DISTANCE EDUCATION
B.A. (English)/B.A. (Eng.) (Addl.Degree) DEGREE
EXAMINATION, MAY 2017.
AMERICAN AND COMMONWEALTH LITERATURES
Time Three hours Maximum 100 marks
PART A — 8 40 marks)
Answer any FIVE of the following.
1. Describe Whitman's conceptions of the soul and the body,
and the relationship between the two. Which is more
important, in his view?
2. What is the basis of Marianne Moore's contention that
poetry is useful?
3. What does Judith Wright convey through his poem
"The Harp and the King"?
4. Express the terrible state of the refugee mother and
child.
5. What is the main idea of the 'American scholar' speech by
Emerson?
6. Sketch the character of Santiago in The Old Man and the
Sea.
7. Discuss The Emperor Jones as a tragedy of pride.
8. Is The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka a myth?
— Discuss.
Sub. Code
33/109
DE-088
2
sp4
PART B — × 15 60 marks)
Answer any FOUR of the following.
9. Write a critical appreciation of the poem "Mending Wall".
10. Write an essay on the symbols used in the poem "The
Emperor of Ice Cream".
11. Explain the aptness of the title "Refugee Mother and
Child".
12. In Bliss, what is the pear tree a symbol of, and how is it
related to the main character, Bertha Young?
13. Discuss The old Man and the Sea as a tragedy.
14. Discuss the historical and philosophical realism in
Patrick White's Voss.
15. Write an essay on the circumstances leading to the death
of Emperor Jones.