BA ENGLISH (PU) - PAST PAPER (A) 2009

PAPER NO. 11

(YEAR 2009 - GROUP I)

1. Explain with reference to the context any THREE of the following:

(i) Will lie o' nights

In the bony arms 

Of Reality and be comforted

(ii) There's nobody on the housetops now

Just a palsied few at the windows set:

(iii) And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow.

(iv) Now, understand once and for all, Philip, while you remain in my house I expect not only punctuality, but also civility and respect. 

(v) It is another of our fatal weakness and has kept us out of law and politics and diplomacy - in fact, everything but the church. 

2. Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) What kind of change Ustad Mangu was expecting from the New Act of 1935?

(ii) Describe briefly the effect of romantic love on the adolescent mind of Small boy. (Araby)

(iii) Why does Grace Paley fail to write a story in keeping with the sensibilities of her father's times? (A Conversation with My Father)

(iv) How did Lisby come to know of Simon Byrne's love for her? (The Little Willow)

(v) Discuss the play "The Bear" by Anton Chekhov as a farce. 

3. Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) Describe the experience and feelings of the people before and during the solar eclipse. 

(ii) 'It is easy to see fanaticism in other people but difficult to spot in oneself'. Explain. (Tolerance)

(iii) Describe Gloria Emerson's experience of parachute jumping. 

(iv) How does Francine Prose distinguish gossip from rumour mongering?

(v) Do you agree with Russel's view that the establishment of a single authority in the world will abolish war? (Science and Values) 

4. Attempt any THREE of the following questions. 

(i) How does a woman get tired of doing domestic chores? (Woman Work)

(ii) Write a note on the irony in the Huntsman. 

(iii) What does the empty barrel signify in the poem "After Apple-picking"?

(iv) What are John Keats' fears? (When I Have Fears)

(v) Why does the poet think of his education as "accursed"? (Snake) 

5. Attempt any THREE of the following questions. ("The Old Man and the Sea" by Hemingway) 

(i) Write a note on the heroic spirit of the old man. 

(ii) How far do skill and resolution of the old man count in his struggle against the big fish?

(iii) Narrate the hand game competition held between Santiago and the Negro. 

(iv) What does the old man dream about? What does that dream signify?

(v) What was the reaction of other fishermen and the tourists when they saw the skeleton of the Marlin tied to the old man's skiff?