Monday 26 August 2024

MCQs on Indian English Literature-Indian Writers-HPSC-UGC-NET-Part I

Multiple-choice Questions on William Wordsworth's poem "The World is Too Much

 Multiple-choice Questions on William Wordsworth's poem "The World is Too Much with Us," along with their correct answers:


1. What is the main theme of Wordsworth's poem "The World is Too Much with Us"?

A) The beauty of nature
B) The corruption of society
C) The materialism of modern life
D) The passage of time

  Answer: C) The materialism of modern life

2. In the poem, what does Wordsworth criticize humanity for being disconnected from?

A) Each other
B) The divine
C) Nature
D) Art
 

 

Answer: C) Nature
3. What literary device is predominantly used in the line "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers"?

A) Simile
B) Personification
C) Alliteration
D) Hyperbole

Answer: C) Alliteration

4. The poem mentions "we have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!" What does the word "boon" mean in this context?

A) A curse
B) A benefit or blessing
C) A loss
D) A trade
The phrase "sordid boon" is an oxymoron.

 Answer: B) A benefit or blessing

5. Which mythological figure is mentioned in the poem as a symbol of the natural world?

A) Proteus
B) Zeus
C) Apollo
D) Athena
 

Answer: A) Proteus


6. What does the poet wish if he were to feel more connected with nature?

A) A shepherd
B) A pagan
C) A child
D) A philosopher
 

Answer: B) A pagan



7. The poem contrasts the natural world with what aspect of human life?

A) Human relationships
B) Political systems
C) Material wealth and industrialization
D) Religious beliefs

 

Answer: C) Material wealth and industrialization
8. What is the tone of the poem "The World is Too Much with Us"?

A) Joyful
B) Melancholic
C) Hopeful
D) Angry

 Answer: B) Melancholic

9. How does Wordsworth view the modern world's relationship with nature in this poem?

A) Harmonious
B) Disconnected
C) Envious
D) Indifferent
 

 

Answer: B) Disconnected

10. Which line best encapsulates the poet's lament for humanity's loss of connection with nature?

A) "For this, for everything, we are out of tune"
B) "Great God! I'd rather be"
C) "The winds that will be howling at all hours"
D) "This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon"

 Answer: A) "For this, for everything, we are out of tune"

11. What does the poem's phrase "late and soon" suggest about the nature of human activity?

 A) It is balanced

B) It is continuous

 C) It is intermittent

D) It is unpredictable

 Ans. B) It is continuous


Indian writers who enriched English Literature:



The notable Indian writers who enriched English Literature:
Classic and Early Writers:

1. Raja Rao - Kanthapura, The Serpent and the Rope

2. R.K. Narayan - Malgudi Days, The Guide

3. Mulk Raj Anand - Untouchable, Coolie

4. Toru Dutt - Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan, Savitri

5. Sarojini Naidu - The Golden Threshold, The Bird of Time

6. Rabindranath Tagore - Gitanjali, The Home and the World

7. Nirad C. Chaudhuri - The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian

8. Kamala Markandaya - Nectar in a Sieve, A Handful of Rice

9. Khushwant Singh - Train to Pakistan, The History of Sikhs

Contemporary Writers:

1. Salman Rushdie - Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses

2. Vikram Seth - A Suitable Boy, The Golden Gate

3. Amitav Ghosh- The Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace

4. Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things

5. Kiran Desai - The Inheritance of Loss

6. Jhumpa Lahiri - Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake

7. Anita Desai - Clear Light of Day, In Custody

8. Rohinton Mistry - A Fine Balance, Such a Long Journey

9. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - The Mistress of Spices, The Palace of Illusions

10. Shashi Tharoor - The Great Indian Novel, Inglorious Empire

11. Manju Kapur - Difficult Daughters, The Immigrant

12. Shashi Deshpande - That Long Silence, The Dark Holds No Terrors

13. Ruskin Bond - The Room on the Roof, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra

14. V.S. Naipaul - A House for Mr. Biswas, India: A Wounded Civilization

15. Bapsi Sidhwa - Ice-Candy-Man, The Pakistani Bride

Poets:

1. Nissim Ezekiel - Night of the Scorpion

2. Kamala Das - Summer in Calcutta

3. Jayanta Mahapatra - Relationship

4. A.K. Ramanujan - The Striders

5. Arun Kolatkar - Jejuri

6. Dom Moraes - A Beginning, John Nobody

Emerging Writers:

1. Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger

2. Neel Mukherjee - The Lives of Others

3. Anuradha Roy - The Folded Earth

4. Amit Chaudhuri - A Strange and Sublime Address

5. Jeet Thayil - Narcopolis

6. Deepti Kapoor - A Bad Character

7. Meena Kandasamy - When I Hit You, Exquisite Cadavers

8. Tishani Doshi - The Pleasure Seekers, Small Days and Nights

9. Kiran Nagarkar - Cuckold, Ravan and Eddie




Monday 19 August 2024

What does Wordsworth mean by saying-"This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,"?

