Honours 4th year.
20th Century Poetry
Previous Brief Solutions
(2013-2020)
Brief-2013
(a) What is the occasion of Dylan Thomas' poem "Poem in October"?
Ans: His thirtieth birthday is the occasion of Dylan Thomas" poem "Poem in Octobe
(b) What does the phrase 'October blood' mean?
Ans: The phrase 'October blood" refers to the red coloured autumnal leaves which have fallen down from the trees.
(c) When was the poem "Morning Song" written?
Ans: The poem "Morning Song" was written in 1961.
(d) What incident hurt Sylvia Plath very much?
Ans: Sylvia Plath's mother did not allow her children to attend the funeral of her father who died of toe-infection. Her refusal hurt Sylvia Plath very much.
(e) What does "The Second Coming" refer to?
Ans: The Second Coming refers to the coming of new destructive God and the reversal of Christian values.
(f) What does Eliot mean by 'unreal city'?
Ans: By 'unreal city', Eliot refers to London that is cut off from both natural and spiritual sources.
(g) What is the last line of the poem "The Waste Land"?
Ans: "Shantih Shantih Shantih" is the last line of the poem "The Waste Land".
(h) Who is Michelangelo?
Ans: Michelangelo was a great Italian sculptor, painter and poet of the early 16th century.
(i) Why does Yeats want to go to the Lake of Innisfree?
Ans: Yeats wants to go to the Lake Innisfree from the fever and fret of his life.
(j) What is 'terrible beauty"?
Ans: Terrible beauty refers to the heroic achievement that involved the deaths of many people.
(k) Who is Maud Gonne?
Ans: Maud Gonne was one of the three women who has romantic affairs with W. B Yeats.
(l) Who is addressed by Sylvia Plath in the poem "The Rival"?
Ans: Her husband is addressed by Sylvia Plath in the poem "The Rival".
Brief-2014
(a) What will the poet build in the Lake Isle of Innisfree?
Ans: The poet will build a small cabin or hut with clay and watttles in the Lake Isle of Innisfree.
(b) What does falcon stand for in the poem "The Second Coming"?
Ans: Falcon in the poem "The Second Coming" stands for a symbol of manki science, technology, technique etc. or intellect,
(c) What is the poem "Easter 1916" about?
Ans: The poem "Easter 1916" is about the nationalist rising of the Irish people against the British rule on the Easter day of 1916.
(d) Name some water creatures we find is the poem "Poem in October".
Ans: Mussel, heron, seagull, snail.
(e) How doe Madame Sosostris foretell?
Ans: Madame Sosostris foretells with the help of her Tarot pack or cards-seventy eight cards.
(f) What does the blindness of one eye of the merchant symbolize?
Ans: The blindness of one eye of the merchant symbolizes that his eye of religion is blind.
(g) What does the word 'rose' mean in the sentence "And I rose in rainy autumn"?
Ans: The word 'rose' means born. It signifies that the poet, Dylan Thomas was born in October which is a month of autumn,
(h) Why does the poet want to sail to the holy city of Byzantium?
Ans: The poet wants to sail to the holy city of Byzantium because of being old and unfit for the world of the senses.
(i) How is the weather on the hill-top in the poem "Poem in October".
Ans: On the hill-top in the poem "Poem in October", the weather is bright.
(j) How does Sylvia Plath make a comparison between a child and a cat?
Ans: A child is compared to a cat in the sense that it sucks mother's nipple or swallows its milk in a manner as a cat
(k) What is the poem "Crossing the Water" about?
Ans: The poem "Crossing the Water" about is about a mystical journey of the soul in the underworld.
(1) Why does Prufrock want to be Lazarus?
Ans: By wishing to be Lazarus, Prufrock imagines himself to be the representative of the dead people and thus wishes he could tell his experience to the lady to give her an idea of how he has suffered.
Brief-2015
(a) What does 'terrible beauty' signify in the poem "Ester 1916"?
Ans: See 2013 (j) number.
(b) How does Prufrock visualize death?
Ans: Prufrock visualizes death as the eternal Footman coming near him and mocking at his cowardice.
(c) How does Dylan Thomas Celebrates his birthday?
Ans: Dylan Thomas celebrates his birthday by observing the games of water creatures,by listening the songs of birds and by enjoying the beauty of nature.
(d) Who are the 'dying generation"?
Ans: In the opinion of the poet, the dying generation consist of the young men and women, all the creatures fish, flesh or fowl in the fullness of their powers are engaged in the sensual and sexual urge for procreation which is only a process ending in death.
