Assistant-Professor-English-Official-Question-Paper-2-RPSC
Assistant-Professor-English-Official-Answer-key-Paper-2-RPSC
Q1. Identify the poet who wrote these iconic lines:
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
(1) William Wordsworth
(2) William Blake ✅
(3) William Cowper
(4) William Collins
Answer:- (2) William Blake ✅
Explanation: These lines are from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake, showcasing his mystical and symbolic poetic vision.
Q2. The Inchcape Rock is written by:
(1) Robert Southey ✅
(2) Coleridge
(3) Walter Scott
(4) John Keats
Answer:- (1) Robert Southey ✅
Explanation: The Inchcape Rock is a narrative poem by Robert Southey that tells the moral tale of a pirate punished for his evil act.
Q3. The Heart of Midlothian focusses on the riots of which of the following city?
(1) Glasgow
(2) Dundee
(3) St. Andrews
(4) Edinburgh ✅
Answer:- (4) Edinburgh ✅
Explanation: Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Heart of Midlothian is set during the Porteous Riots in Edinburgh.
Q4. Who described Romanticism as “liberalism in literature”?
(1) Watts Dunton
(2) Victor Hugo ✅
(3) Richard Hurd
(4) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Answer:- (2) Victor Hugo ✅
Explanation: Victor Hugo defined Romanticism as “liberalism in literature,” highlighting its break from classical constraints.
Q5. Which of Byron’s significant works begins thus:
“I want a hero: an uncommon want, when every year and month sends forth a new one…”?
(1) Cain
(2) Beppo
(3) Don Juan ✅
(4) Manfred
Answer:- (3) Don Juan ✅
Explanation: These lines open Don Juan, a mock-epic poem by Byron, noted for its satirical tone.
Q6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is a narrative of a woman in conflict with her ___ and ___.
(1) family circumstances, natural desires
(2) natural desires, social condition ✅
(3) family restrictions, external pressures
(4) social bondings, family loyalties
Answer:- (2) natural desires, social condition ✅
Explanation: Jane Eyre explores the heroine’s struggle between her desires and Victorian society’s expectations.
Q7. Which character of Hardy dies whispering Job’s curse: “Let the day perish wherein I was born”?
(1) Eustacia
(2) Henchard
(3) Tess
(4) Jude ✅
Answer:- (4) Jude ✅
Explanation: In Jude the Obscure, Jude Fawley dies in despair, echoing the biblical Job’s curse on his birth.
Q8. “Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean—roll!” The above is an extract from Byron’s:
(1) Don Juan
(2) A Vision of Judgement
(3) Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage ✅
(4) Hebrew Melodies
Answer:- (3) Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage ✅
Explanation: These famous lines appear in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, reflecting Byron’s awe of nature’s power.
Q9. The chapter Murdering the Innocents occurs in which novel by Charles Dickens?
(1) Bleak House
(2) Oliver Twist
(3) Hard Times ✅
(4) Dombey and Son
Answer:- (3) Hard Times ✅
Explanation: In Hard Times, this chapter criticizes the utilitarian education system that suppresses imagination.
Q10. ___ believes that he is in his main purpose and effort, “the enemy and destroyer of Romanticism”:
(1) Newman
(2) Carlyle ✅
(3) Ruskin
(4) Pater
Answer:- (2) Carlyle ✅
Explanation: Thomas Carlyle distanced himself from Romanticism, advocating for realism and moral earnestness in writing.
Q11. In which novel of Thomas Hardy, there is a somber description of Egdon Heath at the beginning?
(1) Far From the Madding Crowd
(2) The Mayor of Casterbridge
(3) Jude the Obscure
(4) The Return of the Native ✅
Answer:- (4) The Return of the Native ✅
Explanation: The novel opens with an elaborate description of Egdon Heath, which symbolizes fate and natural forces in Hardy’s work.
Q12. “The old order changeth yielding place to new…” Identify the poem:
(1) The Lotus Eaters
(2) Ulysses
(3) The Passing of Arthur ✅
(4) In Memoriam
Answer:- (3) The Passing of Arthur ✅
Explanation: These lines are from Tennyson’s The Passing of Arthur, part of Idylls of the King, symbolizing renewal.
Q13. Which group of the following poets was called the “Auden Group”?
(1) John Masefield, Edwin Muir, Norman McCaig
(2) Robert Bridges, John Masefield, W. Davies
(3) Stephen Spender, Louis MacNeice, C.D. Lewis ✅
(4) G.M. Hopkins, Edwin Muir, Robert Burns
Answer:- (3) Stephen Spender, Louis MacNeice, C.D. Lewis ✅
Explanation: The “Auden Group” refers to young poets of the 1930s influenced by W.H. Auden’s political and stylistic vision.
Q14. What is the title of Lewis Carroll’s sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?
(1) Through the Looking-Glass ✅
(2) The Hunting of the Snark
(3) Punch
(4) Sylvie and Bruno
Answer:- (1) Through the Looking-Glass ✅
Explanation: Through the Looking-Glass is the sequel where Alice returns to a dream world through a mirror.
Q15. Towards the end of The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot quotes a popular rhyme. Pick the correct option:
(1) Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
(2) Ring-a-Ring o’ Roses
(3) London Bridge is Falling Down ✅
(4) Underneath the Mango Tree
Answer:- (3) London Bridge is Falling Down ✅
Explanation: Eliot ends The Waste Land with this rhyme to symbolize cultural collapse and fragmentation.
Q16. Match List-I with List-II:
List-I
(a) Dissociation of sensibility
(b) Eros, Agape
(c) The Rainbow
(d) Stream of consciousness
List-II
(i) D.H. Lawrence
(ii) Virginia Woolf
(iii) T.S. Eliot
(iv) W.H. Auden
Correct Code:
(a) (b) (c) (d)
(3) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii) ✅
Answer:- (3) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii) ✅
Explanation:
- (a) T.S. Eliot coined “Dissociation of Sensibility”
- (b) Auden discussed Eros and Agape
- (c) The Rainbow is by D.H. Lawrence
- (d) Woolf is associated with stream of consciousness
Q17. Virginia Woolf’s Orlando is a fantasy based on the life of her friend –
(1) Victoria Sackville-West ✅
(2) Emily Brontë
(3) George Eliot
(4) Christina Rossetti
Answer:- (1) Victoria Sackville-West ✅
Explanation: Orlando is a semi-biographical novel based on Vita Sackville-West, exploring gender and identity.
Q18. Which one of these poems by Ted Hughes is about writing a poem/creativity?
(1) Hawk Roosting
(2) Fern
(3) The Jaguar
(4) The Thought Fox ✅
Answer:- (4) The Thought Fox ✅
Explanation: The Thought Fox is a metaphorical poem where the fox represents poetic inspiration.
Q19. The Comedy of Survival by Joseph Meeker is –
(1) A founding work on neo-Romanticism
(2) A founding work on eco-criticism ✅
(3) A book criticizing feminism
(4) A work on eco-feminism
Answer:- (2) A founding work on eco-criticism ✅
Explanation: Joseph Meeker’s work is one of the first to link literature with ecological concerns.
Q20. “Happiness is but an occasional episode in a general drama of pain.” These are the last lines in Hardy’s novel:
(1) The Return of the Native
(2) The Mayor of Casterbridge
(3) Tess of the D’Urbervilles
(4) Jude the Obscure ✅
Answer:- (4) Jude the Obscure ✅
Explanation: This line from Jude the Obscure encapsulates Hardy’s tragic vision of life and suffering.
