The following thinker compiled a notebook of shakespearean idioms and phrases when he was learning English in the 1840s.
(A) Stephen Greenblatt
(B) Karl Marx
(C) Michael Bakhtin
D) Raymond Williams
Marx was a philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, and socialist revolutionary. He is best known for his theories about capitalism and communism. Marx’s work in economics laid the basis for much of the current understanding of labor and its relation to capital, and subsequent economic thought. He is also known for his creation of the theory of historical materialism, which holds that history is the result of material conditions rather than ideas. But it’s a lesser-known fact that he also had a deep interest in literature, and compiled a notebook of Shakespearean idioms and phrases to aid in his study of the English language.
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Which of the following is not an American magazine?
(A) The New Republic
(B) The New Review
(C) The New Yorker
(D) New Atlantis
(A) The New Republic: An American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts.
(B) The New Review: This is a part of The Observer, a British newspaper.
(C) The New Yorker: An American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry.
(D) New Atlantis: An American journal that covers topics about the social, ethical, political, and policy dimensions of modern science and technology.Attempt the question paper
What was the name of the first daily newspaper that began in 1702?
(A) The Jockey's Intelligencer
(B) The Examiner
(C) The Daily Courant
(D) The Tatler
The name of the first daily newspaper that began in 1702 is The Daily Courant. It was published by Elizabeth Mallet at Fleet Street. This marked a significant milestone in the history of newspaper publishing.
The Tatler: “The Tatler” was a periodical launched in London by the essayist Sir Richard Steele in April 1709.
One of the most notable newspapers was the British "The Examiner", founded in 1808 by Leigh and John Hunt.Attempt the question paper
Which of the following pairs is incorrectly matched?
(i) Samson Agonistes - John Milton
(ii) Mac Flecknoe - John Dryden
(iii) On a Girdle - William Davenant
(iv) Hudibras - Samuel Butler
(A) (i)
(B) (iV)
(C)(iii)
(D) (ii)
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The periodical adopted a fictional method of presentation through a "Spectator Club/ whose imaginary members extolled the authors' own ideas about society. These "members" included representatives of commerce, the army, the town (respectively, Sir Andrew Freeport, Captain Sentry, and Will Honeycomb), and of the country gentry (Sir Roger de Coverley). Identify the periodical:
(A) The Tatler
(B) The Spectator
(C) The Dial
(D) The London Weekly
The Spectator British weekly periodical was published in London by the essayists Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison from March 1, 1711, to Dec. 6, 1712, and subsequently revived by Addison in 1714. The papers were ostensibly written by Mr. Spectator, an "observer" of the London scene. Each “paper”, or “number”, was approximately 2,500 words long, and the original run consisted of 555 numbers, beginning on 1 March 1711. These were collected in seven volumes. It succeeded The Tatler, which Steele had launched in 1709.
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"The book was impossible to lay aside, once I had begun it. It gripped me. Johannesburg to Durban was a twenty-four hours' journey. The train reached there in the evening. I could not get any sleep that night. I determined to change my life in accordance with the ideals of the book." Which book is the author talking about in these lines?
(A) Sartor Resartus
(B) Capital
(C) Things Fall Apart
(D) Unto This Last
These lines are from Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography, “The Story of My Experiments with Truth”. In it, Gandhi describes his train journey from Johannesburg to Durban during which he read “Unto This Last” by John Ruskin. The book had a profound impact on him and he decided to change his life in accordance with the ideals of the book. Unto This Last" is an essay by John Ruskin. The first chapter was published between August and December 1860 in the monthly journal Cornhill Magazine in four articles. However, the articles were "very violently criticized", forcing the publisher to stop its publication after four months. Ruskin countered the attack and published the four articles in a book in May 1862.
The Times Literary Supplement is a................. literary review published as a supplement to The Sunday Times of London.
(A) Daily
(B) Weekly
(C) Bi-monthly
(D) Monthly
The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) has a rich history. It first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to The Times but became a separate publication in 1914. Many distinguished writers have contributed to it, including T. S. Eliot, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf.
Today, the TLS continues to be a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. Its current editor is Martin Ivens, who succeeded Stig Abell in June 2020.He is an English essayist and critic. He went to school at Christ's Hospital, where he was a near contemporary of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and of Leigh Hunt. In 1792 he found employment as a clerk at East India House (the headquarters of the East India Company), remaining there until retirement in 1825. In 1796 his sister, Mary, in a fit of madness (which was to prove recurrent) killed their mother. He reacted with courage and loyalty, taking on himself the burden of looking after Mary.
Identify the writer:
(A) Charles Lamb
(B) Hazlitt
(C) Johnson
(D) John Lily
Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his Essays of Elia (1823, 1833) and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb.
Born in London, Lamb was at the centre of a major literary circle in England, with friends such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth, and William Hazlitt. He has been referred to by E. V. Lucas, his principal biographer, as "the most lovable figure in English literature".
