UPSC Mains ENGLISH-LITERATURE-PAPER-I 2017

The influence of Renaissance on at least two plays of Shakespeare ?

The revival of the classical spirit in Neoclassical poetry.

The impact of the French Revolution on English Romantic Poets.

The reasons for the rise of the novels in the eighteenth century

The industrial revolution and Victorian novels.

Comment on the theme of redemption and madness in Shakespeare's King Lear.

Sketch the character of Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest in the light of the larger context of his power and love of magic to persuade others into behaving in ways he wants them to behave.

The poetry of John Donne juxtaposes physical love with the sacredness of religion through a series of occult resemblances". Examine with reference to the poems, prescribed in your syllabus.

Milton states that his poem will persue "Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme". Why did Milton consider his poem superior to those of Homer and Virgil ? Show the superiority of his subject matter with special reference to the subject matter of Book I of Milton's Paradise Lost.

Critically examine Pope's The Rape of the Lock as a satire on the fashionable beautiful aristocratic ladies of the eighteenth century.

Wordsworth's poetry exhibits romantic characteristics and for his treatment towards romantic elements, he stands supreme and he can be termed a Romantic poet for a number of reasons". Examine some of his poems, prescribed in your syllabus.

How far does In Memoriam reflect the spirit of the Victorian age ?

Is A Doll's House a mere problem play? Or does it reflect the 'crisis of human relationships'? Give reasons for your answers.

Contrast life in Hell and in Heaven as described in Book II and Book III of Milton's Paradise Lost.

How does the poet evoke the images of his beloved in the first stanza ?

What sort of person, do you think, is the speaker of the poem ?

How does the poet help the reader understand the theme of his poem through skillful use of diction and concrete language ?

How does the poet present a portrait of decaying and dying youth and beauty ?

Comment on the poet's use of passionate, evocative and expressive vocabulary.

"The surface of the book (Gulliver's Travels) is comic but at its centre there is tragedy". Elucidate with reference to Gulliver's Travels.

Jane Austin is a critical observer who uses irony as a means of 'moral and social judgement'. Examine Pride and Prejudice in the light of this statement.

Explore the theme of charity in Fielding's Tom Jones. How does Fielding emphasize this theme by contrast ?

How does Charles Dickens attack the typical ideology of the contemporary education in England and satirize the utilitarian philosophy of education in Hara Times.

Discuss the role of the narrator in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss. What values does the narrator uphold ?

Comment on the theme of the old social order versus the new in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is more than a straightforward story about a boy and a runaway slave floating down the Mississippi River. What are the serious issues it addresses ?

Mention the ways in which Swift gets the reader to accept the fantastical people, places and phenomena in Gulliver's Travels.

"The women in Jane Austin's novels are more life-like than the men". How far is this comment applicable to Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice.