UPSC Mains ENGLISH-LITERATURE-PAPER-I 2011

The Court and the Country, in English literature of the Renaissance.

The term metaphysical conceit with illustrative references to Donne's poems.

The elegiac tradition and Tennyson's In Memóriam.

Write an essay on social realism in eighteenth century novel.

Examine the factors behind the growth of political satire in the age of Dryden and Pope.

Both King Lear and The Tempest are concerned with 'a mounting disillusionment about the nature of human power'. Discuss.

Compare and contrast the nature and scope of the Fall projected in Book IV and Book IX of Paradise Lost.

Therefore am I still A lover of the meadows and the woods And mountains....

Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream?

Comment on Pope's treatment of Belinda in The Rape of the Lock.

Study the following poem and answer the questions which follow. Each answer should be in around 60 words.

Critically respond to the images: "this grandson of fishes" and "this nephew of snails".

Explicate the images: "black stones" and "white stones".

What does the poet suggest in the line "He moves toward the animal, the animal with furry head!"?

Comment on the expressions "this long man" and "dragging a great tail into the darkness".

How does the image, "darkness" play a significant role in the building up of the theme?

What are the images of 'the serpents rising with spiral motions', 'man sleeping inside a jewel' and 'fire passing up through the soles of my feet, associated with? Would you call them 'mystic images'?

Tom Jones is a panorama of the follies, vices and hypocrisies of the world? Discuss.

In Gulliver's Travels does the satirist's 'fierce indignation' verge on misanthropy? Justify your answer.

Critically examine Tess of the d'Urbervilles in the light of Thomas Hardy's statement that he was a meliorist.

Is it correct to describe Pride and Prejudice as a novel about the education of Elizabeth Bennett? Justify your answer.

What is your opinion of the way in which Twain handles the issue of race in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Explain with reference to the text.

Comment on the symbolic use of the urban setting in Hard Times.