Q21. Choose the option which is closest in meaning to the adjective, ‘Kafkaesque’.
(1) Invoking humour
(2) Characteristic of oppressive or nightmarish qualities ✅
(3) Symbolizing sensibility, logic and reason
(4) Characteristic of peace and calm
Answer:- (2) Characteristic of oppressive or nightmarish qualities ✅
Explanation: “Kafkaesque” describes situations that are surreal, illogical, and often nightmarishly bureaucratic—like in Franz Kafka’s works.
Q22. Which of the following is a drama of social ostracism based on the life of a famous Negro Jazz singer written by Edward Albee?
(1) The American Dream
(2) Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
(3) The Zoo Story
(4) The Death of Bessie Smith ✅
Answer:- (4) The Death of Bessie Smith ✅
Explanation: The play reflects on racism and neglect in American society through the life of blues singer Bessie Smith.
Q23.
(a) “Brahma” by Emerson owes its origin to the Brahmapurana and Shivpurana.
(b) H.D. Thoreau was a transcendentalist.
(c) Ichabod Crane is a creation of Irving.
Choose the correct option:
(1) (a) is false; (b) & (c) are true ✅
(2) (b) is true, (a) & (c) are false
(3) (a), (b) & (c) are true
(4) (a), (b) & (c) are false
Answer:- (1) (a) is false; (b) & (c) are true ✅
Explanation: Emerson’s Brahma is inspired by Hindu philosophy, but not directly based on Brahmapurana or Shivpurana. The other two are correct.
Q24. ‘Naturalism’ as a literary movement became a part of the American scene with the works of –
(1) Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London ✅
(2) Ralph Emerson, Emily Dickinson
(3) Eugene O’Neill
(4) John Steinbeck
Answer:- (1) Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London ✅
Explanation: These authors are known for portraying determinism and environment’s impact on human fate—key aspects of naturalism.
Q25. Joseph Conrad’s trip to India gave him material for which of his novels?
(1) Lord Jim
(2) Nostromo
(3) The Nigger of the “Narcissus” ✅
(4) Heart of Darkness
Answer:- (3) The Nigger of the “Narcissus” ✅
Explanation: Based on Conrad’s sea voyages, particularly in the Indian Ocean, this novel explores life aboard a merchant ship.
Q26. In The Art of Fiction, Henry James refutes the claims made by whom in “Fiction as One of the Fine Arts”?
(1) Walter Scott
(2) Walter Pater
(3) Walter Besant ✅
(4) Victor Hugo
Answer:- (3) Walter Besant ✅
Explanation: Henry James critiques Besant’s rigid views about fiction writing, advocating instead for artistic freedom.
Q27. Gloria Watkins (bell hooks) in her seminal work Ain’t I a Woman? articulates the problematic relationship between –
(1) White Men & Black Women
(2) Black Men & Black Women
(3) White Women & Black Women ✅
(4) White Men & White Women
Answer:- (3) White Women & Black Women ✅
Explanation: bell hooks critiques the exclusion of Black women from the mainstream feminist movement.
Q28. Which of the following novels bears the NOTICE: “Persons attempting to find a motive…will be prosecuted…”?
(1) Roughing It
(2) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ✅
(3) The Gilded Age
(4) Life on the Mississippi
Answer:- (2) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ✅
Explanation: This ironic notice by Mark Twain mocks overanalysis and sets the tone for the novel’s humor and rebellion.
Q29. Choose the correct combination of the three sections in Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark:
(1) b–c–d
(2) a–c–d
(3) b–a–d ✅
(4) a–b–e
Answer:- (3) b–a–d ✅
Explanation: The three essays in Morrison’s Playing in the Dark are:
- Black Matters
- Romancing the Shadow
- Disturbing Nurses and the Kindness of Sharks
Q30. In which of the following novels does Ernest Hemingway use his experience of the Spanish Civil War?
(1) A Farewell to Arms
(2) For Whom the Bell Tolls ✅
(3) The Old Man and the Sea
(4) The Sun Also Rises
Answer:- (2) For Whom the Bell Tolls ✅
Explanation: Hemingway drew from his time as a journalist in the Spanish Civil War to write this novel.
Q31. Choose the correct option to answer the following question:
Which one of these, according to Poe, has truth as its aim?
(1) The poem ✅
(2) The short tale
(3) The novel
(4) Romance
Answer:- (1) The poem ✅
Explanation: Edgar Allan Poe believed that the primary aim of poetry is beauty, but truth can also be a valid poetic aim depending on form and content.
Q32. At the beginning of his most famous work the author wrote, “Our age is retrospective.”
(1) Impressions, Henry David Thoreau
(2) Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson ✅
(3) Divinity, Henry David Thoreau
(4) Incarnation, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Answer:- (2) Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson ✅
Explanation: Emerson opens Nature with “Our age is retrospective,” criticizing overreliance on the past and urging original thought.
Q33. “All men recognize the right of revolution…” is from which essay?
(1) William Paley – Principles of Morals and Political Philosophy
(2) Thoreau – Civil Disobedience ✅
(3) Emerson – Self-Reliance
(4) Thoreau – Where I Lived and What I Lived For
Answer:- (2) Thoreau – Civil Disobedience ✅
Explanation: Thoreau argues that citizens must not permit governments to overrule their conscience, advocating nonviolent resistance.
Q34. Who is the author of the novel The Age of Innocence?
(1) Joseph Heller
(2) Herman Melville
(3) Sinclair Lewis
(4) Edith Wharton ✅
Answer:- (4) Edith Wharton ✅
Explanation: Edith Wharton won the Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence, a novel critiquing upper-class New York society.
Q35. Which novel of Steinbeck is acknowledged as his best and one of the most sensationally impressive books in American Literature?
(1) The Pastures of Heaven
(2) The Grapes of Wrath ✅
(3) The Pearl
(4) The Red Pony
Answer:- (2) The Grapes of Wrath ✅
Explanation: This Pulitzer-winning novel chronicles the hardships of Dust Bowl migrants and critiques capitalism.
Q36. Which Afro-American writer introduced the idea of “double consciousness”?
(1) Toni Morrison
(2) W.E.B. Du Bois ✅
(3) Alice Walker
(4) Zora Neale Hurston
Answer:- (2) W.E.B. Du Bois ✅
Explanation: Du Bois introduced “double consciousness” to describe the internal conflict of being both African and American.
Q37. In which of his famous works did Thoreau write, “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavour”?
(1) A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
(2) The Dial
(3) Walden ✅
(4) Civil Disobedience
Answer:- (3) Walden ✅
Explanation: In Walden, Thoreau emphasizes individual self-reliance and spiritual discovery through nature.
Q38. Indicate the period of Harlem Renaissance:
(1) 1900–1915
(2) 1917–1930 ✅
(3) 1850–1900
(4) 1757–1857
Answer:- (2) 1917–1930 ✅
Explanation: The Harlem Renaissance was a flourishing of African-American literature, art, and music centered in Harlem, New York.
Q39. Who is the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God?
(1) Toni Morrison
(2) Zora Neale Hurston ✅
(3) Chinua Achebe
(4) Alice Walker
Answer:- (2) Zora Neale Hurston ✅
Explanation: Hurston’s novel is a cornerstone of African-American literature, focusing on a Black woman’s journey toward independence.
Q40. Who is the author of Invisible Man, one of the major novels in the Black Literary canon?
