2013

1. What is the full title of the poem “Tintern Abbey”?
   Ans: The full title of the poem “Tintern Abbey”, is “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a tour July 13, 1798”.
2. What does the tiger symbolize in Blake’s poetry?
   Ans: The tiger is a symbol of restlessness and fierceness.
3. What was the damsel doing in the poem ‘Kubla Khan’?
   Ans: The Abyssinian maid was singing a sweet song about Mount Abora.
4. What does Blake mean by ‘chartered street’ in his poem “London”?
   Ans: The word ‘chartered’ means free or privileged. So the ‘chartered’ street means the street which enjoys the freedom guaranteed by a royal charter.
5. Why does Shelley urge the west wind to hear?
   Ans:
6. How many people were in the skeleton ship and what were they doing?
   Ans: There was two crew in the skeleton ship and they were playing dice.
7. Who was Cortez?
   Ans: Hernan Cortez was a famous Spanish adventurer of the 16th century. He conquers Mexico in 1519.
8. What do the meanest flowers reveal to the poet?
   Ans: They reveal to him that all objects of nature are pervaded by the spirit of God.
9. How did Juan manage to flee?
   Ans: Juan managed to flee beating Alfonso in a dual but at the cost of his only dress.
10. What was the cause of the quarrel between Don Jose and Donna Inez?
    Ans: Don Jose’s having a mistress is the cause of the quarrel between Jose and Inez.
11. Which particular word brings Keats back from the world of his imagination?
    Ans: “Forlorn” the word brings Keats back from the world of his imagination.
12. Why does Shelley call Skylark a scorner of the ground?
    Ans: Shelley calls skylark scorner of the ground because it flies in the higher region feeling contempt for the earth and mundane life.

2014

1. What does the child on a cloud represent?
   Ans: The child on a cloud represents the “Jesus Christ”.
2. What is Pastoral Poetry?
   Ans: A pastoral poetry is a kind of poetry that deals with rural atmosphere, rural nature, rural people, etc.
3. What is noticed in every face in “London”?
   Ans: “Marks of weakness” and “marks of woes” are noticed on every face in “London”.
4. What is an Ode?
   Ans: An ode is a lyric poem. It is addressed to someone or something.
5. How many sailors were on the board of the ship?
   Ans: There were two hundred sailors and the Ancient Marines were on the board of the ship.
6. What was the Abyssinian maiden doing?
   Ans: The Abyssinian maiden was singing of Mount Abora with her dulcimer.
7. Who was Kubla Khan?
   Ans: Kubla Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan. He was the conqueror of the Mongolian Empire.
8. What is a Ballad?
   Ans: A ballad is a folk song that narrates something in chronological order.
9. Who is Homer?
   Ans: Homer is a great Italian poet. He was famous for the two immortal epics “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.
10. Who is called the poet of beauty?
    Ans: John Keats is called the poet of beauty.
11. Who are Juan’s parents?
    Ans: Juan’s parents are Don Jose and Donna Inez.
12. What do you know about Dorothy?
    Ans: Dorothy is the sister of William Wordsworth.

2015

1. What does “Abraham Bosom” mean?
   Ans: “Abraham’s Bosom” means a place of comfort in the Biblical Sheol.
2. What is the central image of “Kubla Khan”?
   Ans: The central image of Kubla Khan is to construct a “pleasure dome”.
3. What is an elegy?
   Ans: An elegy is a poem that deals with someone or something’s death. It is a song for mourning.
4. How was Don Juan looked?
   Ans: Don Juan was a little curly-haired child. He was good for nothing in his childhood.
5. How does the poet want to fly with the Nightingale?
   Ans: The poet wants to fly with the nightingale by the “viewless wings of poetry”.
6. How does Keats enjoy Homer?
   Ans: Keats enjoys Homer pleasurably like an astronomer. When an astronomer discovers a new planet he fills such pleasure.
7. What did Tom see in his dream?
   Ans: Tom saw in his dream that thousands of his fellow sweepers were locked up in a black coffin and then there comes an angel with a bright key who opens the coffin and sets them all free.
8. Why Jesus Christ is called a lamb?
   Ans: Jesus Christ is called a lamb because of his meekness and mildness.
9. What is the moral of the poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”?
   Ans: The moral of the poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is “showing equal love to all creatures of God without making any distinction”.
10. What are the three classes in “London”?
    Ans: Three classes are the “chimney sweeper”, “the soldier”, and “the harlot”.
11. Where does Tintern Abbey situate?
    Ans: Tintern Abbey is situated on the bank of the River Wye in England.
12. “No, no | go not to Lethe”— Whom does Keats address here?
    Ans: Keats addresses here the true seeker of melancholy.

2016

1. Who is called the poet of supernaturalism?
   Ans: Samuel Taylor Coleridge is called the poet of supernaturalism.
2. Who are the ‘Lake Poets’?
   Ans: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Robert Southey are called the ‘Lake Poets’.
3. What is a Bard?
   Ans: A Bard is a poet.
4. What does the tiger symbolize?
   Ans: Tyger symbolizes fierceness and restlessness.
5. What is an urn?
   Ans: An urn is a tall vase container that is used for holding the ashes of a dead person.
6. Who was Kubla Khan?
   Ans: Kubla Khan is the grandson of the Mongolian Empire Genghis Khan.
7. Who is ‘she’ in ‘London 1802’?
   Ans: Here “She” refers to England.
8. What is Xanadu?
   Ans: Xanadu is the summer capital of Kubla Khan.
9. What is an Ode?
   Ans: An ode is a lyric poem that is addressed to someone or something.
10. Where was Don Juan born?
    Ans: Don Juan was born in Seville, Spain.
11. Who is Adonis?
    Ans: Adonis is a mythological character but in the poem, “Adonais” John Keats is addressed as Adonis.
12. Who was the crew of the ‘specter-ship’?
    Ans: The crew of the “specter-ship” was Death and Life-in-Death.

