2ND YEAR EEG PAPER- 4

NETAJI SUBHAS OPEN UNIVERSITY

ENGLISH BDP

2ND YEAR

EEG

PAPER- 4

HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

1. Critically comment on the major features of the Augustan Period/ Augustan literature in Europe.

2. Critically comment on the major features of the Enlightenment in Europe.

3. Discuss the leading figures of the Enlightenment and their influence.

4. Discuss the rise of the novel in the larger context of the socio-cultural developments of the time. / Show how the notions of class, didacticism and sentimentality influenced the practice of novel-writing in the eighteenth century.

5. Explain the term ‘Augustan’. Why is the neo-classical age called ‘Augustan’?

6. What were the major genres and traditions that contributed to the shaping of the novel in the eighteenth century? Illustrate your answer with reference to some major novels of the period.

ADDISON AND STEELE

1. Assess Steele as an essayist from your reading of “Recollections of Childhood”.

2. Examine how Addison and Steele present the contemporary social ethos in the essays prescribed in your syllabus.

3. Critically assess the prose styles of Addison and Steele as found in their essays in your syllabus.

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

1. Describe Gulliver's experience in Brobdingnag.

2. Describe Gulliver's experience in Lilliput.

3. Describe, after Swift, the society of the Houyhnhmns.

4. Comment on Swift’s portrayal of Lamuel Gulliver.

5. Discuss “Gulliver’s Travels” as a political allegory.

6. Critically examine “Gulliver’s Travels” as a mixture of fantasy, satire and travelogue.

7. Comment on Swift’s style in “Gulliver’s Travels”.

8. Write a critical note on Gulliver’s Travels (Book II) as a satire.

9. Write an essay on Swift’s allegorical vision in Gulliver’s Travels.

PREFACE TO SHAKESPEARE

1. How does Samuel Johnson defend Shakespeare on the charge of violating the ‘three unities’?

2. Why does Dr. Johnson call Shakespeare a natural genius?

RAPE OF THE LOCK

1. Comment on Pope’s use of mock-heroic elements in ‘The Rape of the Lock’.

2. Discuss The Rape of the Lock as a critique of the contemporary fashionable society. Or Discuss Pope as a satirist with reference to The Rape of the Lock.

3. How does Pope’s employment of the supernatural machinery enhance the elements of mockery in ‘The Rape of the Lock’?/ Examine the role of the sylphs in The Rape of the Lock.

4. What is a ‘game of ombre’? What is the Cardgame a parody of? Point out the martial metaphors in Pope’s description of the game in The Rape of the Lock.

5. The part Belinda plays in the social drama of The Rape of the Lock is at once despicable and endearing. Discuss

ROBINSON CRUSOE

1. Consider Robinson Crusoe as a colonial narrative.

2. Discuss the role played by Friday in Robinson Crusoe Or, Discuss the relationship between Crusoe and Friday.

3. Do you consider Robinson Crusoe a fable? Give reasons for your answer.

4. Examine Robinson Crusoe as a spiritual autobiography.

5. How far is Robinson Crusoe in the ‘Picaresque’ tradition?

6. “Parallel to the framework of religious significance, there is a framework of economic doctrine in Robinson Crusoe”. Discuss.

7. Discuss realism in Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”.

8. Why has “Robinson Crusoe” been called at once realistic and allegorical?

9. Robinson Crusoe: Discourse on Individualism Or, Robinson Crusoe: The universal Representative, the person for whom every reader could substitute himself. Or, Robinson Crusoe invests every moment of life on the island with interest?

10. Discuss on the theme of Individuality in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

11. Would the simple category of ‘travel and adventure’ adequately describe Robinson Crusoe? / Critically comment on the significant themes in Robinson Crusoe.

SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER

1. Comment on the dramatic function of Tony Lumpkin in She Stoops to Conquer. Or, Who do you think is the central character in She Stoops to Conquer? Support your answer.

2. Examine Goldsmith’s use of comic devices in She Stoops to Conquer.

3. Examine the aptness of the title of ‘She Stoops to Conquer’

4. Discuss Hastings- Neville sub-plot in She Stoops to Conquer

5. Would you call “She Stoops to Conquer” a comedy of youth? Argue your answer with adequate textual support.

6. She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy with serious social message. Discuss.

7. She Stoops to Conquer is more a comedy of intrigue than a comedy of character. Do you agree ?

8. Consider “She Stoops to Conquer” as an anti-sentimental comedy.

RIVALS

1. Bring out the farcical elements in The Rivals.

2. Critically comment on the character of Mrs. Malaprop.

3. Comment on Julia Faulkland Sub Plot in The Rivals.

ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD

1. Analyse the elegiac characteristics of Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard with special reference to the theme and style of the poem.

2. How does Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” anticipate Romanticism ? Answer with close textual references.

SPRING

1. Comment on Thomson’s concern for the environment as evident in his poem ‘Spring’.


                                         SHORT QUESTIONS EEG 4

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