(1) Ralph Ellison ✅
(2) Maya Angelou
(3) James Baldwin
(4) Toni Morrison
Answer:- (1) Ralph Ellison ✅
Explanation: Invisible Man explores racial invisibility and identity in American society, and it won the National Book Award.
Q41. Which of the following is the first Afro-American poet of note in the United States?
(1) Toni Morrison
(2) Harriet Jacobs
(3) Phillis Wheatley ✅
(4) Francis Allen
Answer:- (3) Phillis Wheatley ✅
Explanation: Phillis Wheatley was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry in 1773.
Q42. Who is the protagonist in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart?
(1) Okonkwo ✅
(2) Nwoye
(3) Mr. Brown
(4) Enzinma
Answer:- (1) Okonkwo ✅
Explanation: Okonkwo is the tragic hero of Things Fall Apart, struggling between tradition and change.
Q43. Nnu Ego is a character in —
(1) Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
(2) Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewels
(3) Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun
(4) Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood ✅
Answer:- (4) Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood ✅
Explanation: Nnu Ego is the central character in Emecheta’s novel, which explores motherhood, gender, and colonialism in Nigeria.
Q44. Which out of the following works raises intense concern with the process of environmental degradation in Somalia in the last decades of the 20th Century?
(1) The Eye of the Earth
(2) Out of Africa
(3) Secrets ✅
(4) A Grain of Wheat
Answer:- (3) Secrets ✅
Explanation: Nuruddin Farah’s Secrets deals with sociopolitical issues, including environmental degradation in Somalia.
Q45. ___ declares that for Afro-Caribbean, Africa is the great euphoria which lies at the centre of their cultural identity.
(1) George Zamming
(2) C.R. James
(3) Stuart Hall ✅
(4) Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Answer:- (3) Stuart Hall ✅
Explanation: Cultural theorist Stuart Hall emphasized Africa as a symbolic and psychological center for Afro-Caribbean identity.
Q46. In which work does Wole Soyinka respond sharply to the political execution of Saro-Wiwa?
(1) The Open Sore of a Continent ✅
(2) Many Colors Make the Thunder-King
(3) The Africans
(4) Cultural Forces in World Politics
Answer:- (1) The Open Sore of a Continent ✅
Explanation: Soyinka critiques Nigerian political corruption and human rights abuses, particularly in relation to Saro-Wiwa’s execution.
Q47. Which work is an autobiographical account of Djamal Amlani’s experiences in the Algerian nationalist movement?
(1) The Concubine
(2) Estrangement
(3) Le Témoin ✅
(4) My Life’s Story
Answer:- (3) Le Témoin ✅
Explanation: Le Témoin (The Witness) reflects Djamal Amlani’s involvement in the Algerian liberation struggle.
Q48. Nadine Gordimer won the Booker Prize for the novel —
(1) A Sport of Nature
(2) My Son’s Story
(3) The Conservationist ✅
(4) Get a Life
Answer:- (3) The Conservationist ✅
Explanation: Gordimer’s The Conservationist won the Booker Prize in 1974 for its powerful critique of apartheid-era South Africa.
Q49. Who is the author of the novel Firebrands?
(1) Nadine Gordimer
(2) Sahle Sellassie ✅
(3) Bessie Head
(4) Chinua Achebe
Answer:- (2) Sahle Sellassie ✅
Explanation: Ethiopian author Sahle Sellassie wrote Firebrands, a novel reflecting African postcolonial themes.
Q50. In the paper The Novelist as a Teacher, which writer said, “If I were God, I would regard as the very worst our acceptance—for whatever reason—of racial inferiority”?
(1) Chinua Achebe ✅
(2) Gabriel Okara
(3) Eric Williams
(4) Akivaga Djebar
Answer:- (1) Chinua Achebe ✅
Explanation: Achebe asserted that African writers have a moral obligation to challenge racial stereotypes and colonial legacies.
Q51. What does “The Fence” by Lenrie Peters symbolize? It symbolizes:
(1) The moral indecision of the poet ✅
(2) Achievement of moral victory
(3) His readiness to tell lies
(4) A clear past & future
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) The moral indecision of the poet ✅
Explanation: The poem symbolizes the poet’s inner conflict and inability to make a firm decision, a metaphorical position of being “on the fence.”
Q52. Purple Hibiscus is authored by:
(1) Seffi Atta
(2) Chukwuemeka Ike
(3) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ✅
(4) Cyprian Ekwensi
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ✅
Explanation: Purple Hibiscus is the debut novel of Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, published in 2003.
Q53. In Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country, Stephen Kumalo travels to which place to find his son?
(1) Durban
(2) Johannesburg ✅
(3) Sierra Leone
(4) Angola
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Johannesburg ✅
Explanation: Kumalo journeys to Johannesburg in search of his son Absalom and discovers the harsh realities of urban life.
Q54. Which of the following statements about Caribbean literature is true?
(a) In Anglophone Caribbean patois was regarded as an appropriate medium for poetry.
(b) Honor Ford Smith was the first poet to bring patois into literary tradition.
(c) Claude McKay transcribed and collected the performed stories.
(d) Louise Bennett devised a system of transcribing patois into a written form.
(1) (a)
(2) (b)
(3) (c)
(4) (d) ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (4) (d) ✅
Explanation: Louise Bennett was a major figure in Jamaican literature and played a pivotal role in formalizing the writing of patois.
Q55. Maryse Condé’s novel La migration des coeurs (1995), translated as Windward Heights, is a retelling of the novel:
(1) Jane Eyre
(2) Emma
(3) Wuthering Heights ✅
(4) Hard Times
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) Wuthering Heights ✅
Explanation: Windward Heights is a Caribbean reimagining of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.
Q56. Which one of the novels of Ben Okri won the Booker Prize?
(1) Dangerous
(2) The Famished Road ✅
(3) The Freedom Artist
(4) In Arcadia
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) The Famished Road ✅
Explanation: Ben Okri won the Booker Prize in 1991 for The Famished Road, a novel blending realism with African spiritual elements.
Q57. Voices from the Ridge is a play written by:
(1) Kama Kerpi ✅
(2) Han Suyin
(3) Russell Soaba
(4) Julian Maka
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Kama Kerpi ✅
Explanation: Voices from the Ridge explores post-colonial identity and cultural tensions in Papua New Guinea.
Q58. Who is the author of No Ordinary Sun?
(1) Hone Tuwhare ✅
(2) Albert Wendt
(3) Witi Ihimaera
(4) Harry Danse
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Hone Tuwhare ✅
Explanation: Tuwhare was a celebrated Māori poet from New Zealand, and No Ordinary Sun is his acclaimed anti-nuclear poem.
Q59. Margaret Atwood’s Journey to the Interior is an ______ for her journey into her mind.
(1) Simile
(2) Extended Metaphor ✅
(3) Enjambment
(4) Synecdoche
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Extended Metaphor ✅
Explanation: The poem is an extended metaphor that likens the mind to a vast, complex landscape.
Q60. Which among the following is not true of Derek Walcott?
(1) He is from St. Lucia
(2) He wrote the play “Dream On Monkey Mountain”
(3) In a Green Night is by Walcott
(4) A Far Cry from Africa is a major novel by Walcott. ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (4) A Far Cry from Africa is a major novel by Walcott. ✅
Explanation: A Far Cry from Africa is a well-known poem by Walcott, not a novel.
Q61. Who is the author of A Discovery of Strangers?
