British Literature | 2024 August Shift 1 Solved PYQs

Correct Answer: 3 (B, D, E, A, C)

Chronological Timeline:

1. Beowulf (B): Composed roughly between 700–1000 CE. It is the oldest surviving Old English epic.
2. The Faerie Queene (D): Published by Edmund Spenser in 1590 (Books I–III) and 1596 (Books IV–VI) during the Elizabethan era.
3. Paradise Lost (E): John Milton’s epic was published in 1667 (in 10 books) and revised in 1674 (into 12 books).
4. The Pilgrim's Progress (A): John Bunyan’s influential religious allegory was published in 1678.
5. Endymion (C): John Keats published this Romantic narrative poem in 1818.

Correct Answer: 3 (Good Deeds)

Explanation: In the late 15th-century morality play Everyman, the protagonist is summoned by Death to give an account of his life before God. He tries to convince his various "friends" to accompany him on this final journey.

The Order of Abandonment:

• Fellowship, Kindred, and Cousin: Desert him immediately.
• Goods (Wealth): Tells him that his love for riches actually hinders his salvation.
• Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits: All accompany him to the edge of the grave but leave once they see the physical reality of death.
• Knowledge: Stays with him until he reaches the grave but cannot enter.
• Good Deeds: Initially too weak to stand because Everyman neglected her, she is revived by his penance and is the only one to descend into the grave with him to plead his case before God.

Correct Answer: 2 (A, C, D Only)

Detailed Fact-Check:

• Statement A (True): Chaucer mentions "Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye" at the Tabard Inn in Southwark.
• Statement C (True): While most tales are in iambic pentameter (heroic couplets or rhyme royal), some are in prose (The Parson’s Tale and The Tale of Melibee).
• Statement D (True): Despite the ambitious plan of 120 stories, Chaucer only completed 24 tales (with some left unfinished).

Why B and E are false:

• B: The Parson’s Tale is the last tale, and it is a sermon on the Seven Deadly Sins, not virtues. The Knight's Tale is the first.
• E: The Prioress’s Tale is a "Miracle of the Virgin" story about a child martyr killed for singing a hymn; it is not about a child murdering a mother.

Correct Answer: 2 (William Tyndale)

Explanation: William Tyndale was the first to translate the Bible into English directly from the original Greek and Hebrew. His work was so influential that approximately 80% of the later King James Version (1611) is composed of Tyndale's wording.

The Fate of the Translators:

• William Tyndale: Executed and burnt at the stake in 1536 for heresy. His dying prayer was, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes."
• John Wycliffe: Completed a Middle English translation from the Latin Vulgate earlier (14th century). He died of natural causes, though the Church later dug up and burned his bones.
• Miles Coverdale: Published the first complete printed English Bible (1535) and survived the religious turmoil.
• King James I: Not a translator, but the monarch who commissioned the Authorized Version.

Correct Answer: 3 (B and D Only)

Detailed Fact-Check:

• Statement B (True): More coined the term from the Greek ou-topos (no place) and eu-topos (good place), effectively founding the genre.
• Statement D (True): These are the "Big Two" of dystopian fiction, focusing on total state control and technological manipulation respectively.

Correction of Errors:

• A: Utopia is composed of two books (Book 1: Dialogue of Counsel; Book 2: Description of the Island).
• C: It was originally written in Latin (the language of European scholars at the time).
• E: Ralph Robinson produced the first English translation in 1551, not French, German, or Spanish.

Correct Answer: 3 (Thomas Sackville)

Explanation: Gorboduc (1561), also titled Ferrex and Porrex, is a landmark in English literature for being the first tragedy to use blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter). It was co-authored by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville.

Key Facts:

• Acts 1, 2, & 3: Thomas Norton.
• Acts 4 & 5: Thomas Sackville.
• Style: It follows the Senecan model, featuring a Chorus, messenger speeches, and sensationalist violence (though the violence happens off-stage).
• Theme: A political warning about the dangers of a divided kingdom and unsettled succession, performed before Queen Elizabeth I.