2017

1. Why does Blake choose a hollow reed to make his pen?
   Ans: Blake choose a hollow reed to make his pen because he wanted to make a rural atmosphere in his poem.
2. When was the poem “Tintern Abbey” written?
   Ans: The poem “Tintern Abbey” was written on 13 July 1798.
3. How did the Ancient Mariner begin his story?
   Ans: The Ancient Mariner began his story abruptly.
4. What was Donna Inez’s noblest virtue?
   Ans: The noblest virtue of Donna Inez is “magnanimity”. She was kind and generous.
5. What is meant by ‘love-laden-soul’?
   Ans: It means a heart that is full of the pangs of love.
6. Why does Keats’s heartache?
   Ans: Keats’s heartaches because of very echoes of his joy which he felt hearing the song of Nightingale.
7. What evils of society are attacked in “London”?
   Ans: “London” is attacked by three social evils. Those are callousness or society, adversity, and lust.
8. Why does England need Milton?
   Ans: England needs Milton in order to restore her moral and spiritual standards.
9. Why did Coleridge regard “Kubla Khan” as a fragment?
   Ans: The whole poem came to him in a dream. After waking up from his dream he can not finish the poem. So the poem is called a fragment.
10. What are the main features of Byronic Hero?
    Ans: The main features of a Byronic are intelligence, cunning, arrogance, violence, and self-aware.
11. What was the Abyssinian maid doing?
    Ans: The Abyssinian maid was singing of Mount Abora with her dulcimer.
12. Why is the Urn called “Cold Pastoral”?
    Ans: The Urn is called ” Cold Pastoral” because it is lifeless and rural scenes are depicted on it.

2018

1. How does the chimney sweeper cry?
   Ans: The chimney sweeper cries ‘weep! weep!” in a sad note.
2. What does Blake criticize in “Holy Thursday”?
   Ans:  In “Holy Thursday”, Blake criticizes religious hypocrisy.
3. What is the doctrine of the pre-existence of a human soul?
   Ans: The doctrine of the pre-existence of the human suggests that human souls had pre-natal existence in heaven before they come to earth being united with the bodies.
4. Who is ‘She’ in “London 1802”?
   Ans: Here “She” refers to London.
5. What does ‘a sunless sea’ signify?
   Ans: ‘A sunless sea’ signifies an ‘infinity of death’.
6. What is a dulcimer?
   Ans: A dulcimer is a kind of stringed musical instrument. It is played by striking the strings with two small hammers held in the hands.
7. How was Juan detected in Julia’s bedroom?
   Ans: Juan was detected by his pair of shoes.
8. What did Juan learn?
   Ans: Juan learned the art of riding, fencing, gunnery, and how to scale a fortress or a nunnery.
9. From where does the Skylark sing?
   Ans: The skylark sings from heaven or near it, that is from somewhere near the sky.
10. Who is Urania?
    Ans: Urania is, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy and a daughter of Zeus by Mnemosyne, and also a great-granddaughter of Uranus.
11. What is nightshade?
    Ans: Nightshade is a poisonous plant that yields red bright berries.
12. What is a Provencal song?
    Ans: It is the song of the bards of Provence, a southern district of France, famous for wine and love of song and dance.

2019

1. ‘O Attic Shape’ —- why does the poet tell the urn attic?
   Ans: Attic means Athenian, here belonging to Greece. As the ‘urn’ belongs to Greece so the poet tells the urn “O Attic Shape”.
2. Who was Kubla Khan?
   Ans: Kubla Khan was a historical figure. He was the grandson of the Mongolian Empire Genghis/z Khan.
3. Where is ‘Tintern Abbey’ situated?
   Ans: “Tintern Abbey” is situated in Monmouthshire in England.
4. What does the ‘Albatross! Symbolize?
   Ans: The albatross symbolizes innocence, goodness, God’s creation, and even God’s love and salvation.
5. What do the ‘lamp! and the ‘tiger’ symbolize in Blake’s poems?
   Ans: “Lamb” symbolizes innocence(meekness and mildness) and “Tyger” symbolizes restlessness and fierceness.
6. What is ‘Lethe’?
   Ans: “Lethe” is an underground river. It is known as the river of forgetfulness.
7. Who was Donna Julia?
   Ans: Donna Julia was one of the friends of Donna Inez.
8. Why does the poet call the ‘Urn’ cold-pastoral?
   Ans: The “Urn’ is called cold because it has not/does not have the warmth of life and rural scenes are depicted on it so it is called ‘cold pastoral’.
9. That time is past’— when does the poet refer to ‘ that time ’?
   Ans: Here ‘that time’ refers to the childhood days and thoughtless youth.
10. What is hemlock?
    Ans: Hemlock is a poisonous plant. Once Socrates died from drinking it.
11. What languages did Donna Inez know?
    Ans: Inez knew Latin, Greek, French, and her native language Spanish.
12. What appeal does Shelley make to the West Wind?
    Ans: (Shelley appeals to the Skylark to share the source/inspiration of its melodious song and communicate half of its gladness).