Lamb's first appearances in print were as a poet, with contributions to collections by Coleridge (1796) and by Charles Lloyd (1798). A Tale of Rosamund Gray, a prose romance, appeared in 1798, and in 1802 he published John Woodvil, a poetic tragedy.
In 1807, Lamb and his sister published Tales from Shakespear, a retelling of the plays for children, and in 1809 they published Mrs. Leicester’s School, a collection of stories supposedly told by pupils of a school in Hertfordshire. In 1808, Charles published a children’s version of the Odyssey, called The Adventures of Ulysses.
Lamb also contributed critical papers on Shakespeare and on William Hogarth to Hunt’s Reflector. His greatest achievements were his remarkable letters and the essays that he wrote under the pseudonym Elia for London Magazine.The term; malapropism' is derived from the name of a character in a play by:
(A) William Shakespeare
(B) Brinsley Sheridan
(c) Bernard Shaw
(D) William Congreve
The term 'malapropism' is derived from a character named "Mrs. Malaprop" in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals. Mrs. Malaprop frequently misspoke (to comic effect) by using words which did not have the meaning that she intended but which sounded similar to words that did. The word 'malapropism' comes from her name and the French term 'mal à propos', meaning 'inappropriate'.
In Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play, The Rivals, the character Mrs. Malaprop is known for her frequent malapropisms. For instance, she says, “He is the very pineapple of politeness!” when she meant to say "pinnacle". In another instance, she says, “She’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile,” when she meant to say "alligator".
Who founded the Trinidad Theatre Workshop and Boston Playwright's Theatre?
(A) Derek Welcott
(B) Chinua Achebe
(C) Larkin
(D) W.B. Yeats
The Trinidad Theatre Workshop was founded in 1959 by Derek Walcott, a Nobel Laureate, along with his twin brother Roderick Walcott and performers including Beryl McBurnie, Errol Jones, and Stanley Marshall. Similarly, the Boston Playwrights' Theatre was also founded by Derek Walcott in 1981 when he began teaching poetry and playwriting at Boston University. The Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) is a small professional theatre located at 949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1981 by Nobel laureate Derek Walcott when he taught poetry and playwriting at Boston University. The theatre is dedicated to the voice and vision of the playwright. As a venue, BPT rents its space for the rehearsal, reading, and production of new plays. It's also the home of Boston University's MFA Playwriting Program. Under Walcott's student Kate Snodgrass' leadership, the program expanded from a one-year Master of Arts to a three-year Master of Fine Arts degree. The program's alumni have been produced in regional and New York houses, as well as in London's West End. In 2022, Kate Snodgrass retired as artistic director after 35 years of working at Boston University. Megan Sandberg-Zakian succeeded her as BPT's artistic director and playwright Nathan Alan Davis as the head of the MFA Playwriting Program. The theatre has two stages: the front theater, dedicated as the Kate Snodgrass Stage, and the proscenium-style theater at the rear of the building, BPT's original performance space, is the Derek Walcott Stage. In alternating seasons, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre features three plays, written by alumni or faculty of the program and employing professional actors, designers, and playwrights to stage them. They also host the Boston Theater Marathon, a theater endurance event designed to make connections between local playwrights and local theatres.
Match the following Shakespearean characters with their respective plays:
Characters; I. lago, II. Viola, III. Shylock
Play: (а) "Twelfth Night", (b) "Othello", (C) "The Merchant of Venice"
(A) 1-c, Il-b, Ill-a
(B) 1-a, II-c, III-b
(C) 1-b, I-а, III-с
(D) 1-a, 11-b, -c
Answer (C) 1-b, II-a, III-c.
Othello: This is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. The story revolves around two characters, Othello and Iago. Othello is a Moorish military commander serving as a general of the Venetian army in defense of Cyprus against invasion by Ottoman Turks. Iago, who is overlooked for a promotion by Othello, manipulates him into believing that his wife Desdemona is unfaithful, stirring Othello's jealousy. Othello allows jealousy to consume him, murders Desdemona, and then kills himself.
2. Twelfth Night: This is a comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written around 1601–1602. The play centers on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola disguises herself as a man named Cesario and enters the service of Duke Orsino. Orsino sends Cesario to woo Olivia on his behalf, but Olivia falls in love with Cesario. Meanwhile, Viola falls in love with Orsino, leading to a complex love triangle.
3. The Merchant of Venice: This is a play by William Shakespeare. The story revolves around a merchant of Venice, Antonio, who takes a loan from a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, to help his friend Bassanio court Portia, a wealthy heiress. Antonio is unable to repay the loan, and Shylock, without mercy, demands a pound of Antonio's flesh. Portia, now Bassanio's wife, dresses as a lawyer and saves Antonio by pointing out that the contract allows Shylock to remove only the flesh, not the blood, of Antonio.
