PAPER I - CLASSICAL POETRY
1. YEAR 2003
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks. Be brief and to the point.
1. Explain the reference to the context any FOUR of the following passages:
(i) And I have leave to go of her goodness,
And she also, to use newfangleness.
But since that I so kindly am served
"How like you this?" What hath she now deserved.
(ii) A bettre felawe sholde men naught fynde,
He wolde suffre, fro a quart of wyn,
A good felawe to have his concubyn,
A twelf monther, and excuse hym atte fulle.
(iii) When those fair suns shall set, as set they must,
And all those tresses shall be laid in dust,
This lock, the Muse shall consecrate to fame,
And midst the stars inscribe Blinda's name.
(iv) ---Some cursed fraud
Of enemy hath beguiled thee; yet unknown,
And me with thee had ruined; for with thee certain
My resolution is to die.
(v) If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken
Nor can die.
(vi) Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That come to all; ----
(vii) A visage stem and mild, where both did grow,
Vice of contemn, in virtue to rejoice;
Amid great storms, whom grace assured so
To live upright and smile at fortune's choice
(viii) So, let us melt, and make no noise,
No tears floods, nor sigh-tempests move,
'Twere profanation of your joyes
To twll the layetie our love.
2. The sonnet as a verse form usually expresses personal feelings. Discuss this statement with reference to the sonnets of Thomas Wyatt.
3. Discuss the Earl of Surrey's contribution to English Poetry.
4. Examine Paradise Lost as a Renaissance Epic
5. In his love poetry, Donne exhibits a more varied range of feeling than the Elizabethans. Moreover, his imagery, diction and versification are startlingly different. Discuss.
6. Why has the Rape of the Lock retained its popularity to this day?
7. Compare and contrast the Knight with Parson in the Prologue.
2. YEAR 2004
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks. Be brief and to the point.
1. Explain with reference to the context any FOUR of the following passages:
(i) "What may this mean? Language of men pronounced.
By tongue of brute, and human sense expressed?
The first at least of these, I thought denied
To beasts, whom God on their creation-day
Created mute to all articulate sound;....
(ii) Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never come
That comes to all.
(iii) My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts doe in the faces rest,
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without sharp west?
(iv) What moved my mind with youthful lords to roam?
Oh! Had I stayed, and said my prayers at home
'Twas from my trembling hand the patch-box fell;
(v) Thus, for our guilt, this jewel have we lost;
The earth his bones, the heavens possess his ghost.
(vi) Well liked by all and intimate was he
With Franklins everywhere in his country
And with the worthy women of the town
(vii) The faithful wife, without debate,
Such sleeps as may beguile the night:
Content thyself with thine estate,
Neither dish death, nor fear his night.
(viii) Since thou and I sigh one another's breath
Whoe'r sighs most, is crudest, and
Hastes to the other's death.
2. Give a detailed critical analysis and appraisal of any one of the poems of Surrey: On Wyatt's Death, The Means to Attain a Happy Life OR
Wyatt's most perfect poems are not, them, his most original in form. Discuss.
3. Draw a character sketch of Belinda as portrayed in the Rape of the Lock.
4. Who, do you think is responsible for the fall of Man Adam or Eve? Illustrate from Book-IX of the Paradise Lost.
5. Discuss the variety of Moods in which Donne treats Love in his love poetry.
6. Write a note on Chaucer's female pilgrims as presented in the Prologue.
7. Dr. Johnson remarked about Milton's Paradise Lost that "its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure". Do you agree?
3. YEAR 2005
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks. Be brief and to the point.
(i) Fallen cherub to be weak is miserable,
Doing or suffering; but of this be sure
To do aught good never will be our task
But ever to do ill our sole delight .....
(ii) He settenat his benefice to hyre
And leet his sheepe encombred in the myre,
And ran to Londoun,
Unto seint poules,
To seeten hym a chaunterie for sonless.
(iii) Whatever spirit, careless of his charge,
His post neglects, or leaves the fair at large,
Shall feel sharp vengeance soon o'ertake his sins
Be stopped in vials, or transfixed with pins.
(iv) Or let these two, the themselves, not mee decay;
So shall I live, thy stage, not triumph bee,
Last thou thy love and hate and mee undoe,
To let me live, O love and hate me too.
(v) "O place of bliss, renever of my woes,
Give me account O where is my nobel fere,
Whom in thy walls thou didst each might enclose,
To another life, but unto me most dear:
(vi) All is possible!
Who list believe,
Trust therefore first and after preve;
As men wed ladies by License and Leave;
All is possible.
(vii) "Of the fruit
Of each tree in the garden we may eat,
But of the fruit of this fair tree a midst
The garden, God hath said, 'ye shall not eat
Thereof, not shall ye touch it, Last ye die'
(viii) And if some Lover, such as wee,
Have heard this dialogue of one,
Let him still Markus, he shall see
Small change, when we are to bodies gone.
2. In the 'Rape of the Lock' the metamorphosis of the epic gains full creative freedom. Discuss.
3. Write a detailed critical analysis of TWO of the following poems:
(i) Prisoned in Windsor
(ii) On Wyatt's Death
(iii) They Flee From Me
4. In waiting the 'Paradise Lost' has Milton succeeded in justifying the ways of God to men?
5. "Donne's Monarchy of wit was not a trick or fashion but one of the greatest achievements of the poetic intelligence." Discuss the appropriateness of this remark by Leishman.
6. What are the salient features of Chaucer's style? Illustrate from the "Prologue to the Canterbury Tales".
7. While Satan of the first two books of the 'Paradise Lost' pleases the modern sensibility, Milton's concept of man-woman relationship does not. Do you agree?
4. YEAR 2006
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any FOUR of the following passages:
(i) In all the possible wifne was ther noon
That to the offerynge before hire shoulde goone;
And if there dide, certeyn so wrooth was she,
That she was out of all charitee.
(ii) If they be two, they are two so
As stiffe twin compasses are two
Thy soule the first foot, makes no-show
To move, but doth, if the other doe.
(iii) O thoughtless mortals! Ever blind to fate,
Too soon defected, and two soon elate,
Sudden, these honours shall be snatched away
And cursed for ever this victorious day.
(iv) Space may produce new worlds; where of so rife there
Want a fame in Heaven that ere long
Intended to create, and therein plant
A generation whom his choice regard.
Should favour equal to the sons of Heaven.
(v) Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat.
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe, that
All was lost.
(vi) Thou art slave to Fate, Chance
Kings and desperate men,
And dost with payson, warre, and sickness dwell,
And Popple, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thystroake;
(vii) If it be yea, I shall be fain
It if be nay, friends, as before,
You shall another men obtain
And I mine own, and yours no more.
(viii) The stately seats, the ladies bright hue
The dances short, long tales of great delight;
With words and looks that tigers could but sue,
Where each of us did plead the other's right.
2. What is major contribution of Thomas Wyatt to English poetry of the Renaissance? Discuss with reference to the poems you have studied.
3. Write a critical appreciation of any TWO of the following poems:
(i) Love That Doth Reign
(ii) My Friend, The Things
(iii) Wyatt Resteth Here
4. Discuss and illustrate the artistic method adopted by Chaucer in the portrayal of his pilgrims in the Prologue.
5. Milton conceived and executed the scheme of Paradise Lost in accordance with the principles of classical epics. Discuss.
6. Do you agree that in The Rape of the Lock, the mock-heroic element is not the dominant interest but the brilliant picture of fashionable life? Discuss.
7. Discuss Donne as a Metaphysical poet.
5. YEAR 2007
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any FOUR of the following extracts:
(i) If then his providence
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
Our labour must be to pervert that end,
And out of good still to find means of evil;
(ii) By fountain or by shady rivulet
He sought them both, but wished his hap might
Find Even separate;
(iii) Ful many a deyntee horse had he in stable;
And when he rood men myghte his broydel heer
Gynglen in a whistlunge wynd als cleere,
(iv) Ful wel biloved and famulier was he
With frankeleyns over all his contree,
And eek with worthy wommen of the town;
(v) Thy beams, so reverend, and strong
Why shouldst thou thinke?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a winke
(vi) Then flashed the living lightning from her eyes,
And screams of horror rend the affrighted skies.
Not louder shrieks to pitying Heaven are cast,
When husbands, or when lap dogs breathe their last;
(vii) The long love that in my though
I harbour,
And in mine heart doth keep his residence.
