Critical commentary on Ode to Autumn by John Keats

 John Keats' *To Autumn* is one of his most celebrated odes, composed in 1819, and demonstrates complete mastery over the materials of the Romantic tradition. It is a richly sensory and deeply reflective ode to autumn. The following is a critical interpretation of the poem, focused on its themes, structure, language, and philosophical undercurrents.

### **Celebration of Autumn and the Natural World**

Keats's To Autumn is a meditation on the season as the moment of ripeness, completion, and the gentle transition into another season. While other poems describe spring or summer as the pinnacle of natural beauty, Keats attests to autumn's less showy, more mature phase in the cycle. For him, there is no rot but rather the absolute fullness of nature.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness," the poem starts, immediately grounding the reader in an atmosphere of richness and fulfillment. The fruits are heavy with ripeness, the fields full of harvested grain, and even the small creatures like bees are intoxicated by the late-blooming flowers. In this way, *To Autumn* is a hymn to the fullness and fruitfulness of nature: tasting the ripeness of life before it falls into decline in winter.

### Themes of Time and Transience

Behind Keats' paean to autumn lies a consciousness of time and evanescence. The season of ripeness marks also the end of the growing season, foreshadowing the advent of winter. However, Keats does not pessimistically stay in decay; instead, he sees beauty in the cyclical pattern of life. Autumn ripeness, after all does yield to decline; but Keats has that turn toward decay into a positive direction: change and transition as elements within life's eternal cycle.

This acknowledgment of transience aligns with Keats' broader philosophical vision, sometimes described using the term "negative capability"—his belief in his ability to bear uncertainty and mystery and not to be overmuch resolved into convictions of what is right or wrong. *In To Autumn*, Keats celebrates the ephemeral beauty of the season, in full awareness of its impermanence, but finds pleasure in this perfect moment of its being.

### **Imagery and Sensory Experience**

Poem *To Autumn* has many characteristics; one is its rich, sensory imagery. Keats engages all the senses while describing the visible images of the season. All are involved: the sights and sounds, even the feel of the season, in his rich vocabulary and keen detail to draw pictures of the fruit, the gourds swollen with ripeness, and the "budding more" that stretches out the bees' life. This first stanza is especially focused on aspects of sight and touch, portrayals of the natural world at its prime.

Keats becomes more centered upon sound as the poem progresses. In the second stanza, autumn is personified as a figure lying or laboring in the fields, and, in the third, he introduces the "music" of autumn, that is, the soft, mournful sounds of the season: the "wailful choir" of gnats, the bleating lambs, and the singing crickets. This sense chronology illustrates the languid draining of the season, as summer's mad energies give up to autumn's more sedate and contemplative rhythm.

### Anthropomorphism of Autumn

Keats anthropomorphizes autumn in the second stanza quite dramatically. He represents this season as an "out-door laborer,/ Sitting careless on a granary floor," resting after a long season of labor, or lying asleep in a field in which he has gathered in the harvest. Keats has given human-like qualities to the autumn season, thus breathing life and personality into it. Therefore, autumn was not only a natural phenomenon; it is that can be felt and viewed intimately, almost as an acquaintance.

This personification also evokes the sense that autumn is, like a man, experiencing his cycles of work, repose, and a silent, slow existence. This adds layers to Keats' description of the season as being more than a simple phase of the year but as metaphorical expression for life's rhythms of action and repose.

### Structure and Form

*To Autumn* consists of three stanzas with eleven lines each. In this regard it is a poetically balanced and controlled piece that mirrors the poem's calm and well-balanced mood. The rhyme scheme - ABAB CDE DCCE enhances this further sense of harmony and order. Keats' exactly controlled form very much reflects the completeness and fulfillment of the season of autumn. The stanzaic structure mirrors the natural cycles and rhythms of life that Keats celebrates.

### **Philosophical Implication**

More profoundly, *To Autumn* is a meditation in mortality or the embracing of impermanence. As autumn commemorates winter's approach and the end of the year is at hand, Keats does not treat it with something melancholy or regretful. He rather evokes the beauty of it in its own self. This reflects a bigger concern with the fleeting nature of human existence involved in the search for meaning and beauty within that transience.

