ENGLISH 2-LITERATURE

9:00 a.m. Two hours

Tuesday

Allow about three-quarters of an hour for A and an hour and a quarter for B.

A-READING (Write about a half-hour on either of the two questions and about fifteen minutes on the other.) 1. Bring out, by narrative and comment, those qualities in a hero of literature

which show what, at the time of which the book treats, was regarded as

heroic. 2. Narrate a crisis in any novel, poem, or play as if you saw it enacted. Comment on the importance of this scene as a link in the plot.

B-STUDY

In each of the four following groups choose one topic (and only one).

Group 1-Drama
(Not more than one topic from this group may be chosen.)
(Topic 1) Macbeth

“Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou applaud the deed. - Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,
And with thy bloody and invisible hand
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me paled! Light thickens, and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood:
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;

Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse."
a) Who speaks these lines?
6) To whom are they spoken, and under what circumstances ?
c) What is the bond (1. 5), and how does it keep the speaker paled ?
d) In what way do these lines suggest the general atmosphere of Macbeth?

(Topic 2) Julius Caesar

a) What were the grounds of Brutus's quarrel with Cassius ?

6) What elements in the character of each are revealed in this quarrel scene ? (Topic 3) Hamlet

[King retires and kneels. Enter Hamlet.) Hamlet. "Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;

And now I'll do't.-" a) Why does not Hamlet do it straightway? b) What other reasons do you find in his character and in the course of the

action for Hamlet's delay in carrying out his promise to the ghost ? c) What scene immediately follows that from which the lines are quoted ?

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Group II-Poetry
(Not more than one topic from this group may be chosen.)
(Topic 1) Milton

“Thus, Night, oft see me in thy pale career,
Till civil-suited Morn appear,
Not tricked and frounced, as she was wont
With the Attic boy to hunt,
But kerchieft in a comely cloud,
While rocking winds are piping loud,
Or ushered with a shower still,
When the gust hath blown his fill,
Ending on the rustling leaves,

With minute-drops from off the eaves:”
a) From what poem is this passage taken?
b) What kind of life was the poet leading at the time when this poem was

written?
c) Explain the italicized words.
(Topic 2) Tennyson
a) What effect did the presence of sin among Arthur's knights have upon the

quest for the Holy Grail ?
6) What was Arthur's attitude toward the quest?
c) Whose quest is referred to in the following lines ?

“And but for all my madness and my sin,
And then my swooning, I had sworn I saw
That which I saw; but what I saw was veil'd

And cover'd; and this quest was not for me."
d) Copy these four lines and scan them.
(Topic 3) Golden Treasury

Briefly show how, in choice of subjects and in other respects, the lyric differs from other kinds of poetry. (You may illustrate your answer by referring by title to poems, by quoting single lines or short passages, or by using a longer continuous passage.)

Group III-Oratory
(Not more than one topic from this group may be chosen.)
(Topic I) Burke

Write a paragraph contrasting the "project of the noble Lord in the blue
ribbon" with Burke's own plan for taxing America. (In answering this question
you may, if you choose, try to imitate Burke's style.)
(Topic 2) Macaulay and Lincoln (If you choose this topic, answer both 1 and 2.)
1. a) For what was Macaulay contending in his first speech on the Copyright?
6) How does he support his contention by citing the case of Boswell's
“Life of Johnson”?

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2. “Our fathers, when they framed the government under which we live,

understood this question."
a) What is the question to which Lincoln refers ?
6) Who were the fathers ?
c) What, according to Lincoln, was their understanding of the question ?
d) How does Lincoln prove this point ?

(Topic 3) Washington and Webster (If you choose this topic, answer both I

and 2.)
1. What, according to Webster, were the important effects of the Battle of

Bunker Hill ?
2. Write a paragraph using the following topic sentence from the "Farewell

Address": “As a very important source of strength and security, cherish
public credit.'

Group IV-Essays (Not more than one topic from this group may be chosen.) (Topic 1) Carlyle's Burns a) Name the three qualities which, according to Carlyle, contribute to the

success of Burns's songs. b) Discuss any one of these qualities, illustrating what you say by reference

to the songs themselves.

(Topic 2) Macaulay's Johnson

Name and briefly characterize four works of Samuel Johnson, each representing a different kind of composition.

(Topic 3) Emerson

According to Emerson, what three or four characteristics of American womanhood give rise to a new chivalry in behalf of woman's rights?

ENGLISH 2-LITERATURE

Tuesday

9 a.m. Two hours

Allow about an hour and ten minutes for Part I-Books for Study, and forty minutes for Part II—Books for Reading. The answers under Part I will each count one-sixth of the total grade; the theme to be written on the topic chosen from Part II will count one-third. Reserve ten minutes for careful revision.

PART 1-BOOKS FOR STUDY

From each of the following groups choose one topic (and only one), and answer all the questions relating to that topic.

Group 1-Drama (Topic 1) Shakespeare's Macbeth

Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits:
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook
Unless the deed go with it. From this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. And even now
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done.

No boasting like a fool;
This deed I'll do before this purpose cool:

But no more sights!
a) When and where did Macbeth speak these lines?
b) What is the “deed” which he purposes doing?
c) What are the "sights" to which he refers ?
d) Explain the italicized words and phrases.

(Topic 2) Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,
Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From that it is dispos'd; therefore it is meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
For who so firm that cannot be seduc'd ?
Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus.
If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius,

He should not humour me. a) Who speaks these lines ? b) Rewrite the part of the passage beginning, “but he loves Brutus," substi

tuting proper names for pronouns. c) Explain the italicized expressions.

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(Topic 3) Shakespeare's Hamlet

Ham. Look here, upon this picture, and on this,

The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. a) To whom is addressed the speech of which these are the introductory lines ? 6) Who are the “two brothers”? c) How does Hamlet proceed to contrast the two ? d) What is his purpose in drawing the contrast?

Group Il-Poetry
(Topic 1) Milton's Poems
Choose either Comus or Lycidas.

Comus
O foolishness of men! that lend their ears
To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur,
And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub,

Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence!
a) State briefly the argument of which these lines form the beginning.
6) Explain the italicized expressions.

Lycidas
Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow,
His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge,
Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge
Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe.

"Ah! who hath reft," quoth he, "my dearest pledge?”
a) Who or what is signified by Camus, and why is he thus described ?
b) Explain the reference to "sanguine flower."
c) What is referred to in the last line?

(Topic 2) Tennyson's Idylls of the King

a) Who was "first made and latest left of all the knights"? 6) Give briefly the account of Arthur's birth as related by Bellicent to

Leodogran. c) What happened when Galahad sat in Merlin's chair?

(Topic 3) Palgrave's Golden Treasury
a) What representative ideas of Wordsworth are found in the following

poems?
“The Daffodils" ("I wandered lonely as a cloud")
“The Reverie of Poor Susan”
“Simon Lee"
“The Reaper"

“The world is too much with us” 6) In what other poets of the period are there similar ideas? Illustrate,

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