Lesson 4.2.2.3

4.2.2.3 Waterland by Graham Swift Quiz: AQA English Literature A, Unit 2

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.2.2.3, Waterland by Graham Swift: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA English Literature A (7712), Unit 2: Texts in shared contexts, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. In what year was Graham Swift's Waterland published?

    • 1962
    • 1983
    • 1945
    • 2001

  2. Who is the narrator of Waterland?

    • Ernest Hemingway's narrator
    • Tom Crick, a history teacher
    • Mary Metcalf, a pupil
    • Dick Crick, a farmer

  3. Which landscape is central to Waterland?

    • The Fens of East Anglia
    • The Welsh valleys
    • The Scottish Highlands
    • The Yorkshire Dales

  4. What is a dominant image of the Fens in the novel?

    • Water and its drainage
    • Mountain peaks that rise above the cloud line and are covered with snow in winter
    • Urban skylines of tall office blocks and factory chimneys filling the horizon each day
    • Desert sands that stretch to the horizon under a blazing sun with no shade at all

  5. Which subject does Tom Crick teach?

    • Music
    • History
    • Chemistry
    • Mathematics

  6. What does the narrator's teaching of history allow Swift to explore?

    • The biology of plants and the processes by which seeds grow into flowering shrubs
    • The design of engines and the mechanical principles by which they turn their wheels
    • The nature of history and how stories shape memory
    • The rules of arithmetic and the use of numbers to measure the speed of falling bodies

  7. Which term describes a narrator's reflection on the meaning and nature of history?

    • Lyricism
    • Epic simile
    • Historiography
    • Dramatic monologue

  8. Which concept does the novel's use of the Fens as a symbol suggest?

    • Constant peace and stability, in which the land and its people remain untouched by change
    • The fragile boundary between order and chaos
    • Urban growth and industry, which bring new factories and rows of houses to the region
    • Foreign trade and empire, which link the Fens to distant ports across the wider world

  9. Which theme is strongly associated with the novel's treatment of family secrets?

    • Memory and the uncovering of the past
    • Scientific invention, including the design of new machines and tools for industry
    • Monetary policy, including the setting of interest rates and the control of the money supply
    • Naval strategy, including the planning of fleet movements and the tactics of sea battles

  10. Which broad historical feature is tied to the Fens' drainage in the novel?

    • The rise of the Roman Empire only
    • Human efforts to control nature over centuries
    • The early colonisation of the Americas
    • The invention of the printing press

  11. Which technique does Swift use to disrupt the reader's sense of chronology?

    • Strict chronological narrative
    • Chorus commentary
    • Epistolary letters
    • Non-linear narrative

  12. Which concept describes a character's use of storytelling to make sense of the past?

    • Narrative as a way of understanding history
    • Narrative as a scientific formula, which can be used to predict the outcome of events
    • Narrative as an instrument of war, used to spread propaganda among the civilian population
    • Narrative as a legal contract, which binds the parties to the terms of their agreement

  13. Evaluate: how does Waterland complicate the idea of objective history?

    • It proves that history is entirely objective, with every fact fixed and beyond doubt
    • It shows that only official records count as evidence, and that memory is worthless
    • It removes all interest in the past, leaving the reader indifferent to what came before
    • It shows history as shaped by personal memory and interpretation

  14. Which theme links the novel's family story with its wider historical concerns?

    • Royal succession and the disputes that arose when the crown passed from king to heir
    • Agricultural reform only, with new methods of farming applied to the land in the Fens
    • Water as a source of life and destruction
    • Naval rivalries between the great powers, fought on the seas and across the trade routes

  15. What does the novel suggest about the value of history for the individual?

    • It only matters for academics
    • It is irrelevant to personal life
    • It helps people make sense of their identity
    • It is a source of entertainment only

  16. Which kind of narrative technique is Tom's direct address to the reader?

    • Iambic verse
    • Choral speech
    • Narrative voice
    • Dialogue in drama

  17. Which feature of Waterland suggests that history can be seen as a form of storytelling?

    • A court transcript, recording the questions and answers given at a formal hearing
    • The narrator's self-conscious reflection on his own teaching
    • A list of statistics, recording the dates, numbers and figures of each event in order
    • A set of official treaties, signed by the governments involved in the conflict

  18. What is the effect of a narrator who questions the stories he tells?

    • It invites the reader to reconsider how the past is represented
    • It proves the narrator has no memory of the events and so cannot be relied on at all
    • It makes the story easier to follow by stating clearly what happened in each chapter
    • It removes all tension from the novel, so that the reader feels calm about the outcome

  19. Which concept describes a text's engagement with its own status as narrative?

    • Pastoral
    • Epic
    • Naturalism
    • Metafiction

  20. Which wider post-war concern does Waterland reflect in its focus on history?

    • The sense that the past is contested and uncertain
    • The rise of the cinema industry, which turned historical events into popular films
    • The restoration of the monarchy, which was celebrated in new ceremonies across the land
    • The certainty of imperial power, which seemed secure to the governments of the day

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