Therefore, the poem is often viewed as mature reflection on life and death. Rather than lamenting the lost time, Keats holds some peace in the cycle of life in which every existence comes to be, grows, and then declines. The quiet and reflective rhythm of the poem underscores acceptance of this natural process and even an element of satisfaction in the knowledge that just as autumn stands still, so too does life.

### **Conclusion**

*To Autumn* is a rich, textured poem that catches the whole warmth and beauty of the season. Deeply and vividly using sensory imagery, the poem reflects on life and time with reverberations of personification and philosophical undertones in this fruitfulness of time and inevitable passage of life. Keats's ode is finally an ode to the existing moment, urging the reader to revel in the richness of the world even as it readies itself for its disappearance. It is his acceptance of transience and ability to find beauty within the mundane aspects of nature that form the words of the lovely lines, which make this a profound and most long-lasting piece of work.

compare and contrast between the poem Ulysses by Tennyson and the novel Ulysses by James Joyce

 While both Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Ulysses by James Joyce share the same title and draw inspiration from the mythological figure of Odysseus/Ulysses, they differ significantly in their content, style, and thematic concerns.

1. Style and Structure:

Tennyson's poem follows a traditional and formal poetic structure, utilizing blank verse and a consistent rhyme scheme. The language is elevated and lyrical, with a clear narrative structure and a focus on the inner thoughts and aspirations of Ulysses. In contrast, Joyce's Ulysses is a modernist novel characterized by its experimental narrative techniques and stream-of-consciousness writing. The novel is divided into 18 chapters, each employing a distinct narrative style and exploring the thoughts, experiences, and perspectives of various characters over the course of a single day.

2. Perspective and Characterization:

Tennyson's Ulysses presents a heroic and mythological figure. Ulysses is depicted as a restless adventurer yearning for new experiences, symbolizing the spirit of exploration and individualism. The poem primarily focuses on Ulysses' perspective and portrays him as a heroic protagonist. In contrast, Joyce's Ulysses presents a more complex and realistic portrayal of everyday life in early 20th-century Dublin. The novel features multiple characters, including Leopold Bloom, Stephen Dedalus, and Molly Bloom, and delves into their mundane routines, desires, and inner thoughts. The characters in Joyce's novel are flawed, ordinary individuals, offering a more nuanced and relatable portrayal of humanity.

3. Themes and Concerns:

Tennyson's Ulysses explores themes of adventure, nostalgia, the passage of time, and individualism. It reflects the Victorian fascination with progress, exploration, and the longing for a romanticized past. The poem celebrates the pursuit of personal fulfillment and the desire to break away from societal expectations. On the other hand, Joyce's Ulysses delves into themes of identity, sexuality, religion, politics, and the complexities of human relationships. It provides a critical and satirical commentary on Dublin society and engages with modernist concerns, such as fragmentation, uncertainty, and the exploration of the human psyche.

4. Reception and Influence:

Tennyson's Ulysses was well-received during the Victorian era and has remained a celebrated poem in English literature. It has influenced subsequent works and has been quoted and referenced in various contexts. Joyce's Ulysses, on the other hand, initially faced controversy and censorship due to its explicit content and experimental style. However, it has since become recognized as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. Joyce's novel revolutionized the form of the novel and has had a profound impact on modernist literature and narrative experimentation.

In conclusion, while both works bear the name Ulysses and draw inspiration from the same mythological figure, they diverge significantly in their style, structure, perspective, themes, and reception. Tennyson's poem is a lyrical celebration of adventure and individualism, while Joyce's novel is an experimental exploration of everyday life and human consciousness. Both works, however, demonstrate the enduring fascination with the mythological figure of Ulysses and his relevance as a symbol of human desires, struggles, and aspirations.

Crack the NTA NET English Literature Exam with Our Mock Test: Prepare for Success!

