Practice Paper

Semester 2

CORE- INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH

Nissim Ezekiel—‘The Night of the Scorpion’

I. Long answer questions (10 marks):-

1. Critically assess the element of ‘Indianness’ in Nissim Ezekiel’s “The Night of the

Scorpion”.

2. Comment on the representation of society in Nissim Ezekiel’s “The Night of the

Scorpion”.

3. Critically appreciate Nissim Ezekiel’s “The Night of the Scorpion”.

4. Comment on the tone of the narrator in Nissim Ezekiel’s “The Night of the Scorpion”.

5. How does Nissim Ezekiel portray a picture of superstition in Nissim Ezekiel’s “The

Night of the Scorpion”.

II. Reference to the context (5 marks):-

i. My mother only said

Thank God the scorpion picked on me

And spared my children.

ii. The peasants came like swarms of flies

and buzzed the name of God a hundred times

to paralyse the Evil One.

iii. My father, sceptic, rationalist,

trying every curse and blessing,

powder, mixture, herb and hybrid.

iv. May he sit still, they said

May the sins of your previous birth

be burned away tonight, they said.

v. More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours,

more insects, and the endless rain.

CORE: BRITISH POETRY & DRAMA (14TH -17TH C)

Andrew Marvell, ‘To His Coy Mistress’

I. Long answer questions (10 marks):-

1. Critically analyse Andrew Marvell’s “To his Coy Mistress”.

2. Assess Andrew Marvell’s “To his Coy Mistress” as love poem with a difference.

3. Comment on the use of conceits in Andrew Marvell’s “To his Coy Mistress.

4. Write a critical estimation of Andrew Marvell’s “To his Coy Mistress” as a metaphysical

poem.

5. Write a note on the carpe diem motif as used in Andrew Marvell’s “To his Coy Mistress”

II. Reference to the context (5 marks):-

i. Had we but world enough and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime.

ii. And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

 Than languish in his slow-chapped power.

iii. Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

iv. I would

Love you ten years before the flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.

v. My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires and more slow;

vi.  But at my back I always hear

Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.