PLESSINGTON HIGH SCHOOL, MANCHESTER
| FORM V | ENGLISH LITERATURE | SYLLABUS B | LENT TERM 1978 |
Answer both questions 1 and 2 (on attached sheets).
20 marks allocated to each question in this section; the allocation of marks to sections of questions are shown in the right hand margin.
You are advised to spend not more than one and a quarter hours on this section.
SECTION II
Answer one question from this section.
3. Shakespeare RICHARD III
| Queen Elizabeth. | O, thou didst
prophesy the time would come That I should wish for thee to help me curse, That bottled spider that foul-backed toad! |
| Queen Margaret. | I
called thee ten vain flourish of my fortune; I called thee then poor shadow, painted queen, The presentation of but what I was; The flattering index of a direful pageant; One heaved, a—high, to be hurled down below; A mother only mocked with two fair babes; A dream of tat thou wast, a garish flag, To be the aim of every dangerous shot; A sign of dignity, a breath, a bubble; A queen in jest, only to fill the scene. Where is thy husband now? where be thy brothers? Where be thy two sons? wherein dost thou joy? Who sues, and kneels and says, ‘God save the queen’? Where be the bending peers that flattered thee? Where be the thronging troops that followed thee? Decline all this, and see what now thou art: For happy wife, a most distressed widow; For joyful mother, one that wails the name; For queen, a very caitiff crowned with care; For one being sued to, one that humbly sues; For she that scorned at me, now scorned of me; For she being feared of all, now fearing one; For she commanding all, obeyed of none. Thus hath the course of Justice whirled about, And left thee but a very prey to time; Having no more but thought at what thou wast, To torture thee the more, being what thou art. Thou didst usurp my place, and dost thou not Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow? Now thy proud neck bears half my burthened yoke; From which even here I slip my weary head, And leave the burthen of it all — on thee. Farewell, York’s wife, and queen of sad mischance; These English woes shall make me smile in France. |
| Queen Elizabeth. | 0 thou well skilled
in curses, stay awhile, And teach me how to curse mine enemies! |
| (a) Coment on Queen Margaret’s speech, extending her attitude to Queen Elizabeth. | (4 marks) |
| (b) What are the reasons suggested in her speech for her feelings? | (5 marks) |
| (c) Comment on aspects of the style in this extract | (4 marks) |
| (d) Summarise other references in the play to the recent history of the Wars of the Roses. | (7 marks) |
| 4. Discuss the characteristics of Richard of Gloucester with particular reference to the events of Act III. | (20 marks) |
SECTION III
|
They have taken the gable from the
roof of clay On the long swede pile. They have let in the sun To the white and gold and purple of curled fronds Unsunned. It is a site more tender-gorgeous At the wood-corner where Winter moans and drips Than when, in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, A boy crawls down into Pharaoh’s tomb And, first of Christian men, beholds the mummy, God and monkey, chariot and throne and vase, Blue pottery, alabaster, and gold. But dreamless long-dead Amen—hotep lies. This is a dream of Winter, met as Spring. |
| (a) What is the imagery used in this poem and how is it effective? | (4 marks) |
| (b) Comment on the poet’s attitude to the subject. | (3 marks) |
| (c) Choose three features of style and. explain how they contribute to the general effect of the poem. | (5 marks) |
| (a) Give a account of one other poem by Edward Thomas which reveals his interest in nature of sophisticated forms. | (8 marks) |
| 6. Give a detailed account of the poetry of one poet which has appealed to you in this selection. | (20 marks) |
SECTION IV
Hardy, "Far From the Madding Crowd".
