Bankura University BA 4th Sem English Hons MJC-6 Suggestions 2026: British Romantic Literature

 

Bankura University B.A. 4th Sem English Honours (NEP)
MJC-6: British Romantic Literature Exam Suggestions

Exam Pattern Overview (Total: 40 Marks)

• Unit I (Poetry): 1 Long Question out of 2 (10 Marks)
• Unit II (Drama/Prose): 1 Long Question out of 2 (10 Marks)
• Unit III (History of Romantic Period): 2 Short Notes out of 4 (2 × 5 = 10 Marks)
• Units I & II: 5 Short Questions out of 10 (5 × 2 = 10 Marks)

Note for Students: Questions marked with [*] carry the highest probability for the upcoming semester examinations. Ensure you prepare them thoroughly.

Unit I: Poetry (Long & Short Questions)

1. William Blake: 'Chimney Sweeper' Poems

Long Questions (10 Marks)

1. [*] Critically compare and contrast the two 'Chimney Sweeper' poems from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.
2. How does Blake use the state of childhood to critique the institutionalized corruption and industrial exploitation of his time?
3. [*] Examine the use of imagery, symbolism, and irony in Blake's 'The Chimney Sweeper' (Innocence).
4. Analyze the role of religion and state as instruments of oppression in Blake's 'The Chimney Sweeper' (Experience).
5. Discuss Blake as a social visionary with close reference to his 'Chimney Sweeper' texts.

Short Questions (2 Marks)

1. [*] Why did Tom Dacre cry when his head was shaved?
2. What did the Angel tell Tom in his dream?
3. What do "coffins of black" symbolize in the Innocence poem?
4. [*] Who are "God & his Priest & King" in the Experience poem?
5. What is the significance of the line, "They clothed me in the clothes of death"?
6. How does Blake describe the landscape of salvation in Tom's dream?
7. What is the fundamental difference in tone between the two Chimney Sweeper poems?
8. Who is "little Tom Dacre" and what does his name imply?
9. Explain: "Because I am happy, & dance & sing..."
10. What irony lies in the final line of the Innocence poem, "So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm"?

2. William Wordsworth: 'Immortality Ode'

Long Questions (10 Marks)

1. [*] Critically examine Wordsworth's 'Immortality Ode' as a philosophical document charting the growth of a poet's mind.
2. Discuss the theme of loss and spiritual compensation as delineated in the 'Ode: Intimations of Immortality'.
3. [*] How does Wordsworth conceptualize the relationship between childhood, nature, and the divine in this poem?
4. Analyze the structure and shifting poetic moods across the different stanzas of the 'Immortality Ode'.
5. "The child is Father of the Man." Evaluate the validity of this statement with reference to the poem.

Short Questions (2 Marks)

1. [*] What does the poet mean by "celestial light" in the opening stanza?
2. Why does Wordsworth call the child a "Philosopher", "Prophet", and "Seer"?
3. What is the "whither is fled the visionary gleam?" significance?
4. [*] What is the concept of pre-existence or "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting"?
5. What brings comfort to the poet when the "glory" has departed from the earth?
6. Who are the "blessed creatures" mentioned by Wordsworth?
7. What does the phrase "philosophic mind" mean in the final stanza?
8. What is the symbolic meaning of the "meanest flower that blows"?
9. How does Earth act as a foster-mother to human beings?
10. Identify the significance of the "immortal sea" in the poem.

3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: 'Christabel'

Long Questions (10 Marks)

1. [*] Analyze 'Christabel' as a classic example of a Gothic masterpiece. Focus on its atmosphere and supernatural elements.
2. Critically evaluate the character of Geraldine. Is she a victim, a predatory force, or a complex psychological projection?
3. [*] Explore the conflict between absolute innocence and insidious evil in Coleridge's 'Christabel'.
4. Discuss Coleridge's use of meter, rhythm, and suggestive imagery in creating suspense in Part I and Part II of 'Christabel'.
5. Examine the psychological and homoerotic undertones underlying the interaction between Christabel and Geraldine.