(1) Judith Wright
(2) A.J.M. Smith
(3) F.R. Scott
(4) Rudy Wiebe ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (4) Rudy Wiebe ✅
Explanation: A Discovery of Strangers by Rudy Wiebe is a historical novel about early contact between Indigenous people and European explorers in Canada.
Q62. Who is the author of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town?
(1) Stephen Spender
(2) Stephen Leacock ✅
(3) Stephen Hooks
(4) Stephen Henry
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Stephen Leacock ✅
Explanation: Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches is a humorous depiction of life in a small Canadian town.
Q63. Which of the novels written by Michael Ondaatje deals with ethnic cleansing and violence in the Sri Lankan civil war?
(1) The English Patient
(2) Anil’s Ghost ✅
(3) In the Skin of a Lion
(4) Warlight
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Anil’s Ghost ✅
Explanation: Anil’s Ghost centers on a forensic anthropologist uncovering government atrocities during the Sri Lankan conflict.
Q64. In the context of Canadian literature, who is known as the “King of the Pulps”?
(1) A.E. Van Vogt
(2) Henry Bedford-Jones ✅
(3) H. Rider Haggard
(4) Joseph Conrad
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Henry Bedford-Jones ✅
Explanation: Bedford-Jones was a prolific Canadian writer known for his vast contributions to pulp fiction magazines.
Q65. Which of the following statements in context to Patrick White’s The Tree of Man are correct/incorrect?
- The name of the salesman with whom Amy develops a relationship is Tom Armstrong
- Ray murders someone in Bangalay.
- Ray’s wife is Elsie.
(1) A, B & C are correct
(2) A, B & C are incorrect
(3) C is correct, A & B are incorrect ✅
(4) A & C are incorrect, B is correct
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) C is correct, A & B are incorrect ✅
Explanation: Only statement C is accurate. The other two misrepresent key plot details from The Tree of Man.
Q66. Who is the author of the Australian novel The Thorn Birds?
(1) Mary McCullough
(2) Tina McCullough
(3) Rina McCullough
(4) Colleen McCullough ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (4) Colleen McCullough ✅
Explanation: The Thorn Birds is a best-selling Australian family saga by Colleen McCullough, published in 1977.
Q67. Who is the author of the essay Black on Black?
(1) Melissa Lucashenko ✅
(2) Kim Scott
(3) Aileen Moreton-Robinson
(4) Graham Huggen
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Melissa Lucashenko ✅
Explanation: Melissa Lucashenko is known for her work on Aboriginal identity, and Black on Black examines Indigenous writing and representation.
Q68. In Wright’s poem Five Senses, the gathering of the five senses into meaning is likened to the gathering of its elements by:
(1) a rose
(2) a lily ✅
(3) a dance
(4) sounds
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) a lily ✅
Explanation: The poem uses the image of a lily gathering elements to symbolize sensory unity and perception.
Q69. Match the following works of Margaret Atwood with the year of publication:
(i) The Edible Woman
(ii) Surfacing
(iii) Lady Oracle
(iv) The Handmaid’s Tale
(a) 1972
(b) 1976
(c) 1969
(d) 1985
Options:
(1) (a) (d) (c) (b)
(2) (c) (a) (b) (d) ✅
(3) (b) (c) (d) (a)
(4) (d) (b) (a) (c)
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) (c) (a) (b) (d) ✅
Explanation: The correct order of publication is: The Edible Woman (1969), Surfacing (1972), Lady Oracle (1976), and The Handmaid’s Tale (1985).
Q70. Who according to Hamlin Garland is a “veritist”?
(1) One committed to the truthful statement of an individual expression ✅
(2) One committed to the overall analysis of public expression
(3) One committed to the in-depth analysis of social expression
(4) One committed to the surfacial analysis of societal change
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) One committed to the truthful statement of an individual expression ✅
Explanation: Garland’s concept of “veritism” emphasizes realistic, personal representation in art and literature.
Q71. From which poem is the following line taken:
“A Nation of Trees, drab green and desolate grey …”?
(1) Judith Wright’s Late Spring
(2) Les Murray’s Holland’s Nadir
(3) A.D. Hope’s Australia ✅
(4) A.D. Hope’s Conquistador
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) A.D. Hope’s Australia ✅
Explanation: This line reflects A.D. Hope’s critique of Australia’s cultural barrenness in his poem Australia.
Q72. Match the following writers with their autobiographies:
- Dagdu Maruti Pawar – (i) Jina Amucha
- Annabhau Sathe – (ii) The Weave of My Life
- Babytai Kamble – (iii) Baluta
- Urmila Pawar – (iv) Fakira
Options:
(1) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii) ✅
(2) (iii) (iv) (ii) (i)
(3) (ii) (iv) (i) (iii)
(4) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii) ✅
Explanation: These autobiographical works are foundational texts in Dalit literature.
Q73. According to whom has ‘revolt’ been envisaged as the tenth and ‘cry’ as the eleventh ‘rasa’?
(1) Yedunath Thatte ✅
(2) Sharad Patil
(3) Narendra Jadhav
(4) Omprakash Valmiki
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Yedunath Thatte ✅
Explanation: Thatte proposed an extension of the classical aesthetic theory to include Dalit emotional expressions.
Q74. Which book of Alice Munro won her the Governor General’s Literary Award for a second time?
(1) The Dimensions of a Shadow
(2) Lives of Girls and Women
(3) The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo & Rose ✅
(4) Dance of the Happy Shades
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo & Rose ✅
Explanation: This short story collection earned Munro a second Governor General’s Award.
Q75. The title of Siddalingaiah’s autobiography is:
(1) The Prisons We Broke
(2) Doru Keri ✅
(3) Baluta
(4) The Outcaste
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Doru Keri ✅
Explanation: Doru Keri is a prominent Dalit autobiographical work in Kannada literature.
Q76. An Anthology of Dalit Literature has been edited by:
(1) A & D
(2) B & C ✅
(3) B & D
(4) A & C
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) B & C ✅
Explanation: Mulk Raj Anand and Arjun Dangle are the editors of this key Dalit literature anthology.
Q77. Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature: History, Controversies and Considerations is a translation of Dalit Sahityache Saundaryashastra. Who is the translator?
(1) Sharen Kumar Limbale
(2) Baby Kondiba Kamble
(3) Manju Balo
(4) Alok Mukherjee ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (4) Alok Mukherjee ✅
Explanation: Alok Mukherjee translated Sharankumar Limbale’s foundational Marathi text on Dalit literary aesthetics.
Q78. In Outcaste, Jadhav constructs a particular version of Dalit identity. How can this version be described?
(1) Dalit awareness
(2) Metropolitan Dalit Identity
(3) Dalit Spatial Identity
(4) Cosmopolitan Dalit Identity ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (4) Cosmopolitan Dalit Identity ✅
Explanation: Jadhav portrays a global, modern Dalit identity shaped by urban and professional experiences.
Q79. Postcolonial women writers are not interested in:
(1) The space of domesticity which is designated ‘feminine’ and its possible reconfigurations
(2) The cultural and social space of the family
(3) The feminine ‘duties’ and responsibilities that are willed upon the women
(4) The dynamics and dislocations of partition politics ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (4) The dynamics and dislocations of partition politics ✅
Explanation: While postcolonial women writers often address domestic and familial roles, partition politics is typically a broader historical concern, less central to their gendered critique.
Q80. Who established the Dalit Panthers in 1972?
