ICSE Class 10 Question Paper 2024 English Literature

ICSE
QUESTION
PAPER
2024

U DY MA
S TE
E
R
S

IA
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LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
(ENGLISH PAPER – 2)
Maximum Marks: 80
Time allowed: Two hours
Answers to this Paper must be written on the paper provided separately.
You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes.
This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
The time given at the head of this Paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.

The paper has four Sections.
Section A is compulsory – All questions in Section A must be answered.
You must attempt one question from each of the Sections B, C and D and one other question from any
Section of your choice.
The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].

SECTION A
(Attempt all questions from this Section.)

Question 1
Choose the correct answers to the questions from the given options. [16]
(Do not copy the questions, write ONLY the correct answers.)
(i) Where does Portia say that she and Nerissa will stay until their husbands’ return?
(a) In Venice
(b) At Belmont
(c) At Padua
(d) In a monastery
(ii) What aspect of Shylock’s nature is revealed in his words, “To bait fish withal:
if it will feed nothing else, it will feed any revenge.”?
(a) Pride
(b) Envy
(c) Vengefulness
(d) Greed
This paper consists of 8 printed pages.
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(iii) Gratiano exclaims, “We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.” In this
context, the word ‘fleece’ refers to ____________.
(a) Portia and Nerissa
(b) Wool of the golden ram
(c) A warm, woollen blanket
(d) Bassanio and Gratiano
(iv) “The quality of mercy is not strained.” Who says this to whom?
(a) Duke to Shylock
(b) Gratiano to Shylock
(c) Portia to Shylock
(d) Bassanio to Shylock
(v) What does Portia ask of Antonio as a remembrance before she leaves the courtroom?
(a) his ring
(b) the knife
(c) the scroll
(d) his gloves
(vi) When Lorenzo says, ‘Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way / Of starved
people.’ he means that Portia and Nerissa have ____________.
(a) prepared a banquet for their husbands
(b) brought good news for Lorenzo and Antonio
(c) brought divine food from the monastery
(d) returned the rings to Bassanio and Gratiano
(vii) Which of the following statements is NOT true of Maggie?
(a) She was sent to the poorhouse
(b) She was bedridden
(c) She had an injured spine
(d) She had suffered a fall
(viii) The short story ‘The Little Match Girl’ can be called a fairy tale because _________.
(a) it is set in fairy land
(b) it has elements of magic and fantasy
(c) the little girl meets her fairy godmother
(d) the little girl marries a prince

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(ix) Why did the Gujar woman strike the big brass gurrahs with a stick?
(a) to produce a musical effect
(b) to quieten the buffaloes
(c) to see which ones were empty
(d) to frighten the crocodiles
(x) Choose the option that lists the sequence of events in the correct order.
1. When the rain stopped, they rushed outdoors, forgetting all about Margot
in their eagerness to experience the warmth of the sun.
2. The children carried the pleading and protesting Margot to the closet and
locked her in.
3. It was then that they realised with shame that Margot was still locked in
the closet; they had deprived her of what she longed for the most – the sun.
4. All too soon, the brief summer ended, and the children hurried indoors to
escape the heavy rains.
(a) 4, 3, 2, 1
(b) 3, 1, 2, 4
(c) 1, 3, 4, 2
(d) 2, 1, 4, 3
(xi) In My Greatest Olympic Prize, ‘Der Fuhrer’ refers to _________.
(a) Hitler
(b) A Negro
(c) Nazi youth
(d) A sophomore
(xii) Which of the following lines contains the same literary device as the one in
‘I wandered lonely as a cloud,’ from Wordsworth’s poem, ‘Daffodils’?
(a) ‘And miles to go before I sleep / And miles to go before I sleep’
(b) ‘Fresh as a rose in June’
(c) ‘Thus Nature spoke – The work was done’
(d) ‘You’re one month on in the middle of May’
(xiii) Which of the following statements is used by Angelou to describe the caged bird?
(a) He opens his throat to sing
(b) He dares to claim the sky
(c) He leaps on the back of the wind
(d) He thinks of another breeze
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(xiv) When did the angel appear to Abou Ben Adhem?
(a) On a moonless night
(b) Three nights in a row
(c) Two nights in succession
(d) Twice the same night
(xv) Select the option that shows the correct relationship between Statements (1)
and (2) from Browning’s poem, ‘The Patriot’.
Statement 1. The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries.
Statement 2. There’s nobody on the house-tops now.
(a) (1) means the same as (2)
(b) (1) is a contrast of (2)
(c) (1) is true and (2) is false
(d) (1) is false and (2) is true
(xvi) ‘The eight other athletes stopped in their tracks’ means that they ___________.
(a) stood poised to run
(b) turned slowly around
(c) slowed down gradually
(d) halted quite suddenly

SECTION B
(Answer one or more questions from this Section.)
DRAMA
(The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare)

Question 2
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Portia: Away then! I am lock’d in one of them:
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music:
(i) Where does the scene take place? [3]
What does Portia mean when she says, ‘If you do love me, you will find me out.’?

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(ii) What TWO words would you use to describe Portia’s feelings at this point? [3]
Give a reason for your answer.
(iii) Explain Portia’s reference to ‘swan-like end’. [3]

(iv) Later in the scene, Portia gives Bassanio a gift. [3]
What does she give him?
What does this gift symbolise?

