Assignment – A
Q1. Write a short note on Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
Q2. Discuss in brief the character sketch of wife of Bath.
Q3. What is the message conveyed in sonnet 116 written by William Shakespeare?
Q4. In The Canonization, what are the metaphors that the speaker mentions that will help elucidate the passion and individuality of his love?
Q5. Write short note on the following.
- What is an epic?
- What is alliteration?
- Write a short note on Lyric.
- What is a conceit?
- Write a short note on Elegy.
Q6. What is the message conveyed in The Tyger written by William Blake.
Q7. Write the basis theme of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
Q8. Write a brief character sketch of The Knight from Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
Case Study
(Understanding Metaphysical Poetry)
Poetry comprises various forms as ode, epic, mock-epic, lyric, ballad, etc. Each genre is written in its own specialized manner. To give deeper meaning and thought to a poem, poets use certain stylistic, connotative, denotative and figurative devices. Thus, the study of various forms and aspects of poetry is quintessential to read a poem deeply. Metaphysical poetry is a kind of poetry that lays stress on the belief that the logical aspect rules the emotional; signified by sarcasm, absurdity and extraordinary comparisons of unlike features; the latter often being fanciful, to the limit of peculiarity. ‘Metaphysical poets’ was a term used for the first time by the eighteenth century poet and critic Dr Samuel Johnson. He considered a certain group of poets, metaphysical, because he wanted to portray a loose group of British lyric poets who belonged to the seventeenth century. These poets were generally interested in metaphysical issues and had a common method of examining them. Their writings were marked by the innovativeness of metaphor (these included comparisons known as metaphysical conceits). The changing times had a significant influence on their poetry. Discovery of the new sciences and the immoral scenario of the seventeenth century England were also other factors influencing their poetry.
Metaphysical poets dealt with topics like God, creation and afterlife. The most popular metaphysical poets are John Donne, Andrew Marvell and Henry Vaughan among others. Donne incorporates the Renaissance conception of the human body as a microcosm into his love poetry. The Renaissance saw several people thinking that the macrocosmic physical world was reflected in the microcosmic human body. They believed that the body is ruled by the intellect just like a land is ruled by a king or queen. Most of Donne’s poems such as:
- The Sun Rising
- The Good-Morrow
- The Canonization
- A Valediction: Of Weeping
These poems are based on the theme of love and involve a beloved or a pair of lovers. They are represented as complete worlds unto themselves. The lovers are deeply in love with each other and oblivious to the world around them. Donne uses the analogy to express the extent to which the lovers are involved with each other. They are so engrossed that they forget their surroundings and behave as if they are the only people in existence. Nothing else matters to them except they themselves. In ‘The Sun Rising’, the poet ends the poem by requesting the sun to shine only on his beloved and himself. He tries to convince the Sun by saying that by shining on the two of them he will actually be shining on the whole world.
Q1: What is metaphysical poetry? Name the poets famous for writing Metaphysical Poetry.
Q2: In which century, ‘Metaphysical poetry’ as a term was coined?
Q3: What is an analogy employed in John Donne’s poems? What are the basic themes of Metaphysical Poetry?
Assignment – C
Q1: Which of the following was a characteristic feature of Medieval literature?
A large body of personal literature.
Realism in representation of time and space.
Absence of alliteration in poetry.
The popular genre of the bird and the beast fable
Q2: Which of the following statements is incorrect regarding medieval literature?
Allegory was frequent and usual
The dream-vision convention was prevalent
Chaucer exploited the dream-vision convention in The Canterbury Tales.
There was often an undercurrent of moral and dialectic strain.
Q3: In Chaucer’s times the Peasant Revolt resulted in the
dethronement of the King
demolition of church as an institution
end of serfdom
rise of nationalism
Q4: How many books Milton wrote of Paradise Lost?
4
8
12
6
Q5: An elegy is……
a mournful song.
a joyous lyric.
a satire.
a nature poem
Q6: Songs of Innocence is written by which following poet?
William Wordsworth.
William Shakespeare.
William Blake.
