YISHUN JUNIOR COLLEGE

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS

LITERATURE IN ENGLISH 8810/01

HIGHER 1 9725/01
PAPER 1 READING LITERATURE 20 August 2008
3 HOURS
Additional materials: Writing paper
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INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES

Set texts may be taken into the examination room.
Texts may bear underlining or highlighting. Nothing should be written in the texts.
Any kind of folding or flagging in the texts (e.g. use of post-its, tape flags or paper clips)
is not permitted.

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS

Write your name and CTG on all the work you hand in.
Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper.
Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid.

Answer three questions, one from each of Sections A, B and C.

You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.

Start each question on a fresh sheet of paper.

If you are unable to attempt the paper, submit a blank sheet with your name and CTG.

At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together.
All questions in this paper carry equal marks.

Setters: Mr George Spencer & Mr Eugene Sng

This document consists of nine printed pages and one blank page.
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Section A

Q1

Either (a) Compare and contrast the following poems, considering carefully
how the poets’ choice of form, diction and imagery contribute to
meaning. Poem A is by Lady Katherine Dyer (ca. 1600 – 1654) and
Poem B is by Ted Hughes (1930-1998).

A Epitaph on the monument of Sir William Dyer at Colmworth, 1641

My dearest dust could not thy hasty day

Afford thy drowsy patience leave to stay
One hour longer; so that we might either
Sat up, or gone to bed together?
But since thy finished labour hath possessed 5
Thy weary limbs with early rest,
Enjoy it sweetly; and thy widow bride
Shall soon repose her by thy slumbering side;
Whose business, now is only to prepare
My nightly dress, and call to prayer: 10
Mine eyes wax heavy and the day grows old
The dew falls thick, my blood grows cold;
Draw, draw the closed curtains and make room:
My dear, my dearest dust; I come, I come.
 3

B The Stone

Has not yet been cut.

It is too heavy already
For consideration. Its edges
Are so super-real, already,
And at this distance, 5
They cut real cuts in the unreal
Stuff of just thinking. So I leave it.
Somewhere it is.
Soon it will come.
I shall not carry it. With horrible life 10
It will transport its face, with sure strength,
To sit over mine, wherever I look,
Instead of hers.
It will even have across its brow
Her name. 15

Somewhere it is coming to the end

Of its million million years –
Which have worn her out.
It is coming to the beginning
Of her million million years 20
Which will wear out it.

Because she will never move now

Till it is worn out.
She will not move now
Till everything is worn out. 25
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Or (b) Compare and contrast the following poems. Poem A is ‘Trout’ by

Seamus Heaney and Poem B is ‘Starlings’ by Norman MacCaig. Discuss
how each poet has chosen to present his subject matter and how your
reading of one informs the other.

A Trout

Hangs, a fat gun-barrel,

deep under arched bridges
or slips like butter down
the throat of the river

From depths smooth-skinned as plums 5

his muzzle gets bull’s eye;
picks off grass-seed and moths that vanish, torpedoed.

Where water unravels

over gravel beds he
is fired from the shallows 10
white belly reporting

flat; darts like a tracer-

bullet back between stones
and is never burnt out.
A volley of cold blood. 15

Ramrodding the current.

 5

B Starlings

Can you keep it so,

cool tree, making a blue cage
for an obstreperous population? –
for a congregation of mediaeval scholars
quarrelling in several languages? – 5
for busybodies marketing
in the bazaar of green leaves? –
for clockwork fossils that can’t be still even
when the Spring runs down?
No tree, no blue cage can contain 10
that restlessness. They whirr off
and sow themselves in a scattered handful
on the grass – and are
bustling monks
tilling their green precincts. 15
 6

Section B

RK Narayan: The Guide

Q2

Either (a) ‘Narayan’s interest lies in the complexity of human psychology’.

Discuss Rosie’s characterization in the light of this statement.

Or (b) Write a critical appreciation of the following passage, showing how

Narayan’s use of setting and characterization is typical here and
elsewhere.

