“The Canonization” by John Donne

“The Canonization” by John Donne

For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love,

         Or chide my palsy, or my gout,

My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune flout,

         With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,

                Take you a course, get you a place,

                Observe his honour, or his grace,

Or the king’s real, or his stamped face

         Contemplate; what you will, approve,

         So you will let me love.

Alas, alas, who’s injured by my love?

         What merchant's ships have my sighs drowned?

Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?

         When did my colds a forward spring remove?

                When did the heats which my veins fill

                Add one more to the plaguy bill?

Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still

         Litigious men, which quarrels move,

         Though she and I do love.

Call us what you will, we are made such by love;

         Call her one, me another fly,

We're tapers too, and at our own cost die,

         And we in us find the eagle and the dove.

                The phoenix riddle hath more wit

                By us; we two being one, are it.

So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit.

         We die and rise the same, and prove

         Mysterious by this love.

We can die by it, if not live by love,

         And if unfit for tombs and hearse

Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;

         And if no piece of chronicle we prove,

                We’ll build in sonnets pretty rooms;

                As well a well-wrought urn becomes

The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,

         And by these hymns, all shall approve

         Us canonized for Love.

And thus invoke us: “You, whom reverend love

         Made one another’s hermitage;

You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage;

         Who did the whole world’s soul contract, and drove

                Into the glasses of your eyes

                (So made such mirrors, and such spies,

That they did all to you epitomize)

         Countries, towns, courts: beg from above

         A pattern of your love!”

I CIA 2016 I MA MODERN LITERATURE I Question Bank

I MA  MODERN LITERATURE I

I. Donne’s “Canonization”

1. Who coined the term “metaphysical poetry”?

A) Andrew Marvell B) John Donne C) Samuel Johnson D) Henry Vaughan

2. What is the “stamped face” referred to by Donne in “Canonization”?

A) face in a stamp  B)holy face C) Coin D)real face

3. Fill in the blank: “For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me ________”.

A) love B)live C)tell D)give

4. Fill in the blank: “Call her one, me another _______”. 

A) taper B) moth C) candle D) fly

5. What is a phoenix?

A) Mall B)Bike C)Mythological plant D) Mythological bird

6. According to Donne, why should a person “take a course”?

a. To get a job  b For running c. For higher studies d. To begin family life

7. “We’ll build in sonnets pretty rooms”. What is the meaning of “room” here?

a. a place in a house b. stanza in a poem c. room in a mansion d. veranda

8. What is canonization?

a. accepter of a canon b. Having a gun c. to make saint of d. a priest

9. According to Donne, what do soldiers find?

A. Army b. House c. Country D. War

10. According to Donne, what do lawyers get?

 A. Litigious men b. Car c. Dress d. Robe

II Donne’s “Extasie”

1. What is meant by ek stasis?

A) Stand outside B) experience of joy C) experience of love D) to stand

2. Who is the “Great Prince in prison”?

A) Body B) The soul C) Earth D)Donne

3. After the “concoction”, who will depart as a “purer” person?

A) Man B) Onlooker C) Lover D) Lady Love

4. A “metaphysical _____” is a particular type of poetic metaphor of the sort developed by the “metaphysical poets”.

A) simile B) conceit C) poem D) song

5. “This Extasie doth unperplex”. What does “unperplex” mean?

a. resolve b. complex c. confuse d. compound

6. “We owe them thanks”, who are “them” according to Donne?

A. Bodies b. souls c. faces d. gods

7. “Yielded their senses’ force to us,/ Nor are dross to us, but allay”. Which is referred to as an “allay” by Donne?

A. soul b. body c. sprit d. sense

8. Who are “weak men” according to Donne?

 A. Physically weak B. Those who cannot write poetry C. Those who look for manifestation d. Dull-headed

9. Which are “firmly cemented / With a fast balm”?

a. Sick person’s legs b. a house c. a window d. Lovers’ hands

10. Fill in the blank: “A single violet _______,/ The strength, the colour, and the size,/…Redoubles still, and multiplies”.