Who wrote the play "Long Day's Journey into Night," a semi-autobiographical work that explores the complexities of family, relationships?
(A) Tennessee Williams
(B) Eugene O'Neill
(C) Arthur Miller
(D) Lorraine Hansberry
Answer: B
"Long Day's Journey into Night" is a semi-autobiographical play by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that was published posthumously in 1956. The play is set in the summer home of the Tyrone family in August 1912.
The plot revolves around the Tyrone family, consisting of parents James and Mary, and their sons Jamie and Edmund. The family is grappling with various personal issues: Mary's morphine addiction, Edmund's health problems (suspected to be tuberculosis), and Jamie's alcoholism. The play begins just after breakfast, revealing that Mary has recently returned from a sanatorium where she was treated for morphine addiction. As the day progresses, it becomes apparent that Mary is still addicted to morphine, much to her family's disappointment. Edmund, on the other hand, has been coughing violently, leading to suspicions that he has tuberculosis. The revelation of these two medical crises forms the crux of the play's plot.
In between these revelations, the family members constantly revisit old arguments and open old wounds. For instance, James is often blamed for his stinginess, which might have led to Mary's addiction when he refused to pay for a good doctor to treat her childbirth pain. Mary, however, is unable to let go of the past or admit to her present addiction. The family also argues over Jamie and Edmund's failure to meet their father's expectations of success. As the day wears on, the men increasingly turn to alcohol, until they are on the verge of passing out by Act IV. The play is repetitious, mirroring the cyclical nature of addiction. The same arguments occur numerous times throughout the four acts and five scenes. Despite the bitterness and fighting, there is an underlying love within the family. This play is a poignant exploration of addiction, illness, and family dynamics, portraying a family struggling with the realities and consequences of each member's failings. It serves as a powerful commentary on how personal failings and addictions can impact family relationships and dynamics.
Milton's Comus is:
(A) a hymn
(B) a sonnet sequence
(C) an elegy
(D) a masque
Answer: D
“Comus" is a masque written by John Milton, first presented at Ludlow Castle in 1634. The masque is in honor of chastity and was performed before John Egerton, the 1st Earl of Bridgewater, to celebrate his new post as Lord President of Wales.
The plot revolves around two brothers and their sister, referred to as "the Lady", who get lost in the woods. The Lady becomes fatigued, and the brothers wander off in search of sustenance. While alone, the Lady encounters Comus, a character inspired by the god of revelry, who is disguised as a villager and claims he will lead her to her brothers. Deceived by his amiable countenance, the Lady follows him, only to be captured and brought to his pleasure palace, where she is victimized by his necromancy.
Seated on an enchanted chair, with "gums of glutinous heat", she is immobilized, and Comus accosts her while with one hand he holds a necromancer's wand and with the other he offers a vessel with a drink that would overpower her. Comus urges the Lady to "be not coy" and drink from his magical cup (representing sexual pleasure and intemperance), but she repeatedly refuses, arguing for the virtuousness of temperance and chastity. Despite being restrained against her will, she continues to exercise right reason (recta ratio) in her disputation with Comus, thereby manifesting her freedom of mind. Whereas the would-be seducer argues appetites and desires issuing from one's nature are "natural" and therefore licit, the Lady contends that only rational self-control is enlightened and virtuous.
"Comus" is a powerful exploration of virtue, temptation, and the power of chastity. It contrasts a private heroism in chastity and virtue with the courtly round of revelry and pleasure. It was Milton’s first dramatizing of his great theme, the conflict of good and evil.
In which Shakespearean play does the character Ophelia appear?
(A) "Macbeth"
(B) "Othello"
(C) "Hamlet"
(D) "King Lear"
Answer: C
“Hamlet" is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, revolves around Prince Hamlet who seeks to avenge his father's murder.
The ghost of the recently deceased King Hamlet appears to his son, Prince Hamlet. He reveals that he was murdered by his own brother, Claudius. Claudius has since taken the throne and married Gertrude, the widow of the deceased king. The ghost orders Prince Hamlet to revenge Claudius. Hamlet, being contemplative by nature, delays his revenge and feigns madness. He stages a play that mimics his father's murder, causing Claudius to react guiltily. However, Hamlet finds Claudius praying and decides not to kill him, believing it would send Claudius' soul to heaven. Claudius, fearing for his safety, orders Hamlet to be sent to England. In his mother's chamber, Hamlet kills Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain, thinking he is Claudius. Claudius orders Hamlet's execution in England, but Hamlet escapes. In the end, almost all major characters, including Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius, and others, die, leaving the kingdom to Fortinbras of Norway. The play explores themes like revenge, madness, moral corruption, and death.
Bernand Shaw drew his ideas for his play 'Man and Superman' from the Philosophical doctrine of...............
(A) Bergson
(B) Spencer
C) Nietzche
(D) Bradley
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