(1) Anna Bhau Sathe and Baburao Bagul
(2) Arjun Dangle, Shankar Rao Kamat & Daya
(3) Namdev Dhasal, Arjun Dangle and J.V. Pawar ✅
(4) Ambedkar, Namdev, Mahatma Phule
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) Namdev Dhasal, Arjun Dangle and J.V. Pawar ✅
Explanation: These leaders founded the Dalit Panthers to fight caste oppression and assert Dalit identity.
Q81. In which seminal text is it claimed that formerly colonized peoples across the globe are writing new national cultures and writing back to the imperial centre in gestures of literary self-affirmation?
(1) Nation and Narration by Homi Bhabha
(2) Globalization and the Claim of Postcoloniality by Simon Gikandi
(3) The Empire Writes Back by Bill Ashcroft et al. ✅
(4) Orientalism by Edward Said
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) The Empire Writes Back by Bill Ashcroft et al. ✅
Explanation: This text introduced the concept of postcolonial writers “writing back” to the empire, asserting cultural independence.
Q82. ‘Seminal’, ‘interstitial’, and ‘in-between’ spaces have been used in postcolonial theory by –
(1) Homi Bhabha ✅
(2) Abdul JanMohamed
(3) Aijaz Ahmad
(4) Edward Said
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Homi Bhabha ✅
Explanation: Homi Bhabha coined these terms to explain the hybridity and liminality in postcolonial identity and culture.
Q83. Who coined the word “Melting Pot”?
(1) Israel Zangwill ✅
(2) Homi Bhabha
(3) Edward Said
(4) Gayatri Spivak
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Israel Zangwill ✅
Explanation: The term “melting pot” comes from Zangwill’s 1908 play and refers to cultural assimilation in America.
Q84. Which poet laments a widow’s plight in his poem To a Young Hindu Widow?
(1) Manmohan Ghose
(2) Kasiprasad Ghose ✅
(3) Govind Chunder Dutt
(4) Dinesh Chunder Dutt
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Kasiprasad Ghose ✅
Explanation: His poem portrays the sorrow and suffering of widows in 19th-century Hindu society.
Q85. “And that will be England gone / The shadows, the meadows, the lanes / The guildhalls, the carved choirs / There’ll be books it will linger on” —
Which poet, in these lines, laments England’s loss of Empire and power?
(1) Thom Gunn
(2) Ted Hughes
(3) Philip Larkin ✅
(4) Dylan Thomas
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) Philip Larkin ✅
Explanation: These lines are from Larkin’s poem Going, Going, reflecting his nostalgia and anxiety over cultural decline.
Q86. By looking at the documentation of ‘Sati’ or ‘widow sacrifice’ in colonial India, who concluded that “the female exists as an unrepresentable figure”?
(1) Robert Young
(2) Gayatri Spivak ✅
(3) Bharati Mukherjee
(4) Uma Parmeshwaran
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Gayatri Spivak ✅
Explanation: In Can the Subaltern Speak?, Spivak discusses the erasure of the female voice in colonial discourse, particularly in the context of sati.
Q87. The phrase “double colonization,” referring to the ways in which women have simultaneously experienced the oppression of colonialism and patriarchy, was used by –
(1) Kirsten Petersen and Anna Rutherford ✅
(2) Chandra Talpade Mohanty
(3) Trinh T. Minh-ha
(4) Gayatri Spivak
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Kirsten Petersen and Anna Rutherford ✅
Explanation: They used the term to highlight the intersectional oppression of women in colonial contexts.
Q88. Who, among the following Indian writers in English, has created an imagined locale?
(1) Mulk Raj Anand
(2) R.K. Narayan ✅
(3) Anita Desai
(4) Kamala Markandaya
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) R.K. Narayan ✅
Explanation: Narayan famously created the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi, which features in many of his stories and novels.
Q89. Who asserts that postcolonialism in its Anglo-American incarnation has adopted an incredulity towards meta-narratives?
(1) Jacques Derrida
(2) Michel Foucault
(3) Jean-François Lyotard ✅
(4) Roland Barthes
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) Jean-François Lyotard ✅
Explanation: Lyotard’s theory of postmodernism includes skepticism of grand narratives, which influenced postcolonial critique.
Q90. Which of these is Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s first book of poems?
(1) Dark Like the River
(2) Leaving Yuba City ✅
(3) The Time Factor and Other Poems
(4) Love Woman
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Leaving Yuba City ✅
Explanation: This 1997 poetry collection marked Divakaruni’s debut in verse, focusing on immigrant identity and cultural memory.
Q91. In his book The Intimate Enemy, how many chronologically distinct types or genres of colonialism does Ashis Nandy talk about?
(1) Three
(2) Two ✅
(3) Four
(4) Five
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Two ✅
Explanation: Ashis Nandy distinguishes between two types of colonialism: the outer (political/economic) and the inner (psychological/cultural).
Q92. Manju Kapoor’s novel Difficult Daughters situates the woman’s question firmly within the __________ contexts.
(1) Regional
(2) International
(3) National ✅
(4) Local
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) National ✅
Explanation: The novel explores the personal and political tensions of Partition-era India, focusing on women’s roles and freedoms.
Q93. Iqbal Ramoowalia’s novel The Death of a Passport portrays the precarious predicament of the illegals in:
(1) Australia
(2) U.K.
(3) Canada ✅
(4) U.S.A.
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (3) Canada ✅
Explanation: The novel sheds light on the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants in Canada.
Q94. The novel Magic Seeds reminds us of the origin of diaspora literature, suggesting some sense of exile from the place of origin. It is written by –
(1) Bharati Mukherjee
(2) V.S. Naipaul ✅
(3) Salman Rushdie
(4) Nirad C. Chaudhuri
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) V.S. Naipaul ✅
Explanation: Naipaul’s Magic Seeds deals with displacement, exile, and the quest for belonging—central themes in diaspora literature.
Q95. “The new poets still quoted the old poets, but no one spoke in verse of the pregnant woman drowned, with perhaps twins in her.” Identify the poem –
(1) A River by A.K. Ramanujan ✅
(2) The Exile by Jayanta Mahapatra
(3) The Wild Bougainvillaea by Kamala Das
(4) Pestilence by Keki N. Daruwalla
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) A River by A.K. Ramanujan ✅
Explanation: The poem criticizes poets for romanticizing suffering while ignoring real human tragedies.
Q96. Which of these writers often deal with the experience of Indian immigrants in the United States?
(1) Rabindranath Tagore
(2) Jhumpa Lahiri ✅
(3) Salman Rushdie
(4) Kiran Desai
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Jhumpa Lahiri ✅
Explanation: Lahiri’s stories frequently explore the immigrant experience, generational conflict, and cultural assimilation in the U.S.
Q97. Who is the unreliable narrator in Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children?
(1) Saleem Sinai ✅
(2) Laxmi
(3) Shiva
(4) Aadam Aziz
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Saleem Sinai ✅
Explanation: Saleem, the protagonist, narrates his own life story with a fragmented memory, making him unreliable.
Q98. Match the following and choose the right option:
- Robin Cohen – (iii) Global Diasporas
- Avtar Brah – (iv) Cartographies of Diaspora
- Paul Gilroy – (i) The Black Atlantic
- R. Radhakrishnan – (ii) Diasporic Mediations
Codes:
(1) (i), (ii), (iv), (iii)
(2) (iii), (iv), (i), (ii) ✅
(3) (i), (iv), (iii), (ii)
(4) (ii), (i), (iv), (iii)
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) (iii), (iv), (i), (ii) ✅
Explanation: The correct author-title match is crucial in understanding key texts on diaspora and postcolonial studies.