Correct Answer: 2 (12)

Explanation: In his "Letter to Raleigh," Spenser explains his plan for 12 books, each featuring a knight who represents one of the twelve "private moral virtues" as defined by Aristotle. Each book was to follow the adventures of one knight during a 12-day feast at the court of the Faerie Queene (Gloriana).

Status of the Work:

• Spenser only completed 6 books (Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, and Courtesy) plus the Mutabilitie Cantos.
• Arthur: Prince Arthur appears in every book, representing the "magnificence" which is the perfection of all other virtues.

Correct Answer: 4 (A and F Only)

Explanation: Shakespeare's "History Plays" cover a significant portion of English monarchical history, but not every king was dramatized by him.

[Image: Timeline of Shakespeare's English History Plays]

Breakdown:

• Plays by Shakespeare: Richard II (C & D), Richard III (B), and Henry V (E) are all major works in his historical cycles (The Henriads).
• Non-existent Plays: Henry the Third (A) and Richard the Fifth (F) are not part of Shakespeare’s canon. While he wrote about Henry IV, V, VI, and VIII, he did not write a play focused on Henry III. Similarly, there is no historical King Richard V of England.

Correct Answer: 3 (John Milton)

Explanation: John Milton (1608–1674) was given the nickname “The Lady of Christ’s” while studying at Christ’s College, Cambridge. This was attributed to his delicate, fair complexion, his refined behavior, and his intellectual distance from the more boisterous student lifestyle.

Contextual Notes:

• Milton was a dedicated scholar, earning both his B.A. and M.A. from Cambridge.
• The nickname was initially used in a mocking sense by his peers, but Milton embraced his studious and virtuous reputation.
• Alexander Pope (Option 2) could not attend Cambridge or Oxford because he was Catholic; Lovelace and Suckling were Cavalier poets associated with Oxford and courtly life respectively.

Correct Answer: 1 (C and E only)

Explanation: Beaumont and Fletcher were the most famous collaborative duo of the Jacobean era. Their partnership defined the shift toward Tragicomedy in English drama.

Collaborative Works (C & E):

• Cupid’s Revenge: A revenge tragedy based on stories from Philip Sidney's Arcadia.
• The Maid’s Tragedy: Considered one of the finest tragedies of the era, focusing on themes of honor, kingship, and lust.
• Other famous collaborations include Philaster and The Knight of the Burning Pestle (though the latter is primarily Beaumont).

Fletcher's Solo Works (A, B, & D):

• The Faithful Shepherdess: A famous pastoral play by Fletcher alone. Though initially a failure on stage, its preface defined the genre of 'Tragicomedy' for English audiences.
• The Loyal Subject and The Pilgrim were also later solo efforts by Fletcher, often written after Beaumont's early retirement/death.

Correct Answer: 2 (A-IV, B-III, C-II, D-I)

Detailed Context: This question highlights the "Big Four" of Restoration Comedy, also known as the Comedy of Manners.

• The Man of Mode → Sir George Etherege (A–IV): Featuring the quintessential rake Dorimant and the famous fop Sir Fopling Flutter.
• The Country Wife → William Wycherley (B–III): Famous for the "China Scene" and the character Mr. Horner, who pretends to be an eunuch to gain access to married women.
• The Old Bachelor → William Congreve (C–II): Congreve's debut play (1693), which enjoyed immediate success and launched his career as the master of witty dialogue.
• The Provoked Wife → Sir John Vanbrugh (D–I): Notable for the character Sir John Brute, it deals with the complexities of marital discord and feminine agency.

Correct Answer: 1 (The mistaken beliefs of the poorly educated)

Explanation: Published in 1646 under the title Pseudodoxia Epidemica, this encyclopedic work aims to debunk common superstitions and unscientific beliefs. In the 17th century, "vulgar" referred to the "common people" (the vulgus). Browne, a physician, used scientific reasoning to challenge misconceptions in folklore, history, and nature.