Mock test on English literature for NTA NET:

1. Who is considered the father of English literature?

a) William Shakespeare

b) Geoffrey Chaucer

c) John Milton

d) Samuel Taylor Coleridge

2. Which novel is considered a key work of the Victorian era and explores themes of social class and gender roles?

a) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

b) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

c) Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

d) Middlemarch by George Eliot

3. Who is the author of the play "The Importance of Being Earnest"?

a) Oscar Wilde

b) George Bernard Shaw

c) Samuel Beckett

d) T.S. Eliot

4. Which poet is associated with the Romantic movement and wrote "Ode to a Nightingale"?

a) John Keats

b) Lord Byron

c) William Wordsworth

d) Percy Bysshe Shelley

5. Who is the author of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

a) Harper Lee

b) F. Scott Fitzgerald

c) Ernest Hemingway

d) Mark Twain

6. Which poet is known for his metaphysical poetry and wrote "The Flea" and "To His Coy Mistress"?

a) John Donne

b) Andrew Marvell

c) John Milton

d) Alexander Pope

7. Who is the author of the play "Hamlet"?

a) William Shakespeare

b) Christopher Marlowe

c) Ben Jonson

d) Thomas Middleton

8. Which American author wrote the novel "Moby-Dick"?

a) Nathaniel Hawthorne

b) Mark Twain

c) Herman Melville

d) Emily Dickinson

9. Who is the author of the poem "The Waste Land"?

a) T.S. Eliot

b) W.B. Yeats

c) Robert Frost

d) Langston Hughes

10. Which literary movement emerged in the 20th century and focused on the inner thoughts and experiences of characters?

a) Modernism

b) Romanticism

c) Realism

d) Postmodernism

Answers:

1. b) Geoffrey Chaucer

2. a) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

3. a) Oscar Wilde

4. a) John Keats

5. a) Harper Lee

6. b) Andrew Marvell

7. a) William Shakespeare

8. c) Herman Melville

9. a) T.S. Eliot

10. a) Modernism

Introduction to Lucy Poems by Wordsworth and Analysis of SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS

 Introduction to Lucy Poems by Wordsworth and Analysis of SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS

Introduction on Lucy Poems

The five short poems known as 'lucy poems' were written by Wordsworth during his brief stay in

Germany or shortly thereafter. "Three years she grew in sun and shower" was composed in the

Hartz Forest in 1798."A slumber did my spirit seal" was also written in Germany sometime in

1798 it was this poem which Wordsworth sent to Coleridge and Coleridge remarked on this

poem--"some months ago Wordsworth transmitted to me a most sublime epitaph".

The sequence of Lucy poem according to the the date of composition

1. Strange fits of passion I have known. 2. She dwelt among the untrodden ways. 3. Three years she grew in the sun and shower. 4. A slumber did my spirit seal. 5. I travelled among unknown men.

Who is lucy

The real identity of Lucy has never been unraveled in Lucy series. Lucy may or may not

be based off a real life inspiration. No body knows who Lucy was. Although there has

been controversy among many critics that Dorothy maybe Lucy or perhaps his wife, Mary but it seems more probable to us that Lucy is just a product of his poetic

imagination , she is likely a fictional, idealised English girl, a literary device used to

convey his themes of Lucy poems. She is fantasy and dream, an imagined ideal who

cannot exit in the real world. The name 'Lucy' works as poetic muse to Wordsworth's Lucy series.

                              She dwelt among the untrodden ways

This poem was a three stanza poem written by English romantic port

William Wordsworth in 1798 when he was 28 years old. The verse was first

printed in Lyrical Ballads, in 1800. It was described about women feelings

of loneliness and loss, and describe the beauty and dignity of an idealised

women who lived unnoticed by all others. She dwelt among the untrodden ways --> Line 1 a

 She-->Lucy, Lucy lived such a place which is never visited by

someone. Untrodden means untouched and that signifies Lucy is

virgin, no body touched her.

Beside the spring of dove--> line 2 b

 Springs-->origin, Lucy lived decide the prince of dove or hear the place

in the English countryside (Specifically, the Midlands, a rural area

south of Manchester) where the Dove river rises from the earth and

begins its flow. 

