UPSC Mains ENGLISH-LITERATURE-PAPER-I 2012

In King Lear "Cordelia's goodness is as absolute and inexplicable as her sisters' reprovable badness...." Critically analyse the above statement with reference to your reading of King Lear.

“The Classical humanism of the Renaissance was fundamentally medieval and fundamentally Christian...." Critically analyse this statement.

How do the 'Sylphs' help in the development of the 'mock-epic' element in The Rape of the Lock?

“The Romantic age marks the end of pastoral poetry in the very shock of its collision with actual country experience.” Critically evaluate this statement.

Comment on the use of bildungsroman narrative in Victorian novels.

Critically examine if the treatment of Caliban in The Tempest is a reflection of the emergence of European Colonialism during the Elizabethan period.

How does Milton use paganism to describe the fallen angels in Paradise Lost? Your answer should be based on your close reading of Paradise Lost, Book I.

T.S. Eliot described Donne's imagery as follows----“the elaboration...of a figure of speech to the furthest stage to which ingenuity can carry it.” Analyse this quality with reference to Donne's poems.

In Memoriam explores the relationship between science and religion.

“Despite its macabre opening theme, The Relic has some flashes of comic wit which shows Donne's readiness to joke even when his subject is serious.” Critically analyse this statement.

Write an essay on the 'Condition of England' in the novels written in the Victorian Age.

Critically analyse Ibsen's use of symbolism in A Doll's House. How does the symbolism complement the realistic tone of the play?

Analyse the use of 'blank verse' by Wordsworth in his poems.

I found this jawbone at the sea's edge : There crabs, dogfish, broken by the breakers or tossed To flap for half an hour and turn to a crust, Continue the beginning. The deeps are cold : In that darkness, camaraderie does not hold : Nothing touches, but clutching, devours. And the jaws Before they are satisfied or their stretched purpose Slacken, go down; go grawn bare. Jaws Eat and are finished and the jawbone comes to the beach. This is the sea's achievement : with shells, Vertebrae, claws, carapaces, skulls.

Explain these lines : To flap for half an hour and turn to a crust, Continue the beginning.

Explain these lines : Nothing touches, but clutching, devours.

Explain these lines : the spars of purpose That failed far from the surface.

But gripped, gripped, and is now a cenotaph.

Comment on the image-"Time in the sea eats its tail”.

What poetic effect is gained by the use of half-rhymes in this poem?

Critically comment on the language of the poem.

What, according to the poet, is "the sea's achievement"?

“The first that died was little Jane; In bed she moaning lay, Till God released her of her pain, And then she went away.

What is the function of the modifier 'little' in line 1?

What does the poet say about the materialist elements of the girl and the landscape?

How does the poet describe the girl's own life and the death of her siblings?

Does the poet make his presence felt in the poem? Critically analyse this.

Gulliver's four voyages display different aspects of Swift's critique of his age. Discuss with illustrative references.

Analyse the position of women in the Victorian era with special reference to Maggie Tulliver and Tess.

In what way did Tom Jones contribute to the development of the novel in terms of both the form and content? Substantiate your answer with reference to the novel.

How do gender and class play an important role in the development of the plot in Pride and Prejudice?

Do you think Darcy and Elizabeth are the main protagonists for the development of the plot in Pride and Prejudice? Or do you think Bingley and Jane are parallel protagonists in this novel? Answer your question on the basis of a close reading of the novel.

Discuss Hard Times as a satire on several contemporary value systems-Utilitarianism, Materialism, Capitalism and Rationalism.

Critically consider Huckleberry Finn as a novel about the conflict between society and the individual.

Many nineteenth century reviewers were critical of Tess of the d'Urbervilles accusing Hardy of depicting immorality in the novel. In what ways might Nineteenth-century readers have found this novel 'immoral'?