Q99. Meena Alexander’s poem Dream Poem (SR) is about –
(1) Youth and age
(2) Mother and daughter relationship ✅
(3) Marital compatibility
(4) Mother as “harvest”
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (2) Mother and daughter relationship ✅
Explanation: The poem reflects themes of intimacy, memory, and generational bonds between women.
Q100. ‘Mother’ in Meena Alexander’s poem The Bird’s Bright Ring symbolizes –
(1) The stereotypical Indian woman
(2) The bridge between the old and the new
(3) Unassertive woman
(4) Creativity and production ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (4) Creativity and production ✅
Explanation: The mother figure is a metaphor for artistic creation and fertility in the poem.
Q101. Who wrote Afternoon Raag?
(1) Amit Chaudhary ✅
(2) Meera Syal
(3) Bharti Mukherjee
(4) Faroukh Dhondy
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Amit Chaudhary ✅
Explanation: Afternoon Raag is a semi-autobiographical novel by Amit Chaudhary that explores identity and displacement in the life of an Indian student in Oxford.
Q102. On what basis can you conclude that Outcaste by Narendra Jadhav is a Dalit text?
(1) Global popularity of the text
(2) Character representation
(3) Nationality of the author
(4) The social status of the writer ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (4) The social status of the writer ✅
Explanation: The text draws heavily on Jadhav’s personal and familial experiences of caste-based oppression, aligning it with the themes of Dalit literature.
Q103. Which statement is not true about the metaphorical significance of the quilt in Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance?
(1) It gives a glimpse of the evils prevalent in the society today ✅
(2) Minor fictive persona are reflected in its patches
(3) It highlights Dina’s sense of despair and desolation
(4) It is a symbol of time
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) It gives a glimpse of the evils prevalent in the society today ✅
Explanation: While the quilt is rich in symbolic meaning—identity, survival, and fragmentation—it does not directly serve as a symbol for the societal evils in a broad context.
Q104. Who is the protagonist in Bharti Mukherjee’s The Tiger’s Daughter?
(1) Tara Banerjee ✅
(2) David
(3) Panna Bhatt
(4) Mr. Tuntunwala
(5) Question not attempted
Answer: (1) Tara Banerjee ✅
Explanation: Tara Banerjee, a young Indian woman returning from the U.S. to India, is the central figure in this novel about identity, alienation, and cross-cultural conflict.
Q105. In his scintillating essay, “What the Twilight Says,” Derek Walcott describing the production of Wole Soyinka’s The Road, tells us how the Africans had lost both gods. Here “both gods” refers to –
(1) Christian and Hindu gods
(2) African and American gods
(3) Tribal and Urban gods
(4) Native and Christian gods ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) Native and Christian gods ✅
Explanation:- Derek Walcott uses the phrase “both gods” to indicate how colonialism caused Africans to lose touch with both their traditional native belief systems and the imposed Christian faith. It reflects spiritual disorientation and cultural loss.
Q106. ‘Postcolonial Literature’ is often a dialectic between –
(1) native subversion and imperial systems ✅
(2) native subversion and political manipulations
(3) imperial systems and psychological demands
(4) imperial systems and dispossession
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) native subversion and imperial systems ✅
Explanation:- Postcolonial literature often explores the power struggle and cultural resistance between indigenous identities and the oppressive frameworks of colonial empires, forming a dialectical relationship.
Q107. Which out of the following is a work by Ashis Gupta?
(1) Dying Tradition ✅
(2) The Circle of Reason
(3) Colour Purple
(4) Rich Like Us
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) Dying Tradition ✅
Explanation:- Dying Tradition is attributed to Ashis Gupta. The other works listed are by different authors—Amitav Ghosh, Alice Walker, and Nayantara Sahgal respectively.
Q108. The work Golpitha by Namdeo Dhasal is –
(1) A collection of short stories
(2) A collection of poems ✅
(3) A novel
(4) A collection of short essays
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) A collection of poems ✅
Explanation:- Golpitha is a seminal poetry collection in Marathi by Namdeo Dhasal, known for its raw depiction of Dalit life and resistance through the medium of poetry.
Q109. Which of the following is NOT a book by Nirad C. Chaudhuri?
(1) A Bend in the River ✅
(2) An Area of Darkness
(3) A Passage to India
(4) A Passage to England
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) A Bend in the River ✅
Explanation:- A Bend in the River is a novel by V.S. Naipaul, not Nirad C. Chaudhuri. Chaudhuri’s notable works include The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian and A Passage to England.
Q110. Which of the following statements about Kamala Markandaya’s book Some Inner Fury is NOT correct?
(1) It portrays the troubled relationship between an educated Indian woman and a British civil servant.
(2) The brother of the Indian woman is an anti-British terrorist.
(3) It was written in 1956 ❌
(4) It is set in the year of Quit India Movement ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (3) It was written in 1956 ❌
Explanation:- The novel Some Inner Fury was actually published in 1955. All other statements regarding the plot and setting are accurate.
Q111. What is the name of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s first collection of poetry?
(1) Sister of My Heart
(2) Black Candle ✅
(3) Palace of Illusions
(4) Mistress of Spices
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Black Candle ✅
Explanation:- Black Candle is Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s debut poetry collection, reflecting themes of immigrant experience, identity, and womanhood.
Q112. Choose the text from the following which can be situated in the Latin American tradition of magic realism:
(1) The Hero’s Walk
(2) Namesake
(3) The Lost Steps ✅
(4) Cry, The Peacock
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (3) The Lost Steps ✅
Explanation:- The Lost Steps by Alejo Carpentier is a notable Latin American novel that embodies the style and elements of magical realism.
Q113. “State-sponsored patriotism and ethnic absolutism are now dominant…”. The above quote is taken from the diasporic writer –
(1) Du Bois
(2) Paul Gilroy ✅
(3) Caryl Phillips
(4) Ashish Nandy
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Paul Gilroy ✅
Explanation:- Paul Gilroy critiques modern nationalism and ethnic essentialism in his work, especially in relation to diaspora and postcolonial identity.
Q114. Which of the following postcolonial critics has advanced deconstructive theory into the area of feminism?
(1) Simone de Beauvoir
(2) Edward Said
(3) Gayatri Spivak ✅
(4) Roland Barthes
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (3) Gayatri Spivak ✅
Explanation:- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, in works like “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, applies deconstruction to postcolonial and feminist theory.
Q115. Who used the term “Othering” in the context of imperialism as well as patriarchy?
(1) Homi Bhabha
(2) Michel Foucault
(3) Edward Said
(4) Gayatri Spivak ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) Gayatri Spivak ✅
Explanation:- Spivak used “Othering” to describe how colonial and patriarchal discourses marginalize and silence subaltern voices.
Q116. Ake: The Years of Childhood is an illuminating memoir of the early life of –
(1) Chinua Achebe
(2) Wole Soyinka ✅
(3) Aime Césaire
(4) J.M. Coetzee
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Wole Soyinka ✅
Explanation:- Ake: The Years of Childhood is Wole Soyinka’s autobiographical account of his childhood in Nigeria.
Q117. Michel Foucault’s idea of power is a departure from –
(1) Dominant Marxist models ✅
(2) Psychoanalytic model of subjective formation
(3) Invisible cultural formations
(4) Deep structural models
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) Dominant Marxist models ✅
Explanation:- Foucault redefined power not just as something possessed but as something exercised through discourse and social practices, departing from traditional Marxist views.