(v) What is the theme of the song sung in the background when Bassanio makes [4]
his choice?
How is the theme reflected in the choice he makes?
What does Bassanio find in the casket that he chooses?

Question 3
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Bassanio: And, I beseech you,
Wrest once the law to your authority:
To do a great right, do a little wrong,
And curb this cruel devil of his will.
Portia: It must not be. There is no power in Venice
Can alter a decree established:
‘Twill be recorded for a precedent,
(i) Who is on trial? [3]
Why is this person on trial?
(ii) Explain in your own words Bassanio’s request to Portia in the given extract. [3]
What reason does he give for his request?
(iii) How does Portia respond to Bassanio’s request? [3]
What TWO reasons does she give for her response?
(iv) Who does Bassanio refer to as ‘this cruel devil’? [3]
What is this person’s response to Portia’s words in the given extract?
(v) How is the ‘cruel devil’ punished at the end of the trial? [4]
How fair, in your opinion, is this punishment?
Justify your response.

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SECTION C
(Answer one or more questions from this Section.)
PROSE - SHORT STORIES
(Treasure Trove – A Collection of Poems and Short Stories)

Question 4
Read the following extract from Norah Burke’s short story, ‘The Blue Bead’ and answer
the questions that follow:
On the way back, she met her mother, out of breath, come to look for her, and
scolding.

“I did not see till I was home that you were not there. I thought something must
have happened to you.”

And Sibia, bursting with her story, cried, “Something did!”
(i) What are the tasks that Sibia was required to perform from a very young age? [3]

(ii) What had delayed Sibia and separated her from the other village women on her [3]
way home that day?
What was Sibia doing when she heard the Gujar woman’s cry for help?

(iii) What were the dangers that the crocodile had to overcome before it could grow [3]
into the ferocious creature that Sibia encountered?

(iv) How does Sibia’s knowledge of the ways of the jungle help her fight the [3]
crocodile?

(v) Compare and contrast the mother’s mood with Sibia’s in the given extract. [4]
Give one reason to explain why each one of them was feeling this way.

Question 5
Read the following extract from Jesse Owens’s short story, ‘My Greatest Olympic Prize’
and answer the questions that follow:

I wasn’t too worried about all this. I’d trained, sweated and disciplined myself
for six years, with the Games in mind. While I was going over on the boat, all I
could think about was taking home one or two of those gold medals. I had my
eye especially on the running broad jump.

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(i) What does Owens mean by ‘all this’? [3]
What ‘Games’ does he refer to?

(ii) What made Owens confident of winning a gold medal or two? [3]

(iii) What was the ‘surprise’ that Hitler had kept hidden from the world? [3]
How did Owens feel when he came face to face with the ‘surprise’?

(iv) Describe Owens’ performance in the broad jump trials. [3]
What doubts filled his mind at this time?

(v) What makes Luz Long’s behaviour at the ‘Games’ truly remarkable in the [4]
context of the times?
Identify a theme that is common to the short story ‘My Greatest Olympic Prize’
and the poem ‘Nine Gold Medals’.

SECTION D
(Answer one or more questions from this Section.)

POETRY
(Treasure Trove – A Collection of Poems and Short Stories)

Question 6
Read the following extract from Leigh Hunt’s poem, ‘Abou Ben Adhem’ and answer the
questions that follow:
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
(i) The poem begins with a blessing. What is this blessing? [3]
Explain its significance.

(ii) Explain in your own words the following lines and phrases from the poem: [3]

(a) ‘Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,’

(b) A look made of all sweet accord

(c) A great wakening light

(iii) What was the angel doing in Abou Ben Adhem’s room? [3]
What did Abou ask the angel?

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(iv) Why did Abou say to the angel, “Write me as one that loves his fellow men”? [3]
(Give the context)

(v) Explain the last line of the poem: ‘And lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest.’ [4]
If you had to give the poem a different title, what would you call it?
Give a reason for your answer.

Question 7
Read the following extract from Robert Browning’s poem, ‘The Patriot’ and answer the
questions that follow:
Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun
To give it my loving friends to keep!
Nought man could do, have I left undone:
And you see my harvest, what I reap
This very day, now a year is run.

(i) What can you conclude of the Patriot’s mood from the given lines? [3]
Quote the line from the given extract which tells us that the Patriot did his
utmost to satisfy his people?

(ii) The last line of the extract suggests that a year has gone by. [3]
How had the speaker been treated a year ago?

(iii) How did the situation change a year later? Give details of his present state. [3]

(iv) Why were only a ‘palsied few’ onlookers seated at the windows? [3]
Where had the other townspeople gone?
Why had they gone there?

(v) How is the speaker’s faith in God revealed at the end of the poem? [4]
Do you think the poem ends on a note of hope or despair? Justify your answer.

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CISCE STUDY MATERIAL

ICSE ISC

INFORMATION CLASS STUDY MATERIAL

1 Time Table 9 Specimen Paper
10 Specimen Paper
2 Result
11 Specimen Paper
3 Syllabus 12 Specimen Paper

OTHER RESOURCES
10 Question Paper
Maps of India, Maps of World
Writing Skill Formats 12 Question Paper
Periodic Table
9/10 Lab Manuals
BOOKS 11/12 Lab Manuals
ICSE Class 10 Prescribed Books
ISC Class 12 Prescribed Books
ISC Class 12 Project Work

ENTRANCE EXAMS

JEE Main CLAT CUET UG
JEE Advanced NEET UG Fashion & Design