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 I-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 I-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,” substituting proper names for pronouns.

c) Explain the italicized expressions.

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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? b) Who are the "two brothers"?

c) How does Hamlet proceed to contrast the two?

d) What is his purpose in drawing the contrast?

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"?

b) 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"

b) In what other poets of the period are there similar ideas? Illustrate.

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(Topic 1) Burke on Conciliation

Group III-Oratory

a) How does Burke meet the argument that England has a legal right to tax the Colonies?

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b) What may we learn from Burke's Speech as to the best method of ing remote territories? Give an example which he cites. c) Explain what Burke means when he characterizes Lord North's project as "ransom by auction."

(Topic 2) Washington's Farewell Address and Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration.

(Both a and b must be answered.)

a) What does Washington say regarding the danger to national unity in the geographical organization of parties?

b) What does Webster say with reference to the results of revolution in South America?

(Topic 3) Macaulay's Speeches on Copyright and Lincoln's Speech at Cooper Union.

(a, b, and c must be answered.)

a) What, according to Macaulay, are the only two ways in which an author can be remunerated for his literary labor?

b) What is the plan which Macaulay proposes in his Second Speech on Copyright, and how does he support it by citing the cases of Madame d'Arblay and Miss Austen?

c) How did Lincoln meet the Southern argument that the Republican party was sectional ?

Group IV-Essays

(Topic 1) Macaulay's Life of Johnson.

a) What, according to Macaulay, was Johnson's chief weakness as a lexicographer?

b) In what respects did Macaulay think Johnson ill-qualified to bring out an edition of Shakespeare?

c) After your reading of this essay, what should you say of Macaulay as a critic of men and of literature?

(Topic 2) Carlyle's Essay on Burns.

a) "The blame for Burns's failure lay chiefly not with the world." Briefly discuss this assertion of Carlyle's.

b) What was Burns's relation to the literature of his time?

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(Answer a, and either b or c).

a) In what sense does Emerson use the word "aristocracy”?

b) What relation does Emerson discern between the "class of power" and the "exclusive and polished circles"?

c) Interpret carefully the following quotation:

"I could better eat with one who did not respect the truth or the laws than with a sloven and unpresentable person."

PART II-BOOKS FOR READING

(The essay called for under this section must be based on one of the ten books presented by you to meet the requirement under English Literature A.)

Write a carefully planned theme of four or five hundred words on one (and only one) of the following topics

1. A vivid picture of a scene or a character.

2. The meeting of the hero and the villain.

3. English village life.

4. My favorite essay.

5. The opening scene of the play.

6. An episode from the Bible or from the classics.

Comprehensive Examination

ENGLISH

Tuesday, June 19

9 a.m.-12 m.

However accurate in subject-matter, no paper will be considered satisfactory if seriously defective in spelling, punctuation, or other essentials of good usage. Allow fully one hour for Part II.

PART I

(Choose two questions from Part I)

1. Show how a minor character in some novel that you have read vitally influences the course of the story.

2. Mention certain poems or dramas in which the supernatural plays a significant part. Comment specifically on the influence of this element upon character and plot.

3. Show by specific illustrations from books that you have read how biographies and historical novels have increased your interest in history.

4. Select an American author of note and tell what his special contribution was to American literature.

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. Summer work on the farm.

2. The building of an inexpensive garage, or the equipment of a shop, laboratory, or gymnasium at home.

3. The best section of the United States.

4. How I furnished my room.

5. The relations between the United States and Mexico.

6. The mining of coal (or any other important industrial process, such as the milling of lumber or the production of steel).

7. The equipment and training of a military officer.

8. Lectures: their influence and their value to the school or to the community. 9. Changes I should like to make in the organization of some school activity. 10. Books that I shall not make my children read.

11. A project for world-peace.

12. The "movie habit."

13. A contemporary writer whose works might well be read in school.

14. An argument for (or against) national prohibition by federal enactment. 15. Democracy in the European War.

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