Q118. Which of the following statements are true for the definition of ‘Negritude’?
- It is a cultural movement launched by the French in Paris.
- It aimed to reassert traditional African cultural values.
- It aimed to assimilate the Blacks into White culture.
- It has been defined in terms of ‘intuitive reason’ and cosmic rhythm.
(1) a & b are true, c & d are false
(2) a & c are true, b & d are false
(3) b & d are true, a & c are false ✅
(4) c & d are true, a & b are false
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (3) b & d are true, a & c are false ✅
Explanation:- Negritude was founded by Black intellectuals, not the French, to celebrate African heritage and values, emphasizing intuitive and rhythmic cultural aspects.
Q119. Which of the following statements regarding The Lion and the Jewel (1958) is TRUE?
(1) The comedy lies in exchanges between the urban girl Sidi and the village school-master.
(2) It belongs to the category of the Theatre of the Absurd.
(3) As regards plot and language it is influenced by Ben Jonson’s Volpone. ✅
(4) It belongs to the category of ‘Comedy of Manners’.
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (3) As regards plot and language it is influenced by Ben Jonson’s Volpone. ✅
Explanation:- Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel employs satire and trickster elements akin to Ben Jonson’s Volpone, making statement (3) correct.
Q120. “Orientalism is no longer only the relationship of the dominance and representation of the oriental by the non-oriental… but that this role appears to have been taken over by the diasporic author”. The above quote is by –
(1) Rohinton Mistry
(2) Lisa Lau ✅
(3) Vikram Chandra
(4) Bessie Head
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Lisa Lau ✅
Explanation:- Lisa Lau coined the concept of “re-orientalism”, where diasporic authors perpetuate orientalist narratives from within postcolonial contexts.
Q121. Which of the following combination is TRUE of the novel Arrow of God?
- Arrow of God is a real sequel to Things Fall Apart.
- Arrow of God is about tribal society and its proverbs.
- Colonial administration and Christian churches are intrusions in the traditional life in Arrow of God.
- The destruction of the traditional culture is the main theme of the novel Arrow of God.
(1) a, b & d are correct ✅
(2) b, c & d are correct
(3) c, b & d are correct
(4) a, c & d are correct
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) a, b & d are correct ✅
Explanation:- Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God follows Things Fall Apart and explores themes like traditional tribal values, proverbs, and the disruption caused by colonial and Christian influences.
Q122. “Our deeds were neither great nor rare. Home is where we have to gather grace”. The above two lines have been taken from the poem –
(1) Chaitanya by Arun Kolatkar
(2) Night of the Scorpion by Nissim Ezekiel
(3) Obituary by A.K. Ramanujan
(4) Enterprise by Nissim Ezekiel ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) Enterprise by Nissim Ezekiel ✅
Explanation:- These reflective lines are from Ezekiel’s poem Enterprise, which critiques the futility of a noble yet disillusioning spiritual journey.
Q123. A: One of the earliest instances of Revenge Tragedy is the Oresteia of Aeschylus.
B: Thomas Kyd established the genre of ‘revenge tragedy’ in England with The Spanish Tragedy.
C: The Elizabethan dramatist took Lope de Vega as a model.
(1) A & B are true, C is false ✅
(2) A & C are true, B is false
(3) B & C are true, A is false
(4) A, B & C are true
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) A & B are true, C is false ✅
Explanation:- Aeschylus’s Oresteia is a Greek prototype of revenge tragedy. Thomas Kyd is credited with establishing the genre in England. However, Lope de Vega was a Spanish dramatist who postdated the Elizabethans.
Q124. A: The revitalized Latin style and concern for pure Latinity set high standards during the renaissance period.
B: The difficulty of satisfying these high standards contributed to the gradual decline of Latin as a common language.
(1) A is true, B is false
(2) A is false, B is true
(3) Both A & B are true but B is not the logical inference of A
(4) Both A & B are true and B is the logical inference of A ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) Both A & B are true and B is the logical inference of A ✅
Explanation:- The Renaissance pursuit of linguistic purity in Latin led to its increasing complexity, contributing to its decline as a commonly used scholarly language.
Q125. The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser presents Christian knights on a journey through life encountering all kinds of temptations.
(1) Aeneid, Surrey
(2) The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser ✅
(3) The Nymph’s Reply, Walter Raleigh
(4) The Defence of Poesy, Philip Sidney
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser ✅
Explanation:- The Faerie Queene is a Christian allegorical epic that features knights representing virtues undergoing trials and temptations.
Q126. Non Vi by Crashaw is an emblem poem which means there is an image. The image in the poem is that of –
(1) An emblem
(2) Cupid
(3) The mind
(4) A heart ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) A heart ✅
Explanation:- Non Vi (Latin for “not by force”) by Richard Crashaw uses the emblem of a heart pierced by divine love, consistent with emblem poetry’s fusion of visual and poetic symbolism.
Q127. What is the moral of The Nun’s Priest’s Tale?
(1) Greed is the cause of all evil
(2) Never trust a flatterer ✅
(3) Beauty lies in the soul
(4) Slow and steady wins the race
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Never trust a flatterer ✅
Explanation:- In Chaucer’s The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, the rooster Chanticleer is almost caught by the fox due to being flattered, conveying this moral.
Q128. Which of the following statements about ‘Chaucerian Stanza’ is NOT true?
(1) It is also called ‘rhyme royal’
(2) Chaucer used it for the first time in Complaint Unto Pity
(3) It is a stanza form of 6 decasyllabic lines ✅
(4) It was also used by Spenser, Shakespeare, Masefield etc.
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (3) It is a stanza form of 6 decasyllabic lines ✅
Explanation:- Chaucerian stanza (or rhyme royal) actually consists of 7 lines in iambic pentameter (decasyllabic), usually rhyming ababbcc.
Q129. “Bright shootes of everlastingnesse” occurs in –
(1) Vaughan’s The Retreate ✅
(2) Herbert’s Virtue
(3) Donne’s Holy Sonnets
(4) Marvell’s The Garden
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) Vaughan’s The Retreate ✅
Explanation:- The phrase is from Henry Vaughan’s metaphysical poem The Retreate, expressing a longing to return to divine innocence.
Q130. The character Sir John Falstaff appears in which of the play/plays of Shakespeare?
- Henry IV Part I
- Henry IV Part II
- Merry Wives of Windsor
(1) A
(2) A & B
(3) A, B & C ✅
(4) B & C
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (3) A, B & C ✅
Explanation:- Sir John Falstaff, a comic and roguish knight, appears in Henry IV Part I & II and The Merry Wives of Windsor, making him one of Shakespeare’s most famous recurring characters.
Q131. Senecan elements are found in:
(1) The Spanish Tragedy ✅
(2) Samson Agonistes
(3) Dr. Faustus
(4) As You Like It
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) The Spanish Tragedy ✅
Explanation:- Senecan elements like revenge, ghosts, and bloody drama are found prominently in Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, a foundational English revenge tragedy.
Q132. “Indulgence in dissimilar images or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike” is characteristic of:
(1) Metaphysical verse ✅
(2) Romantic poetry
(3) Classical poetry
(4) Morality plays
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) Metaphysical verse ✅
Explanation:- This definition of metaphysical poetry, noted for its wit and intellectual imagery, comes from Samuel Johnson’s critique of poets like Donne and Herbert.