2. Discuss Wyatt as father of modern English poetry.
3. Discuss Chaucer's art of narration in The Prologue.
4. Explain and illustrate the remarks that Chaucer's whole point of view is that of a humourist.
5. On the basis of your reading Book I of Paradise Lost, bring out Satan's qualities of leadership. OR
Discuss Eve's character as it develops in Paradise Lost Book IX.
6. Discuss Pope as a satirist.
7. Discuss Donne as poet of love OR
Write a comprehensive note on Donne's use of conceit.
6. YEAR 2008
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 Which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain only FOUR of the following with reference to the context:
(i) She leet no morsel from her lippes falle
Ne wettee hir fvngres in her sauce depe.
Wel koude she carie a morsel and wel kepe
That no drope ne fille upon hire breste.
(ii) Thrice he assayed, and thrice, in spite of scorn
Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth: at last
Words interwove with sighs found out their way:
(iii) And though it in the center sit,
Yet when the other far doth rome,
It leans and hearkens after it,
And growes erect, as that comes home.
(iv) For ever curs'd be this detested day,
Which snatched my best, my favourite curl away!
Happy! Ah ten times happy had I been
If Hampton-Court these eyes had never seen!
(v) But that thou shouldst my firmness therefore doubt
To God or thee, because we have a foe
May tempt it, I expected not to hear.
(vi) And with remembrance of the greater grief
To banish the less, if I find my chief relief.
(vii) It it be yea, I shall be fain;
If it be nay, friends, as before
You shall another man obtain
And I mine own and your's no more.
2. 'The Prologue' presents a cross-section of Chaucer's contemporary society. Illustrate.
3. 'Donne's love lyrics spring not only from a strong and ingenious head but also from a passionate heart." Discuss.
4. What epic conventions does Milton follow in writing of his 'Paradise Lost'. Elucidate.
5. Pope described 'The Rape of the Lock' as a heroic-comical poem. What did Pope mean and how far did he succeed in his purpose.
6. Critically evaluate the style and major thematic concerns in Wyatt's poetry.
7. Write critical analysis of the TWO of the following poems:
(i) Prisoned in the Windor
(ii) On Wyatt's Death
(iii) They Flee From Me
7. YEAR 2009
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any FOUR of the following extracts:
(i) Therefore, he was prickausour aright
Greyhounds he hadde, as swift as fowel in flight
Of prikying and of huntinge for the hare
Was at his best, for no cost would he spare
(ii) Seek not temptation then, which to avoide
Were better, and most likelie if from me
Thou severe not, trial will come unsought.
(iii) By tongue of brute, and human sense expressed
The first at least of these, I though denied
To beasts, whom god on their creation -- day
Created mute to all articulate sound .....
(iv) Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy centre is these walls thy spheare.
(v) God shall the ravisher display your hair,
While the Fops envy, and the ladies stare;
Honour forbid; at whose unrivalled shrine
Ease, pleasure, virtue, all over sex resign.
(vi) Thus I alone, where all my freedom grew,
In prison pine with bondage and restraint;
(vii) Answer him fair, with yea or nay,
If it be yea, I shall be fair,
If it be nay - friends as before.
2. Write a critical analysis of TWO of the following poems:
(i) Madam Withouten Many Words
(ii) The Long Love That is My Thought I Harbour
(iii) They Flee From Me
3. Discuss in detail Surrey's contribution to the development of sonnet form with reference to the poems you have read.
4. Chaucer's technique of characterization in The Prologue differs from character to character. Discuss.
5. Discuss Milton's style in Paradise Lost
6. Discuss the variety of Moods in which Donne treats love in his love poetry.
7. Discuss Pope's 'The Rape of the Lock' as a satire on the manners and morals of contemporary English upper class.
8. YEAR 2010
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any FOUR of the following:
(i) As on great furnace flam'd, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Serv'd only to discover sights of woe.
(ii) One short sleep past, wee wake eternally
And death shall be no more; death thou shalt die.
(iii) Then flash'd the living lightening from her eyes
And screams of horror rend the affrighted skies
(iv) All is possible!
Who so believe,
Trust therefore first and after preve.
(v) Of twenty year of age he was, I guesse
Of his stature he was evene lengthe
And wonderly delyvere and greet of strengthe
(vi) The mean diet, no dainty yare
Wisdom joined with simpleness
(vii) Farewell happie fields
Where joy forever dwells: Hail Horrors Hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive they new possessor.
2. How far do you thin Pope's Rape off the Lock breaks free of the biographical and becomes a satire on the universal?
3. Compare and contrast Milton's presentation of Adam and Satan in Paradise Lost.
4. Write a critical analysis of TWO of the following poems by Wyatt and Surrey:
(i) Is It Possible?
(ii) Forget Not Yet
(iii) Wyatt Resteth Here
5. Critically analyze Chaucer's characterization of the female characters in The Prologue.
6. Discuss in detail Donne's metaphysical images in his love poems and their significance.
7. Discuss in detail some of the predominant images in Surrey's poetry.
8. Critically analyze Chaucer's characterization of the Ecclesiastical characters in The Prologue.
9. YEAR 2011
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No.1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any FOUR of the following:
(i) As virtuous me passe mildly away,
And whisper to their soules, to goe,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
The breath goes now, and some, say no.
(ii) And use my life in quietness eacy dele,
Unknown in court that hath the wonton toys;
(iii) The faithful wife, without debate:
Such slees as may beguile the night:
Content thyself with thine estate,
Neither wish death, nor fear his might.
(iv) Great chiere made oure fear us everichon,
And the soper sette he us anon,
And serve us with vitalle at the beste:
Strong was thy wyn and wel to drynke us leste.
(v) Oft, when the world imagine women stray,
The sylphs through mystic mazes guide their way,
Through all the giddy circle they pursue,
And old impertinence expel by new.
(vi) All is not lost: the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit to yield;
(vii) Ye Eate thereof, your Eyes that seem to cleere,
Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
Op'nd and cleerd, and ye shall be as Gods,
Knowing both Good and Evil as they know.
2. Compare and contrast Wyatt and Surrey as sonneteers.
3. Do you think that Milton's Paradise Lost meets with all the requirements of a successful epic?
4. Write a critical note on Donne's use of hyperbole and paradox in his poems.
5. Write a critical analysis of the following poems:
(i) The Sun Rising
(ii) A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
6. Do you think that Chaucer's The Prologue still appeals to the modern readers?
7. Discuss the main characteristics of Pope's satire in the light of his poem The Rape of the Lock.
10. YEAR 2012
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any FOUR of the following:
(i) A voys he hadde as hath a goot
No bread hadde he, ne never sholde have,
As smothe it was as it were late y-shave
(ii) To fifty chosen sylphs, of special note,
We trust th' important charge, the petticoat;
Often have we known that seven-fold fence to fail,
Though stiff with hoops, and armed with ribs of whale;
From a strong line about the silver bound,
And guard the wide circumference around.
(iii) Infernal world! And thou, proundest Hell,
Receive thy new possessor, one who brings
A mind not to be changed by place or time.
(iv) It was no dream; for I lay broad awakening:
But all is turn'd now through my gentleness,
Into a bitter fashion of forsaking.
(v) With eyes cast up unto the maidens' tower
And easy sighs, such as folk drawn in love;
The stately sallies, the ladies bright of hue,
The dances short, long tales of great delight.
(vi) Than by her shadow, what she wears
O perverse sex, shere none is true,
Because her truth kills me.
(vii) Hast thou not wonderd, Adam, at my stay
Thee I have misst, and thought it long, depriv'd
Thy presence, agonie of love till now.
2. Discuss the main features of Wyatt's OR Surrey's poetry. Explain your answer with reference to their poems in your course.
3. "Chaucer presents a cross section of 14th century English society in The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales". Elaborate.
4. Discuss "The Rape of the Lock" as a social satire.
5. What is Donne's attitude towards women? Discuss in detail with reference to his love poems in your syllabus.
6. Milton was Satan's party without knowing it. Support or refute the statement.
7. Write a critical note on the following topics:
(i) The Temptation Scene in Book IX of Paradise Lost
(ii) The Character of Knight in The Prologue
11. YEAR 2013
Attempt FOUR questions in all. Question No. 1 is COMPULSORY. Each question carries 25 marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any FOUR of the following stanzas.