What does Wordsworth mean by saying-"This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,"?

In the line "This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon," Wordsworth uses vivid imagery to personify the sea, depicting it as a woman revealing herself to the moon. The phrase "bares her bosom" suggests an intimate, natural, and almost sacred relationship between the sea and the moon. This imagery conveys a sense of openness and vulnerability, emphasizing the harmony and connection that exists within the natural world.

The moon, often associated with mystery and the feminine, exerts its gravitational pull on the sea, causing the tides. By highlighting this natural interaction, Wordsworth draws attention to the beauty and power of nature—something that people, caught up in material pursuits, fail to appreciate. The line reinforces the poem's theme of humanity's estrangement from the natural world and the loss of a deeper, spiritual connection with it.

Thursday 15 August 2024

The World is Too Much with Us by William Wordsworth-Analysis and Summary

 The World is Too Much with Us by William Wordsworth-Analysis and Summary

thoughtful sonnet written by William Wordsworth. In this famous poem, the post makes a strong case against materialism and its adverse effect on man's mental and spiritual development. Under the lust of materialism, man ignores the charms of Nature. The beautiful scenes and objects of Nature fail to move man's heart. It is because people prefer to keep themselves busy with money matters. The urge to become rich is very strong in people, who have delinked themselves from Nature. Wordsworth himself seems to have visited towns and cities and found people in miserable plight. They are busy spending and wasting much of their energies and precious time in useless pursuits of materialism.

 

The very opening of the sonnet is a sort of poet's complaint. He means to suggest to us that we have become too engrossed with the activities of worldly pursuits. Almost all the time, we are getting too much in “getting and spending” money. Nature has great treasures of vital and beautiful influences to offer to us. To quote Robert Bridges in this context, we may say that we have no time "to stand and stare" at the beautiful objects of Nature.

 Wordsworth calls materialism a ‘sordid boon’ because materialism has enslaved us. Money and matters is a gift because we cannot ignore the physical world, But excessive care for material or worldly pursuits takes man away from Nature and Gao. Man cannot be separated from these entities. Wordsworth also gives us examples of beautiful sights of Nature in this poem He says that on a full moon-lit night, the rise and fall of the sea waves offers a very beautiful scene. The other picture that is created by the poet in our minds is that of the wind that sleeps peacefully like flowers at night after having been furious during the whole day.

 

Wordsworth feels sorry for the modern man who has wasted away his life in earning and spending. money. In this process, he has become blind to the beautiful sights and sounds of Nature. These beautiful sights do not touch our hearts. In a fit of despair, Wordsworth admonishes. the modern man who claims to be a non-believer than to be religious if religion stops him from loving nature.

In that case, he would prefer to be a pagan, who keeps himself always in touch of nature.

As a pagan, he would stand at the seashore and see Proteus, the sea god, rising out of the ocean, and in the same way, he would have a glimpse of Triton with a wreathed horn, another sea god in Greek mythology. Triton could pacify the violent sea waves by blowing his horn. Thus, the poet presents a sharp contrast between the modern man’s love for materialism and a pagan’s love for nature.

Conclusion:

This sonnet exhibits the poet's love for Nature and dislike for materialism. The post also condemns the city- culture which spreads the cult of materialism. He prefers a life of simplicity that is found only by living in close contact with nature. The poem is a proof of the poet's great love for Nature. It also echoes Rousseau’s "Back to Nature" call.


The poem is also vibrant with sound and pictorial, quality, One beautiful image of the sea rising up on a full moon-lit night, to meet the moon, The other one is of winds, that kept howling for the whole day and then sleeping like an innocent child or a flower in mother nature’s lap silently at night.

See the beauty in the line!

"The sea that bares her bosom to the moon”

The poem has been written in a romantic style. It also tells us about romantic poets’ great love for the ancient past. Wordsworth alludes to Greek mythology. It is important to note that Greek pagans were lovers of Nature, They worshipped gods and goddesses who ruled over Nature --- woods, sea, and the sky. The poem is full of imagination. It is also a satire on the materialistic rich people.

William Wordsworth - The World Is Too Much With Us -MCQs-Poetry Analysis