2020

1. Who accompanied Wordsworth in his revisit to the bank of Wye?
   Ans: His sister, Dorothy was accompanied by Wordsworth in his revisit to the bank of Wye.
2. Who is Lucy?
   Ans: Lucy is an idealized English girl who died young. She is Wordsworth’s inspiration for writing Lucy Poems, and she is presented as an ideal.
3. What was the name of the capital of Kubla Khan?
   Ans:  The name of the capital of Kubla Khan was Xanadu.
4. What type of poem is “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”?
   Ans: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, is a ballad that is represented in the form of an allegory. It is also a supernatural poem.
5. What is an elegy?
   Ans: An elegy is a song of mourning. Here, the poet mourns for someone or something.
6. What does Shelley mean by ‘blithe spirit’?
   Ans: By ‘blithe spirit’, Shelley means the skylark as a joyous spirit or soul.
7. Who is Cortez?
   Ans: Hernan Cortez is a famous Spanish adventurer of the 16th century, He conquers Mexico in 1519.
8. Why does Keats have heartache?
   Ans: Keats’ heart aches because of the very excess of his joy that he felt hearing the song of the nightingale.
9. Who is Don Alfonso?
   Ans: Don Alfonso was Julia’s husband.
10. Whom did Julia marry?
    Ans: Julia married Don Alfonso, a man of fifty, though she was only twenty-three.
11. Why did the chimney sweeper cry ‘weep’?
    Ans: The chimney sweeper cried ‘weep’ to draw the attention of the persons who need his services.
12. What did Tom Dacre see in his dream?
    Ans: Tom saw in his dream that thousands of his fellow sweepers were locked up in black coffins and then there comes an angel with a bright key who opens the coffins and set them free.

Briefs – Set Suggestions 21

William Blake

The Chimney Sweeper

1. What is a chimney sweeper?
   Ans: A chimney sweeper is a young boy who was sent up a chimney with a brush to Sweep away the soot that had – accumulated on the inner walls of the chimney.
2. Who is Tom Dacre? [NU. 2011]
   Ans: He is a fellow chimney sweeper of the speaker of the poem.
3. Why were the heads of the chimney sweepers Shaved?
   Ans: Their heads were shaved in order to avoid the risk of their hair catching fire.
4. Why is Tom’s hair compared to the wool of a lamb?
   Ans: Tom’s hair is compared to the wool of a lamb in order to signify the innocence of the little chimney sweepers.
5. What is the moral of the poem The Chimney Sweeper?
   Ans: The moral of the poem is that no harm comes to him who does not neglect his duty.
6. How does the chimney sweeper cry?
   Ans: The chimney sweeper cries ‘weep! weep!

London

1. “I wander thro’ each chartered street”—-What does the ‘chartered street’ mean?[NU. 2013]
   Ans: The word ‘chartered’ means free or privileged. So the ‘chartered’ street means the street which enjoys the freedom guaranteed to it by a royal charter.
2. What is meant by ‘the mind-forged manacles’?
   Ans: The mind-forged manacles refer to the fetters or chains imposed by the men of authority.
3. How many social evils are attacked in London?
   Ans: Three great evils of society are attacked in London.
4. Why is harlot a curse for a loveless marriage?
   Ans: A harlot ‘is a curse for a loveless marriage because an unhappy or loveless marriage causes the husband to seek physical pleasure elsewhere in the arms of a young prostitute.
5. What is meant by the ‘marriage hearse’?
   Ans: It means a marriage that is a living death because of the husband’s venereal disease contracted by his contact with a prostitute.
6. Which three classes are represented in the poem ‘London’?
   Ans: The chimney sweeper, the soldier, and the harlot are represented in “London’’.

John Keats

Ode on Melancholy

1. What is the source of the poem Ode on Melancholy? Or,
   “What inspired Keats to write the poem Ode on Melancholy?
   Ans: Keats was inspired to write the poem by Beaumont, Milton, and Burton. At the time Keats wrote this poem,.he was reading Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy?
2. What is the theme of the poem Ode on Melancholy?
   Ans: The theme of the poem Ode on Melancholy is the habitual alternation of joys and sorrows and that there is a pain in joy and joy in pain.
3. What is melancholy?
   Ans: Melancholy is a delicate feeling, not deadening grief caused by death or disaster.
4. “No, no I go not to Lethe” — Whom does Keats address here?
   Ans: Keats here addresses the person who seeks melancholy.
5. Who was Proserpine?
   Ans: Proserpine was an earthly goddess. Pluto, the king of the underworld, fell in love with her and abducted her while she was picking flowers on the plain around Etna in Sicily.
6. What is ‘rosary’?
   Ans: ‘Rosary’ is a string of beads by which the devout count their prayers.
7. Why does Keats compares the showers of April rain to a shroud?
   Ans: A shroud hides an object from our view. Similarly, the showers of April rain dim the bright and beautiful object of nature. So Keats compares the showers of April rain to a shroud.
8. What is a shroud?
   Ans: A shroud is a piece of cloth that a dead person’s body is wrapped in before it is buried. It also refers to a thing that covers, surrounds or hides something.
9. Where, according to Keats, is true melancholy found?
   Ans: According to Keats, true melancholy is found in everything that is beautiful and joyful such as a morning rose, the colors of the salt sand wave, the abundance of globbed peonies, the bright dark eyes of the beloved, etc.
10. What is the source of melancholy?
    Ans: Everything that is beautiful and joyful is the source of melancholy.
11. What is a peony?
    Ans: The peony is a garden plant with large round white, pink, or red flowers.
12. Whom does Melancholy dwell with?
    Ans: Melancholy dwells with Beauty.
13. What is meant by the line “She dwells with Beauty”? Or,
    How does Melancholy dwell with Beauty?
    Ans: Beauty is shot-lived. Melancholy dwells with Beauty in the sense that the transitory character of Beauty awakens the melancholy mood in the sensitive souls.
14. Why does Joy always keep his finger on his lips?
    Ans: Joy always keeps his finger on his lips to bid farewell to his worshippers.
15. What is shrine?
    Ans: Shrine is a place where people come to worship because it is connected with a holy person or event.
16. Where is Melancholy’s shrine to be found?
    Ans: Melancholy’s shrine is to be found in the very temple of Delight.
17. What is Melancholy’s relation to Delight?
    Ans: Melancholy and Delight are inseparable. In the temple of Delight, Melancholy hides her face under a veil.
18. Whatis atrophy?
    Ans: A trophy is an object given as a prize for winning a competition. It is a symbol of conquest.
19. What does melancholy conquer?
    Ans: Melancholy conquers the souls of the persons who have experienced the profoundest pleasure.