A. plant b. sapling c. bud D. Transplant

III Richard Lovelace’s “To Althea, from Prison”

1. With whom did Richard Lovelace side during a power struggle in England?

a. The Church b. The Parliament c. King Charles I d. The Prince of Persia

2. Why cannot the walls and iron bars that surround Lovelace imprison him?

a. protected by God b. Physically free c. protected by a strong person d. Free in mind

3. What are the “Committed linnets”?

a. caged birds b. cunning birds c. dead birds d. those committed to work

4. What is the main theme of Richard Lovelace’s “To Althea from Prison”?

A. Love for Althea B. No one can imprison the human mind C. Love for the King D. Prison life

5. What is a “Hermitage” according to Lovelace?

A. hut B. a place where hermits live C. mind D. sages live

V Sir Philip Sidney’s “Astrophil and Stella” - Sonnet 1: 

“Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show”

1. no month but May1. What does “Stella” mean?

A. sun B. star C. moon D. Astrophil

2. “Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show...”. What does Philip Sidney mean by “fain”?

A. faint B. prepare to cheat C. prepare to take a risk D. full of pain

3. Who calls Philip Sidney a fool?

A. Stella B. Muse C. Sidney’s father D. Pan

4. Whose brain is “sun burned”?

A. Stella B. Astrophel C.Philip Sidney D. Muse

5. Why does Philip Sidney fail to write a love poem in the beginning?

A. Relies on his love B. Relies on his heart C. Relies on his songs D. Relies on books.

V Herbert “Affliction”

1. What does George Herbert mean by “furniture” in “Affliction”?

a. humans b. house c. college d. nature

2. What does George Herbert refer to as a “lingring book”?

a. A collection of poems b. Drama c. The Bible d. Poems of Herbert

3. From which game has the metaphor “cross-bias” been taken?

A. cricket B. foot ball C. Dart-board D. bowling

4. Who is the “some other master” referred to by Herbert?

A. Jesus B. Jehovah C. devil D. Little Master

5. What is the “way that takes the town”?

A. Spiritual life B. worldly life C. God-fearing life D. Religious life

VI Herbert “Pulley”

1. What is the only positive thing in the Pandora’s Box? 

a. Wealth b. Hope c. Beauty d. Sorrow     

2. What is the “jewel” referred to by Herbert in “Pulley”?

a. rest b. gold c. ring d. beauty 

My latest Book release

My Seventh book was released by our Bishop and our Principal received a copy. With my Asscocite Editors: Dr.K.Premkumar and Dr.K.Kaviarasu.

NET-English Preparatory Classes @ Trichy

Thanks Samuel Rufus!

Bishop Rt.Rev.Throp with Mr.S.R.Pandyan, Former Principal of St.Peter's High School, Thanjavur

Bishop Rt.Rev. Throp with Mr.S.R.Pandyan (My Grandfather), Former Principal of St.Peter's High School, Thanjavur. Mr.S.R.Pandyan was the Lay Secretary of Trichy-Tanjore Diocese during the revival of Bishop Heber College, Trichy in 1966.

19th Century British Literature Question Bank Biographia Literaria 13 and Silas Marner by George Eliot

19^th Century British Literature Question Bank

Dr. ER/ SF

85.  With which other poet did Samuel Taylor Coleridge founded the Romantic Movement in English Literature? 

a. Shelley b. Lord Byron c. William Wordsworth d. John Keats

86.Samuel Taylor Coleridge introduced the term 'willing suspension of disbelief'’ in ----------

a. Biographia Literaria b. Kubla Khan c. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner d. Christabel

87.-----------------------is the American transcendental philosopher who was much influenced by Coleridge.

a. Ralph Waldo Emerson b. Ernest Holmes c. John Locke d. John Locke

88. Which one is the famous prose work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge?

a. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner b. Biographia Literaria c. Kubla Khan d. Christabel

89.With which famous writer Coleridge became friends with in Christ's Hospital, also called The Bluecoat School? a. Shelley b. William Wordsworth c. John Keats d. Charles Lamb

90. Coleridge talks about ----------------- in chapter 13 of Biographia Literaria.

 a. esemplastic power     b. the supernatural              c. biography               d. occult

91. Who is the venerable sage of Koenigsberg?

       a. Schelling         b. Wordsworth c. Milton d. Immanuel Kant

92. Primary Imagination means--------------------

       a. poetic imagination b. power of perception c. creative imagination d. pure imagination

93.Secondary Imagination refers to------------------

        a. poetic imagination b. power of perception c. creative imagination d. pure imagination

94. Fancy is-------------------

a. premeditative  b. unpredictable  c. associative  d. meditative

95. ----------------- is a result of esemplastic power.