Short Questions (2 Marks)

1. Where and when does Christabel meet Geraldine for the first time?
2. [*] What tale does Geraldine spin regarding how she arrived at the woods?
3. Why must Geraldine be carried across the threshold of Sir Leoline's castle?
4. What ominous sign does the old mastiff bitch show when Geraldine passes by?
5. [*] What happens when Geraldine looks at the shield of Sir Leoline?
6. Whose spirit does Geraldine struggle against in Christabel's chamber?
7. Describe the mark or physical anomaly hidden on Geraldine's body.
8. What vow is Christabel bound to keep due to Geraldine's spell?
9. Who is Bracy the Bard, and what was his dream?
10. What is the relation between Sir Leoline and Geraldine's alleged father, Lord Roland de Vaux?

4. Lord George Gordon Byron: 'On the Castle of Chillon'

Long Questions (10 Marks)

1. [*] Read 'The Prisoner of Chillon' as an anthem to political liberty and human resilience against tyranny.
2. Trace the psychological transformation of the narrator from a prisoner to a man who eventually "regained his freedom with a sigh."
3. [*] Discuss the significance and structural function of the introductory Sonnet on Chillon.
4. How does Byron utilize the prison setting and gothic confinement to enhance the emotional weight of the narrative?
5. Examine the role of the bird and natural elements in reviving the prisoner's deadened spirits.

Short Questions (2 Marks)

1. [*] According to the sonnet, where is Liberty's brightest temple?
2. How many brothers were imprisoned together in Chillon, and how many survived?
3. Why did the narrator's hair turn white, according to the poem?
4. [*] Who is Bonnivard, and why was he imprisoned?
5. How did the youngest brother die, and what were his characteristics?
6. What effect did the death of his brothers have on the narrator's mind?
7. Describe the specific geographical location of Chillon castle as noted by Byron.
8. What did the prisoner see when he looked out of the high window?
9. Why did the prisoner form a friendship with the spiders and mice?
10. Explain: "I learn'd to love despair."

5. Percy Bysshe Shelley: 'Ode to the West Wind'

Long Questions (10 Marks)

1. [*] How does Shelley represent the West Wind as simultaneously a destructive and a regenerative force?
2. Analyze 'Ode to the West Wind' as a classic Romantic manifesto concerning the nature of poetic inspiration and political revolution.
3. [*] Examine the structural mastery of the poem, with particular focus on the use of terza rima.
4. Trace the evolution of the poet's relationship with the wind from an observer to a passionate supplicant across the five stanzas.
5. Discuss the myth-making capacity of Shelley as revealed through his treatment of natural forces in the Ode.

Short Questions (2 Marks)

1. [*] What are the "dead leaves" compared to in the opening stanza?
2. Who is the "Dirge of the dying year"? Explain the metaphor.
3. What are the "Maenad" references in the second stanza intended to illustrate?
4. [*] What happens to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean when the West Wind blows?
5. What prayer does the poet make to the wind in the fourth stanza?
6. Explain the line: "I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!"
7. What does the poet mean by asking the wind to "Make me thy lyre"?
8. What do "unextinguished hearth" and "sparks" symbolize in Stanza V?
9. [*] Comment briefly on the concluding line: "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"
10. What is the function of the "winged seeds" in the poem?

6. John Keats: 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' & 'Bright Star'

Long Questions (10 Marks)

1. [*] Explore the tension between transient mortal life and immortal art as represented in 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'.
2. Elucidate and critically analyze Keats's philosophy encapsulated in the dictum: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty."
3. [*] Contrast the theme of unchanging constancy in 'Bright Star' with the fleeting nature of human love and mortality.
4. Discuss Keats's use of visual imagination and sensuous imagery across both assigned texts.
5. Analyze the structural design of 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' as an exercise in ecphrastic poetry.

Short Questions (2 Marks)

1. [*] Why does Keats call the urn a "foster-child of silence and slow time"?
2. Explain: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter."
3. Why does the speaker tell the bold lover on the urn not to grieve?
4. [*] Explain the significance of: "For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!"
5. What scene is depicted on the other side of the urn involving a priest and a heifer?
6. Why is the urn addressed as a "Cold Pastoral"?
7. How does the speaker wish to be like the "Bright Star"?
8. In what aspects does the speaker *not* want to resemble the star?
9. What does "Eremite" mean in 'Bright Star'?
10. What is the alternative to living forever pillowed upon his fair love's breast in 'Bright Star'?