Ode to a Nightingale

1. What inspired Keats to write Ode to a Nightingale?
   Ans: Keats was inspired to write this Ode by the song of a nightingale that had built its nest close to the house of his friend, Charles Brown, in Hampstead.
2. What is the central idea of the poem Ode to a Nightingale?
   Ans: The central idea of the poem is an inspiration for a life of beauty away from the oppressive world.
3. What is the theme of the poem Ode to a Nightingale?
   Ans: The poem is in part a very triumphant song to Death and in part the voice of immortality.
4. What is Lethe?
   Ans: Lethe is the name of an underground river mentioned in Greek mythology, running through Hades, the home of the dead.
5. What is called the river of forgetfulness? Why?
   Ans: Lethe is called the river of forgetfulness because the water of the river, when drunk, was thought to make the dead forget their life on Earth.
6. What is Dryad?
   Ans: According to Greek mythology, the Dryads were the tree-nymphs, who were born on, and who died with, the trees which were their dwelling.
7. Why is the nightingale called ‘light-winged Dryad’?
   Ans: The nightingale is called a Dryad because it lives among trees and it is light-winged because it is capable of flying without much effort.
8. Who is Flora?
   Ans: Flora is the Roman goddess of flowers and spring.
9. What is Hippocrene?
   Ans: Hippocrene was a fountain sacred to the Muses on Mt. Helicon in Boeotia. The fountain was said to have been produced by the stamp of the hoof of the winged horse Pegasus.
10. What is the meaning of the word ‘fever’?
    Ans: The word ‘fever? means the feverish activity of life, restlessness.
11. What is palsy?
    Ans: Palsy is a disease (paralysis) of old age in which the whole body of the sufferer shakes constantly.
12. Who is Bacchus? [NU. 2011] Or,
    What do you know about Bacchus’ chariot?
    Ans: Bacchus, the god of wine, is usually represented riding in a chariot drawn by leopards or panthers.
13. Why is the eglantine called ‘Pastoral’?
    Ans: The eglantine is the sweet-brier. ‘It is called pastoral because it is sung of over and over again in pastoral poetry.
14. Why does the poet like to die?
    Ans: The poet likes to die in order to get rid of the suffering and sorrows of everyday life.
15. Why does death seem rich to the poet?
    Ans: The poet feels that death in the midst of the song of the nightingale would bring him the greatest happiness. So death seems rich to him.
16. What is requiem?
    Ans: Requiem is a song of mourning a service to pray for the soul of one recently dead.
17. Who is Ruth?
    Ans: Ruth is a Biblical character. She was married to a Jew in Moab. After the death of her first husband, she married Boaz and went gleaning among his fields away from her own home. She often felt sad and longed to return to her own home.
18. Why does the poet call fancy a ‘deceiving elf’?
    Ans: The poet calls fancy a ‘deceiving elf? because it can make us forget the hard realities of life for a short time only.
19. What particular word brings Keats back from the world of his imagination? [NU. 2013]
    Ans: “Forlorn”.
20. How does the poet want to fly with the Nightingale?
    Ans: The poet wants to fly with the nightingale on the invisible wings of poetry.
21. What is Provencal song?
    Ans: It is the song of the bards of Provence, a southern district of France, famous for wine and love of song and dance.
22. What is hemlock?
    Ans: Hemlock is a plant used in the ancient world to produce a Poisonous juice. (Socrates was compelled to drink hemlock by the Athenians and died.)

Briefs – Set Suggestions 22

William Blake – Songs of Innocence

Introduction

1. What conventional figures of innocence are introduced in Introduction to Songs of Innocence?
Ans: The poem introduces us to conventional figures of innocence: a shepherd with his pipe, and a child in a rural setting.

2. Who is the piper referred to in Introduction to Songs of Innocence?
Ans: The piper referred to in this poem is the poet Blake himself.

3. What did the poet do while wandering through the valleys?
Ans: He was piping songs of joy on his pipe while wandering through the valleys.

4. did the poet see in his vision while piping songs of joy on his pipe?
Ans: In his vision he saw a child on a cloud while piping songs of joy on his pipe.

