PREVIOUS QUESTIONS
16TH AND 17TH CENTURY POETRY
2014
English
Subject Code: 1173
16th and 17th century poetry
Time: 4 Hours Full Marks: 80
Part-A
1. Answer any ten of the following questions 1 × 10 = 10
a) What is Milton’s aim in writing “Paradise Lost”?
Ans: Milton's aim in writing Paradise Lost is to "justify the ways of God to men".
b) How is the sun scolded in “The Sun Rising’?
Ans: In "The Sun Rising", the sun is scolded by the poet as “Busy old fool, unruly sun”. He asks the sun to go and tell late schoolboys, apprentices, ants and hunters that it is dawn.
d) What is ‘Carpe-Diem Theory’? In which poem do you find it?
Ans: ‘Carpe Diem theory’ is the theory based on the Epicurean philosophy of enjoying the present without bothering about the future. We find the presence of this theory in "To His Coy Mistress" by Marvell.
e) How is the lady committing a crime in “To His Coy Mistress”?
Ans: The lady is committing a crime in the sense that she is not letting her lover make physical love with her because of her coyness even after knowing that they don’t have enough time in their disposal.
f) What is ‘metaphysical conceit’?
Ans: Metaphysical conceit is a figure of speech in which two dissimilar or far-fetched things /situations are compared. According to Dr. Johnson, metaphysical conceit yokes “the most heterogeneous ideas” by violence together.
g) Whom has ‘The Queene’ assigned the task of rescuing Una’s parents?
Ans: 'The Queene' has assigned the task of rescuing Una's parents to the Red Cross Knight.
h) What is Leviathan? In which poem do you find it?
Ans: Leviathan is a sea monster mentioned in the Old Testament. We find it in the poem Paradise Lost.
i) What does the Dwarf represent in “The Faerie Queene”?
Ans: In "The Faerie Queene", the Dwarf represents common sense, or common prudence of humble life.
j) What was Herbert’s reply to God’s calling him child’?
Ans: Herbert's reply to God's calling him 'Child' was the submissive words ‘My Lord’.
k) “Have I no harvest but a thorn?”—In which poem do you notice this line?
Ans: We notice this line in the poem “The Collar” by George Herbert.
l) What is the theme of the poem “Easter Wings”?
Ans: The central theme of the poem, "Easter Wings" is the utter moral and the spiritual degeneration of human beings and their salvation through Jesus Christ.
Part-B
Answer any five of the following questions: 4 × 5 = 20
2. How were the Red-cross Knight and Una entrapped by Archimago?
3. What impression of Lady Una do you have from “The Faerie Queene”?
4. Locate and explain the following lines:
But at my back I always here
Time’s winged chariot hurrying near.
5. How does Satan welcome his dwelling in hell?
6. How does Donne attain immortality in the poem “The Canonization”?
7. Locate and explain the following:
O Let me rise
As larks, harmoniously
And sing the day of the victories.
8. What is the nature of love between the poet and his beloved in “The Definition of Love”?
9. Identify and explain:
Infernal world and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new possessor. One who brings
A mind not be changed by place or time.
Part-C
Answer any five questions: 10 × 5 = 50
10. “The Faerie Queene” Book-1 is blended with epic and romantic qualities.’-Discuss.
11. ‘Satan is an embodiment of the Renaissance spirits’ Do you agree? Show your arguments.
12. Evaluate John Donne as a metaphysical love poet.
13. Write a critical appreciation of the poem. “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”.
14. How has Herbert used metaphysical conceits in his poem?
15. Write a note on Marvell as a poet of love.
16. Sketch the character of Lady Una.
17. Illustrate the significance of epic similes in “Paradise Lost” Book-1.
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