(i) The wife, where danger or dishonor lurks
Safest and seemliest by her Husband saties,
Who guards her, or with her the worst endures.
(ii) His - spear to equal with the tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to the mast
Of some great admirable, were but a wand -
He walked with, to support uneasy steps
Over the burning marle, not like those steps
On heavens's azure; and the torrid clime ...
(iii) That of her hir smylyng was ful simple and coy;
Hire gretteste ooth was but by Seint Loy,
And she was cleped mandame Eglentyne.
(iv) Goe, and catch a falling starre,
Get with child a mandrake roote,
Tell me, where all past years are,
Or who cleft the Divels foot,
Teach me to hear Mermaides singing.
(v) For, that sad moment, when the sylphs withdrew
And Ariel weeping from Belinda's flew
Umbirel, a dusty melancholy spirite,
As ever sullied the fair face of light,
Down to the central earth, his proper scene
Repaired to search the gloomy cave of Spleen.
(vi) The long love that in my though I harbor,
And in mine heart doth keep his residence
Into my face presseth with bold pretence
(vii) Wyatt resteth here, that quick could never rest;
Whose heavenly gifts increased by disdain.
2. How far do you agree that Pope has successfully exploited the mock epic form to satirize the fashionable eighteenth century English society in The Rape of the Lock?
3. How does Chaucer create interest for the modern readers in the 14th century English characters? Elaborate your answer with reference to at least four of his characters in the Prologue.
4. How far do your agree to the statement that in Paradise Lost Milton has justified the ways of God to men? Explain you answer with arguments.
5. Discuss Donne as a metaphysical poet.
6. Write a note on the plight of rejected lover in Thomas Wyatt.
7. Write a critical note on the following topics:
(i) The Character of Eve
(ii) The Parson
12. YEAR 2014
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following.
(i) Is it possible?
To spy it in any eye
That truth as oft as chance or die,
The truth whereof can any try;
Is it possible?
(ii) The mean diet, not dainty fair;
Wisdom joined with suppleness,
The night discharged of all care
Where wine the wit may not oppress.
(iii) Goe, and cathc a falling starre
Get with child a mandrake roote,
Tell me, where all the past years atre,
Or who cleft the Divels foot.
(iv) All these and more came flocking, but with looks
Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appeared
Obscure some glimpses of joy to have found their Chief
(v) Some secret truths, from learned pride concealed
To maids alone and children are revealed
What though no credit doubting wits may give!
The fair an dinnocent shall still believe.
2. Compare the Summoner with the Clerk in The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer.
3. Discuss Donne's treatment of women in his poetry. (Donne's Poetry)
4. Discuss the significance of the supernatural machinery in The Rape of the Lock (Pope's The Rape of the Lock).
5. "Paradise Lost shows Milton as Christian Humanist using all the resources of the European literary tradition that had come down to him --- biblical, classical, medieval and Renaissance." Discuss. (Milton's Paradise Lost)
6. Compare and contrast Wyatt and Surrey as sonneteers. (Wyatt and Surrey)
7. Write a critical note on the following.
(i) The Wife of Bath
(ii) They Flee From Me
PAPER II - DRAMA
1. YEAR 2003
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) O holy majesty of heavenly powers!
May I never see that day. Never!
Rather let me vanish from the race of men
Than know the abomination destined me!
(ii) O thou art fairer than the evening's Star
Clad in the beauty of a thousand Stars,
Brighter art thou than flashing Jupiter...
(iii) Now by heaven,
My blood begins my safer guide to rule;
And passion, having my best judgement collide
Assay to lead the way
(iv) Should a villain say so
The most replenished villain in the world,
He were as much more villain: You my lords
Do but mistake.
(v) Your vanity is ridiculous, your conduct an outrange, and you presence in my garden utterly absurd. However, you have got to catch the four-five, and I hope you will have a pleasant journey home.
2. Greek tragedy is generally believed to be a tragedy of fate. Is this applicable to Oedipus Rex?
3. "It is a very theological play: Faustus' sin begins with pride and ends in despair; he chooses evil of his own free will but enslaves his body as well as his soul to temptation. Discuss this statement in relation of Marlowe's Dr. Faustus.
4. Discuss the tragic aspects of Shakespeare's play Othello. What characteristics make the play as one of his great tragedies?
5. It has been said that Shakespeare "lost the light-hearted gaiety of his youth; where once he had laughed, he now, in his maturity, smiled pensively not without melancholy." Discuss this statement in relation to Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale.
6. It is said that Oscar Wilde "Plays are apparently light hearted, but they contain strong elements of serious feeling in their attack on a society whose code is intolerant, but whose intolerance is hypocritical." Discuss.
7. Write comprehensive note on any TWO of the following:
(i) Elizabethan Drama
(ii) Shakespeare as a Universal Poet
(iii) Marlowe's Genius as a Playwright
(iv) Importance of Being Earnest as a Comedy of Mere Merriment
2. YEAR 2004
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) Had I as many souls as there be stars,
I'd give them all for mephostophilis,
(ii) Be certain what you do sir lest your justice
Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer
Yourself, your queen, your son.
(iii) And yet I fear you, for you are fated then,
When you eyes roll so: why I should fear, I know not,
Since guiltiness I know not, but yet I feel I fear.
(iv) Ah! Dear friend
Are you faithful even yet, you alone?
Are you still standing near me, you will stay here,
Patient to take care for the blind?
The blind man!
Yet even blind I know who it is attends me,
By the voice's tone-
Though my darkness hide the comforter.
(v) Ah! I believe she is plain. Yes:
I know perfectly well what she is like.
She is one of those dull, intellectual girl one meets all over the place.
Girls who have got large minds and large feet.
I am sure she is more than usually plain, and I expect she is about thirty-nine and looks it.
2. How far would you agree that the play Dr. Faustus is a compelling drama of man whose mounting ambition inevitably brings about his hellish fall as he stubbornly rejects repeated advice that his action must lead to damnation?
3. What kinds of insight do you think has Shakespeare given us into the relationship between parents and children in The Winter's Tale?
4. How far do you agree that whenever Othello trusts his instinct he is almost invariably right? Whenever he thinks or fancies himself to be thinking, he is almost ruinously wrong?
5. In the play The Importance of Being Earnest money is key to survival in the upper reaches of English society, how far would you agree?
6. Discuss the relationship between man and the gods in Oedipus Rex.
7. Discuss the dramatic significance of the female characters in Othello.
3. YEAR 2005
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) The God thou serv'st thine own appetite.
Wherein, is fixed the love of Beelzebub.
To him, I'll build an alter and a church
And offer him lukewarm blood of newborn babes.
(ii) Let every man in mankind's Frailty
Consider his last day, and let none
Presume on his good fortune until he find
Life, at his death, a memory without pain.
(iii) There's some ill plane reigns:
I must be patient till the heavens look
With an aspect more favourable.
(iv) Dangerous conceits, are in their nature poisons
Which ..... with a little act upon the blood
Burn like the mines of sulpher.
(v) It pains me very much to have to speak frankly to you, Lady Brecknell, about your nephew, but the fact is that I do not approve all of his moral character. I suspect him of being untruthful.
2. Discuss Marlowe's Faustus as an over reacher, drawing closely on the text.
3. What in your opinion is Oedipus 'hamartia' and what is its relevance to the play Oedipus Rex.
4. How far would you agree that Shakespeare's Othello is a domestic tragedy?
5. "Shakespeare never did anything finer more serious more evocative of his full powers that his picture of an earthly paradise painted in the form of English countryside". What factors contribute to this picture of an earthly paradise?
6. In the play Othello I go is not a character of fiendish intellectual superiority. He has been used by Shakespeare as a foil for Othello's own weakness. How far would you agree?
7. The play The Importance of Being Earnest has its philosophy "that we should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studies triviality". Discuss.
4. YEAR 2006
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) Ah, Faustus
Now has thou but one bare hour to live;
And then thou must be damn'd
Perpetually!
Stand still, you ever moving spheres of heaven.
That time may cease, and midnight never come.
Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again, and make
Perpetual day; or let this hour be but
A year, a month, a week, a natural day,
That Faustus may repent and save his soul
(ii) Do not counsel me anymore. This punishment that I
Have laid upon myself is just.