(e) What kind of man is Profrock?
Ans: Prufrock, a middle aged is a neurotic man.
(f) What does Innisfree stand for?
Ans: Innisfree stands for Yeats a Utopia or a fairy land into which he would like to escape from the hurly-burly of town life.
(g) Who is the hyacinth girl?
Ans: The hyacinth girl is a young and beautiful lady of the present age who has now been forgotten by her lover.
(h) What is the central image in the poem, "The Rival"?
Ans: The moon is the central image in the poem, "The Rival".
(i) What does the title "Crossing the Water" signify?
Ans: The title "Crossing the Water" signifies a mystical journey of the soul in the underworld.
(j) What is the poem 'Words' about?
Ans: The poem "Words" about the act of writing.
(k) Who is Tiresias?
Ans: Tiresias is the blind prophet of Thebes.
(l) What does 'gyre' mean in Yeats' poem 'The Second Coming"?
Ans: In the poem "The Second Coming", gyre refers to a civilization which is initially intense and narrow and as it progresses, it broadens and slowly loses its intensity and finally disintegrates.
Brief-2016
(a) What does the title "The Second Coming" signify?
Ans: See 2013 (e) number.
(b) Why does April appear to be the cruelest month?
Ans: April appear to be the cruelest month to the modern people because they have no desire for regeneration.
(c) Why will not 'mermaid' sing for Prufrock?
Ans: In Greek mythology, mermaids are found to singing to brave and adventurous Odyssues but they will not sing for Prufrock as he is timid and cowardly man.
(d) Who is Fisher King?
Ans: Fisher King is a mythical figure in Miss Jessie Weston's book "From Ritual to Romance".
(e) On what occasion was 'Poem In October' written?
Ans: See 2013 (a) number.
(f) What does 'New Statue' refer to in the poem "Morning Song"?
Ans: The new born child is compared to a statue composed to the elements.
(g) What does 'falcon' symbolize in the poem 'The Second Coming"?
Ans: See 2014 (b) number.
(h) Who is Madame Sosostris?
Ans: Madame Sosostris is a fortune teller.
(i) What is "interior monologue"?
Ans: An interior monologue is the presentation to the reader of the flow of a character's inner emotional experience through his single speech.
(j) Who is Mac Bride in the poem 'Easter 1916"?
Ans: Mac Bride in the poem 'Easter 1916"was one of the leaders of the Easter uprising of 1916.
(k) What is the source of the subtitle "What the Thunder Said"?
Ans: The subtitle "What the Thunder Said" has been borrowed from a parable embodying the divine message of thunder as found in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad V.I.
(l) Who is 'Lazarus"?
Ans: Lazarus is the brother of Mary and Martha, the dead man whom
Christ back to life.
Brief-2017
(a) In which year did the historical 'Easter Rising' take place?
Ans: The historical "Easter Rising" took place in 1916.
(b) What is 'Spiritus Mundi"?
Ans: Spiritus Mundi is a collection of images which give the shape of a fearful beast in the semblance of the Egyptian Sphinx with the body of a lion and the head of a man.
(c) What is the significance of "gyre' in the poem The Second Coming"?
Ans: See 2015 (1) num.
(d) Whose rivalry do you find in the poem The Rival"?
Ans: The rivalry between husband and wife is found in the poem "The Rival".
(e) What are the threefold meanings of the voice of Thunder "Da"?
Ans: The first Da means Datta, the second Da means Dayadham and the third Da means Damyata.
(f) What does 'Byzantium' symbolize in the poem "Sailing to Byzantium"?
Ans: In the poem "Sailing to Byzantium", Byzantium symbolizes an ideal country of culture and wisdom, a place out of time and nature or a world of art and philosophy.
g) What is the significance of the subtitle 'The Fire Sermon'?
Ans: The subtitle "The Fire Sermon" is based on Lord Buddha's great sermon to his disciples against the fires of anger, lust and malice, the temptations that consume human beings .It also evokes St. Augustine's sentiment on unholy passions. Fire is used here as a consuming and purifying symbol.
h) What does the word 'rose' mean in the sentence "And I rose in rainy autumn"?
Ans: See 2014 (g) number.
i) How does the "Waste Land" end?
Ans: After the stern commands "Give, Sympathize and Control", Eliot utters the word 'Shantih thrice more in the tone of a promise than a gift which the receivers may feel sure of.
j) Why does the poet want to go to the Lake of Innisfree?
Ans: See 2013 (1) number.
k) What are the major themes of the poem "The Waste Land"?