  a. imagination b. fancy c. poetry d.unity in diversity

96. Coleridge contends with-------------ideas of poetry.

    a. Wordsworth b. Shelley c. Aristotle d. Lamb

97.Coleridge asserts that mind is active in ----------------

   a. imagination b. writing c.perception d. association

98. Coleridge refers to the philosophy of -------------------

     a. Schelling b. Wordsworth c. Spinoza d. Machiavelli

99. Esemplastic power means ---------------------

     a. Synthesising power b. imaginative power c. poetic power d. Spiritual power

100.Biographia Literaria is a

       a. Autobiography b. biography c. meditative autobiography d.memoir

Silas Marner by George Eliot

214 Why are weavers objects of suspicion in Silas’s day?

a. They are seen as doing womanly work b. They are rootless and have specialized knowledge

 c. They wear only linen clothing d. They have bad eyesight

215. How does Silas know about herbal medicine?

a. His mother taught him b. It was part of the training from his religious sect in Lantern Yard

 b. He has read up on the topic d. He doesn’t, he only pretends to

216. To whom does everyone in town suspect the mysterious tinder-box belongs?

a. Silas b. Jem Rodney c. The peddler d. Mr. Lammeter

217. Why doesn’t Silas protest his innocence when he is framed for theft?

a. He is not allowed to speak b. He is having a cataleptic fit at the time

 c. He believes God will clear him d. He believes he actually did steal the money while having a cataleptic fit

218. During the period in his life when all he does is work and hoard money, Silas is likened to:

 a. A spider b. A narrow, nearly dried-up rivulet  c. A handle or crooked tube

 d. All of the above

219. From where does Godfrey obtain the one hundred pounds that he lends Dunsey?

 a. The sale of Godfrey’s horse, Wildfire b. The rent paid by one of the Squire’s tenants  c. Money that Godfrey had set aside to give his wife, Molly d. Godfrey’s winnings at cards

220. Where does Silas go when he finds his gold missing?

 a. The church b. Dolly Winthrop’s house c. The Rainbow  d. The Red House

221. Why does Nancy refuse for so long to adopt Eppie?

 a. She dislikes children b. She thinks Godfrey will love Eppie more than he loves her

 c. She thinks it is wrong for Godfrey and her to have something that fate has denied them d. She suspects that Eppie is Godfrey’s child and wants him to be punished

222. What prompts Godfrey to confess his secret?

 a. He finds out that he is terminally ill b. Dunsey’s remains are discovered in the drained stone-pit   c. He gets drunk d. All of the above

223. Why does Silas decide to return to Lantern Yard for a visit?

 a. He is looking for work b. He wants to find out if he was ever cleared of theft, and to ask his old minister about the drawing of the lots c. He wants Eppie to see where he grew up d. He wants to show his former sect that he has succeeded in spite of his excommunication

224. What is Silas’s first thought when he notices that the mass of gold on his hearth is in fact a baby girl?

 a. That he should lock his door b. That he will adopt the little girl  c. That the little girl’s mother can’t be far away  d. That the little girl is his dead sister, coming back to him in a dream

225. Why does Molly Farren come to the New Year’s dance?

 a. She wants to announce her and Godfrey’s marriage to everyone there b. She thinks she can win Godfrey’s love by dancing with him c. She wants to apologize to Godfrey for something she has said d. She wants her daughter to be adopted by Godfrey and Nancy

226. Why does Godfrey put up with Dunsey’s bullying?

 a. Dunsey can beat him up b.  Dunsey has threatened to expose Godfrey’s secret marriage  c. Godfrey is trying to set an example of good Christian forbearance d. Godfrey loves his brother

Refugee Mother and Child (A Poem) by Chinua Achebe

Refugee Mother and Child (A Poem) 

by Chinua Achebe

No Madonna and Child could touch
that picture of a mother’s tenderness
for a son she soon would have to forget.

The air was heavy with odours
of diarrhoea of unwashed children
with washed-out ribs and dried-up
bottoms struggling in laboured
steps behind blown empty bellies.

Most mothers there had long cease
to care but not this one; she held
a ghost smile between her teeth
and in her eyes the ghost of a mother’s
pride as she combed the rust-coloured
hair left on his skull and then –
singing in her eyes – began carefully
to part it… In another life this
would have been a little daily
act of no consequence before his
breakfast and school; now she
did it like putting flowers
on a tiny grave.