If I had eyes
I do not know how I would bear the sight of my father,
When I come to the house of Death, or my mother, for I
Have sinned against them both
So vilely that I could not make any peace
By strangling my own life.
(iii) I had rather to be a toad
And live upon the vapour of a dungeon
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For other's uses.
(iv) They call him Doricles; and boasts himself
To have a worthy feeding; but I have it
Upon his won report and I believe it;
He looks like sooth. He says he loves my daughter,
I think so too; for never gaz'd the moon
Upon the water as he'll stand and read
As it were my daughter's eyes and, to be plain,
I think there is not half a kiss to choose
Who loves another best.
(v) Yes, I felt instinctively, but I couldn't wait all that time, I hate waiting even five minutes for anybody. It always makes me rather cross. I am not punctual myself, I know, but I do like punctuality in others, and waiting, even to be married, is quite out of the questions.
2. Do you think that hubris plays a significant part in the fall of Oedipus?
3. Does the speech by the Chorus in the epilogue do justice to the character of Faustus?
4. How does Othello's imagination contribute to his breakdown?
5. Discuss the significance of language in Oscar Wilde's play 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.
6. Discuss the play 'The Winter's Tale' as a tragic comedy.
7. Lago is more a catalyst who precipitates destruction that devil who causes it.
5. YEAR 2007
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) To have been a man they call his mother's husband
Oh accurst! Oh child of evil,
To have entered that wretched bed the self same one!
More primal than sin itself, this fell on me.
(ii) O soul, be changed into little water drops,
And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found!
My God, my God look not so fierce on me!
Adders and serpents, let me breathe a while!
Ugly hell, gape not! Come not Lucifer!
I'll burn my books! Ah-Mephistophillis.
(iii) Whip me, you devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight.
Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulphur
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire,
(iv) I beg pardon for interrupting you, lady Braknell,
But this engagement is quite out of question,
I am Miss Cardews' guardian,
And she cannot marry without my consent until she comes to age.
I absolutely decline to give.
(v) Sir, it is three days since I saw the prince
What is happier affairs may be,
Are to me unknown
But I
Have missingly noted he is of late much retired
From court and less frequent to his princely
Exercises than formerly he hath appeared.
2. Bring out the evil in Iago and explain how he at last betrays himself.
3. What is dramatic irony? What instances of dramatic irony do you find in Oedipus Rex? What do they contribute to the effectiveness of the play?
4. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde "is a trivial comedy for serious people". How far do you think the statement is applicable?
5. Do you think that if Dr. Faustus had been a character of the present modern times, he would have despaired as much as he did in his times when religious dogmas were very strong?
6. Discuss the role of the women in The Winter's Tale and their relationship with their husbands/lovers.
7. Conspicuously Sophocles never suggests that Oedipus has brought his destiny, on himself by any 'ungodly pride' hubris or 'tragic flaw' Hamartia. Do you think he is responsible and to what extent.
6. YEAR 2008
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) At a feast a drunken man maundering in his cups
Cries out that I am not my father's son!
I contained myself that night, though I felt anger
And a sinking heart. The next day I visited
My father and mother, and questioned them, they stormed,
Calling it all the slanderous rant or a fool,
And this relieved me.
(ii) Thou, old traitor,
I am sorry that by hanging thee I can
But shorten thy life one week. And thou, fresh piece
of excellent witch craft who of force, must know
The royal fool thou cop's't with.
(iii) By heavens, I say my handkerchief in his heart,
And makest me call what I intend to do
A murder, which I thought a sacrifice;
I saw the handkerchief.
(iv) Ay, Faustus, now thou hast no hope of heaven,
Therefore, despair, think only upon hell,
For that must be they mansion, there to dwell.
(v) That does not seem to be a great objection.
Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London.
Society is full of women of a very highest birth.
Who have, of their own free choice, remained
thirty-five for years.
2. The character of Oedipus has historically inspires a combination of fascination and repulsion. How would you account for this.
3. Leontes' jealousy is sudden, fierce and motiveless. Discuss its consequences.
4. Comment on the view that Othello murder Desdemona in honour and love, and not in hatred.
5. Faustus is a man who through his thirst for knowledge and his desire to go beyond the accepted wisdom of his time is ultimately destroyed!
6. How does Oscar Wilde portray food as both a weapon and means of demonstrating one's power? Discuss three examples from the play to demonstrate how he uses food.
7. Bring out the role of character and co-incidences in Othello.
7. YEAR 2009
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following:
(i) Forth from thy boards thrust me with all speed.
Set me within some vasty desert where
No mortal voice shall greet me any more.
(ii) Gentlemen, for that I know your friendship is unfeigned,
It is not Faustus' custom to deny
The just request of those that wish him well
You shall behold that peerless dame of Greece.
(iii) Work on,
My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught;
And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,
And guiltless, meet reproach. What, ho! my lord!
My lord, I say! Othello!
(iv) I have considered so much, and with some care; so far that I have eyes under my service which look upon his reservedness; from which I have this intelligence that he is seldom from the house of a most homely shepherd; a man, they say, that from very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his neighbours, is grown into an unspeakable estate.
(v) Kindly turn round, sweet child. No, the side view is what I want. Yes, quite as I expected. There are distinct social possibilities in your profile. The two week points in our age are its want of principle and its want of profile. The chin a little higher dear, style largely depends on the way the chin is worn. They are worn very high, just present.
2. The play Oedipus Rex ends leaving our vision of Oedipus as a commanding figure very much intact. Discuss.
3. How far do you agree that Faustus's behaviour after he sells his soul hardly rises to the level of true wickedness.
4. Iago is considered as 'no great devil' he represents an ordinary, average, little man. Express your views.
5. Discuss the role of Divine Intervention in the play 'The Winter's Tale' especially the miracle scene and the Delphic oracle.
6. Use examples drawn from the play Importance of Being Earnest to show how Algeron uses aesthetic principles to transform his life into a work of art.
7. Is Desdemona simply a passive fool? Is her virtue tantamount to idiocy? Or can she be conceived of as strong and even valient. What are your views and why?
8. YEAR 2010
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!
It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood:
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
Put out the light and then put out the light.
(ii) London society is full of women of the highest
Birth who have, no their own free choice,
Remained thirty five for years.
(iii) Forth from the borders thrust me with all speed,
Set me within some vasty desert where
No mortal voice shall greet me any more.
(iv) Thou dearest Perdita.
With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not,
The mirth of the feast. Or I'll be thine, my fair,
Or not my father's. For I cannot be
Mine own, nor anything to any, if
I be not thine.
(v) Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then return to Hellana for a kiss.
O thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars,
Brighter than thou as flaming jupitar
And none but thou shalt be my Paramour.
2. The play Oedipus by Sophocles is very ironical in that it endorses the theme of free will as well as predestination. We eventually come to realize that man is free and yet he is also fated. What are your views?
3. Do you see Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe as an art from that both teaches and delights the audience. While simultaneously presenting a moral. Cite specific details to support your answer.
4. What is the role of women in The Importance of Being Earnest. How are mothers represented? What about single/independent women?
5. Why does Othello not investigate Iago's accusations? Why does Othello not seek his own proof of Desdemona's betrayal?
6. Discuss and analyze Leontes' jealousy. Is it too sudden and poorly motivated to be credible?
7. Examine the female characters in the play. Do they share a common role in the play Othello?
9. YEAR 2011
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) Yea, what remains to see,
Or what to love, or hear,
With any touch of joy?
Lead me away, my friends, with utmost speed,
Of all men most accursed,
Most hateful to the Gods.
(ii) Where art thou, Faustus? Wretch, what hast thou done?
Damned art thou, Faustus, damned; despair and die!
Hell calls for right, and with a roaring voice
Says "Faustus come! thine hour is almost come!"
And Faustus now will come to do the right.
(iii) Whilst I remember
Her and her virtues, I cannot forget
My blemishes in them, and so still think of
The wrong I did myself; which was so much,
That heirless it hath made my kingdom and
Destroy'd the sweet'st companion that e'er man
Bred his hopes out of.
(iv) Exploded! Was he the victim of a revolutionary outrage? Was not aware of the Mr. Bunbury was interested in social legislation. If so, he is well punished for his morbidity.
(v) Here, stand behind this bulk; straight will be come:
Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home:
Quick, quick; fear nothing; I'll be at thy elbow:
It makes us, or it mars us; think on that,
And fix most firm they resolution.