5. What kind of child did the poet see on a cloud?
Ans: The poet saw a mystic child on a cloud.

6. What does the child on a cloud represent?
Ans: The child may refer to Jesus Christ who speaks from a cloud i.e. heaven or it may be an angel representing innocence.

7. What does the “Lamb” symbolise? [NU. 2011]
Ans: The “Lamb” symbolises innocence and Christ.

8. Why does the child vanish from the sight of the poet?
Ans: The child vanishes from the sight of the poet for he is a vision symbolising the poet’s imagination.

9. How many times did the child weep?
Ans: The child wept two times—first hearing the piping, and next listening to the Songs of joy.

10.  How does the poet represent himself in the poem?
Ans: He represents himself as a shepherd-boy carrying a shepherd’s pipe.

11. Why does Blake choose a hollow reed to make his pen?
Ans: The poet chose a hollow reed to maintain the rurality or pastorality of the atmosphere.

The Lamb

12.Why is The Lamb the most significant poem in the section Innocence.
Ans: Because it extends the world of innocence to the animals.

13. What does the child ask the lamb?
Ans: The child asks the lamb who its Creator is.

14. How is the wool of the lamb?
Ans: The lamb has bright, soft and warm wool.

15. Who is called by the name of the lamb?
Ans: The Creator of the lamb is called by the name of the lamb.

16. Why is Christ regarded as God?
Ans: Since Christ is known by God’s name, he is regarded as God.

17. does the “Lamb” symbolise?
Ans: The Lamb is a symbol of Christ.

18. What is Jesus Christ called the lamb? [NU. 2015]
Ans: According to the Christian mythology, Christ is called the lamb because of his qualities of gentleness and meekness.

The Chimney Sweeper

19. What is a chimney sweeper?
Ans: A chimney sweeper is a young boy who was sent up a chimney with a brush to sweep away the soot that had accumulated on the inner walls of the chimney.

20. Who is Tom Dacre? [NU. 2011]
Ans: He is a fellow chimney sweeper of the speaker of the poem.

21. Why were the heads of the chimney sweepers shaved?
Ans: Their heads were shaved in order to avoid risk of their hair catching fire.

22. Why is Tom’s hair compared to the wool of a Iamb?
Ans: Torn’s hair is compared to the wool of a lamb in order to signify the innocence of the little chimney sweepers.

60. Where are the parents of the chimney sweeper?
Ans: The parents of the chimney sweeper have gone to church.

61. Why have the parents of the chimney sweeper gone to church?
Ans: The parents of the chimney sweeper have gone to church to pray.

62. Who are responsible for the miseries of the chimney sweeper?
Ans: God, His Priest and King are responsible for the miseries of the chimney sweeper.

Nurse’s Song

63. What kind of nurse is the nurse of the Songs of Experience?
Ans: The nurse of the Songs of Experience is dutiful and conscientious.

64. Why does the face of the Nurse turn green and pale?
Ans: The face of the Nurse turns with sorrow over the passing of her hopes and desires of her youth.

65. What does the Nurse feel jealous of?
Ans: The Nurse feels jealous of the young children’s happiness and joy.

66. “And the dews of night arise”—What does the ‘dew’ symbolise?
Ans: The ‘dew’ symbolises materialism or the worldliness of the people.

Holy Thursday

67. How is the title “Holy Thursday” ironic?
Ans: There is a controlling irony in the title of this poem. The holiness of the day cannot be honoured when this scene represents such an unholy situation. By implication, what we see is not holiness but hypocrisy.

68. What is not ‘holy’ thing to see.
Ans: In a rich and fruitful country, children are reduced to misery is not ‘holy’ thing to see.

69. What does winter symbolize?
Ans: Winter symbolizes hopelessness.

70. What does “eternal winter” mean?
Ans: “Eternal winter” means ever lasting periods of death, coldness decay.

71. What does “trembling song” refer to?
Ans: “Trembling song” refers to the songs of fear and misery.

72. How does “Holy Thursday” of the experience version differ from that of the innocence version?
Ans: The lines of the experience version are shorter, more exclamatory sentences and interrogatives and there are also no rounded rhythms.

73. “I wander thro’ each character street” — Whnt does the ‘chartered street’ mean?
Ans: The word ‘chartered’ means free or privileged. So the ‘chartered’ means the street which enjoys the freedom guaranteed to it by a royal charter. ]NU. 2013]

74. What is meant by ‘the mind-forged manacles’?
Ans: The mind-forged manacles refer to the fetters or chains imposed by the men of authority.

75. How many social evils are attacked in London?
Ans: Three great evils of society are attacked in London.

76. Why is harlot a curse for a loveless marriage?
Ans: A harlot is a curse for a loveless marriage because an unhappy or loveless marriage causes the husband seek physical pleasure elsewhere in the arms of a young prostitute.

77. What is meant by the ‘marriage hearse’?
Ans: It means a marriage which is a living death because of the husband’s venereal disease contracted by his contact with a prostitute.

78. Which three classes are represented in the poem ‘London’? [NU.2015]
Ans: The chimney sweeper, the soldier and the harlot are represented in “London”.

79. Why did the chimney sweeper cry ‘weep’? [NU. 2020]
Ans: The chimney sweeper cries ‘weep! weep!’ to draw the attention of the persons who need his services.

80. What did Tom Dacre see in his dream? (NU. 2015, 2020]
Ans: Tom saw in his dream that thousands of his fellow sweepers locked up in black coffins and then there comes an angel with a bright key who opens the coffins and sets them all free.

