UPSC IAS 2015 Question Paper for English Paper-I

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000 0 0 7 3 ENGLISH
Paper I
(LITERATURE)

Time Allowed : Three Hours Maximum Marks : 250

QUESTION PAPER SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

Please read each of the following instructions carefully before attempting questions.

There are EIGHT questions divided in Two Sections.

Candidate has to attempt FIVE questions in all.

Question No. 1 and 5 are compulsory and out of the remaining THREE are to be attempted choosing
at least ONE from each section.

The number of marks carried by a question/part is indicated against it.

Answers must be written in ENGLISH.

Word limit in questions, wherever specified, should be adhered to.
Attempts of questions shall be counted in sequential order. Unless struck off, attempt of a question shall
be counted even if attempted partly. Any page or portion of the page left blank in the answer book must
be clearly struck off.

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S E C T IO N ‘A ’

1. Write short notes on each of the following. Each question should be answered in
about 150 w ords: 10x5= 50

l.(a ) Postcolonial Reading of The Tempest. 10

l.(b ) Paradise Lost tries to “justify the ways of God to man”. Comment. 10

l.( c ) Revolutionary Spirit in English Romantic Poetry. 10

l.(d ) Examples o f any two conceits from Donne’s poems. 10

1.(e) Victorian compromise in “In Memoriam”. 10

2 .(a) Analyse the psyche o f “illegitimate” Edmund with reference to the plot of
King Lear. How does he try to overturn his destiny and with what success ? 15

2.(b) In what ways did John Donne break away from the contemporary poetic traditions
which made him so original and different ? Write a reasoned answer with
illustrations from the text. 20

2.(c) How does Alfred Tennyson handle nature in In Memoriam. 15

3 .(a) Do you think that the great theme of Paradise Lost is unquestioning obedience to
the behests, implicit in the creative order, of an omnipotent God ? Discuss in the
light o f the contemporary Puritan philosophy. 20

3.(b) Would you consider that the exposure of immoderate female vanity is the
motivating impulse behind The Rape o f the Lock. Justify your answer with proper
evidence(s) from the text. 15

3 .(c) Comment on the role of Torvald Helmer in A DolTs House. Why do you think he
is taken by surprise at Nora’s rebellion ? 15

4 .(a) Discuss the relationship o f ‘M an’, ‘Nature’ and ‘Society’ with reference to the
poems o f William Wordsworth prescribed in your syllabus. 15

4.(b) Present a feminist reading of A DolTs House. 20

4 .(c) The Rape o f the Lock demonstrates “What mighty contests rise from trivial
things” ? Discuss. 15

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SECTION ‘B’
Study the following poem and answer the questions which follow. Each answer
should be in around 60-80 words : 10x5=50

Give me more love, or more disdaine;
The Torrid, or the frozen Zone,
Bring equall ease unto my paine;
The temperate affords me none :
Either extreame, o f love, or hate,
Is sweeter than a calme estate.

Give me a storme; if it be love,
Like Danae in that golden showre
I swimme in pleasure; if it prove
Disdaine, that torrent will devoure
My vulture-hopes; and he’s possest
O f Heaven, that’s but from Hell re le a st:
Then crowne my joyes, or cure my paine;
Give me more love, or more disdaine.

5. (a) Consider the implications o f the line - “Give me more love, or more disdaine”;
and comment. 10

5.(b) What sort o f person, do you think, is the speaker o f the poem ? 10

5 .(c) Critically comment on the imagery of ‘The Torrid’ and “the frozen Zone”. 10

5.(d) Explain the lin es-
“Give me a storme; if it be love,
Like Danae in that golden showre
I swimme in pleasure;” 10

5 .(e ) Explain -
“and h e’s possest
O f Heaven, that’s but from Hell releast” : 10

6. (a) Discuss Gulliver's Travels as a tale with an element of the ridiculous and the
fantastic which has a universal appeal. Elaborate 15

6.(b) In Pride and Prejudice first impressions, illusions and subjective opinions give
way to attachment, balance, reasonableness and, more painfully to humiliating
reassessm ents. Discuss. 20

.(c) Dr Johnson called Tom Jones an “immoral text”. Would you agree ? Write a
reasoned answer. 15

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7. (a) In Tom Jones, Fielding’s scathing satire is reserved for the London upper classes.
Discuss. 15

7.(b) The novel Hard Times depends on the opposition between Fact and Fancy, the
contrast which gives it both tension and unity. Discuss. 20

7.(c) The Adventures o f Huckleberry Finn shows the growth of consciousness of an
innocent young orphan into an adolescent who understands the evil world around
him. Discuss. 15

8. (a) Discuss the significance and relevance of the sub-title “A Pure Woman” appended
by Thomas Hardy to Tess o f the / ) ’ Urbervilles. How did the debate reveal the
attitudes o f Victorian society towards morality ? 15

8.(b) How do patriarchist rules control and define the life of Maggie Tulliver in
Mill on the Floss ? Discuss. 20

8. (c) How does Mark Twain address the question of slavery in Huckleberry Finn ?
Discuss. 15

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