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 the correct answers only.)
(i) What was the blue bead?
(a) A piece of perforated glass
(b) A round blue pebble
(c) A blue marble
(d) A blue river rock

(ii) In H.C. Anderson’s story, what forces the Little Match Girl to go about selling
matches on the street?
(a) Poverty
(b) Greed
(c) The weather
(d) Desire for wealth

This paper consists of 8 printed pages.

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© Copyright reserved.
 (iii) When Luz Long said, ‘something must be eating you’ he meant that Jesse
Owens must be __________.
(a) hungry for something
(b) troubled by something
(c) amused by something
(d) ashamed of something

(iv) “We’ll keep her a day or two longer; she is so weak and helpless.”
Who said these words? To whom?
(a) Joe Thompson to his wife
(b) Jane Thompson to her husband
(c) William to his fellow ‘rocket-children’
(d) The people who saw the Little Match Girl sheltering from the cold.

(v) What was the very first thing that the children noticed when it stopped raining
on Venus in Ray Bradbury’s story, ‘All Summer in a Day’?
(a) The blazing blue sky
(b) The smell of the vegetation
(c) The silence
(d) The brilliant sunshine

(vi) Which of the following lines tells us that the poet Wordsworth carried a mental
picture of the daffodils?
(a) ‘Ten thousand saw I at a glance’
(b) ‘They flash upon that inward eye’
(c) ‘I gazed - and gazed - but little thought’
(d) ‘Fluttering and dancing in the breeze’

(vii) Why, according to Maya Angelou, does the caged bird sing?
(a) To pass the time
(b) Because he is hungry for ‘fat worms’
(c) To voice his protest
(d) To communicate with the free bird

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 (viii) The line ‘The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway,’ in Browning’s poem
‘The Patriot’ means __________.
(a) ‘The roofs of the houses were swaying in the wind.’
(b) ‘The roofs were so crowded with people that they appeared to be heaving
and swaying.’
(c) ‘The house-roofs were lifted off due to an earthquake.’
(d) ‘The roofs of houses were blown away in the heavy rain and strong wind.’

(ix) Identify the list in which Abou Ben Adhem’s name appeared right at the top.
(a) Those who love God.
(b) Those who love their fellow human beings.
(c) Those who were blessed by the love of God.
(d) Those who were considered saints on earth.

(x) What special human quality does the poem ‘Nine Gold Medals’ celebrate?
(a) empathy
(b) jealousy
(c) rivalry
(d) selfishness

(xi) To whom does Portia compare Bassanio as he steps forward to take the casket
test?
(a) Midas
(b) Mercury
(c) Hesione
(d) Hercules

(xii) __________ was Portia’s faithful servant.

(a) Bellario
(b) Balthazar
(c) Launcelot
(d) Stephano

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 (xiii) Why does Portia ask Shylock if he had arranged for a surgeon to be present at
Antonio’s trial?
(a) She wanted to make sure that Antonio would not bleed to death.
(b) It was mentioned in the bond.
(c) She wanted to stop Bassanio from harming Shylock.
(d) She was afraid she would faint at the sight of blood.

(xiv) According to Lorenzo, a man who is unmoved by music is __________.

(a) tone-deaf.
(b) not to be trusted.
(c) self-absorbed.
(d) not fit to live.

(xv) “A Daniel come to judgement! Yea a Daniel”

Who is being described in these words? By whom?
(a) Shylock, by Portia
(b) Bassanio, by Gratiano
(c) Antonio, by Portia
(d) Portia, by Shylock

(xvi) What reason does Portia give for refusing the Duke’s invitation to dinner?
(a) She had to hurry back to Belmont before Bassanio’s return.
(b) She already felt rewarded and satisfied at having saved Antonio.
(c) She was afraid of being found out.
(d) She had to return to Padua that night.

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: … Lorenzo, I commit into your hands
The husbandry and manage of my house
Until my lord’s return: for mine own part,

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 I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Nerissa here,
Until her husband and my lord’s return:

(i) Who does Portia refer to as ‘my lord’? [3]

Where is her lord?
Why had he left in such haste?

