LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

DM 48

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

FIRST SEMESTER – APRIL 2008

    LE 716 – NEO-CLASSICAL AGE

 

 

 

Date : 05/05/2008            Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 1:00 – 4:00

                                                                             PART – I

 

Answer the following questions in not more than 50 words each. (10 x 2 = 20 marks)

 

1. “A dragon’s fiery form belied the god;

Sublime on radiant spires he rode,

When he to fair Olympia pressed,

And while he sought her snowy breast”

Explain the reference in the lines given above.

 

1. “Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;

Thus unlamented let me dye”.

According to the poet what purpose of the life do the above lines reveal?

 

1. “Then say how Hope and Fear, Desire and Hate, O’erspread with Snares the clouded Maze of Fate, Where wav’ring Man, betray’d by vent’rous Pride, To tread the dreary Paths without a Guide;  As treach’rous Phantoms in the Mist delude,  Shuns fancied Ills, or chases airy Good”. Explain the views of the poet about human life as seen in the above lines.
2. “The pensive pleasures sweet

Prepare thy shadowy car”.

Explain the metaphor in the lines.

 

5.      “How happy he who crowns in shades like these/A youth of labour with an age of ease;/Who quits a world where strong temptations try,And, since ’tis hard to combat, learns to fly”.

Explain the above lines with reference to the context.

 

1. She certainly has talents, but her manner is gross.

Who is referred to and what mannerism is mentioned?

 

1. “Dost thou know who made thee? Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee,
   Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee.
   He is called by thy name,
   For He calls Himself a Lamb”.

Explain the allusion in the line.

 

1. “Ruin seize thee, ruthless king!

Confusion on thy banners wait,

Though fanned by Conquest’s crimson wing

They mock the air with idle state”.

Explain who is referred to in the lines and the realization he ought to have yet.

 

9.      “Wounded myself, in the early part of my Life by the envenomed Tongue of Slander I confess I have since known no Pleasure equal to the reducing others to the Level of my own injured Reputation”.      What does Lady Sneerwell express as her philososphy?

 

1. “When the stars threw down their spears,
   And watered heaven with their tears,
   Did he smile his work to see?
   Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Explain the views of the poet on creation of life”.

 

PART – II

 

Write paragraph answers of 150- 200 words each choosing any FIVE out of the following.                                                                                                                            (5 x 8 = 40 marks)

 

1. Critically analyze the poem ‘Alexander’s Feast’.
2. Discuss the views of the poet about life as portrayed in the poem, ‘Ode to Evening’.
3. How effectively does William Blake describe the creation of the tiger in his poem ‘The Tiger’?
4. What are the thoughts expressed by the poet in the poem, The Bard.
5. Discuss the visit of Gulliver to Lilliput.
6. Illustrate the portrayal of women in The School of Scandal by Sheridan.
7. Attempt a character sketch of Moll Flanders.
8.  Analyze the character analysis of Tom Jones.
9. Explain the features of Anti-sentimental Comedy with reference to She Stoops to Conquer.

 

PART- III

Attempt answers of about 400 words each to any TWO of the following:

                                                                                                            (2 x 20 = 40 marks)

 

 

1. Write an essay on William Blake’s poetry analyzing the major themes.

OR

How does Samuel Johnson depict the vanity of human wishes in his poem, The Vanity of Human Wishes.

Or

Compare and contrast the poems, Alexander’s feast and Song for St. Cecilia’s day by John Dryden.

 

1. Analyze Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels as a satire on human nature.

OR

Write an essay on the themes of Neo-classical age with reference to the dramatists of the same.

 

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