| 7. What is the importance of Fate end coincidence in the structure of the plot in this novel? | (20 marks) |
| 8. Discuss the part which characterisation plays in suggesting the themes in the novel. | (20 marks) |
| Section 1 | Answer both
Questions 1 and 2 20 marks are allocated to each question in this section; the allocations of marks are shown in the right hand margin. Do not answer questions in this section at excessive length. You are advised to spend no more than one and a quarter hours on this section |
| 1 | Dick Boulton came from the Indian camp to cut up logs for Nick’s father. He brought his son, Eddy and another Indian named Billy Tabeshaw with him. They came in through the back gate out of the woods, Eddy carrying the long cross-cut saw. It flopped over his shoulder and made a musical sound as he walked. Billy Tabeshaw carried two big cant-hooks. Dick had three axes |
| 5 | under his arm. He turned and shut the gate. The others went on ahead of him down to the lake shore where the logs were buried in the sand. The logs had been lost from the big log booms that were towed down the lake to the mill by the steamer Magic. They had drifted up on to the beech and if nothing were done about them |
| 10 | sooner or later or later the crew of the Magic would come along the shore in a row-boat, spot the logs, drive an iron spike with a ring on it into the end of each one and then tow then out into the lake to make a new boom. But the lumbermen might never come for them because a few logs were not worth the price of a crew to gather them. If no one came for them they would he left to waterlog and rot on the beach. |
| 15 | Nick’s father always assumed that this was what would happen, and hired the Indians to come down from the camp and cut the logs up. Dick Boulton walked around past the cottage down to the lake. There were four beech logs lying almost buried in the sand. Eddy hung the saw up by one of its handles at the crotch of a tree, Dick put the three axes down on little dock. Dick was a halfbreed and many of the farmers, around the lake believed he was really a |
| 20 | white man. He was very
lazy but a great worker once he was started. Dick Boulton turned to Nick's father. ‘ Well. Doc? he said. ‘ that's a nice lot of lumber you've stolen." "Don’t talk that way. Dick’’ the doctor said. It’s driftwood." Dick kneeled down in the sand and looked at the mark of the scaler's hammer in the wood at |
| 25 | the end of the log. "It belongs to White and McNally,’’ he said, standing up and brushing off his trouser's knees. The doctor was very uncomfortable. ‘ You’d better not saw it up then, Dick," he said, shortly. "Don’t get huffy, Doc," said Dick. "Don't get huffy. I don’t care who you steal from. It’s |
| 30 | none of my business" "If you think the logs are stolen, leave them alone and take your tools back to the camp," the doctor said. His face was red. "Don't go off at half cock, Doc." Dick said. He spat tobacco juice on the log. "You know they’re stolen as well as I do. It don’t make any difference to me." |
| 35 | "All right. If you
think the logs are stolen, take your stuff and get
out." "Now, Doc --" "Take your stuff and get out." " Listen, Doc." "if you call me Doc once again, I’ll knock your eye teeth down your throat." |
| 40 | "Oh, no. you
won’t, Doc." Dick Boulton looked at the doctor. Dick was a big man. He knew how big a man he was. He liked to get into fights. He was happy. The doctor chewed the beard on his lower lip and looked at Dick Boulton. Then he turned away and walked up the hill to the cottage. They could see from his back how angry he was. They all watched him walk up the hill and go |
| 45 | inside the cottage. In the cottage the doctor, sitting on the bed in his room, sitting on the bed in his room, saw a pile of medical joumals on the floor by the bureau. They were still in their wrappers unopened. It irritated him. "Aren’t you going back to work, dear?" asked the doctor’s wife from the room where she was lying with the blinds drawn. |
| 50 | "No!" "Was anything the matter?" "I had a row with Dick Boulton." "Oh." said his wife. I hope vou didn’t lose your temper, Henry. "No" said the doctor. |
| 55 | "Remember, chat he
who ruled his spirit is greater than he who taketh a
city," said his wife. Her husband did not answer. He was sitting on his bed now. cleaning a shotgun. He pushed the magazine full of heavy yellow shells and pumped them out again. They were scattered on the bed. What was the trouble about, dear?" |