A maid whome there were none to praise--> line 3 a

A maid is an an unmarried woman. It also means that woman is a a virgin, youth and innocent. The poet laments for Lucy because she is living

unvisited place, there were none to praise her.

 And very few to love -- line 4 (V.V.I) b

Lucy is practically ignored by others. No one praised her and hardly

anyone loved her. But the "very few" implies that the poet or the speaker

was one of those few. It also denotes that Lucy was loving one to the

speaker, poet. 

A Violet by a mossy stone -->line 5 (V.V.I) c

The word 'violet' in that line is comparison between Lucy and violet. A

'violet' is a beautiful flower and when compared to Lucy, and

automatically it described that her beauty was blocked by moss or by the

luck of freedom to show hard beauties. 

Half hidden from the eye! -->line 6 d

The word half hidden means that Lucy was unexplored women. Because

no one was interested in her. She was unnoticed, untouched, and

overlooked. However, not just in a a physical sense but also in an

emotional one as well. Lucy was depressed in herself because of that.

Fair as star, when only one -->line 7 c

Is shining in the sky-->line 8(V.V.I) d

Her fairness looks like a star, here the poet apparently denotes that he

used the word 'star' as a smile, which is actually "Venus" . Because we

know Venus appears and shines in the sky alone. And we also know

Venus is the brightest star in the sky. And Venus is compared to Lucy's

fairness.

She lived unknown, and few could know--> line 9 e

When Lucy ceased to be ; line 10 f

Line 9--> begins with the phrase "she lived unknown" that simply repeated

the message to the readers deepen the speaker's portrait of Lucy as a

young woman who lived alone and unappreciated. Ceased to be-->died, Lucy " lived unknown" and the reason the speaker says there is few had the

capacity to know the news about Lucy's death, hardly anyone knew the

news "few could know" the speaker was one of those few. Poet used

"ceased to be" to avoid painful language.

But she is in her grave, and, oh --> line 11e

The difference to me! -->line 12 (V.V.I) f

In the poem's final line, keeping aside all hesitations from the reader's

mind, the poet firmly acknowledges Lucy's death by using the line "she is

in her grave". The effect of Lucy's death is different one to the poet

because Lucy was the loving one to him here the employment of the

exclamation at the end of poem the signifies the melancholy of the poet's

heart. (Whereas line 10 evades the fact of lucy's death the poet used "ceased to

be" to avoid death's painful languages but line11 acknowledges it firmly

"she is in her grave".)

                    Figure of speech from the poem

"She dwelt among the untrodden ways" 1. "Beside the spring of Dove" (Allusion)

2. A violet by a mossy stone (Metaphor

Explanation--> here Lucy is compared to a violet flower and also

Lucy compared to a mossy stone. 3. Fair as a star (smile)

4. Fair as a star, when only one is shining in the sky (Allusion)

Explanation-->this line implicitly refers to "Venus" , the Roman

goddess of love, beauty, fertility and sex. 5. She lived unknown and few could know (Polyptoton)

English literature all periods Short overview

English literature all periods Short overview

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Similar works title in literature with different authors

Works of Similar title in literature with different authors

Some important facts in Literature

Some important facts in Literature

1.     Mathew Prior’s Alma is an imitation of Hudibras.*
2.   Solomon is a long and serious poem by Addison.*

3.     Pope’s two translated works are Iliad and Odyssey.*

4.      Moral Essays was written by Pope.*

5.     Horace Walpole: Life is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel.*

6.     Treasure Island is a famous moment of Stevenson.*

7.  Sheridan’s play The Rivals came out in 1775, his School for scandal came out in 1777.*

8.  Robinson Crusoe – Friday (Cannibal). The Vicar ofWakefield – Moses, Olivia, Sophia.*

9.   The first of the ‘robot’ books – Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley.*

10.      Don Quixote (a Picaresque novel) – Written by Cervantes, Moll Flanders (a picaresque novel) – written by Defoe.*


