BA 6th Semester Question Papers: ENGLISH - Literature of the USA (May' 2015)

2015 (May)

ENGLISH

(Major)

(General)

Course: 602

(Literature of the USA)

Full Marks: 80

Pass Marks: 32

Time: 3 hours

The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions.

UNIT – I

1. Answer any one of the following: 12

1. What do you understand by the term ‘New England Renaissance’? Discuss Emerson’s contribution to the American Renaissance.
2. Write a note on realism in modern American novels.
3. Write a note on twentieth century American drama with special reference to Arthur Miller.

UNIT – II

2. Answer any one of the following: 14

1. Evaluate Huckleberry Finn as a novel in the bildungsroman tradition.
2. Comment critically on the ending of Huckleberry Finn.
3. Critically comment on the form and style of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.

UNIT – III

3. Answer any one of the following: 14

1. Attempt a critical analysis of the character of Ephraim Cabot in the play, Desire Under the Elms.
2. Discuss the symbolism of the Elm trees as in Desire Under the Elms.
3. “The isolated, lonely world of the farm is for Cabot a kind of promised land in which God blesses His faithful with prosperity but demands unconditional sacrifice.” Analyze the statement critically.

UNIT – IV

4. Answer any one of the following: 14

1. Examine the first four sections of Whitman’s Song of Myself as an exordium for a spiritual journey.
2. Evaluate Robert Frost as a nature poet referring to the poem, After Apple Picking.
3. Give a critical appreciation of the poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes.

UNIT – V

5. Answer any three of the following: 4x3=12

1. Write briefly on the character of Huckleberry Finn.
2. Write briefly on the character of Abbie Putnam as portrayed in Desire Under the Elms.
3. Write a brief note on American ‘Transcendentalism’.
4. Comment briefly on the theme of paternity in Huckleberry Finn.
5. Comment on the significance of the title, Desire Under the Elms.

UNIT – VI

6. Explain, with reference to the context, any one of the following: 6

1. “I’m Nobody : Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – too?

Then there’s a pair of us!

Don’t tell they’d banish us – you know!”

2. “Thus am I Dante for a space and am

One Francois Villon, ballad-lord and thief

Or am such holy ones I may not write,

Lest blasphemy be writ against my name.”

3. “I’ve known rivers :

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world

And order than the flow of human

Bold in human veins.”

UNIT – VII

7. Answer any eight of the following: 1x8=8

1. Name one poet related to American transcendentalism.
2. Name one work by Mark Twain.
3. In which year was Desire Under the Elms published?
4. When was Eugene O’Neill born?
5. Where was Whitman born?
6. Who is called the bard of America?
7. How many poems and fragments did Emily Dickinson write?
8. When was Emily Dickinson born?
9. Name the collection from which Frost’s After Apple Picking has been extracted.
10. Write the full name of Ezra Pound.
11. Name one Chinese poet whose works Pound read.
12. Name one poet associated with Harlem Renaissance.