William Wordsworth

1. What is the extension of Romantic age?
Ans: Romantic age extends from 1798 to 1832.

2. What is Romanticism?
Ans: Romanticism is a literary movement in art, music and literature against the set rules of the classical literature.

3. Why is the Romantic age termed as Romantic Revival?
Ans: Romantic age is termed as the period of Romantic Revival because the glorious production of the age had a close kinship with the Elizabethan age.

4. Who is considered as the father or Romanticism?
Ans: Rousseau, the French philosopher, is considered as the father of Romanticism.

5. What is Poet Laureate?
Ans: It is a title given to a poet who is appointed by the sovereign to compose poems for state functions.

6. Who are the ‘Lake poets’? [NU. 2016]
Ans: Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey are called Lake poets because at one time or another, they lived in the Lake country of northwestern England.

Tintern Abbey

7. What is the full title of the poem Tintern Abbey? [NU. 20131
Ans: “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798.”

8. What is an Abbey? [NU. 201]
Ans: An Abbey is a large church together with a group of buildings in which monks and nuns live as a community in the service of God and religion.

9. What is the name of Wordsworth’s sister? [NU. 2011]
Ans: The name of his sister is Dorothy.

10. What is sycamore?
Ans: Sycamore is a kind of fig tree. It is a tree of the maple family with leaves that have five points and seeds shaped like a pair of wings.

11. What do you mean by ‘hedge-row’?
Ans: ‘Hedge-row’ is a lines of bushes or plants planted along the edge of a field or road for protecting the field or the road.

12. What is a hermit?
Ans: A hermit is a person who usually for religious reasons, lives very simple life alone and does not meet and talk to other people.

13. What is ‘sensations sweet’?
Ans: It means the sweet memories of the lovely scenes of Nature.

14. What is the ‘blessed mood’?
Ans: It means the happy and spiritual state of mind that seems to be a blessing.

16. What is the queen-mother of solace?
Ans:  Nature is the queen-mother of solace.

17. What are the three stages?
Ans:  The three stages are (i) the poet’s boyish animal pleasure in Nature; (ii) his love of sensuous beauty of Nature; and (iii) his spiritual and intellectual love of Nature.

18. What do you mean by the ‘aching joys’?
Ans: It means joy mixed with pain. The joy felt by the poet on seeing thc beauty of Nature is so intense that it causes pain for him.

19. What do you mean by ‘dizzy raptures’?
Ans: ‘Dizzy raptures’ are ecstatic joys that caused giddiness. Seeing the beauty ofNature, the poet is so delighted that he sometimes lost mental balance.

20. What do you mean by the phrase ‘sad music of humanity’?
Ans: It means the sorrows and sufferings of mankind.

21. Why does the poet advises his sister to cultivate friendship with Nature?
Ans: The poet advises his sister to cultivate friendship with Nature because “Nature never did betray”, that is, Nature never deceives anyone.

22. What do you know about Dorothy?
Ans: Dorothy is the sister of the Romantic poet, William Wordsworth.

23. When was the poem “Tintern Abbey” written? [NU. 2017]
Ans: The poem was written in 1798 immediately after the poet’s second visit to the Wye.

24. Where is ‘Tintern Abbey’ situated? [NU. 2019]
Ans: Tintern Abbey is situated in Monmouthshire, Wales, on the west bank of the River Wye.

25. ‘That time is past’ — when does the poet refer to as ‘that time’? [Nu.2019]
Ans: Here ‘that time’ refers to the poet’s second stage of his love of nature in which he loved only the sensuous beauty of nature.

Ode: Intimations Immortality

26. What is the full title of Wordsworth’s Immortality Ode? [NU. 2011]
Ans: The full title of the poem is Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early childhood. In short it is called Ode: Intimations of Immortality.

27. At whose suggestion did Wordsworth add a long title to the Immortality Ode?
Ans: At the suggestion of Henry Crabb Robinson, Wordsworth added long title to the poem.

28. What is the theme of the poem?
Ans: The theme of the poem is the immortality of the human soul of which one is aware in childhood but which fades from one’s mind With growing years.

29. What is the tabor?
Ans: The tabor is a small drum. It was a circular frame covered wit parchment, something like a small kettledrum, on which, suspended round his neck, the player beat with a stick with one end, while with the other he held his pipe, to which the tabor formed an accompaniment.

30. What does ‘May’ stand for?
Ans: May is the month of spring. It stands for the spring season in England. It is a month of beauty and merry-making.

31.  Who is the child of joy?
Ans: The shepherd boy is the child of joy. He expresses his joy by shouting.

32. What does “the visionary gleam” mean?
Ans: ‘The visionary gleam refers to the great enchantment or beauty which appears to things only to the eyes of children because of their glowing imagination that lends an additional charm to things which are already beautiful.

33. Why does Heaven lie about us in our infancy?
Ans: According to Wordsworth, Heaven lies about us in our infancy because in our childhood we are surrounded by the glory of heaven.

34. What are the stages of life mentioned in the Immortality Ode?
Ans: There are four stages of life: (a) infancy, (b) boyhood, (c) and (d) manhood.

35. Who is ‘a six years’ Darling of a pigmy size’?
Ans: This child was Hartley Coleridge, the little son of the poet S.T.Coleridge. But in the broadest sense, it refers to all children.

