Short Question of past papers 2017

Q/. Why do the pilgrims move to the shrine of St. Becket in the month of April in prologue to
the Canterbury Tales?

The narrator offers a few reasons for thejourney to the Canterbury Cathedral. According to him
some of the pilgrims attribute a recent healing to Saint Thomas Becket. Secondly, the good
weather more than any spiritual conviction motivates the pilgrimage.

Q/. Write a note on the physical appearance of Monk?

Even in looks, the Monk is very unlike what is expected. The Monk is a fat man, which tells us
that he is very well fed at a time when many were starving. He enjoys eating rich food and
drinking good wine. He's bald and dresses in fur and gold, which tells us that he cares more
about what he looks like on the outside than what he should be on the inside. His face is
smooth and shinny, and his eyes roll in his head, and Chaucer describes them as hot and fiery.
This could indicate lust, though Chaucer claims it as a lust for life.

Q /. What type of personality squire is shown by the poet?

The Squire is a young knight in training, a member of the noble class and the son of Knight. His
personality is the representative of youth. His dress is embroidered with flowers. He is
constantly singing and playing the flute. He can joust, dance, riding, draw and write well. He is
also strong, bachelor and passionate lover. His love is romantic, passionate and worldly. He also
takes part in sports and a obeying son at table.

Q/. Write a note on the character of prioress?

Chaucer introduce Prioress as the first model of contemporary church corruption. She is coy,
delicate and sentimental and has a confusing personality (by her acts).Chaucer gave her a title
Madame Eglentyne and describe her impeccable table manners and her mispronounced
French and soft-hearted ways. She is a large woman with small features who dresses
expensively and having a golden brooch on it, with an ambiguous statement which shows her
love for worldly possessions.

Q/. Write a note on Faerie Queene of Spencer as a poem?

The Faerie Queene (1590) is an epic poem by Edmund Spencer(1552-1599), Spencer originally
intended the poem to be a series of twelve books, each devoted to one of twelve moral virtues
as exemplified by the characters of twelve knights. In the Faerie Queene, Spencer creates an
allegory:The characters of his far-off, fanciful "Faerie Land" are meant to have a symbolic
meaning in the real world.
Q/. Explain the following lines from Faerie Queene:

A lovely ladie rode him faerie beside

Asse more white than snow

Yet she much wither; but the same was full low

And ouer all a blacke stole she did throw.

Basically this excerpt deals with Una, a lovely young lady, who rides besides the Red Cross
Knight. Much like Christ rode into Jerusalem before his death, the donkey is very pale and
white. Una is in mourning and seams to reflect the paleness of her donkey. Beside her are white
lambs, which represent her purity.

Q/. Who is Red Cross and what is the purpose of his holy journey?

The Red Cross Knight is the fictional character and protagonist of Book I of The Faerie Queene
(1590), an epic poem by Edmund Spencer. The knight of Holiness, who is in fact a "tall
clownishe yonge man" who alone would take the quest to free Una's parents from the dragon
a task given by Gloriana. His adventures represent the individual Christian's struggles to
maintain personal holiness while avoiding pride in all its forms. The Red Cross Knight represents
the virtue of holiness, as well as St. George and the Anglican church.

Q/. Who is Una?

Lady Una, the heroine of the first book of The Faerie Queene. She has been portrayed as both
an individual and a type. She stands for Beauty, Truth, Goodness, Wisdom and Innocence. Her
encouragement and help keeps Red Cross Knight from doom and helps to build him into a
mighty warrior capable of defeating the dragon that has imprisoned her parents.

Q/. Explain the opening lines in Paradise Lost:

Of man's first disobedience and fruit of the forbidden tree

Whose mortal taste brought death into the world

Milton opens Paradise Lost by formally declaring his poem's subject; humankind's first act of
disobedience towards God, and the consequences that followed from it. The act is Adam and
Eve's eating of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, as told in Genesis, the first book of
the Bible. In the first line, Milton refers to the outcome of Adam and Eve's sin as the "fruit" of
the forbidden tree, punning on the actual apple and the figurative fruits of their actions. Milton
asserts that this original sin brought death to human beings for the first time, causing us to lose
our home in Paradise.

Q/. What is the main idea of the 1st speech of Satan in Paradise Lost?

Satan's first speech in Paradise Lost is a reflection of pure Miltonic Lyricism. The first speech
showed the leadership quality and apostasy of Satan. Satan encourages and motivates his
followers(Fallen Angles) to stand against God.

Q/. What is Muse in Paradise Lost?

Milton's muse is the holy and heavenly spirit, which inspired the Christian Bible. Book I of
Paradise Lost begins with a prologue in which Milton performs the traditional epic task of
invoking the Muse and stating his purpose. He invokes the classical Muse, Urania, but also
refers to her as the "Heavenly Muse",implying the Christian nature of this work.

Q/. What is the meaning of the phrase Darkness visible?

The phrase "Darkness Visible" means:

1. A secret is revealed.

2. Someone's wickedness gets surfaced.

3. An Evil is exposed.

Q/. Define Sonnet?

A Sonnet is fourteen-line lyric poem, traditionally written in iambic pentameter. The Sonnet
first became popular during the Italian Renaissance by poet Petrarch's love Sonnets.

Q/. What are the major themes of the Shakespearean Sonnets?

As Sonnets, their main concern is love but Shakespeare also reflects some other themes in his
Sonnets i.e. beauty, time, immortality, procreation, change, lust, aging, infidelity, mortality,
selfishness, decay, responsibility and the problematic gap between ideal and reality when it
comes to the beloved.

Q/. Explain the following lines :

When I consider everything that grows

Holds in perfection but a little moment

Shakespeare addresses the fair youth, informing him about the fact that every living thing is
perfect only for a brief time which he has been experiencing lately. The growth and decay
evident in the battle against time, specifically with reference to the fair youth, who is being
encouraged to procreate and so sustain his beauty before it's too late.

Q/. Write a note on Shakespearean Sonnet. How it is different from the Italian Sonnet?

Shakespearean sonnets are composed of 14 lines,and most are divided into three quatrains
and a final, concluding couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg.

The primary difference between a Petrarchan Sonnet(Italian Sonnet) is the way the poem's 14
lines are grouped and their themes. Petrarchan sonnet combines an octave(eight lines) with a
sestet(six lines); this is also called the "Sicilian sestet"(named for an island region of Italy ).