Calicut University 2009 B.A English Main – I, Poetry - Question Paper

I. Annotate any 5 of the subsequent passages :
1) Look, and tomorrow late tell me
Whether both the Indias of spice and mine
Be where you leftest them, or lie here with me.
2) The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
3) Be thou, spirit fierce,
My spirit, Be thou me, impetuous one
4) Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter : therefore, ye soft pipes, play on.
5) The instant made eternity –
And heaven just prove that I and she
Ride, ride together, forever ride ?
6) Players and painted stage took all my love,
And not those things that they were emblems of.
7) Earth's the right place for love :
I don't know where it is likely to go better.
8) How can I face such slaughter and be cool ?
How can I turn from Africa and live ? (5×4=20 Marks)

II. learn the passage carefully and ans the ques. that follow :
Who wouldnot sing for Lycidas ? he knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
He must not float upon his watery bier
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind,
Without the meed of a few melodious tear.
start then, Sisters of the sacred well,
That from below the sea of Jove doth spring,
Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string.
1) Who is Lycidas ?
2) What does 'watery bier' refer to ?
3) discuss 'melodious tear'.
4) Who are 'the Sisters of the sacred well' ?
5) Who is Jove ? (2×5=10 Marks)

III. Write on any 5 of the following, every in a snippet of about eighty words :
1) The digressions in 'Lycidas'.
2) How is Gray's 'Elegy' various from other elegies ?
3) Consider 'Kublakhan' as an allegory of poetic faculty.
4) What leads to the spiritual sublimation of the lover in 'Last Ride Together' ?
5) Trace the progression of 'Birches' from simplicity to wisdom.
6) Comment on the uniqueness of the poem 'Tonight I can Write the Saddest
Lines'.
7) What is the theme of 'Woman's Song' ?
8) Comment on the use of humour in 'Hatred'. (5×4=20 Marks)

IV. With reference to 'Tintern Abbey Lines' trace the different stages in the evolution of
Wordsworth's attitude to Nature.
OR
Consider 'The Circus Animals' Desertion' as a lament on the loss of poetic faculty.
(1×20=20 Marks)

V. 'Home is a Concept' is a poem on the hunger for love' – explain.
OR
Examine 'In the Secular Night' as a reflective poem on the loss of spirituality.
(1×20=20 Marks)

VI. Write on any 2 of the following, every in a snippet of about eighty words :
1) Pathetic fallacy
2) The epic
3) Rhythm as a vehicle of poetic feeling. (2×5=10 Marks)

Earning:   Approval pending.