36. In what sense is the child ‘deaf and silent’?
Ans: The child is deaf to the bustle of the earthly life and silent about his inborn greatness,

37. What do the meanest flowers reveal to the poet?
Ans: They reveal to him that all objects of Nature are pervaded by the spirit of God.

38. What is the doctrine of pre-existence of human soul? [NU. 2018]
Ans: The doctrine of the pre-existence of the human soul suggests that human souls had prenatal existence in heaven before they came to earth being united with the bodies.

It is a Beauteous Evening. Calm and Free

39. What is the mighty Being?
Ans: The mighty Being is the spirit which the poet associates with Nature and God.

40. What does the “eternal motion” mean?
Ans: It means that the spirit of nature is constantly changing and revolving.

41. Why is the nun “breathless”?
Ans: The nun is breathless because she is in adoration of God.

42. Who is the “dear child” in “It is a beauteous evening, calm and free”?
Ans: The “dear child” is Caroline.

43. Who is Caroline?
Ans: Caroline is the illegitimate child of Wordsworth by Annette Vallon.

44. What does Abraham’s bosom stand for?
Ans: The reference to ‘Abraham’s bosom’ stands for the trust and innocence of Caroline.

45. What does the phrase ‘Abraham’s bosom’ mean? [NU. 2015]
Ans: Abraham’s bosom is the blissful abode of the righteous after death and before the Resurrection of Christ.

London 1802

46. Who was Milton?
Ans: John Milton (1608-1674) was a much-loved and respected English poet, and one of Wordsworth’s great influences.

47. What is a fen?
Ans: A fen is an area of low flat wet land.

48. Why has England become a fen of stagnant waters?
Ans: England has become a fen of stagnant waters by losing her old Values and standards.

49. What is the purpose of writing “London 1802”?
Ans: The poem has two main purposes, one of which is to pay homage to Milton by saying that he can save the entirety of England with his nobility and virtue. The other purpose of the poem is to draw attention to What Wordsworth feels are the problems with English society.

50. Who is ‘She’ in “London 1802”? [NU. 2016, 2018]
Ans: In “London 1802” ‘She’ refers to England.

She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

51. What are the Lucy Poems?
Ans: The Lucy Poems are a series of five poems composed by English Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) between 1798 and 1801. The poems were written during a short period while the poet lived in Germany.

52. What is the identity of Lucy?
Ans: There are numerous interpretations about the identity of Lucy. She may have been Wordsworth’s beloved sister Dorothy. But Lucy may also represent Peggy Hutchinson, who Wordsworth was in love with and who died in 1796. Lucy may be an imaginary, beautiful and ideal English maiden. Some critics think that Lucy is an expression of Wordsworth’s Nature spirit.

53. Where does Lucy live?
Ans: She lives in the isolated, untouched and beautiful place beside the springs of the River Dove.

54. What are symbolic significance of Lucy’s “untrodden ways”?
Ans: Lucy’s “untrodden ways” are symbolic of both her physical isolation and the unknown details of her thoughts and life. It also proves her mysterious state of death or abstracts.

55. What is Wordsworth’s reaction to Lucy’s untimely death?

Ans: Wordsworth is greatly affected by her untimely death. Her death is a cause of deep personal grief to Wordsworth.

56. Who accompanied Wordsworth in his revisit to the bank of Wye? [NU. 2020]

Ans: Wordsworth’s sister Dorothy accompanied him in his revisit to the bank of Wye.

57. Who is Lucy? [NU. 2020]

Ans: Lucy is an idealized English girl who died young. She is Wordsworth’s inspiration for writing Lucy Poems, and she is presented as an ideal.

S. T. Coleridge

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

1. Why is Coleridge called the most representative of all English romantic poets?

Ans: He is called the most representative of all English romantic because he presents in his work almost all the triumphs and perils of the romantic spirit.

2. Who planned to write The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?
Ans: Both Wordsworth and Coleridge planned to write The Rime of the Ancient Mariner on Nov 20,1797, when they were walking in the Quantocks.

3. On what was The Rime of the Ancient Mariner founded?

Ans: The poem was founded on a dream of Coleridge’s friend, Cruikshank.

4. What is an argument?

Ans: An argument is a brief summary of the plot prefixed to a literary work. It is a prose statement summarising the plot or stating the meaning of a long poem.

5. How did the Ancient Mariner stop one of the three wedding guests?

Ans: The Ancient Mariner one of thc three wedding guests by his Jong grey beard and glittering eye.

6. What does the Glittering eye suggest?

Ans: Glittering eye is a mark of intelligence or of great will power which the Ancient Mariner exercises over the wedding guest whom he stopped.

7. How many sailors were there on the board or the ship? [NU. 2012]

Ans: There were two hundred and one sailors including the old mariner on the board of the ship.

8. What is a bassoon?

Ans: A bassoon is a wind instrument producing a deep sound.

9. What is an Albatross? INU. 2011]

Ans: An Albatross is a large sea-bird found mostly in the tropics particularly in the south of the Cape of Good Hope.

10. What kind or bird is the Albatross?

Ans: The Albatross is a bird of good-omen.

11. Why is the Albatross regarded as the bird of good—omen?

Ans: The mariners regards the Albatross as a bird of good omen because after the appearance of the Albatross thc ice began to split and the ship sailed on easily by the south wind.

