Question

HALF-YEARLY EXAMINATION

ENGLISH LITERATURE

CLASS IX

M.M. 50

You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes.

This time is to be spent in reading the question paper. ______________________________________________________________________________ Attempt five questions in all.

The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].

SECTION A (DRAMA)


The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare


Question 1.

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.


Bassanio:This were kindness

Shylock: This kindness will I show. Go with me to a notary, seal me there

Your single bond.


i. What ‘kindness’ is being referred to? b[2]

ii. Why had Bassanio
approached Shylock ? [2]


iii. What are the contents of the bond? [3]


iv. What grudges does Shylock have against Antonio as a money lender? [2]


v. Give the meaning of ‘seal me there’ [1]



Question 2.


In terms of choice I am not solely led

By nice direction of a maiden’s eyes.

Besides, the lottery of my destiny

Bars me the right of voluntary choosing.


i. Who is the speaker? Where does the scene take place? [2]

ii. How many suitors have already visited Belmont? Describe the French Lord,

Monsieur Le Bon. [2]


iii. How does the Prince justify his dark complexion? [2]


iv. How is the speaker restricted from ‘the right of voluntary choosing?’ [2]


v. Explain the line ‘by nice direction of a maiden’s eyes’ [2]


SECTION B (POETRY)


Question 3.


Their dying fire in need of logs,

But the first one held hers back,

For of the faces round the fire,

She noticed one was black.

i. Who does ‘their’ refer to? What did each of them possess? [2]


ii. Why did the ‘first one’ hold ‘hers back’? What form of prejudice did she

show ? [2]


iii. What does the one in ‘tattered clothes’ represent? Why does he give his coat a ‘hitch’[2 ]


iv. What thoughts occupy the rich man’s mind? What does it say about him? [2]


v. What message is the poet trying to convey through this poem? [2]



Question 4.


I find them in the garden,

For there’s many here about;

And often when I go to plough,

The ploughshare turns them out!


i. What had Peterkin just shown his grandfather? Where had he found it? [2]


ii. What information did the grandfather give his grandchildren about the object? [2]


iii. What were the effects of the war as described by Kaspar? [2]


iv. What is Kaspar’s attitude towards war? [2]


v. What according to you is the relevance of the poem in today’s world? [2]



SECTION C (PROSE)


Question 5.



Idleness, vice and intemperance had done their miserable work, and the dead mother lay cold and

still amid her wretched children. She had fallen upon the threshold of her own door in a drunken

fit, and died in the presence of her frightened little ones.


i. What kind of relation did the woman have with others? Why? [2]


ii. Describe the conditions the woman and her children had lived in. [2]


iii. Which of the three children was looked down upon with pity? Why did no one

want to take her home? [2]


iv. Who finally took her home? What kind of a person was he? [2]


v. Which character in the story proved to be an ‘Angel in disguise’? How? [2]



Question 6.



Answer the following questions with reference to R.K. Narayan’s short story, “A Horse and

Two Goats”


i. What did Muni often dream of as mentioned in the latter part of the story? [3]


ii. How was the ‘red faced foreigner’ dressed? Why did Muni want to run away

when he first met him? What stopped him from doing so? [3]


iii. Describe the statue of the horse. [4]
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Answer 1

Answer:

dude why did u send whole question paper...we are not here to write your exam lol....