Q133. In Thomas Nashe’s The Unfortunate Traveller, the story relates the life of:
(1) Geoffrey Chaucer
(2) Jack Wilton ✅
(3) Robert Greene
(4) Thomas Lodge
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Jack Wilton ✅
Explanation:- Jack Wilton is the protagonist and narrator of Thomas Nashe’s picaresque novel The Unfortunate Traveller, recounting his adventurous life across Europe.
Q134. Identify the popular theatre of the Elizabethan period:
(i) It was the first building in England designed for plays.
(ii) After Queen Elizabeth’s death, it was renamed the ‘King’s Men’.
(iii) Shakespeare had a share in this theatre.
(1) Swan
(2) Globe ✅
(3) Grand
(4) Peacock
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Globe ✅
Explanation:- The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company and is one of the most famous theatres of the Elizabethan era.
Q135. Which critic sees Donne’s poem The Canonization as deploying the “language of paradox”?
(1) Cleanth Brooks ✅
(2) Helen Gardner
(3) T. S. Eliot
(4) C. S. Lewis
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) Cleanth Brooks ✅
Explanation:- Cleanth Brooks, a New Critic, analyzed The Canonization in his essay The Language of Paradox, highlighting its metaphysical irony and complexity.
Q136. The “Aged Sire” in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene refers to –
(1) Archimago ✅
(2) Morpheus
(3) Una
(4) The Knight of the Red Cross
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) Archimago ✅
Explanation:- Archimago is the evil sorcerer in The Faerie Queene who appears as a deceitful old man (“Aged Sire”), representing hypocrisy and deception.
Q137. Which popular play is referred by Swinburne as “the only work of English poetry that may properly be called Aristophanic”?
(1) The Witch
(2) Game at Chess ✅
(3) A Fair Quarrel
(4) The Roaring Girl
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Game at Chess ✅
Explanation:- Swinburne called Middleton’s A Game at Chess Aristophanic due to its political satire, boldness, and allegorical approach.
Q138. The Black King and his men in Middleton’s A Game at Chess represent respectively:
(1) White Knight & Prince Charles
(2) Prince Charles & White Knight
(3) Spain & Prince Charles
(4) Spain and the Jesuits ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) Spain and the Jesuits ✅
Explanation:- In Middleton’s political satire A Game at Chess, the Black King and his men allegorically represent Spain and the Jesuits, viewed as political enemies of Protestant England.
Q139. Which one of the following is a tragi-comedy by Philip Massinger?
(1) The Duke of Milan
(2) The Maid of Honour ✅
(3) A New Way to Pay Old Debts
(4) The City Madam
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) The Maid of Honour ✅
Explanation:- The Maid of Honour by Philip Massinger is categorized as a tragi-comedy, blending elements of both tragedy and comedy.
Q140.
- The genre of ‘masque’ was perfected by Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones.
- Its performance required elaborate sets, costumes, etc., and was very expensive.
- The genre of anti-masque was developed by Ben Jonson.
(1) A & B
(2) C & B
(3) A & C
(4) A, B & C ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) A, B & C ✅
Explanation:- All statements are accurate: Jonson and Jones elevated the masque form, which was extravagant and symbolic; Jonson also created the contrasting anti-masque.
Q141. Pope has dedicated the Essay on Man to which of the following?
(1) John Dryden
(2) Lord Bolingbroke ✅
(3) Lord Harvey
(4) Lord Mary
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Lord Bolingbroke ✅
Explanation:- Alexander Pope dedicated Essay on Man to his friend and philosophical inspiration, Lord Bolingbroke, whose deist ideas influenced the poem’s themes.
Q142. In Gulliver’s Travels ‘Struldbruggs’ are:
(1) People persecuted by pets and servants
(2) People replete with abstract learning
(3) People lured by a new ideal
(4) People exempt from natural death ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) People exempt from natural death ✅
Explanation:- Struldbruggs are immortals in Gulliver’s Travels, but their endless aging turns their supposed blessing into a curse, satirizing human desire for immortality.
Q143.
A: All for Love is generally acknowledged as Dryden’s best play.
B: Dryden expressed his dissatisfaction with the French tragedy.
(1) A is correct, B is wrong
(2) Both A & B are correct but B is not the logical inference of A
(3) A is wrong, B is correct
(4) Both A & B are correct and B is the logical inference of A ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) Both A & B are correct and B is the logical inference of A ✅
Explanation:- All for Love is considered Dryden’s best tragedy, and it reflects his preference for English drama over French classical models, indicating his dissatisfaction with the latter.
Q144. Which is George Chapman’s major poem?
(1) Ovid’s Banquet of Sence
(2) The Teares of Peace
(3) Bussy D’Ambois
(4) The Shadow of Night ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) The Shadow of Night ✅
Explanation:- The Shadow of Night is one of Chapman’s major philosophical poems, dealing with themes of learning, introspection, and intellectual darkness.
Q145.
A: Robinson Crusoe is primarily a travel story.
B: It was initially called The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
C: The book was followed by two continuations: The Further Adventures and The Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe.
(1) A & B are correct; C is false
(2) A & C are correct; B is false
(3) B & C are correct; A is false
(4) All three (A, B, C) are true ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) All three (A, B, C) are true ✅
Explanation:- All statements are factual. Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe began as a travel narrative and was published with a long title. It was followed by sequels expanding on Crusoe’s experiences and reflections.
Q146. Match the following with the correct options:
A — The Tatler — (iii) Steele
B — The Spectator — (iv) Addison & Steele
C — The Rambler — (i) Samuel Johnson
D — Citizen of the World — (ii) Goldsmith
(1) (iii), (iv), (i), (ii) ✅
(2) (iv), (iii), (ii), (i)
(3) (iv), (ii), (iii), —
(4) (ii), (i), (ii), (iv)
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) (iii), (iv), (i), (ii) ✅
Explanation:- Each periodical is associated with a key author: Steele started The Tatler, The Spectator was a collaboration between Addison and Steele, The Rambler was by Samuel Johnson, and Citizen of the World by Oliver Goldsmith.
Q147. In which work of Alexander Pope was the poet and dramatist Colley Cibber attacked?
(1) The Dunciad ✅
(2) Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot
(3) Imitations of Horace
(4) Satires and Epistles of Horace Imitated
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) The Dunciad ✅
Explanation:- Pope satirized Colley Cibber in The Dunciad, eventually replacing Theobald with Cibber as the ‘King of Dunces’ in later versions.
Q148. What was the name of the volume in which Lord Byron’s early poems were privately published?
(1) History of the Dividing Line
(2) Fugitive Pieces ✅
(3) Old Creole Days
(4) Jürgen
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (2) Fugitive Pieces ✅
Explanation:- Byron’s first volume, Fugitive Pieces, was privately printed in 1806 but withdrawn due to its perceived immorality.
Q149. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen is about:
(1) The Dashwood Family ✅
(2) Emma
(3) The Bennet Sisters
(4) The Tilney Family
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (1) The Dashwood Family ✅
Explanation:- Sense and Sensibility follows the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, and contrasts their romantic sensibilities and personal growth.
Q150. Which of the following statements about The Dunciad is NOT correct?
(1) It was inspired by Mac Flecknoe
(2) It is an attack on writers, living or dead, who had offended Pope
(3) It appeared in four books in 1743
(4) The characters in The Dunciad are dwarfed and rendered harmless ✅
(5) Question not attempted
Answer:- (4) The characters in The Dunciad are dwarfed and rendered harmless ✅
Explanation:- This is incorrect. In The Dunciad, Pope viciously satirizes his enemies, portraying them as dangerously ignorant rather than harmless.
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