B.A.Third Year, English Literature Purvanchal University,VV.IMP. Question and answers

B.A.Third Year English Literature 

Q1- What was the Neo classical or Augustan age?

Ans.The 18th century in England is called Neo classical or Augustan Age because the leading

writers of this period followed the literary principles and models of the Greek and Roman

authors.This period start after the death of Alexander Pope.

Q2. Name the main English poet of Renaissance.

Ans.The main English poets of Renaissance are- Wyatt, Surrey, Spenser and Christopher

Marlowe.

Q3-What is the literature of Absurd?

Ans.Absurd fiction is a genre of novels, plays, poems, films, or other media that focuses on the

experiences of characters and often applied to the modern sense of human purposelessness in

a universe without meaning or value

Q4-Name some eminent Elizabethan Sonneteers.

Ans. Elizabethan Sonneteers are- Thomas Watson,Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser,

Shakespeare, Henry, Daniel and Dryden.

Q5-what do you know about Victorian and age?

Or

Write a short note on the poetic drama of Victorian age.

Ans.The Victorian age was the age of prose and novel.The Early 19th century is one of the most

unrewarding period in the history of English literature.A few writers tried to come to the

theatre.Serious minded people avoided the theatre.Some Victorian poets tried to create play but

they failed because they could not be performed on the stage.

Q. 6. Discuss the general themes of morality plays.

Ans. The morality plays were also influenced. With the recovery in the fifteenth century of twelve

lost plays of plantus and a renewed study of Terence. Comedies on classical modals came to be

written. Nicholas Udall's Ralf Roister Doister and grammer Gurlon's Needle of uncertain

authorship are clearly based on classical models. University wits were also very much

influenced by classical models.

Q.7. What is Pre Raphaelite poetry and why is it called so?

Ans. The Pre Raphaelite movement, which was started by D G Rossetti in the mid nineteenth

century, Rossetti himself a painter (and a poet as well ) Raphael was no doubt, an excellent and

noted painter of his day. But Rossetti and his ilk perhaps rightly thought that he had started the

movement towards academism in art Led by Rossetti some painters organized themselves in

London in1848 into a group

Which came to be called the" Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Q.8. Write a brief note on Donne as the chief exponent of metaphysical poetry?

Ans. John Donne is called the father of metaphysical poetry. His poems are generally sermons

and make a very impressive reading. He is known for his anniversaries, songs and sonnets and

divine poems. He had the ability to express the struggle between the intellect and the flesh. He

was a rebel in poetry.

Q.9 Write a note on the imagist movement.

Ans. The writers who had deeply criticised the Georgian school of poetry are known as imagists

because they discorded the sordid realities of life to gather. They aimed at presenting their

subject with clarity, and economic words. They described everything in concrete details to passion and emotions.

Q10- Discuss  the contribution of Daniel Defoe as one of the originators of the English novel.

Ans.4. Daniel Defoe :- 1660-1731

Defoe was perhaps the most famous writer of the eighteenth century. He is known for his

Robinson Crusoe and some other works of fiction like Moll Flanders and Roxana. His non fictive

prose consist of a large number of pamphlets. He started a tri - weekly periodical. The Review in

1704 which continued up to 1713.

Q.11. What are the causes of reformation?

Ans. The reformation movement was a revolt against the orthodox, ritualistic and dogmatics

aspect of the Roman Catholic Church. The revolt had been growing since 12 century. This act

formally registered the break up of western christendom. The reformers called themselves as a

protestants.

Q.12. What are the salient features of the pre- Raphaelite poetry ?

Ans. 1:Pre- Raphaelite poetry and painting had one thing in common.

2:- Every Pre-order Raphaelite picture is painted from the thing itself.

3:- Pre- Raphaelite poetry shows the same minute attention to details.

4:- The pre- Raphaelites looked at poetry as a kind of painting.

Q.13. Bring out salient features of feminism.

Ans. Feminism recognises the inadequacy of male-created ideologies and struggle of the

spiritual, economic, social and racial quality of women. Feminism is a concept emerging as a

protest against male domination and criticize women. Feminism is a movement. Against the

suffering of women at the hand of heartless. Soulless male villains.

Q.14. Write a brief note on the university wits.

Ans. The pre- shakespearean University

Dramatists are known as the university

Wits. They are so called because they were associated with the University of Cambridge or

Oxford. The university wits are Thomas Kyd, Lyly,George peele, Robert Green, Thomas Lodge,

Thomas Nash and Christopher Marlow. They University men were usually actors as well as

dramatists.

Q.15. Discuss Gray as the precursor of the Romantic Revival.