2. Does it seem fair for Oedipus to call himself "the worst of men"? Why or why not?
3. Note the appearance of Helen of Troy Sc.12. What role does she play in the drama of Faustus's damnation? What does her presence suggest about Marlow's attitude toward women?
4. Explore the character of Desdemona. What does she represent in the play?
5. What possible explanation can we provide for Leontes' sudden onset of jealousy? Has Leontes completely lost his mind, or is there some strange "rationale" at work in Leontes's mind?
6. Using three examples drawn from the play, show how algernon uses Wilde's aesthetic principles to transform his life into a work of art.
7. The Winter's Tale is classified as a romance but some have said that this classification is misleading. Do you feel the play should be classified as a tragedy and, if so, why?
10. YEAR 2012
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) By the world,
I think my life be honest, and think she is not,
I'll have some proof; my name, that was as fresh
As Dian's Visage, is now begrim'd, and black
As mine own face.
(ii) Accursed Faustus, wretch, what hast thou done?
I do repent, and yet I do despair.
Hell strives with grace for conquest in my breast.
What shall I do shun the shares of death?
(iii) There's some ill planet reigns:
I must be patient till the heavens look
With an aspect more favourable, Good my Lords,
I am not Prove weeping, as our sex
Commonly are, the want of which vain dew
Perchance shall dry your pities.
(iv) True. In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing. Mr. Worthing, what explanation can you offer to me for pretending to have brother? Was it in order that you might have an opportunity of coming up to town to see me as often as possible.
(v) How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be
When there's No help in truth!
I knew this well,
But did not act on it!
Else I should not have come.
2. Discuss 'Doctor Faustus' as a morality play.
3. Explore the character of Hermione. How far is she responsible for Leontes' madness in 'The Winter's Tale'?
4. What are the major thematic concerns in 'Oedipus Rex'?
5. Describe the role of Miss Prism in Oscar Wilde's play 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.
6. Why do you think the loss of handkerchief has a huge impact on Othello's mind?
7. Bring out some of the satirical elements in Oscar Wilde's play 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.
11. YEAR 2013
Attempt FOUR questions in all. Question No. 1 is COMPULSORY. Each question carries 25 marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) No, in good earnest,
How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
It's tenderness, and make itself a pastime.
To harder bosoms.
(ii) Believe me, I have rather lose any purse
Full of crusades: and but my noble moor
Its true of mind, and made of no such baseness
As jealous creatures are, it were enough
To put him to ill thinking.
(iii) My poor children, I 'know
Why you have come -
I am not ignorant of
What you yearn for,
For I well know that you are ill, and yet,
Sick as you are, there is
Not one of you whose sickness equals mine.
(iv) Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing
For a man to find out suddenly that
All his life he has been speaking nothing
But the truth. Can you forgive me?
(v) I know not that, but such a handkerchief -
I am sure it was your wife;s - did I today
See Cassio wipe his beard with.
2. How is Romance interwoven with Tragedy in 'The Winter's Tale'?
3. 'The Importance of Being Earnest' is a critique of the society. Explain how?
4. Discuss the importance of Creon's character in 'Oedipus Rex'.
5. How far is Doctor Faustus a truly tragic character?
6. Too much of goodness led Desdemona to her tragic ending. Agree/disagree?
7. Discuss the role of fate and freewill in 'Oedipus Rex'.
12. YEAR 2014
Attempt any FOUR questions including Question No. 1 which is COMPULSORY. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following passages:
(i) "If we say that we have no sin,
We deceive ourselves, and there's no truth in us.
Why then belike we must sin,
And so consequently everlasting death."
(ii) "Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it."
(iii) Man of agony .....
That is the only name I have for you,
That, no other --- ever, ever, ever!
(iv) "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good neame
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And make me poor indeed."
(v) But whether a mere man can know the truth,
Whether a seer can fathom more than I ....
There is no test, no certain proof
Though matching skill for skill
A man can outstrip a rival. No, not till I see
These charges proved will I side with his accusers .....
Never will I convict my king, never in my heart.
2. Define Hubris and describe which actions of Oedipus and Jocasta demonstrate Hubris in Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.
3. What is the significance of the last speech in Marlowe's play Dr. Faustus?
4. Do you agree or disagree with the following proposition: Desdemona's goodness drove her to her tragic end?
5. Discuss and analyze Leontes' Jealously in Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale.
6. Is Cecily a more realistic character that Gwendolen? Why or why not? Discuss your answer in the light of Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest.
7. "I hate Othello!". Give some insight into the lines spoken by Iago for Othello in Shakespeare's play Othello.
PAPER III - NOVEL
1. YEAR 2003
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Jane Austen has used irony as a part of her narrative technique. Illustrate this from her novel Pride and Prejudice.
2. "Among the English novelists, Dickens is neither the most consummate artist, nor the finest psychologist, nor the most accomplished realist, nor the most seductive of tale writers; best he is probably the most national, the most typical, and the greatest of them all." How far do you agree with this evaluation of Dickens work?
3. To what extent do you think are Fate and Chance an integral part of the tragedy in Hardy's work The Return of the Native?
4. "He is a male Jane Austen, cruder and more expansive, but equally secure in his knowledge of what he can do, and with the same clear determination not to transgress into world which he does not understand". How far does Trollope fall true to this critical observation of his work?
5. Discuss Adam's education and growth to maturity through a process of suffering; as demonstrated in George Eliot's novel Adam Bede.
6. Of all the novelists that you have read, which one appeals to you the most and for what literary and artistic reasons.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following subjects:
(i) Novel in Victorian Times
(ii) Hardy's Tragic Vision
(iii) Jane Austen's Position as a Novelist in Modern Times
(iv) Dickens Position as the Greatest Literary Writer of His Times
2. YEAR 2004
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. The larger subject in Pride and Prejudice is human nature. Elaborate this with reference to the two main characters - Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.
2. How far may Hardy's The Return of the Native be described as a study in disillusionment?
3. Discuss the manner in which Anthony Trollope contextualizes the broad historical, technological and social concerns of his times in Bar Chester Towers.
4. Write a detailed comment on Anthony Trollope's art of characterization in the light of R.H. Hutton's observation that ---- 'Everybody in Mr. Trollope is more or less under pressure swayed lither and thither by opposite attractions assailed on this side and that by the strategy of rivals.'
5. Trace the development of Adam Bede's self-realization through a process of emotional turmoil within him.
6. Discuss the symbolic treatment of La Guillotine by Dicken's in "A Tale of Two Cities" to convey the violence and bloodshed of the French Revolution.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following topics:
(i) Nature as a Backdrop in Hardy's Novels
(ii) Jane Austen's Stylistic Technique
(iii) A Tale of Two Cites as Historical Fiction
(iv) George Eliot's Narrative Technique
3. YEAR 2005
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Faithful observation, personal detachment and a fine sense of ironic comedy are among Jane Austen's chief characteristics as a writer.
2. Trollope preferred to describe his characters before showing them in action and sometimes his initial descriptions of them are more interesting than their own subsequent bahaviour. Discuss.
3. The character of Adam Bede is built up from the firm foundation of Native Sagacity and an indomitable sense of justice. Comment.
4. Unlike Hetty, Adam Bede is a man we are called upon to understand in depth; where she is static and bewildered, he is evolving and aware.
5. Symbolism leads additional meanings to those which are apparent on the surface. Discuss with special reference to A Tale of Two Cities.
6. Through a series of events over which Clym has very little control, he come to feel responsible for the deaths of his mother and wife. Discuss.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following topics:
(i) Jane Austen's Limited Range
(ii) Trollope's Art of Characterization
(iii) Edgon Heath symbolizes the whole cosmic order in which man is but an insignificant particle
(iv) There was a revolution in the life of Dickens which corresponds to the external revolution.
4. YEAR 2006
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Jane Austen was fully alive to her limitations, as such, she never touched a character or scene she did not thoroughly knew. Discuss.
2. A Tale of Two Cities is Dickens' most impersonal novel especially because of the grand objectivity of historical events with which it deals. Discuss.
3. Mr. Slope is a cunning and ruthless opportunist loyal to none but himself. Discuss with special reference to Barchester Towers.
4. Clym's blindness is a physical manifestation, a symbol of his intellectual obtuseness or social maladjustment. Discuss.
