend
(D) the season of summer.
33. *Death has no control over
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) the young person
(B) the poet
(C) beauty
(D) poetry.
34. *The young person will live
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) as long as people read this sonnet
(B) as long as men can breathe
(C) as long as eyes can see
(D) as long as ears can hear.
35. *“So long lives this, and…….” Here ‘this’ refers to
(A) the friend’s beauty
(B) the poet’s friend himself
(C) the poet’s love for his friend
(D) the verse of the poet.
36. *“This gives life to thee.” Here ‘thee’ refers to
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) the poet’s wife
(B) the poet’s friend
(C) the poet’s father
(D) the poet himself.
37. How will the fair youth’s beauty be eternalised?
(A) through the poet’s eternal lines
(B) through a song
(C) through nature
(D) through death.
38. *How can eternal summer be maintained?
[WBCHSE Sample Question]
(A) through poetry
(B) through beauty
(C) through preservation
(D) through conservation.
39. *The darling buds are shaken by rough winds in
[WBCHSE H.S. 2022]
(A) March
(B) April
(C) May
(D) June.
40. *The ‘eye of heaven’ refers to the
[WBCHSE H.S. 2022]
(A) sun
(B) clouds
(C) poet
(D) young man.
41. *According to the poet, what has ”all too short a date”?
[WBCHSE H.S. 2022]
(A) Eye of heaven
(B) Darling buds of May
(C) Summer’s lease
(D) The poet’s friend’s beauty.
SET – II
1. Sonnet No. 18 ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?’ is written by
(A) John Keats
(B) P B Shelley
(D) William Wordsworth.
2. William Shakespeare has written
(A) 126 sonnets
(B) 154 sonnets
(C) 122 sonnets
(D) 151 sonnets.
3. The present sonnet belongs to the
(A) Dark Lady Series
(B) Male Friend Series
(C) Venus Series
(D) None of them.
4. A quatrain means a stanza of
(A) 14 lines
(B) 4 lines
(C) 8 lines
(D) 12 lines.
5. The concluding couplet of the Shakespearean Sonnet is formed by
(A) first two lines
(B) last two lines
(C) lines 7 & 8
(D) lines 11 & 12.
6. The month referred to by the poet in the sonnet no. 18 is
(A) April
(B) February
(C) May
(D) August.
7. The ‘eye of heaven’ refers to the
(A) sun
(B) moon
(C) poet’s friend
(D) poet’s beloved wife.
8. According to the poet, a summer’s day is
(A) eternal
(B) not eternal
(C) hot and humid
(D) constant.
9. According to the poet, ‘fair’
(A) is subject to change
(B) is the opposite of ‘unfair’
(C) can only diminish marginally
(D) is eternal.
10. The young friend will live
(A) as long as eyes can see
(B) as long as ears can hear
(C) as long as people read this sonnet
(D) as long as men can breathe.
11. “So long lives this,” Here ‘this’ means
(A) poet’s love
(B) poet’s beauty
(C) poet’s verse
(D) poet’s friend’s beauty.
12. “Rough winds do shake”
(A) little flowers
(B) green twigs
(C) darling buds
(D) branches of trees.
13. Death has no control over
(A) the poet
(B) beauty
(C) the young friend
(D) the verse celebrating the young friend’s beauty.
14. “……….this gives life to thee” Here ‘thee’ refers to the
(A) the poet
(B) the poet’s young friend
(C) the sun
(D) Nature.
15. In this sonnet the poet Shakespeare addresses
(A) his brother
(B) a lady
(C) a young ladylove
(D) a young man, his close friend.
16. The number of sonnets addressed to the young male friend is
(A) 126
(B) 128
(C) 130
(D) 154.
17. The season to which the poet thinks of comparing his friend is
(A) Winter
(B) Summer
(C) Spring
(D) Autumn.
18. The controlling simile in the poem ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?’ is
(A) flowers
(B) clouds
(C) eternal summer
(D) summer’s day.
19. The form of sonnet 18 ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?’ is
(A) Elizabethan
(B) Shakespearean
(C) Petrarchan
(D) Spenserian.
20. A sonnet is a
(A) poem of 14 lines
(B) poem of 18 lines
(C) poem of 12 lines
(d) poem of 14 lines with a particular rhyme-scheme.