Unit II: Fiction & Prose (Long & Short Questions)

1. Thomas Love Peacock: Nightmare Abbey

Long Questions (10 Marks)

1. [*] Critically analyze Nightmare Abbey as a brilliant satire/parody targeting the excesses of contemporary Gothic fiction and Transcendental philosophy.
2. Identify the real-world caricatures in the novel: How do Scythrop, Cypress, and Flosky lampoon Shelley, Byron, and Coleridge?
3. [*] Evaluate the theme of misanthropy versus sentimentalism as dramatized through the conflict between the characters.
4. Examine the character of Scythrop Glowry and his romantic vacillations between Marionetta and Celinda (Stella).
5. Discuss the significance of the setting of Nightmare Abbey in reinforcing the text's satirical objectives.

Short Questions (2 Marks)

1. [*] Who is Christopher Glowry and what is his defining psychological trait?
2. What is Scythrop's primary intellectual obsession or project?
3. Who is Mr. Flosky and which famous Romantic poet does he satirize?
4. [*] Who is Mr. Listless and what particular aristocratic disposition does he represent?
5. How does Marionetta differ fundamentally from Celinda (Stella)?
6. What is the name of Scythrop's treatise, and how many copies were actually sold?
7. Who is Mr. Cypress and what worldview does he champion?
8. What secret architectural feature does Scythrop utilize to hide Celinda?
9. What decision do Marionetta and Celinda arrive at after discovering Scythrop's double dealing?
10. What are the names of the occasional guests who frequent Nightmare Abbey?

2. Charles Lamb: 'Dream Children: A Reverie' & 'Old China'

Long Questions (10 Marks)

1. [*] Explore the deep-seated themes of nostalgia, acute loss, and unfulfilled desires in Charles Lamb's essay 'Dream Children: A Reverie'.
2. Critically evaluate Lamb's art of blending autobiography with imaginative fiction in his Elia essays.
3. [*] "Old China is a profound meditation on the virtues of poverty and the irony of wealth." Discuss with reference to the arguments made by Bridget.
4. Examine the characterization of Grandmother Field and brother John L. in 'Dream Children'.
5. Analyze the narrative structure of 'Old China', moving from aesthetic appreciation to philosophical reflection.

Short Questions (2 Marks)

1. [*] Who are Alice and John in 'Dream Children'?
2. Why are they called 'dream children' at the end of the essay?
3. Who was Grandmother Field and where did she live?
4. How is the death of John L. described, and how did it affect the narrator?
5. [*] Who was the real-life inspiration behind the character of Alice Winterton?
6. What does the term "Old China" stand for or represent metaphorically in the essay?
7. Who is Bridget, and who does she represent in Lamb's actual life?
8. Why does Bridget look back wistfully to the days when they were less affluent?
9. What luxury did they buy in their earlier days by sacrificing food or other basic necessities?
10. What final philosophical perspective does Elia offer regarding their current wealth at the end of 'Old China'?

Unit III: History of English Literature (Romantic Period)

Note: This section requires short notes worth 5 marks each. Prepare these targeted areas for the exam.

Important Short Notes (5 Marks)

• [*] Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1800): Its significance as a manifesto of Romanticism, Wordsworth's definition of poetry, and his views on poetic diction.
• [*] The Gothic Novel: Major traits (haunted spaces, supernatural components, terror vs horror) and key practitioners like Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, and M.G. Lewis.
• Sir Walter Scott: His pioneer status in creating the historical novel formula (Waverley Novels) and his impact on regional literature.
• [*] The Personal Essay / Familiar Essay of the Romantic Period: Shift toward subjectivity, autobiographical exploration, and the conversational style seen in Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, and Thomas De Quincey.
• Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: As a novel of manners interacting with, yet distinct from, radical Romantic sensibilities; its critique of class, money, and marriage.
• The Imagery of French Revolution on Romantic Poets: Influence of early revolutionary optimism and subsequent disillusionment on the first and second-generation Romantics.
• First Generation vs Second Generation Romantic Poets: Key distinctions regarding ideology, nature philosophy, political commitment, and aesthetic parameters.