West Bengal Civil Service
Examination-2008
(Optional Papers)
English Paper -II
Time Allowed : 3 Hours Full Marks : 100
1. Answer any one of the following :
(a) What do you understand by the term 'Pre-Raphaelitism' in the context of English poetry ? Who are the main poets under this category ?
(b) It has been said that William Blake's songs convey 'adult' wisdom with the artlessness of a child. How far does this hold good in 'The Tyger' ?
(c) Would you call Tennyson's poems representative of his age ? Substantiate your opinion with reference to the poems you have read.
(d) What would . you say are the principal qualities characterising T. S. Eliot's works ? Justify with reference to one of his poems. 25
2. Answer any one of the following :
(a) What is the significance of the subtitle 'A Mystery' attached to George Bernard Shaw's 'Candida' ?
(b) Consider J. M. Synge's 'Riders to the Sea' as a poetic play.
(c) Discuss Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest' as a comedy of wit and manners. 25
3. Answer any one of the following :
(a) Would you consider Jane Eyre by 'Charlotte Bronte' a novel ahead of its age ? Justify your opinion.
(b) How does Hardy present his modern man ? Cite the example of Clym Yeobright (if possible) from "The Return of the Native'.
(c) Write a note on the contributions of the early Victorian novelists with special reference to any one of the following authors :
(i) Charles Dickens, (ii) George Eliot, (iii) George Meredith. 25
4. The following poem is written by a Romantic poet. Bring out the central idea and add a critical note:
The Poet's Dream
On a Poet's lips I slept
Dreaming like a love-adept
In the sound his breathing kept;
Nor seeks nor finds he mortal blisses,
But feeds on the aerial kisses
Of shapes that haunt Thoughts' wildernesses
He will watch from dawn to gloom
The lake-reflected sun illume
The yellow bees in the ivy-bloom,
Nor heed nor see what things they be -
But from these create he can
Forms more real than living Man,
Nurslings of Immortality ! 10+15
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