 11.  There are 18 books in Tom Jones. This novel by Fielding is dedicated to George Littleton.*

12.   Thomas Chesterton (1752-70), a poet of the Pre-Romantic period committed suicide at the age of 18.*

13.    Doer’s Lament has the constant refrain “that was lived through, so can this be” or in other words, “his sorrow passed away, so will mine”.*

14.       Ulysses (1922) a novel by James Joyce is set in a single day in Dublin, the hero is leopald Bloom.*

15.     Of Human Bondage (1915), the autobiographical novel of Somerset Maugham is a study in frustration.*

16.    Dylan Thomas' Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog(1940) is a collection of short stories.*

17. Robinson Crusoe an adventurous tale by Daniel Defoe (1659-1731) which appeared in 1719 was inspired to a slight extent by the adventures of the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, whom Defoe had interviewed at Bristol.*

18. A Tale of Tub, a brilliant satire on roman Catholics and Calvinists, on critics and bad writers; The Battle of the books, a satiric by product of the Bentley controversy;Gulliver’s Travels – written by Swift.*

19. In 1740 Samuel Richardson published his novel Pamela. Fielding saw that it would be amusing to burlesque this novel by writing in a similar manner about a hero instead of about a heroine, and so upset Richardson’s prudential system of morality. Thus Fielding wrote Joseph Andrewsin 1742. It ran far beyond its original design of being a burlesque, and became a novel of life and manners.*

20.        The expedition of Humphrey Clinker (1771) is Smollett’s masterpiece as Tom Jones is Fielding’s. The novel is written in epistolary form. Bramble, Mrs. Tabitha and Lismahago are the best portraits in his gallery.*

21.  Smollett’s the Adventures of Roderick Random written in 1748 is largely, though not wholly autobiographical novel.It is especially excellent in its delineation of British tar.*

22.    In 1750 Johnson commences to publish The Rambler, a paper modeled up on The Spectator.*

23.   Johnson completed and published his Dictionary in 1775. It is considered best and he was thought to be a match, single handed, for the forty members of the French Academy.*

24.   She stoops to Conquer by Goldsmith is a splendid comedy of intrigue, introducing lively and farcical    incidents   and highly drawn pictures of eccentric characters.*

25. The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope (a mock-heroic epic written in 1772 & 1774) was written in a  fanciful and ingenious mock-heroic style based on a true story.*
 “WHAT dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs,
What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things,
I sing—This Verse to CARYL, Muse! is due;
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchfafe to view:
Slight is the Subject, but not so the Praise,
If She inspire, and He approve my Lays.”- *these are the famous lines from* *Alexander Pope's mock epic The Rape of the Lock canto I*

26. The first successful American political newspaper, theBoston News-Letter, was founded in 1704*

English Net exam paper of June 2010

English Net exam paper of June 2010

1. The epithet “a comic epic in prose” is best applied to

(A) Richardson’s Pamela

(B) Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey
(C) Fielding’s Tom Jones
(D) Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe


2. Muriel Spark has written a dystopian novel called

(A) Memento Mori

(B) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

(C) Robinson

(D) The Ballad of Peckham Rye

3. Samuel Butler’s Erewhon is an example of

(A) Feminist Literature
(B) Utopian Literature
(C) War Literature
(D) Famine Literature


4. The line “moments of unageing intellect” occurs in Yeats’s

(A) Byzantium
(B) Among School Children
(C) Sailing to Byzantium
(D) The Circus Animals’ Desertion


5. In his 1817 review of Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria, Francis Jeffrey grouped the following poets together as the ‘Lake School of Poets’:

(A) Keats, Wordsworth and Coleridge
(B) Wordsworth, Byron and Coleridge
(C) Blake, Wordsworth and Coleridge
(D) Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey


6. Which of the following novels is not by Patrick White?

(A) The Vivisector
(B) The Tree of Man
(C) Voss
(D) Oscar and Lucienda


7. The famous line “……. where ignorant armies clash by night” is taken from a poem by

(A) Wilfred Owen
(B) W.H. Auden
(C) Siegfried Sassoon
(D) Matthew Arnold


8. Which among the following novels is not written by Margaret Atwood?

(A) Surfacing
(B) The Blind Assassin
(C) The Handmaid’s Tale
(D) The Stone Angel


9. The term ‘theatre of cruelty’ was coined by 

(A) Robert Brustein
(B) Antonin Artaud
(C) Augusto Boal
(D) Luigi Pirandello


10. The verse form of Byron’s Childe Haroldwas influenced by

(A) Milton
(B) Spenser
(C) Shakespeare
(D) Pope


11. Tennyson’s Ulysses is

(I) a poem expressing the need for going forward and braving the struggles of life
(II) a dramatic monologue
(III) a morbid poem
(IV) a poem making extensive use of satire 

The right combination for the above statement, according to the code, is

(A) I & IV
(B) II and III
(C) III and IV
(D) I and II


12. Which post-war British poet was involved in a disastrous marriage with Sylvia Plath?

(A) Philip Larkin
(B) Ted Hughes
(C) Stevie Smith
(D) Geoffrey Hill


13. Chaucer’s Parliament of Fowles is in part

(I) a puzzle
(II) a debate
(III) a threnody
(IV) a beast fable

The correct combination for the above statement, according to the code, is

(A) I, II & IV
(B) II, III & IV
(C) I & IV
(D) II & IV


14. Who among the following wrote a book with the title The Age of Reason ?

(A) William Godwin
(B) Edmund Burke
(C) Thomas Paine
(D) Edward Gibbon


15. The Restoration comedy has been criticized mainly for its

(A) excessive wit and humour
(B) bitter satire and cynicism
(C) indecency and permissiveness
(D) superficial reflection of society


16. Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses is an essay by

(A) Terry Eagleton
(B) Karl Marx
(C) Raymond Williams
(D) Louis Althusser


17. Sexual possessiveness is a theme of Shakespeare’s

(A) Coriolanus
(B) Julius Caesar
(C) Henry IV Part – I
(D) A Midsummer Night’s Dream


18. The term ‘Cultural Materialism’ is associated with

(A) Stephen Greenblatt
(B) Raymond Williams
(C) Matthew Arnold
(D) Richard Hoggart


19. Which of the following author book pair is correctly matched ?

(A) Muriel Spark – Under the Net
(B) William – Girls of Golding Slender Means
(C) Angus Wilson – Lucky Jim
(D) Doris Lessing – The Grass is Singing


20. Who among the following is a Canadian critic?

(A) I.A. Richards
(B) F.R. Leavis
(C) Cleanth Brooks
(D) Northrop Frye


21. Sethe is a character in

(A) The Colour Purple
(B) The Women of Brewster Place
(C) Beloved
(D) Lucy


22. Imagined Communities is a book by

(A) Aijaz Ahmad
(B) Edward Said
(C) Perry Anderson
(D) Benedict Anderson


23. Who among the following is a Cavalier poet?

(A) Henry Vaughan
(B) Richard Crashaw
(C) John Suckling
(D) Anne Finch


24. Which play of Wilde has the subtitle, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People ?

(A) A Woman of No Importance
(B) Lady Windermere’s Fan
(C) The Importance of Being Earnest
(D) An Ideal Husband


25. Which of the following plays is not written by Wole Soyinka ?

(A) The Lion and the Jewel
(B) The Dance of the Forests
(C) Master Harold and the Boys
(D) Kongi’s Harvest

26. Which of the following plays by William Wycherley is in part an adaptation of Moliere’s The Misanthrope ?

(A) The Plain Dealer
(B) The Country Wife
(C) Love in a Wood
(D) The Gentleman Dancing Master


27. ‘Inversion’ is the change in the word order for creating rhetorical effect, e.g. this book I like. Another term for inversion is 

(A) Hypallage
(B) Hubris
(C) Haiku
(D) Hyperbaton


28. The phrase ‘the willing suspension of disbelief ’ occurs in 

(A) Biographia Literaria
(B) Preface to Lyrical Ballads
(C) In Defence of Poetry
(D) Poetics