5. Being superior to Hetty both in years and in experience of the world, Arthur's responsibility is much greater for the suffering and tragedy of poor Hetty. Discuss.
6. Hetty lives simply by the coercive morality of the community and when this is broken, she is destroyed. Discuss.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following topics:
(i) Jane Austen's Art of Characterization
(ii) The Role of Fate and Destiny in Hardy's Novels
(iii) Symbolism in A Tale of Two Cities
(iv) George Eliot's Art of Narration
5. YEAR 2007
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Irony is the most effective weapon Jane Austen has in her arsenal. Discuss.
2. With her seductive charms Signora Neroni loves to put the male romanticism to shame. Discuss with special reference to Barchester Towers.
3. A Tale of Two Cities is the story of conflict of interests and clash of characters. Discuss.
4. Hetty is profoundly and eternally selfish. Discuss.
5. Arthur is too weak to follow his own conscience without being forced to do so. Discuss.
6. Do you agree with Hardy that fate or destiny is indifferent and often hostile to human happiness?
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following topics:
(i) George Eliot's Art of Characterization
(ii) Trollope's Humour and Style
(iii) Jane Austen as a Moralist
(iv) Tragic Element in A Tale of Two Cities
6. YEAR 2008
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. In A Tale of Two Cities Dickens heightens the underlying meaning of Novel through his sophisticated use of irony. Discuss.
2. Why is Trollope known as Male Jane Austen? Explain
3. "Hardy's minor characters are grouped together without being fully individualized". Discuss.
4. Hardy related human disasters to weakness and lack of will. He is not a fatalist. Discuss.
5. Jane Austen develops and then releases the antagonism between Elizabeth and Darcy in such a way that they themselves are made to realize the folly of their pride and their prejudice. Discuss.
6. Adam Bede reflects George Eliot's psychological insight into human character and motives. Discuss.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following topics:
(i) Trollope's Art of Characterization
(ii) Jane Austen's Humour and Style
(iii) George Eliot's Art of Novel Writing
(iv) Autobiographical Element in A Tale of Two Cities
7. YEAR 2009
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. The novels are George Eliot are 'organic wholes' in as much as story, characters and the social environment are well integrated. Do you agree? Attempt with reference to Adam Bede.
2. Discuss Jane Austen as a moralist with reference to Pride and Prejudice.
3. Critically analyze Trollope's humour and style in Barchester Towers.
4. "Hardy's minor characters are rich in the gathered wisdom of ancient days have have learnt to endure and accept." Substantiate with reference to Return of the Native.
5. Show how the French Revolution and Dickens' own life influenced the writing of A Tale of Two Cities.
6. "Pride in the main characters, and lack of it in Austen's minor characters is a major theme in Pride and Prejudice". Substantiate.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following:
(i) The Element of Chance in Hardy's Return of the Native
(ii) George Eliot's Realism in Adam Bede
(iii) Dickens' Humour and Pathos in A Tale of Two Cities
(iv) Jane Austen's Male Characters in Pride and Prejudice
8. YEAR 2010
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. "George Eliot's Adam Bede is nothing but Adam's growth to maturity through a process of suffering". Substantiate.
2. "Pride and Prejudice is simultaneously high comedy, devastating satire and compassionate panorama". Critically comment.
3. "Trollope's Barchester Towers is a picture of common life enlivened by humour and sweetened by pathos." Substantiate.
4. Critically examine the significance of Egdon Heath in Thomas Hardy's Return of the Native.
5. Examine in detail the picaresque elements in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.
6. Critically evaluate how Jane Austen has integrated social concerns of her age in Pride and Prejudice.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following:
(i) Revival of Twentieth Century Interest in Trollope
(ii) The Rendering of Male Characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
(iii) Hardy's Pessimism
(iv) Dickens' Narrative Style
9. YEAR 2011
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. How far do you think that the ending of George Eliot's Adam Bede is effective?
2. Critically examine the events and characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in the light of the title of the novel.
3. Discuss Trollope's presentation of character and setting in Barchester Towers.
4. "The presence of the vast passionless heath puts the human movements into perspective as the senseless hurrying of arts". Discuss with reference to Thomas Hardy's presentation of Egdon Heath in Return of the Native.
5. Critically analyze Dickens' narrative technique and style in A Tale of Two Cities.
6. Compare and contrast the Bennet sisters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following:
(i) Hardy's Fatalism
(ii) A Character Sketch of Elizabeth Bennet
(iii) Characterization in Trollope
(iv) Dickens' Humour
10. YEAR 2012
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Trollope's there in Barchester Towers is "The world and the way of the world". Discuss.
2. Critically analyze the male characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
3. "Of all George Eliot's novels Adam Bede possesses the most clearly discernible pattern." Elaborate.
4. In A Tale of Two Cites, Dickens revealed some of the horrors of the living conditions of those times. Substantiate.
5. Discuss the fatalistic elements in Hardy's Return of the Native and highlight other elements of his vision.
6. Egdon Heath is a symbol of an indifferent universe. Do you agree?
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following:
(i) Trollope - The True Successor to Fielding
(ii) Jane Austen's Heroine in Pride and Prejudice
(iii) George Eliot's Vision
(iv) Dickens' Narrative Style
11. YEAR 2013
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks. Summaries and plot analysis should be avoided.
1. "The major theme of Barchester Towers by Trollope is the ongoing struggle between the conservative and liberal. Discuss with reference to characterisation and setting.
2. Through four marriages in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen defines good and bad reason for marriage. Discuss.
3. Would it be pertinent to interpret George Eliot's Adam Bede as an attainment of a better understanding of life?
4. Death and resurrection are the major concerns in Dickens' novel "A Tale of Two Cities". Critically analyse.
5. 'Eustacia Vye is a born romantic of odds with her environment'. Discuss with reference to Hardy's Return of the Native.
6. Hardy's chief weakness in plot arises from the view of causality. Substantiate with reference to Return of the Native.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following:
(i) George Eliot's Intimate Knowledge of Country Life and Interests
(ii) Dickens' Novels Live Through His Characterization
(iii) Public and Society Activity in Trollope's Barchester Towers
(iv) Element of Satire in Austen's Pride and Prejudice
12. YEAR 2014
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. "The plot of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE has an exactness of structure and symmetry of form." Discuss.
2. "Though born on the Heath, Eustacia was emotionally alien to it." Comment.
3. How does Dickens deal with the theme of Death and Resurrection in A TALE OF TWO CITIES?
4. "Jane Austen was a moralist of eighteenth century". Do you agree with this statement.
5. Discuss the significance of the fact that Trollope's novel BARCHESTER TOWERS is told from the third person omniscient point of view.
6. Trace the development of Adam Bede's self-realization through a process of emotional turmoil within him.
7. Write critical notes on any TWO of the following:
(i) Methodism in Adam Bede
(ii) Jane Austen's Morality
(iii) Thomas Hardy's Concept of Tragedy
(iv) Objects and Places in Barchester Towers
PAPER IV - PROSE
1. YEAR 2003
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Bacon's pragmatism and worldly wisdom temper his philosophy throughout. Elaborate.
2. Swift has been charged with misanthropy. Uphold or refute the charge with concrete evidence from his works, especially, "Gulliver's Travels".
3. What safeguards does Russell suggest against a teacher's becoming a tool in the hands of governments and how far are they adequate?
4. Write your own view of poetry in the light of Seamus Heaney's views.
5. Write a comprehensive essay on stylistic qualities of Bacon's essays.
6. What, according to Edward Said, is culture and what, imperialism and how does he relate the two?
7. Which of the prose writers included in your course is your favourite, and why?
2. YEAR 2004
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Bacon is more a man of the word than a philosopher in his essays. Do you agree? Illustrate your answer.
2. Political satire in the first two parts of Gulliver's Travels is interesting as well as instructive. Elaborate.
3. From your reading of Gulliver's Travels what impression have you formed of Swift's attitude towards mankind? Would you describe him as a misanthrope?
4. Do you think Seamus Heaney has succeeded in making out a good cause in favour of poetry in this post modern age of ours?
5. Do you think Bertrand Russell's proposal for the establishment of a world government is desirable, or even tenable?
6. In how many ways have ideas concerned with moral and politics, according to Bertrand Russell, helped mankind?
7. To how many classical English novelists does Edward Said refer in his introduction to cultural and imperialism; in what context and a what purpose.