(ii) What does Portia ask Lorenzo to do? Why does she make this request? [3]

(iii) Explain in your own words, the ‘secret vow’ that Portia speaks of. [3]

(iv) What instructions does Portia give to her servant, a little later in the scene? [3]

(v) What do we learn of Portia’s real intention from her conversation with Nerissa? [4]
Which Portia do you prefer - the modest Portia of the Casket scene or the
businesslike Portia we meet in this scene?
Give one reason for your response.

Question 3
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

SHYLOCK: Shall I not have barely my principal?

PORTIA: Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

(i) What is the ‘principal’ that Shylock asks for? [3]

Why does Portia refuse to give it to him?

(ii) What is the ‘forfeiture’ they are referring to? [3]

What danger (‘peril’) would Shylock be in if he took the forfeiture?

(iii) What further hold does the law of Venice have on Shylock? [3]

(iv) What concession does Antonio offer to Shylock? [3]

On what condition does he make this offer?

(v) Why is Shylock in a hurry to leave the courtroom after the trial? [4]
How far can Shylock be blamed for the outcome of the trial?
Give one reason for 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 T.S. Arthur’s short story, ‘An Angel in Disguise’ and
answer the questions that follow:

“What is to be done with the children?” That was the chief question now. The
dead mother would go underground, and be forever beyond all care or concern
of the villagers. But the children must not be left to starve.

(i) Describe the way in which the children’s mother died. [3]
What are the factors that led to her death?

(ii) How do the people of the village treat the woman before her death? [3]
How does their manner change after she dies?
What does their behaviour tell us about human nature?

(iii) Name the woman’s three children. [3]

State one fact about each of them that the author mentions at the very beginning
of the story.

(iv) What happens to each of the children after the mother’s funeral? [3]

(v) Which of the three children can be considered the ‘Angel in Disguise’? [4]
What does the term ‘disguise’ refer to in the context of this story?
How does the child’s arrival transform the home she enters?

Question 5
Read the following extract from Ray Bradbury’s short story, ‘All Summer in a Day’ and
answer the questions that follow:

“Margot”
They stood as if someone had driven them like so many stakes into the floor.
They looked at each other and then looked away. They glanced out at the world
that was raining now and raining and raining steadily. They could not meet

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 each other’s glances. Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their
hands and feet, their faces down.

(i) Who is Margot? [3]

How does the author describe her?

(ii) Who are ‘They’? [3]

Where do they live?
Mention any one reality of the planet on which they live.

(iii) What two words would you use to describe what the children were experiencing [3]
in the above extract?
Why does the mention of Margot’s name affect them in this way?

(iv) What event had the children awaited eagerly that day? [3]
What made this event special?
Why did this event mean so much to Margot in particular?

(v) What is the central theme of Bradbury’s story, ‘All Summer in a Day’? [4]
What important lesson have the children learnt from this experience?
Why do you suppose the story is said to end on a note of hope?

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 William Wordsworth’s poem, ‘Daffodils’ and answer the
questions that follow:
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
(i) Wordsworth uses the words, ‘wandered’ and ‘lonely’ to describe himself in the [3]
opening lines of the poem.
What mood do these words convey?
What led to a change in his mood?
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 (ii) How does Wordsworth describe the sight that met his eyes? [3]
Give a brief description of what the poet saw.
(iii) To what does the poet compare this sight? [3]
How is this comparison appropriate?
(iv) What does the poet mean when he says, ‘Ten thousand saw I at a glance’? [3]
Find two other words in the given extract that create the impression of large
numbers.
(v) What immediate effect did this sight have on Wordsworth? [4]
How did it affect him in the long-term?
What does this poem tell us about Wordsworth’s attitude to Nature?

Question 7
Read the following extract from Maya Angelou’s poem, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings’ and answer the questions that follow:
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
(i) How does Angelou describe the state of the free bird in the opening lines of the [3]
poem?
(ii) Give a brief description of the caged bird’s physical and mental condition. [3]
(iii) Explain the phrase, ‘grave of dreams’ in your own words. [3]
What does the caged bird sing about?
(iv) The ‘free bird’ and the ‘caged bird’ in the poem represent different groups of [3]
people. Name them.
Name any one group of people that you would call ‘caged birds’ in today’s
world.
(v) What does the title of poem, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’, tell us about [4]
Maya Angelou’s life?
Mention two ways in which the world of the caged bird differs from that of the
free bird.

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