William Butler Yeats.
Q7: Henry Vaughan is known for which kind of poems?
Odes
Lyrics
Satires
Metaphysical
Q8: Paradise Lost is written in which poetic verse/form?
Free Verse
Iambic
Blank Verse
Sonnet
Q9: The character, who is closest to reality, in The Prologue is….
The Monk
Wife of Bath
The Prioress
The Knight
Q10: Who is a cheerful, well-spoken, socially pleasing person in The Prologue?
The Friar
The Knight
The Prioress
Wife of Bath
Q11: Name the most important poetic form of Renaissance literature among the following.
Ode
Sonnet
Ballad
Satire
Q12: Shakespeare has written—— sonnets?
156
154
126
175
Q13: When did Constantinople fall?
1453
1455
1457
1458
Q14: What does “Renaissance” stand for?
rebirth
reformation
restoration
reckoning
Q15: When was Charles II restored in England?
1665.
1660
1661
1662.
Q16: Which are the collections William Blake is known for?
Songs of Melancholy.
Songs of Innocence.
Songs of Childhood.
Songs of Anatomy
Q17: vWhat are the Elegies written by Milton and Arnold?
Lycidas and Thyrsis
Adonis and In Memoriam
Thyrsis and Prelude
Lycidas and The Scholar Gypsy
Q18: Who introduced Blank Verse in English?
Earl of Surrey
Thomas Wyatt
John Milton
John Donne
Q19: Thomas Gray belongs to which century?
Fourteenth Century
Fifteenth Century
Sixteenth Century
Eighteenth Century
Q20: Which of the following poets does not belong to the ‘Lake School’?
Keats
Coleridge
Southey
Wordsworth
Q21: Which one of the following works written by John Milton?
Absalom and Achitophel
Samson Agonites
Faerie Queene
True Love
Q22: Which one of the following poems composed by William Blake?
London
Lucy Gray
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
Ode to Skylark
Q23: A Sonnet consists of how many lines?
18
14
12
8
Q24: Who is considered the father of English Literature?
John Milton
Earl of Surrey
Thomas Wyatt
Geoffrey Chaucer
Q25: Faerie Queen is written by which poet?
Geoffrey Chaucer
Edmund Spencer
Earl of Surrey
John Milton
Q26: The Retreat is written by which metaphysical poet?
Andrew Marvel
John Donne
Henry Vaughan
Samuel Johnson
Q27: For God Sake….. are the beginning lines of which poem?
The Cannonization
The Sunne Rising
The Retreat
My Coy Mistress
Q28: Whose assistance does John Milton ask for in Paradise Lost?
The Heavenly Muse
Gabriel
Jesus
God
Q29: What is the message of Paradise Lost?
Satan’s evil
God’s will to men
That life is not easy
Good and evil
Q30: Why was Satan cast out of heaven?
For stealing
For causing a war
For trying to kill God
For treachery
Q31: Where is Satan imprisoned?
Heaven
The moon
Hell
Hell
Q32: Which work of Geoffrey Chaucer is an elegy written in the memory of John of Gaunt’s first wife, Blanche?
Parliament of Foul
The Book of the Duchess
The Prologue to Canterbury Tales
Troilus and Criseyde
Q33: In which genre does Chaucer’s The Book of the Duchess belong?
Dream Allegory
Ode
Alliterative Verse
Pastoral
Q34: In which year did Geoffrey Chaucer born?
1402
1412
1340
1329
Q35: In which year did Geoffrey Chaucer die?
1378
1400
1422
1489
Q36: What was the name of Geoffrey Chaucer’s wife?
Phillipa
Beatrice
Giovanni
Mary
Q37: What was the name of the host at Tabard Inn in The Canterbury Tales?
Reeve
Nicholas
Alison
Harry Bailly
Q38: What was the name of the inn in which the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales rested?
Tabard Inn
Harry’s Inn
Bailly Inn
Southwark Inn
Q39: How many tales are told in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales?
23
27
29
58
Q40: How many pilgrims are there Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales?
42
29
22
None
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