3. YEAR 2005
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. What idea do you form a Bacon's learning and scholarship and political views after your study of his essays?
2. "Swift was the greatest satirist in an age of satire". Elaborate with special reference to the first two voyages of "Gulliver's Travels".
3. Reproduce Huxley's basic contention in 'The Education of an Amphibian'.
4. Affirm or refute Russell's bid to justify the winning of happiness in this raving, reeling age of ours.
5. Write a detailed note on Strachy as a Biographer. How did he improve upon this art?
6. Compare and contrast between styles of Bacon and Swift.
7. Make a good case in favour of Huxley as your ideal prose writer.
4. YEAR 2006
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. With Bacon does the new ear of English prose start. Elaborate with reference to his essays.
2. His satire grows more and more bitter as Swift progresses from book to book of his 'Gulliver's Travels'. Discuss.
3. Swift devised a prose style that suited his purpose very well. Elaborate with special reference to his Gulliver's Travels.
4. Can ideas, good or bad, be so effective as Bertrand Russell has claimed? Make out a case for or against in the light of his 'Unpopular Essays'.
5. How far has Edward Said succeeded in stripping the mask from the ugly face of Imperialism? Elaborate with special reference to his Introduction to Culture and Imperialism
6. Poetry is as much relevant as ever even in this highly industrialized age of ours. Discuss with reference to Seamus Heaney.
7. Trace the development of English Prose from Bacon to Seamus Heaney.
5. YEAR 2007
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Nowhere is Bacon so fascinating, so incisive, so personally involved as his 'Of Studies'. Elaborate.
2. Swift's Travel to Laputa my or may not be stillbirth but it contains, the same flair and the same flame as the rest of 'Gulliver's Travels'. Elaborate.
3. Even when theoretic and imaginative, Russell never departs from practicality and empiricism. Elaborate with special reference to his Unpopular Essays.
4. What is the main crux of Edward Said's contention in his introduction to 'Culture and Imperialism'?
5. Seamus Heaney not only theorizes but also illustrates and substantiates his contention. Elaborate.
6. Swift is not a reformer but a demolisher. Discuss with reference to his works, especially 'Gulliver's Travels'.
7. Russell's views on teaching and education have been of immense use down the years. Elaborate with special reference to his Unpopular Essays.
6. YEAR 2008
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Discuss Bacon as one of the important European philosophers. Produce evidence from his Essays.
2. What are the literary techniques Swift draws upon to downscale man and his achievements?
3. What are the practical difficulties in employing ideal teachers and how can they be overcome? Discuss with reference to Russell's 'Unpopular Essays'.
4. What evidence does Edward Said produce to condemn Imperialism as an evil?
5. How does poetry, according to Seamus Heaney, redress social, economic and cultural ills?
6. Discuss Russell's Essays in terms of their relevance to the development of human beings in terms of becoming more practical and rational creatures.
7. Write a comprehensive note on Bacon's prose style.
7. YEAR 2009
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Bacon was nothing if not a pragmatist who based his ethical prescription on a sound knowledge of human nature. Elaborate.
2. Arguing from your study of 'Gulliver's Travels', discuss Swift as a wounded moralist who never forgave the world.
3. What according to Bertrand Russel is the necessary connection between philosophy and politics?
4. Highlight the main points that Edward Said makes in the introduction to 'Culture and Imperialism'.
5. Poetry will never become irrelevant. What case does Seamus Heaney make out in this regard in his 'Redress of Poetry'?
6. Compare and contrast prose styles of Bacon and Swift.
7. Survey the development of English Prose during the eighteenth century.
8. YEAR 2010
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Bacon claimed that he had taken all knowledge to be his province. Uphold or reject this claim with solid arguments from his essays.
2. How far would the lot of humanity have changed if men had adopted absolute rationality of Houyhnhnms? Discuss with reference to 'Gulliver's Travels'.
3. Can we check the social, economic and political decline if we succeed in making our teachers impartial and neutral in the real sense of the word? Elaborate with reference to Russell's 'Unpopular Essays'.
4. What does Edward Said men when he talks of the dominating and the dominated cultures? Is it still the same?
5. Does poetry really balance and counterweight even in the present day world as claimed by Seamus Heaney in his 'Redress of Poetry'?
6. Write a detailed note on 17th century prose, especially non-fictional.
7. Why is Bacon's prose style called aphoristic?
9. YEAR 2011
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Bacon stands out among English moralists on more counts than one. Elaborate with special reference to his essays.
2. Produce evidence from Gulliver's Travels, especially Book IV to prove of disprove that Swift was a misanthrope.
3. Russell was apposed to all obscurantism, mysticism and dogmatism. How far has he incorporated this approach in his 'Unpopular Essays'?
4. Can we take 'Redress of Poetry' by Heaney as yet another defense of poetry in the long row of such books, or is it something different, something more elaborate, something more eloquent?
5. How powerfully has Said presented the case of colonised nations in his 'An Introduction to Culture and Imperialism"?
6. Compare and contrast the prose style of Bacon and Swift.
7. Write a detailed note on 17th century prose touching upon those writers who are not included in your course.
10. YEAR 2012
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. In "Of Marriage and Single Life", Bacon talks of both in favour of married as well as single life. Discuss the arguments which he gives in favour of married as well as single life.
2. Would you agree with the opinion that the first three parts of Gulliver's Travels show Gulliver's degeneration while the fourth part shows his regeneration? Give evidence from the text to prove or disapprove.
3. Discuss the "The Ideas that have Helped Mankind" as discussed by Russell.
4. According to Heaney, poetry should aim at an "inclusive consciousness". What examples of such poetry does he include in "The Redress of Poetry"?
5. Explain the central thesis of "Culture and Imperialism".
6. Of all the prose writers included in your syllabus, whom do you like the most? Give solid reasons for your choice.
7. Do you think that prose is more powerful medium of communication than poetry or not?
11. YEAR 2013
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. analyze in detail the relationship between parents and children as discussed by Francis Bacon.
2. Write a detailed appraisal of Swift's versatility as a satirist as revealed in Gulliver's Travels.
3. Russell says, "I have spoken of liberty as a good, but it is not absolute good". Tell why, keeping in mind The Future of Mankind.
4. How does Seamus Heaney prove in The Redress of Poetry that the co-ordinates of the imagined thing correspond to and allow us to contemplate the complex burden of our own experience?
5. How does Edward Said prove that imperialism goes beyond political and economic domination and stays in the most subtle way in culture?
6. Reaching "a great place" and "sustaining a great place" both are difficult. Discuss with reference to Of Great Place.
7. "Prose is a language of reason, poetry of emotion". Elaborate this statement with reference to the prose-writers that you have studied so far.
12. YEAR 2014
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Bring out the rationale of Bacon against "Of Superstition".
2. Write a comprehensive note on different satirical devices used by Swift in Gulliver's Travels.
3. What safeguards does Russell suggest against a teacher becoming a tool in the hands of government in "Functions of Teacher".
4. Discuss in detail Edward Said's arguments about how culture is used to promote interests of Imperial Powers.
5. How does Seamus Heaney prove in the essay "The Redress of Poetry" that poetry brings human existence into a fuller life?
6. What are the benefits and drawbacks of rising to a great place? Discuss in light of Bacon's "Of Great Place".
7. Compare and contrast the stylistic features of Swift and Bacon.
PAPER V - AMERICAN LITERATURE
1. YEAR 2003
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. What is the symbolic significance of the title 'Jazz' by Toni Morrison?
2. Write a critical appreciation of Sylvia Plath's poem The Bee Meeting.
3. Discuss Hemingway's fictional technique with particular reference to 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'.
4. What has The Crucible to tell us about the relationship between the individual and society?
5. Write a detailed account of some of the themes that are dominant in Adrienne Rich's poetry.
6. What devices does O'Neill employ in The Mourning Become Electra (Homecoming) to express his sense of unreal behind what we call reality?
7. Critically analyze ONE of the following.
(i) Richard Wilbur's "Still, Citizen Sparrow"
(ii) John Ashberry's "Melodic Trains"
Keeping in view the theme, language and imagery used by the poet.
2. YEAR 2004
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Discuss the context and significance of the women characters in Toni Morrison's novel Jazz.