Correct Answer: 2 (Guardian)

Explanation: After The Spectator (1711–1712) ended, Steele and Addison launched The Guardian in 1713. It shared the same goal: "to enliven morality with wit."

• Tatler: Their first venture (1709), preceding The Spectator.
• Gentleman's Magazine: Founded by Edward Cave (1731).
• Athenian Mercury: A 17th-century Q&A periodical by John Dunton.

Correct Answer: 2 (Mary: A Fiction)

Explanation: Mary: A Fiction (1788) is Wollstonecraft's only completed novel and is highly autobiographical, reflecting her own upbringing and unconventional ideals regarding marriage and female independence. The Wrongs of Woman was her second, unfinished novel.

Correct Answer: 2 (The Prelude)

Explanation: This line appears in Book 11 of Wordsworth's The Prelude. It reflects the Romantic belief in a spiritual continuity and moral community that transcends time, linking past and present through "noble" thought.

Correct Answer: 2 (S.T. Coleridge)

Explanation: Published in 1798, "France: An Ode" expresses Coleridge's disillusionment with the French Revolution after France invaded neutral Switzerland. It serves as a "recantation" of his earlier radical political views.

Correct Answer: 3 (William Blake)

Explanation: The Lake Poets (Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey) were so named because they lived in the Lake District of England. William Blake lived in London and was a "Visionary" poet, distinct from the Lake District group.

Correct Answer: 3 (A-III, B-IV, C-I, D-II)

Literary Context: This set represents the titans of the Victorian Era.

• The Idylls of the King → Alfred Tennyson (A–III): A series of 12 narrative poems that retell the legend of King Arthur and the Round Table, serving as an allegory for the rise and fall of a perfect society.
• Dramatic Lyrics → Robert Browning (B–IV): This 1842 collection includes "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover," solidifying Browning as the master of the dramatic monologue.
• Sonnets from the Portuguese → Elizabeth Barrett Browning (C–I): A sequence of 44 love sonnets written for Robert Browning. The title was a "disguise" to make them appear like translations rather than personal confessions.
• Poems and Ballads → A.C. Swinburne (D–II): An 1866 collection that shocked Victorian sensibilities with its themes of sado-masochism, paganism, and rebellion against conventional morality.

Correct Answer: 2 (George Eliot)

Explanation: This profound reflection on the difficulty of absolute honesty appears in George Eliot’s first full-length novel, Adam Bede (1859), specifically in Chapter 17.

Key Context:

• Psychological Realism: George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) was a pioneer of the psychological novel, focusing on the inner moral struggles and the "web" of social relations.
• Moral Responsibility: The quote reflects her belief that truth is not just a matter of avoiding lies, but a rigorous intellectual and emotional labor.
• Adam Bede: This novel is set in the rural community of Hayslope and explores the consequences of human actions, famously promoting "the faithful representing of commonplace things."

Correct Answer: 3 (A-IV, B-I, C-II, D-III)

Detailed Context: This list covers a broad timeline of women's writing, from the 18th century to modern post-colonial literature.

• Fanny Burney → Evelina (A–IV): Published in 1778, this epistolary novel follows the entry of a young woman into London society. It was a major influence on Jane Austen.
• Anne Brontë → Agnes Grey (B–I): Often overshadowed by her sisters (Charlotte and Emily), Anne's 1847 novel is a realistic portrayal of the precarious social position of a Victorian governess.
• Pearl Buck → The Good Earth (C–II): An American novelist who lived in China; this 1931 novel won the Pulitzer Prize and was a major factor in her winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Nadine Gordimer → My Son's Story (D–III): The Nobel laureate's 1990 novel deals with the complexities of family life, political activism, and racial identity in apartheid-era South Africa.

Correct Answer: 2 (Oscar Wilde)

Explanation: This quote is a central tenet of Oscar Wilde's aesthetic philosophy, found in his seminal critical essay "The Critic as Artist" (1891).