| 60 | "Nothing much." "Tell me, Henry. Please don’t try and keep anything from me. What was the trouble about?" "Well, Dick owes me a lot of money for pulling his squaw through pneumonia and I guess he wanted a row so he wouldn’t have to take it out in work." His wife was silent. The doctor dumped his gun carefully with a rag. He pushed the shells back |
| 65 | in against the spring of
the magazine. He sat with the gun on his
knees. He was very fond of it. Then he heard his
wife’s voice from the darkened room. "Dear, I can’t think. I really don't think that anyone would really do a thing like that. " No?" the doctor said. "No. I ain’t really believe that anyone would do a thing of that sort intentionally." |
| 70 | The doctor stood up and
put the shotgun in the corner behind the dresser. "Are you going out, dear?" his wife said. "I think I’ll go for a walk," the doctor said. "If you see Nick, dear, will you tell him his mother wants to see him?" his wife said. The doctor went out on the porch. The door slammed behind him. He heard his wife catch |
| 75 | her breath when the door
slammed. "Sorry," he said, outside her window with the blinds drawn. "It’s all right, dear," she said. He walked in the heat out of the gate and along the path into the woods. It was cool in the woods even on such a hog day. He found Nick sitting with his back against a tree, reading. |
| 80 | "Your mother wants
you to come and see her." the doctor said. "I want to go with you." Nick said. His father looked down at him. "All right. Come on. then," his father said. " Give me the hook, I’ll put it in my pocket. "I know where there’s black squirrels, Daddy," Nick said. |
| 85 | "All right." said his father. " Let’s go there." |
| (a) What impressions do you get from the story of the characters of (i) Dick Boulton. And (ii) the doctor’s wife? | 6 |
| (b) Comment on the relationships between (i) the doctor and Dick Boulton and (ii) the doctor and his wife. | 5 |
| (c) Why do you think, was the doctor irritated by the medical journals (line 46) and why was he very fond of his gun (line 65)? | 4 |
| (d) How is the doctor’s mood changed by his meeting his son at the end of the story? | 3 |
| (e) What is distinctive about the style in which the story is written? | 2 |
turn over
Section 2
Sledging
| Blotches of
people in crimson or lilac or tan Inhabit the intricate slope, not so massive as trees, Nor so gracious, nor obstinate: children are gliding between, Through a forest of trousers and blurring colours and knees |
|
| 5 | ("That
child’ll kill someone! ") - one of them parts
from his sledge, Which darts among people who giggle or scatter or dodge.
In lemon and indigo sweaters that burn on the
snow |
| 10 | Through the
speckles of chatter, the flurry, the limbs in his way My son goes careering, unable to stop or to steer. Somehow each time the rooted spectators step clear.
Each swerve that he takes tears a muscle inside
me; each time |
| 15 | Knocking over
the colourful thoughts, and paying no heed. (This time nobody dodges): the white of my hopes is all littered with bodies, and still He goes falling and bruising my flesh, till he falls out of sight. |
II
Driving Home
| Opposing
carbeams wash my face. Such flickerings hypnotise. To keep awake I listen to the BBC through cracklings of static, fade-outs under bridges, |
|
| 5 | to a cool
expert who, in lower case*, computes and graphs "the ecological disasters that confront the human race."
Almost immediately (ironically?) |
| 10 | before a car
accordioned, floodlit, men heaving at a stretcher, an ambulance oddly angled, tame, in wait. Afterwards, silent, I drive home cautiously where, late, the eyes of my youngest child flicker dreamily, and are full of television. |
| 15 | "He’s
waited up," his mother says, "to say
goodnight." My son smiles briefly. Such emotion! I surprise myself and him when I hug him tight. |
* " in lower case" means without capital letters, i.e. without any great emphasis
| (a) In what ways are the themes of these poems similar? What are the significant differences? | 6 |
| (b) In Sledging (i) comment on the comparison of people to trees in the first two stanzas, In what way is this comparison important to the theme of the poem? (ii) In the third stanza the poet mentions "a slope in my head ". To what is he comparing the snow slope here? Why are his thoughts "colourful "? | 6 |
| (c) In Driving Home, comment on the effectiveness of the description of (i) the talk he is listening to on the radio (lines 3 - 7), (ii) the scene at the accident (lines 9 - 11). | 4 |
| (d) Which of the poems do you prefer? Give reasons, not necessarily confining your comments to the poem you like the better. | 4 |