One thing I learned in my career as a tourist guide was that no two

persons were interested in the same thing. Tastes, as in food, differ also
in sightseeing. Some people want to be seeing a waterfall, some want a
ruin (oh, how ecstatic when they see cracked plaster, broken idols, and
crumbling bricks), some want a god to worship, some look for a 5
hydroelectric plant, and some want just a nice place, such as a bungalow
on top of Mempi with all-glass sides, from where you could see a
hundred miles and observe wild game prowling around. Of those again
there were two types, one the poet who was content to watch and return,
and the other who wanted to admire nature and also get drunk there. I 10
don’t know why it is so: a fine poetic spot like Mempi Peak House
excites in certain natures unexpected reactions. I know some who
brought women there; a quiet, wooded spot looking over a valley one
would think fit for contemplations or poetry, but it only acted as an
aphrodisiac. Well, it was not my business to comment. My business 15
stopped with taking them there, and to see that Gaffur went back to pick
them up at the right time.
I was sort of scared of the man who acted as my examiner, who had a
complete list of all the sights and insisted on his money’s worth. “What
is the population of this town?” “What is the area?” “Don’t bluff. I 20
know when exactly that was built – it is not the second-century but the
twelfth.” Often he told me the correct pronunciation of words. “R-o-u-t
is not…” I was meek, self-effacing in his presence and accepted his
corrections with gratitude, and he always ended up asking, “What is the
use of your calling yourself a guide if you do not know…?” et cetera. 25
You may well ask what I made out of all this? Well, there is no fixed
answer to it. It depended upon the circumstances and the types of people
I was escorting. I generally specified ten rupees as the minimum for the
pleasure of my company, and a little more if I had to escort them far;
over all this Gaffur, the photo stores, the hotel manager, and whoever I 30
introduced a customer to expressed their appreciation, according to a
certain schedule. I learned while I taught and earned while I learned,
and the whole thing was most enjoyable.
There were special occasions, such as the trapping of an elephant
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herd. During the winter months the men of the Forest Department put 35
through an elaborate scheme for trapping elephants. They watched,
encircled, and drove a whole herd into stockades, and people turned up
in great numbers to watch the operation. On the day fixed for the drive,
people poured in from all over the country and applied for a ringside
seat in the spacious bamboo jungles of Mempi. I was supposed to have 40
special influence with the men who were in charge of the drive: it meant
several advance trips to the forest camp, and doing little services for the
official by fetching whatever they required from the town, and when the
time came to arrange for the viewing of the elephant-drive, only those
who came with me were allowed to pass through the gates of the special 45
enclosures. It kept all of us happy and busy and well paid. I escorted
visitors in bunches and went hoarse repeating, “You see, the wild herd
is watched for months…” and so forth. Don’t imagine that I cared for
elephants personally; anything that interested my tourists was also my
interest. The question of my preferences was secondary. If someone 50
wanted to see a tiger or shoot one, I knew where to arrange it: I arranged
for the lamb to bait the tiger, and had high platforms built so that the
brave hunters might pop off the poor beast when it came to eat the lamb,
although I never liked to see either the lamb or the tiger die. If someone
wanted to see a king cobra spread its immense hood, I knew the man 55
who could provide the show.
 8

Section C

William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra

Q3
Either (a) “Husband, I come.
Now to that name my courage prove my title!”

How adequately does this statement sum up Cleopatra’s character

and role in the play?

Or (b) Write a detailed commentary on the following passage, commenting

on what its language and dramatic action inform an audience about
the principal characters at this stage of the play.

DECRETAS I say, O Caesar, that Antony is dead.

CAESAR The breaking of so great a thing should make
A greater crack. The round world
Should have shook lions into civil streets
And citizens to their dens. The death of Antony 5
Is not a single doom; in the name lay
A moiety of the world.
DECRETAS He is dead Caesar.
Not by a public minister of justice
Nor by a hired knife; but that self hand 10
Which writ his honour in the acts it did
Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it,
Splitted the heart. This is his sword;
I robbed his wound of it. Behold it stained
With his most noble blood. 15
CAESAR Look you, sad friends.
The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings
To wash the eyes of kings.
AGRIPPA And strange it is
That nature must compel us to lament 20
Our most persisted deeds.
MAECENAS His taints and honours
Waged equal with him.
AGRIPPA A rarer spirit never
Did steer humanity. But you gods will give us 25
Some faults to make us men. Caesar is touched.
MAECENAS When such a spacious mirror’s set before him,
He needs must see himself.
CAESAR O Antony,
I have followed thee to this. But we do launch 30
Diseases in our bodies. I must perforce
Have shown to thee such a declining day
 9

Or look on thine. We could not stall together

In the whole world. But yet me lament
With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts 35
That thou, my brother, my competitor
In top of all design, my mate in empire,
Friend and companion in the front of war,
The arm of mine own body, and the heart
Where mine his thoughts did kindle – that our stars, 40
Unreconciliable, should divide
Our equalness to this. Hear me, good friends –
(Enter an Egyptian.)
But I will tell you at some meeter season.
The business of this man looks out of him;
We’ll hear him what he says. Whence are you? 45
EGYPTIAN A poor Egyptian yet. The queen my mistress,
Confined in all she has, her monument,
Of thy intents desires instruction,
That she preparedly may frame herself
To th’way she’s forced to. 50
CAESAR Bid her have good heart.
She shall soon know of us, by some of ours,
How honourable and kindly we
Determine for her. For Caesar cannot live
To be ungentle. 55
EGYPTIAN So the gods preserve thee! Exit.
CAESAR Come hither, Proculeius. Go and say
We purpose her no shame. Give her what comforts
The quality of her passion shall require
Lest in her greatness, by some mortal stroke,
She do defeat us. For her life in Rome 60
Would be eternal in our triumph. Go,
With your speediest brings us what she says
And how you find her.
PROCULEIUS Caesar, I shall. Exit
CAESAR Gallus, go you along. Exit Gallus. 65
Where’s Dolabella, to second Proculeius?
ATTENDANTS Dolabella!
CAESAR Let him alone, for I remember now
How he’s employed. He shall in time be ready.
Go with me to my tent, where you shall see 70
How hardly I was drawn into this war,
How calm and gentle I proceeded still
In all my writings. Go with me, and see
What I can show in this. Exeunt.

End of Paper