Key Concepts:

• Antinomianism: By calling the critic an "antinomian," Wilde suggests that the critic is not bound by the moral or logical "laws" of the original work. Like a mystic, the critic reaches a higher truth through subjective experience rather than objective rules.
• Criticism as Creation: Wilde argued that criticism is the highest form of creation because it uses another work of art as its "raw material" to create a new, subjective impression.
• The Aesthetic Movement: This thought aligns with the "Art for Art's Sake" movement, where the beauty and the observer's reaction take precedence over moral instruction.

Correct Answer: 3 (A-III, B-I, C-IV, D-II)

Detailed Context: These quotes encapsulate the philosophical and thematic core of four major British prose writers.

• Thomas Hardy (A–III): This famous quote from The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) summarizes Hardy’s fatalistic pessimism. He often portrayed humans as victims of "Hap" (chance) and an indifferent universe.
• D.H. Lawrence (B–I): This reflects Lawrence's belief in spontaneity and "blood-consciousness." He advocated for writing that was raw and driven by genuine internal passion rather than intellectual pretense.
• Graham Greene (C–IV): From The End of the Affair (1951). Greene’s "Catholic novels" often grapple with metaphysics, eternity, and the nature of sin vs. salvation.
• Charles Dickens (D–II): This observation on human nature aligns with Dickens' character sketches, where a character's greatest strength (like generosity) can become a "vice" (like financial recklessness) if not balanced.

Correct Answer: 4 (G.M. Hopkins)

Explanation: Gerard Manley Hopkins, a Victorian poet and Jesuit priest, developed these terms to explain his unique aesthetic and theological view of nature.

• Inscape: The unique, "one-and-only" inner design or essence that makes a thing what it is (e.g., the specific pattern of a leaf or the "self" of a person).
• Instress: The actual force or energy that sustains the inscape and allows a viewer to perceive it. It is the spiritual impulse that strikes the observer.

These concepts are best seen in poems like Pied Beauty and The Windhover, reflecting Hopkins' belief that everything in nature reveals a specific aspect of God's glory.

Correct Answer: 4 (Edmund Husserl)

Explanation: The Bloomsbury Group was a circle of English intellectuals and artists based in London in the early 20th century. Key members included Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Clive Bell, Vanessa Bell, Lytton Strachey, and John Maynard Keynes.

Edmund Husserl was a German philosopher and the founder of Phenomenology; while his ideas were influential in Europe, he was not a member of this specific British social and literary circle.

Correct Answer: 3 (May Sinclair)

Explanation: While the term was originally used by psychologist William James in 1890, it was May Sinclair who first applied it to literature in 1918. She used it in a review of Dorothy Richardson’s novel Pilgrimage to describe the way the narrative attempts to mimic the continuous flow of a character's inner thoughts and feelings.

Note: Although Joyce and Woolf are the most famous practitioners of the technique, they did not coin the name for it.

Correct Answer: 4 (A-IV, B-I, C-II, D-III)

Historical Breakdown:

• Booker Prize → 1968 (A–IV): Established by Booker, McConnell Ltd, the first prize was actually awarded in 1969 to P. H. Newby. It remains the most prestigious award for English-language fiction.
• Pulitzer Prize → 1917 (B–I): Established by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer. It recognizes excellence in newspaper journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition in the US.
• Nobel Prize → 1901 (C–II): Named after Alfred Nobel, the first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Sully Prudhomme. It honors an author's entire body of work.
• Poet Laureate (UK) → 1668 (D–III): While there were unofficial laureates earlier (like Ben Jonson), John Dryden was officially appointed by letters patent as the first Poet Laureate of England in 1668.

Correct Answer: 1 (D, C, E, B, A)

Chronological Timeline:

1. The Hobbit (D): Published in 1937. Tolkien's precursor to The Lord of the Rings.
2. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (C): Published in 1950. The first released book of the Narnia series.
3. Lord of the Flies (E): Published in 1954. Golding's dark allegory of boys stranded on an island.
4. Northern Lights (B): Published in 1995. Part of the His Dark Materials trilogy.
5. The Goblet of Fire (A): Published in 2000. The fourth installment of the Harry Potter series.