29. The religious movement ‘Methodism’ in the 18th century England was founded by

(A) John Tillotson
(B) Bishop Butler
(C) Bernard Mandeville
(D) John Welsey


30. My First Acquaintance with Poets, an unforgettable account of meeting with literary heroes, is written by

(A) Charles Lamb
(B) Thomas de Quincey
(C) Leigh Hunt
(D) William Hazlitt

31. The figure of the Warrior Virgin in Spenser’s Faerie Queene is represented by the character

(A) Britomart
(B) Gloriana
(C) Cynthia
(D) Duessa


32. The book Speech Acts is written by

(A) John Austin
(B) John Searle
(C) Jacques Derrida
(D) Ferdinand de Saussure


33. Which among the following is not a sonnet sequence ?

(A) Philip Sydney – Astrophel and Stella
(B) Samuel Daniel – Delia
(C) Derek Walcott – Omeroos
(D) D.G. Rossetti – The House of Life


34. ‘Incunabula’ refers to 

(A) books censured by the Roman Emperor
(B) books published before the year 1501
(C) books containing an account of myths and rituals
(D) books wrongly attributed to an author


35. The most notable achievement in Jacobean prose was

(A) Bacon’s Essays
(B) King James’ translation of the Bible
(C) Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy
(D) None of the above


36. The Court of Chancery is a setting in Dickens’

(A) Little Dorrit
(B) Hard Times
(C) Dombey and Son
(D) Bleak House


37. Which romantic poet coined the famous phrase ‘spots of time’?

(A) John Keats
(B) William Wordsworth
(C) S.T. Coleridge
(D) Lord Byron


38. The statement ‘I think, therefore, I am’ is by

(A) Schopenhauer
(B) Plato
(C) Descartes
(D) Sartre


39. Verse that has no set theme – no regular meter, rhyme or stanzaic pattern is

(I) open form
(II) flexible form
(III) free verse
(IV) blank verse

The correct combination for the statement, according to the code, is

(A) I, II and III are correct
(B) III and IV are correct
(C) II, III and IV are correct
(D) I and III are correct


40. Which is the correct sequence of publication of Pinter’s plays?

(A) The Room, One for the Road, No Man’s Land, The Homecoming
(B) The Homecoming, No Man’s Land, The Room, One for the Road
(C) The Room, The Homecoming, No Man’s Land, One for the Road
(D) One for the Road, The Room, The Home coming, No Man’s Land


41. Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language was published in the year

(A) 1710
(B) 1755
(C) 1739
(D) 1759


42. The literary prize, Booker of Bookers, was awarded to

(A) J.M. Coetzee
(B) Nadine Gordimer
(C) Martin Amis
(D) Salman Rushdie


43. In Keats’ poetic career, the most productive year was

(A) 1816
(B) 1817
(C) 1820
(D) 1819


44. Pope’s The Rape of the Lock was published in 1712 in

(A) three cantos
(B) four cantos
(C) five cantos
(D) two cantos


45. Stephen Dedalus is a fictional character associated with

I. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
II. Sons and Lovers
III. Ulysses
IV. The Heart of Darkness

The correct combination for the above statement according to the code is

(A) I &; II
(B) I, II &; III
(C) III &; IV
(D) I &; III


46. In Moby Dick Captain Ahab falls for his

(A) ignorance
(B) pride
(C) courage
(D) drunkenness


47. The first complete printed English Bible was produced by

(A) William Tyndale
(B) William Caxton
(C) Miles Coverdale
(D) Roger Ascham


48. Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Mary Barton is sub-titled

(A) The Two Nations
(B) A Tale of Manchester Life
(C) A Story of Provincial Life
(D) The Factory Girl


49. Some of the Jacobean playwrights were prolific. One of them claimed to have written 200 plays. The playwright is

(A) John Ford
(B) Thomas Dekker
(C) Philip Massinger
(D) Thomas Heywood


50. The concept of “Star-equilibrium” in connection with man-woman relationship appears in

(A) Women in Love
(B) Maurice
(C) Mrs. Dalloway
(D) The Old Wives’ Tales