12. Who killed the Albatross and why? Or, Why did the old sailor kill the Albatross? [NU. 2011]

Ans: The Ancient Mariner killed the Albatross without any apparent reason

13. Who wins the play at dice?

Ans: Life in Death wins the play at dice and so she gets the Ancient Mariner.

14. How did the two hundred sailors die?

Ans: The two hundred sailors died one after another without signing or groaning.

15. What were the colours of the water-snakes?

Ans: The colours of the water-snakes were blue, shining green and black like velvet.

16. How did the Ancient Mariner bless the water-snakes?

Ans: Ancient Mariner blessed the water-snakes unconsciously.

17. Why did the dead Albatross fall off from the Ancient Mariner’s neck?

Ans: As the Ancient Mariner blesses the water-snakes, he enjoys the grace of God and as a result the dead Albatross fell off from his neck into the sea.

18. When did the Ancient Mariner fall into deep sleep?

Ans: When the Ancient Mariner had shown true love to the water-snakes, he relieved of the curse of the sailors and fell into a deep sleep.

19. How did the Ancient Mariner feel when he woke up?

Ans: When the Ancient Mariner woke up, he felt that his lips were moistened, his throat was cold and his clothes were wet with rain.

20. ‘I saw a third’—Who was the third man the Ancient Mariner saw?

Ans: The third man was the good Hermit in the skiff-boat.

21. How did the ship of the Ancient Mariner sink?

Ans: When the skiff-boat came within the reach of the ship, a thunder-like sound was produced. Gradually, it became louder and the water was divided into two parts and the ship sank into it like a lump of lead.

22. How was the Ancient Mariner saved from being drowned?

Ans: The Ancient Mariner was saved in the Pilot’s boat.

23. How many sailors were on the board of the ship?

Ans: There were two hundred sailors.

24. What is a ballad?

Ans: Ballad is a kind of poem or song that tells a story.

25. What is the moral of the poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’? [NU.2015]

Ans: The moral of the is that the best form of worship is to love all the creations of God without making any distinction.

26. Who is called poet of supernaturalism? [NU. 2016]

Ans: Coleridge is called the poet of supernaturalism.

27. Who were the crew of the ‘spectre-ship’? [NU. 2016]
Ans: The crew of thc spectre-ship were a woman and her companion, Death.

28.How did the Ancient Mariner begin his story? [NU. 2017)

Ans: The Ancient Mariner began his story abruptly without heeding the

guest’s words by saying ‘There was a ship’.

29. What does the ‘Albatross’ symbolise? [NU. 2019]
Ans: The ‘Albatross’ is a symbol of God’s creation and of innocence.

Kubla Khan

30. Why has Kubla Khan been called a dream poem?

Ans: The whole poem came to the poet in a dream and the poem has a quality of jumpiness. For this reason, it has been called a dream poem.

31. At whose request did the poet publish the poem Kubla Khan?

Ans: Coleridge published the poem Kubla Khan at the request of Lord Byron, another romantic poet.

32. What is the source of the poem Kubla Khan?

Ans: The source of the poem is a travel book, Purchas’s ‘Pilgrimage’.

33. What did Kubla Khan order?

Ans: Kubla Khan ordered a pleasure house to be built for him in Xanadu on the bank of the sacred river, the Alph.

34. What is meant by the ‘pleasure-dome’?

Ans: It means a pleasure-house with a dome; a house to which one retires for recreation or pleasure. Thus it is meant to be a place of enjoyment.

35. What is the Alpheus?

Ans: It is the name of a river, perhaps a contraction of Alpheus. a river of Arcadia in Greece.

36. What does ‘the sacred river’ symbolise?

Ans: ‘The sacred river’ symbolises life.

37. What is chasm? Why is it called romantic?

Ans: Chasm is a deep hollow on the surface of the earth. It is said to be romantic because it arouses feelings of awe, mystery and strangeness.

38. What is cedar?

Ans: The cedar is a large evergreen tree remarkable for the durability and fragrance of its wood.

39. For whom was the woman wailing?

Ans: The woman was wailing for her demon-lover who deserted her after having made love to her.

40. What is the central image in the poem ‘Kubla Khan’? [NU. 2015]

Ans: The central image of the poem is the ‘pleasure-dome’.

41. What is Xanadu? [NU. 2016]

Ans: Xanadu was the summer capital of Kubla Khan.

42. Why did Coleridge regard ‘Kubla Khan’ as a fragment? [NU. 2017]

Ans: The whole poem came to him in a dream. When he woke up he was able to write down only the fifty-four lines. Then he was interrupted by someone and could recaptures the words and images of the dream. So, the poet regarded it as a fragment.

43. What was the Abyssinian maid doing? [NU. 2017]
Ans: Coleridge saw in a vision that the Abyssinian maid was playing on her dulcimer and singing of mount Abora.

44. What does ‘a sunless sea’ signify? [NU. 2018]

Ans: ‘A sunless sea’ signifies an ‘infinity of death’.

45. What is a dulcimer? [NU. 2018]

Ans: A dulcimer is a kind of stringed musical instrument. It is played by striking the strings with two small hammers in the hands.

46. Who was Kubla Khan? [NV. 2019]

Ans: Kubla Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan and a ruler of the Mongol Empire for over 30 years.

47. What was the name of the capital of Kubla Khan? [NU. 2020]

Ans: The name capital of Kubla Khan was Xanadu.

48. What type of a poem is “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”? [NU. 2020]

Ans: Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a lyrical ballad i.e. a poem written in the form and style of a folk ballad which is usually written by an anonymous Ftson.