Test Papers / Previous Question Papers of IGNOU MEG1 British Poetry December 2006

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN ENGLISH
Term-End Examination

MEG-1 : BRITISH POETRY

Time: 3 hours
Maximum Marks: 100

Note : Attempt any five of the following questions including question number 1 which is compulsory. All question carry equal marks.

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with reference to the context in not more than 150 words each : 4∗5=20;

(i) 'Till, swollen with cunning of a self-conceit,

His waxen wings did mount above his reach,

And, melting, heavens conspired his overthrow

(ii) 'lt's Pegeen I'm seeking only, and what'd I care if

you brought me a drift of chosen females, standing

in their shifts itself, maybe, from this place to the

eastern world ?'

(iii) The wisest aunt , telling the saddest tale,

sometimes for three-foot stool mistaketh me;

Then slip I from her bum, down topples she.

(iv) To all mankind they were addressed those cries for

help still ringing in our ears ! But at his place, at this

moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not.

(v) Of course I know you don't mean her any harm; but

when you get what you call interested in people's

accents, you never think or care what may happen

to them or you. Come with me , Eliza.

2. Write a long note on : The Modernist conception of character in drama. (400 words) 20

OR :

Would you agree that 'the aspirations of Marlowe's Faustus are those of the Renaissance' ? Justify your answer. (400 words).

3. What aret he different ways in which Shakespeare tries to please his contemporary audience - both the aristocrats and the commoners - in A Midsummer Night's Dream ? (400 words) 20

OR

Compare and comment on the different functions of the play within a play in A Midsummer Night's Dream and in Hamlet. (400 words)

4. To what extent is Jonson's caricature of individual follies and foibles in The Alchemist a satiric attack on Jacobean society? Discuss.( 400 words) 20

OR

How does Jonson use Lovewit's house to bring together the diverse characters and maintain the Unities in The Alchemist ? (400 words)

5. Despite the farcical situations in The Playboy of the Western World Synge's play is finally a dark comedy. Discuss(400 words) 20

6. Analyse the significance of the two transformations( Eliza and her father Doolittle) in Pygmalion. (400 words) 20

OR

Would you agree that 'practically nothing happens ... and there is no beginning and no end' in Waiting Godot ? Give reasons for your answer.

7. Write short notes on any two of the following in not more than 200 words each : 2x10:20

(i) Feminist criticism

(ii) Soliloquy in Elizabethan drama

(iii) The Irish Literary Renaissance

(iv) Becket's Christmas sermon