Note: The provided "Correct Answer: Option 1: D, E, C, B, A" in the text seems to have a typo regarding the order of C (1950) and E (1954). The logical chronological flow is D, C, E, B, A.

Correct Answer: 2 (C, B, A, E, D)

Timeline of George Bernard Shaw's Career:

1. Arms and the Man (C): 1894. Part of Plays Pleasant.
2. Man and Superman (B): 1903. Notable for the "Don Juan in Hell" sequence.
3. Pygmalion (A): 1912 (Performance) / 1913. His most popular social comedy.
4. Saint Joan (E): 1923. A masterpiece written shortly after the canonization of Joan of Arc.
5. Too True to Be Good (D): 1932. A political and philosophical extravaganza from his later period.

Correct Answer: 1 (A-II, B-I, C-IV, D-III)

Detailed Context: This matching set spans from the Elizabethan/Jacobean era to 20th-century avant-garde movements.

• Abbey Theatre → W.B. Yeats (A–II): Founded in Dublin in 1904 by Yeats and Lady Gregory, it was the cornerstone of the Irish Literary Revival.
• Theatre of the Absurd → Martin Esslin (B–I): Esslin coined this famous term in his 1961 book to describe the work of Beckett, Ionesco, and Genet, focusing on the meaninglessness of existence.
• Hope Theatre → Philip Henslowe (C–IV): Henslowe was a major Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur. The Hope (built 1613) was unique because it featured a removable stage to accommodate both drama and animal-baiting.
• Theatre of Silence → Jean Jacques Barnard (D–III): Also known as le théâtre de l'inexprimé (Theatre of the Unexpressed), this movement emphasized that the most profound emotions are often found in what is *not* said on stage.

Correct Answer: 4 (J.B. Priestley)

Explanation: The Angry Young Men were a group of mostly working- and middle-class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. Their work (like Osborne's Look Back in Anger) expressed disillusionment with the traditional British class system and the "Establishment."

Breakdown:

• John Osborne & Kingsley Amis: The definitive faces of the movement.
• Colin Wilson: His book The Outsider (1956) was a key text of the era, though his interests were more existential and philosophical than purely social.
• J.B. Priestley: While a significant socialist writer, he belonged to an earlier generation (Edwardian/Georgian) and was already an established literary figure long before the movement began.

Correct Answer: 4 (Golden Child)

Explanation: Jean Rhys (1890–1979) was a Caribbean-born British novelist whose work often dealt with women struggling in exile and poverty. Her famous works include Quartet (1928), Voyage in the Dark (1934), and Good Morning, Midnight (1939), as well as her masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea (1966).

Note: Golden Child is a 2019 novel by Claire Adam, set in Trinidad, and is not a part of Jean Rhys's bibliography.

Correct Answer: 4 (D, E, B, A, C)

Agatha Christie’s Publication Timeline:

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (D): 1920. Her debut novel which introduced Hercule Poirot.
2. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (E): 1926. Famous for its groundbreaking "unreliable narrator" twist.
3. Murder on the Orient Express (B): 1934. One of the most famous locked-room mysteries in literature.
4. Death on the Nile (A): 1937. A classic Poirot mystery set during a cruise in Egypt.
5. Sparkling Cyanide (C): 1945. A later thriller featuring Colonel Race.

Correct Answer: 4 (A, C, E only)

Nobel Laureate Facts:

• Orhan Pamuk (A): Won in 2006. He is the first Turkish Nobel laureate, known for My Name is Red and Snow.
• Harold Pinter (C): Won in 2005. The master of "The Comedy of Menace" and the iconic "Pinter Pause."
• Herta Müller (E): Won in 2009. A Romanian-born German novelist known for portraying the effects of totalitarianism (e.g., The Hunger Angel).

Why B and D are not included: Somerset Maugham was a prolific writer but never received the Nobel Prize. Margaret Atwood is a frequent nominee and a two-time Booker Prize winner, but she has not (yet) been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.