Ans. Gray began as a classicist and ended as a classist. In his early poem he adopted classical

methods. Here his love for nature looks artificial and does not show any freshness of outlook.

This quality of the presence of classicism and romanticism is certainly a transition from

classicism to romanticism. There are romantic qualities like sympathy for the Village folk and

there is a note of melancholy and pessimism but it represents his transitional form of mind.

Q.16 Define the theater of the absurd.

Ans. The term theater of the absurd has been derived from the essay. The myth of Sisyphus by

Albert Camus published 1942 so it is the genre that came into use quite in the middle of the

twenty century.

That Theatre of the absurd published in

1916 and then it was properly expected as an important genre of the modern dramatic

Literature.

Q.17. Who were the four wheels of the novel?

Ans. The four weets wheels of the novel were Richarson and then fielding, Smollett and sterne,

made it the most important literally genre of the century. They are known as the four wheels of novel. Richardson was the spokesman of his times. Fielding was a sentimentalist and created

pathetic scenes. Smollett found relief in turning the world to ridicule and cursed the fools. Sterne

opposed sentiment to region and did not care much for plot.

Q.18 Trace the influence of the French revolution On romantic poets.

Ans. Wordsworth's theory and work as a poet were much influenced by the teaching of

Rousseau. It was under this powerful influence that he came out with his e- poch making

work"The Lyrical Ballads" The Lyrical Ballad led to revolt against the artificial physical sentiment

and equally artificial and mechanical poetic style of the eighteenth century.

The impact of the French revolution on Coleridge and Southey was of the same pattern as in

the case of Wordsworth youthful exuberance.

Q.19 Mention a few characteristics of modern novels.

Ans. The main characteristics of the modern novel is that it is realistic as opposed to idealistic.

The modern

novelist is realistic because they deal with the rather more sordid side of contemporary life, as

we find in the novel of Zola.

Q.20 Name of few women novelists of Victorian Age.

Ans. Four important women novelist are.

1-Charlotte Bronte 1816-1855

2-Emil Bronte. 1818-1848

3-Mrs. Gaskell. 1810-1865

4-George Eliot. 1819-1880

Q.21 Define picaresque novel.

Ans. The word picaresque has been derived from the Spanish word 'picaro' which means a

'rogue' or 'knave'.

The picaresque novel is the late of adventures of a picaro or gouge who wonders from one

country to another,

from one setting to another, from the town to the country, from one in to another, and in this way

the novelist gets an opportunity

Introducing a variety of characters and incidents.

Q.22 What is a sonnet ? Name the famous sonneteers.

Ans. A sonnet may be defined as a poem consisting of fourteen lines with rhythm. Sonnet

follows two rhyme scheme petrarchan -Italian - and Elizabethan (English). The sonnet consists

of two parts - The octave and the sestet. The first eight lines are known as the octave and the

six lines are called sested. Thomas wyatt, Henry Howard, Earl of surrey, Thomas Sackville,

Edmund Spencer, Sidney and Shakespeare are main sonneteers.

Q.23 What do you know about the authorised version of the Bible?

Ans. The Bible known as the word of God, is the sacred book of all Christian people. It is divided

into two parts, the old Testament and the new Testament. Each of these Testaments is sub divided into a number of books.

Q.24 Name of the poet influenced by the French revolution.

Ans. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Byron, Shelly, keats influenced by the French revolution.

Q.25 What are the characteristics of metaphysical poetry?

Ans. The main characteristics of metaphysical poetry are follows. Display of learning,

Expression to new, Thoughts and ideas, intellectual poetry, Reaction against Elizabethan poetry.

Q26-What do you know about the Naughty Nineties ?

Ans. The last decade of the nineteenth century is called Naughty nineties because it was an era

of revolt against the so -called Victorianism. All those ideals and values that have been

cherished during the early years of Queens Victorian reign were not only discorded but also

condemned.

Q 27 .Why are Blake and Gray known as transitional poets ?

Ans. William Blake and Thomas gray are known as transitional poets because they had there

learning towards the new spirit of romanticism, but none of the deliberate effort to shake of the

effects diction then current.

Q.28 What is a miracle play?

Ans. A miracle play is basically a religious play. They deal With the lives of saints and the

miracles performed by them. The Life and martyrdom of a saint formed the central theme of a

miracle play.

Q.29 What is problem play?

Ans. As the name suggests, a problem play is a drama built around a specific problem,

generally of a sociology nature, like prostitution, unemployment, labour unrest, insufficient

housing, etc.

Q.30 What is expressionism?

