On what occasion does Hamlet speak these words? Explain their meaning in your own words. Why does he reproach himself as he does in the first two lines? Show in what specific ways Hamlet may seem to deserve this reproach. Do you yourself think that he deserves it? IV. Answer either a or b. a) Do you regard Milton's use of allusion as a grace or as an encumbrance to his verse? Illustrate your answer by reference to particular passages in L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, or Comus in which he employs allusions of (1) a mythological, (2) a pastoral, or (3) a literary nature. The Terror of Death When I have fears that I may cease to be Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain; When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face, And when I feel, fair Creature of an hour! Of the wide world I stand alone, and think How does the form of the foregoing sonnet differ from the sonnet form used by Wordsworth? Explain why Keats should be writing of death, and show how his desires as here expressed are partially, at least, realized in the Ode to Autumn and Ode to a Grecian Urn or any other of his poems to which you may wish to refer. V. Answer either a or b. a) What were the principles underlying Lord North's policy in regard to America? Upon what different principles does Burke base his objections to Lord North's project? b) What were the internal conditions in America which led Washington to argue as he did for a firm union? What bearing have this situation and this argument upon the present problem of international union? Comprehensive Examination ENGLISH Tuesday, June 20 9:00 a.m.-12:00 m. However accurate in subject-matter, no paper will be considered satisfactory if seriously defective in punctuation, spelling, or other essentials of good usage. Allow about one hour for each of the three parts of the paper. PART I (Choose two questions from Part I.) 1. Contrast any two poets, or any two poems, that appeal to you strongly but for different reasons. 2. You have been prejudiced against certain books by hearing them called "classics," by being urged to read them, or by being obliged to read them. What has been your attitude toward such books after reading them? 3. What advantages has the novelist over the writer of short stories? 4. Show how the outcome of some tragedy of Shakespeare is determined by the character of the hero. PART II Write in several paragraphs a composition of about four hundred words upon one of the following subjects. Choose such aspects of the subject as you can well discuss according to an orderly, consecutive plan in which each paragraph shall be one stage. 1. In a letter to your father, announcing your election to a school office, tell him what you plan to do. 2. Your likes and dislikes in music (or in pictures). 3. The surprisingly human characteristics of school teachers. 4. The career of one of the following persons: Hannibal, St. Francis of Assisi, Livingstone, Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth, Henry V, Garibaldi, Luther, Cicero, Macaulay, Franklin. 5. A great discovery or invention, and some of its consequences. 6. An industry important in your town or state.. 7. The troubles of a policeman (or railway conductor, or dressmaker, or storekeeper, or postman). 8. Three diary-entries about a vacation: (1) before you go; (2) while you are away; and (3) after you have come back. 9. Should military drill be required in your school? 10. The relation of America to the present war. (SEE NEXT PAGE) (Of the following questions answer No. 1 (both a and b) and either No. 2 or No. 3.) 1. a) Paraphrase the following lines from Browning's Rabbi Ben Ezra, restating each idea in simple prose: "Not on the vulgar mass Called 'work' must sentence pass, Things done, that took the eye and had the price; O'er which, from level stand, The low world laid its hand, Found straightway to its mind, could value in a trice: "But all the world's coarse thumb And finger failed to plumb, So passed in making up the main account; All instincts immature, All purposes unsure, That weighed not as his work, yet swelled the man's amount: b) How would Browning have us judge a man's true worth? 2. Identify at least six of the following characters by telling in what work each occurs, and characterize each in a few words: Polonius, Tom Sawyer, Becky Sharp, Uriah Heep, Roderick Dhu, Dr. Jekyll, Maggie Tulliver, Arthur Dimmesdale, Childe Harold, Will Honeycomb, Dr. Primrose, Mrs. Malaprop, Sir Galahad, Hawkeye, Ruth, John Alden, Ichabod Crane, Mulvaney. 3. Define six of the following words and write sentences illustrating their proper use: inference oligarchy congestion trait subsidiary haphazard |