2. What are some of the dominant features of 20th century American Poetry that are reflected in the work of John Ashbury and Richard Wilbur? Discuss with reference to the poems you have read.
3. Write a critical appreciation of one of the following poems:
(i) Aunt Jennifer's Tiger by Adrienne Rich
(ii) Poppies in October by Sylvia Plath
4. Mourning Becomes Electra is concerned with the fated family of the mannons. Discuss.
5. Discuss Robert Jordan as typical Hemingway hero in For Whom the Bell Tolls.
6. Discuss the significance of the title of the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
7. Write a detailed account of some of the themes that are dominant in Sylvia Plath's poems.
3. YEAR 2005
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. The novel 'Jazz' by Toni Morrison reflects the complexities of urban life. Illustrate the statement.
2. Write a comprehensive note on the theme of Feminism as treated by Sylvia Plath and Adrienne Rich in their poems.
3. Critically evaluate any ONE of the following poems:
(i) After the last Bulletin by Richard Wilbur
(ii) Melodic Train by John Ashbury
4. In Mourning Becomes Electra pat is synonymous with fate. Elaborate the statement.
5. Discuss the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls as a critical analysis of the behaviour of human beings under turbulent conditions of war.
6. Do you regard Abigail Williams as a victim or vamp. Base your arguments on textual evidence.
7. Discuss the major themes in the poetry of Sylvia Plath.
4. YEAR 2006
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Toni Morrison has used the subject of Jazz music as a metaphor for the ever changing conditions of African-American life in the 1920s and as a reflection of the perpetual human struggle between right and wrong. Elaborate.
2. Sylvia Plath exposes her subjectivity in terms of objectivity. Illustrate the statement with reference to her poems you have studied.
3. Critically evaluate any ONE of the following poems"
(i) Poppies in October by Sylvia Plath
(ii) The Painter by John Ashbury
4. Discuss the mother and daughter's relationship in Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neil.
5. Discuss Jordan's relationship with Maria. Do you find Maria a convincing character?
6. John Proctor stands unique amongst Miller's Creations not because of any inherent superiority but because of the intensity of his moral response. Justify it.
7. Discuss the major themes in the poetry of John Ashbury.
5. YEAR 2007
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Critically evaluate any ONE of the following poems:
(i) Marginalia by Richard Wilbur
(ii) Morning Song by Sylvia Plath
2. Describe the main elements of modernity in the poetry of Richard Wilbur. Elaborate with examples from his poems of your syllabus.
3. Discuss the main themes in the work of John Ashbury.
4. What is the symbolic significance of the title "Jazz" by Toni Morrison?
5. Discuss 'Mourning Becomes Electra' as a tragedy in modern sense.
6. John Proctor stands unique amongst Miller's creation not because of any inherent superiority but because of the intensity of his moral response. Justify it.
7. Discuss Robert Jordan as Hemingway's tragic hero.
6. YEAR 2008
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Critically evaluate ONE of the following poems:
(i) Aunt Jennifer's Tigers by Adrienne Rich
(ii) Still Citizen Sparrow by Richard Wilbur
2. How does John Ashbury explores the relationship between art and reality. Explain with reference to the poem "The Painter".
3. Discuss the use of imagery in Plath's poetry with reference to the poems you have read.
4. Joni Morrison weaves multiple strands of black experience into the narrative structure of 'Jazz'. Pick one strand and comment critically on its connection with the lives of Joe and Violot.
5. Discuss in detail the symbolic significance of the Mannon Houre in 'Mourning Becomes Electra'.
6. Explore the roles of Tibute, the Putnams, Reverend Paris and Abigail in terms of how they trigger and fuel conflict in 'The Crucible'
7. Write a detailed critical note on Robert Jordan's character in Hemingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'.
7. YEAR 2009
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Critically evaluate ONE of the following poems:
(i) Melodic Train by John Ashbery
(ii) After the Last Bulletin by Richard Wilbur
2. Write a detailed note on the feminist themes in Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich.
3. Discuss the confessional element in the two Bee Poems by Sylvia Plath.
4. What is the symbolic significance of the title of Jazz (Toni Morrison)
5. Discuss O'Neil as a pioneer in the use of myths on the modern stage with close reference to the play Mourning Becomes Electra.
6. 'Varied intense drama'. Justify this estimate of Miller's play The Crucible.
7. Can Hemingway be discussed as being sentimentally obsessed with violence. Discuss with close reference to the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls.
8. YEAR 2010
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. The most forceful theme can be conveyed through the images in a poem. Elaborate with close reference to a least TWO poems from your course.
2. Write a detailed critical note on Final Notation by Adrienne Rich.
3. Critically evaluate the poem Your by Sylvia Plath.
4. Discuss the character and role of Dorcas and Felice. By what particular devices and effects does Morrison portray them in her novel Jazz?
5. O'Neil's Mourning Becomes Electra is a tragic melodrama of heroic proportions. Elaborate.
6. Arthur Miller's The Crucible exemplifies his contention that tragedy is possible in the modern theatre and that its proper hero is the common man. Discuss in detail.
7. Discuss Jordan's relationship with Maria in Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Do you find Maria a convincing character?
9. YEAR 2011
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Choose two poems from your course and explain in detail how poets give us a fresh view of things through the use of poetic language.
2. Write a critical note no Painter by John Ashbury.
3. Critically evaluate the poem Still Citizen Sparrow by Richard Wilbur.
4. Discuss the symbolic significance of the title Jazz by Morrison.
5. What are the main thematic concerns that Miller explores in the play The Crucible?
6. "A harrowing domestic tragedy, the play offers a clear insight into human psyche." Discuss with close reference to the play Mourning Becomes Electra.
7. Hemingway has been praised by critics for his meticulous craftsmanship and dramatic understatement. Illustrate these qualities by referring closely to the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls.
10. YEAR 2012
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Preciseness of expression and vividness of language are features of many poems. Show by reference to TWO poems the truth of this statement.
2. By referring closely to Rich's poems prescribed in the syllabus discuss which TWO poems are typical of her poetic attitude?
3. Critically evaluate the poem Ariel by Sylvia Plath.
4. Do you consider Morrison's novel 'Jazz' to be more optimistic than pessimistic?
5. Write a detailed note on the characterization technique employed by Miller in his play "The Crucible".
6. When O'Neil received the Noble Prize for literature in 1936, the official statement honored him as a writer who 'has been successful in interpreting universal human experiences in terms of the drama'. Amplify this statement by referring closely to the play "Mourning Becomes Electra".
7. Discuss Hemingway's novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" as a study of disillusionment.
11. YEAR 2013
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. The most forceful theme can be conveyed through the imagery of a poem. Discuss with close reference to at least two poems from your course.
2. By referring closely to Plath's poems prescribed in the syllabus, discuss which two poems are typical of her poetic attitude?
3. Write a detailed note on the dominant thematic concern in Adrienne Rich's poem Final Notation.
4. Discuss the character and role of Violet in the novel Jazz (Morrison). By what particular devices and effects is she conveyed? How much sympathy do you have for her?
5. The freedom which the technique of Expressionism allowed Miller to express some of his thematic concerns artistically is clearly evident in the play The Crucible. Discuss.
6. "O'Neil's Placing a Greek theme in the middle of the last century has written the most modern of all his plays." Discuss the play Mourning Becomes Electra in the light of this statement.
7. The book begins and ends with the same image of Robert Jordan lying on the forest floor. Critics attribute this to the underlying circular nature of the book. Discuss why Hemingway adopted his technique in For Whom the Bell Tolls.
12. YEAR 2014
Attempt any FOUR questions. All questions carry equal marks.
1. Discuss Richard Wiber as an urban poet with reference to his poems you have read.
2. Critically evaluate Aunt Jennifer's Tigers by Adrienne Rich.
3. Write a critical appraisal of Sylvia Plath's poem Poppies in October.
4. Analyse the character and role of Joe. Trace in JAZZ by Toni Morrison.
5. "Trial" and "Judgment" act as transmitters of public heat in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Discuss.
6. Silence speaks out volumes and drives people mad in Mourning Becomes Electra by O'Neil. Discuss the statement with due textual support.
7. Earnest Hemingway is famous for his condensed, crisp and journalistic style of writing. Discuss the narrative techniques he uses in For Whom the Bell Tolls.