Ans. Expressionism is a form of romantic art in which emotion elements

expressed through violent distortions

and exaggeration taken to the point of excess.

Q.31 Write the main characteristic of symbolism.

Ans. A Symbolist uses words to describe a mode of literary expression in which words are used

to suggest the state of mind rather than for their objective or intellectual content.

Q.32 What is meat by Renaissance?

Ans. renaissance means revival or rebirth of Greek learning art, literature and culture of the

Middle Ages in Europe. In England it came through Italy and flourished in the Elizabethan age.

Impact on poetry :- Sir Thomas Wyatt and the earl of surrey were pioneers of the new poetry in

England. After Chaucer the spirit of English poetry had slumbered for upward of a century. It

was Wyatt and surrey who came forward to do it.

Q.33 What are prose Romances?

Ans. Prose romances like verse Romances are simply fantastic in which the authors make the

fullest use of their imagination and fancy and create an ideal world which bears little or no

semblance with real life.

Q.34 What is a novel ?

Ans. A novel is a long prose fiction having a plot, a number of characters and the plot

developing and coming to a logical conclusion through the characters interaction with one

another.

Q.35 Who were university wits?

Ans. A group of pre -Shakespeare dramatistic were known as university wits. They were so

called because they were all university academician. They paved the way for Shakespeare.

They include Marlow, John Lyly, Thomas kyd, Thomas Lodge and Robert Green.

Q.36 What is the Neo classical or Augustan age?

Ans.The 18 century in England is called Neo classical or Augustan Age because the leading

writers of this period followed the literary principles and models of the Greek and Roman

authors. This period start after the death of Alexander pope.

Q.37 Name the main English poet of Renaissance.

Ans. The main English poet of Renaissance are Wyatt, surrey, Spencer and Christopher

Marlow.

Q.38 What is the literature of absurd?

Ans. Absurd fiction is a genre of novels, plays, poem, films, or other media that focuses on the

experience of characters and often applied to the modern sense of human purposelessness in a

universe without meaning or value.

Q.39Name some eminent Elizabethan sonneteers.

Ans. Elizabethan sonneteers are -Thomas waston, sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spencer,

Shakespeare, Henry, Daniel and Dryden.

Q.40 What do you know about victorian age? Write a short note on the poetic drama of

victorian age.

Ans. The Victorian age was the age of prose and novel. The early 19 century is one of the most

unrewarding period in the history of English literature. A few writers tried to come to the theatre.

Serious minded people avoided the theatre. Some victorian poets tried to create play but they

failed because they could not be performed on the stage.

Q41.Discuss the general theme of Morality play.

Ans.Morality play is a kind of allegorical drama having personified abstract qualities as the main characters and presenting a lesson about good conduct and character, popular in the 15th and early 16th centuries.In the morality play, there is conflict between the forces of good (the good angel, the virtues) and the forces of evil (the bad angel or devil, the vices) for possession of man's soul.

Morality plays encourage men to live a rightful life style.In a morality plays a protagonist Who represents either humanity or small social structure.

, in which the characters personify moral qualities

.

42- Discuss  William Wordsworth as a Romantic poet.

Ans. William Woodward takes an eminent place in English literature. He is well known as worshiper of nature. He is the chief of the romantic revival. He is human and sings for human heart.  He believes that God lives in nature and nature living God.He is   the best teacher and preacher for human beings.Nature is  nurse  and guide.

Nature can give the real joy to our soul and body.  Nature can give real peace of our mind and relax to our body nature like all the trees, new trees, flowers river, forest ,sun and moon, air and water and mountain with the shelter of all living creatures. There is a deep relationship between man and nature .He was the first poet who created interest in nature.

Q43- Give a short note on W.B.Yeats as a poetic dramatist 

Ans.W.B.Yeats had become the chief playwright for the Irish Literary Theatre in 1894.Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923

His major later works include 1928's The Tower and Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems, published in 1932. He is Irish poet, dramatist, and prose writer. The son of a well-known painter,Some of his greatest verse appears in The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair (1929), and Last Poems (1939

Q44- Brief note on Victorian Age

Ans Victorian Age is one of the most remarkable period in the history of English, because it was noted for social, economic and political changes and development.The industrial development proved fatal for agricultural environment, and the condition of poor and labourers was the most serious.The Victorian Age tried to maintain the gap between new and old. The poetry of Victorian Age reflect the past culture and tradition.Victoria also changed the way the monarchy in Britain worked. During her reign Britain was the most prosperous nation in the world. England had gone from a rural society to an urban one.Lord Tennyson and Surrey were the chief poets Victorian Age.

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