UPSC Civil Service Exam (Main) English Paper II Question Paper 2012

7/27/2019 UPSC Civil Service Exam (Main) English Paper II Question Paper 2012

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X A .1 .4 2 0 1SI .-DTN-M-FOHB

ENGLISHPaper II

(Literature)

Maximum Marks : 300ime Allowed : Three Hours

INSTRUCTIONSCandidates should attempt Q uestion N os. 1 and 5

which are compulsory, and any three of theremaining questions, selecting at least one

question from each Section.The number of marks carried by each questionis indicated at the end of the question.Answers must be written in ENGLISH.

Important : Whenever a Question is beingattempted, all its parts/sub-parts must be

attempted contiguously. This means that beforemoving on to the next Question to beattempted, candidates must finish attempting all

parts/sub-parts of the previous Questionattempted. This is to be strictly followed.

Pages left blank in the answer-book are to beclearly struck out in ink. Any answers that

follow pages left blank may not be given credit.

(Contd.)


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Section 'A'1. Write short notes on the following :2x5=60

(a) W H Auden's Musee des Beaux Arts, thatresonates with the poetic narratives of art ofthe Romantic and Victorian period

(b) Spiritus Mundi in the Second Corning as astorehouse of the world's phantasmagoria

(c) The thematic and symbolic significance of theMosque, Caves and Temple in E. M. Forster's`A Passage to India'

(d) D. H. Lawrence's 'Sons and Lovers' is asmuch autobiographical as Dicken's DavidCopperfield.

(e) Jimmy Porter as a spokesman of Britain's neweducated class with its anxieties and frustra-tions

2. (a) It was not until the 1920s that new notions oftime and states of mind have been stressedwith greater impact in twentieth century novel.Elucidate with examples.0

(b) Explain with references, how modern dramawith its disjointed and ambiguous delibera-tions that blur the distinction between realityand illusion, serves to intensify the dreadfulangst of the protagonist.0

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3. (a) "The time theme of T. S. Eliot's poems is real,exactly as birth, death and love are real".Elucidate with reference to his poems.0

(b) How does A. K. Ramanujan represent in hispoems kaleidoscopic patterns of the Indianpanorama and culture.0

4. (a) Critically analyse how the stream of con-sciousness technique, used to depict thelabyrinth of the subtleties of human mind, isexecuted with prowess and precision inMrs Dalloway and A Portrait of the Artist asa Young Man.0

(b) How would you respond to the view thatof all the Indian novels Kanthapura is the mostcomprehensively and intimately Gandhian ?

30Section 'B '5. Read the drama/poetry passages below and answer

the questions that follow :6x5)x2=60(a) He spits. E moves to the centre, halts with his

back to auditorium.E : Charming spot (He turns, advances to

front, halts facing the auditorium)Inspiring prospects (He turns to V) Let'sgo.

: We can't.E : Why not ? : We are waiting for G.E : (Despairingly), Ah ! (Pause) You're sure

it was here ?

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: What ?E : That we were to wait. : He said by the tree. (They look at the tree)

Do you see any others ?E : What is it ? : I don't know. A willow.E : Where are the leaves ? : It must be dead.E : No more weeping. : Or perhaps it's not the season.E : Looks to me more like a bush. : A shrubE : A bush : A What are you insinuating ? That

we've come to the wrong place.E : He should be here. : He didn't say for sure he'd come.E : And if he doesn't come ? : We will come back tomorrow.E : And then the day after tomorrow.V : Possibly.E : And so on.V : The point is.E : Until he comes. : You're merciless.E : We came here yesterday. : Ah no, there you're mistaken.E : What did we do yesterday ?V : What did we do yesterday ?E : Yes.

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: Why.... (Angrily) Nothing is certain whenyou're about.

E : In my opinion we were here. : (Looking round) You recognise theplace ?E : I didn't say that. : Well ?E : That makes no difference. : All the same....that tree.... (turning round

the auditorium)....that bog.(i) Identify the key areas of conflict in theconversation by focusing on the oppo-sites.

(ii) Comment on the style of minimallanguage used by the dramatist.

(iii) How does the scene reflect an absur-dity ?(iv) How does the playwright succeed in

subverting the audiences' comfortableillusions ?

(v) How do the characters express a univer-sal theme through their conversation ?

(b) Father, when he passed onleft duston a table full of papersleft debts and daughtersa bed-wetting grandsonnamed by the tossof a coin after him,

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a house that leanedslowly through our growingyears on a bent coconuttree in the yard.Being the burning type,he burned properlyat the cremation

as before, easilyand at both ends,left his eye coinsin the ashes that didn'tlook one bit differentseveral spinal discs, rough,some burned to coal, for sons

to pick gingerlyand throw as the priestsaid, facing eastwhere three rivers metnear the railway station;no long-standing headstonewith his full name and two dates

to hold in their parentheseseverything he didn't quitemanage to do himself,like his caesarian birthin a brahmin ghettoand his death by heart-failure in the fruit market.

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But some one told mehe got two linesin an inside columnof a Madras newspapersold by the kiloexactly four weeks laterto street hawkers

who sell it in turnto the small grocerieswhere I buy salt,coriander,and jaggeryin newspaper conesthat I usually read

for fun. and latelyin the hope of findingthese obituary lines.And he left usa changed motherand more thanone annual ritual.

(i) How does the narrator describe hisfather ?

(ii) Which are the subliminal expressionsthat reveal the attitude of the narrator ?

(iii) Comment on the imagery and ironyexpressed.

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(iv) How does the apparent simplicity expresssubtleties of thought ?

(v) Identify the poet and comment on hisstyle of poetry.

6. (a) Show how Joseph Conrad's 'Lord Jim'explains, the crisis faced by an individualthrough an elaborately woven scheme ofnarration.0

(b) Critically analyse 'A House for Mr. Biswas'from a diasporic perspective.0

7. (a) In his later poems Yeats foreshadowed in aprophetic way the modem political situationand the death wish of modem culture. Explainwith reference to some poems of W. B. Yeats.

30(b) "The most striking feature of twentieth century

poetic taste was to explore experiencesmeticulously and weave rich patterns ofmeaning rather than render in mellifluousverse imagery drawn from nature." Elaboratewith examples.0

8. (a) E. M. Forster's A Passage to India is repletewith "liberal dilemmas in England and India."Discuss.0

(b) Philip Larkin belongs to the Movement Poetswho wrote intelligible and empirical poems.Substantiate with reference to Larkin's poems.

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UPSC Civil Service Exam (Main) English Paper II Question Paper 2012