Ans: The major themes of the poem "The Waste Land" are the disintegration of the modern civilization, sexual perversion, loss of faith and moral values, lack of human relationship, commercialization of life etc.
(l) Which city is called "unreal city"?
Ans: London is called 'unreal city'.
Brief 2018
(a) What does the falconer symbolize in the poem 'The Second Coming"?
Ans: The falconer stands for Christianity or the soul or the spiritual and emotional part of man.
(b) What do you mean by 'Murmur of maternal lamentation"?
Ans: The expression 'Murmur of maternal lamentation" refers to cries of mothers lamenting the loss of their children during the Russian Revolution of 1917.
(c) What does Dylan Thomas mean by twice told fields of infancy'?
Ans: The twice told fields of infancy refers to the glorious visions and wonders of childhood first lived through and now remembered.
(d) How does a mother resemble cloud?
Ans: In giving birth to a child a mother resembles a cloud.
(e) What does 'interior monologue' refer to?
Ans: See 2016 (i) number.
(f) What do you understand by "The Second Coming"?
Ans: See 2013 (e) number.
(g) What is the central image of the poem, "The Rival'?
Ans: See 2013 (h) number.
(h) What is 'Ganga"?
Ans: Ganga is a river in India.
(i) What does 'terrible beauty' refer to in-Yeats' poem 'Easter 1916"?
Ans: See 2013 (j) number.
(k) What is 'October Blood"?
Ans: See 2013 (b) number.
(l) Who is Maud Gonne?
Ans: See 2013 (k) number.
Brief 2019
(a)What does 'red rock' stand for in 'The Waste Land"?
Ans: "Red rock stands for Christianity of the Christian Church which can give humanity a firm support.
(b) Who is Lazarus?
Ans: Lazarus is the brother of Mary and Martha, the dead man, whom Christ brought back to life.
(c) What does eternal footman imply in the poem 'The Love Song od J. Alfred Prufrock?
Ans: By eternal footman, Prufrock means death or destiny.
(d)What does 'Black' symbolize in the poem 'Crossing the Water"?
Ans: 'Black' symbolizes full of darkness in the poem 'Crossing the Water."
(e) What is the poem 'Easter 1916' about?
Ans: The poem is about the nationalist rising of the Irish people against the British rule on the Easter of 1916..
(f) On what occasion was 'Poem in October' written?
Ans: Dylan Thomas wrote "Poem October" to celebrate his thirtieth birth anniversary.
(g)What is Byzantium famous for?
Ans: Byzantium is famous for art, religion and culture.
(h)What is a Mermaid?
Ans: A mermaid is an aquatic creature with a body of a female human and the tail of a fish.
(i) What does 'a tattered coat' stand for?
Ans: A tattered coat stands for an old man who looks like a scarecrow, the figure of man dressed in old clothes and set up on a stick in the crop fields to frighten the birds away from crops.
(j)What figures speech lies in the phrase 'restless night'?
Ans: The phrase is an example of metaphor.
(k) What do the white horses symbolize?
Ans: The White horses symbolize something highly desirable.
(l)What is the meaning of the voice of thunder-Da, Da, Da?
Ans: The first thunder voice "Da" means Datta (to give or to sacrifice) and the second "Da" means Dayadhvam (to sympathize) and the third "Da" means Damyata (self-control)
Brief 2020
(a) What does Innisfree stand for?
Ans: Innisfree stands for W.B Yeats a Utopia or a fairy land into which he would like to escape from the hurly burly of town life.
(b) What does the title "The Second Coming' refer to?
Ans: It refers to the coming of new destructive god and the reversal of Christian values.
(c) What does the falcon stand for in the poem 'The Second Coming"?
Ans: The falcon stands for the intellect, science, technology, rationalism etc.
(d)Who according to the poet are the dying generations?
Ans: The dying generations are those who are engaged in the sensual and sexual urge for procreation which is only a process ending in death.
(e) Who is Prufrock?
Ans: Prufrock is the protagonist in the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
(f)Who is Madame Sosostris?
Ans: Madame Sosostrics is the fortune teller.
(g) What do you understand by 'unreal city'?
Ans: By unreal city Eliot refers to London that is cut off from both natural and spiritual sources of life.
(h)Who is Fisher King?
Ans: The Fisher King is a mythical figure in Miss Jessie Weston's book From Ritual to romance.
(i) What occasion was Poem in October written?
Ans: Poem in October was written on the celebration of his 30th birthday.
(j)How is the weather on the hill-top in the poem "Poem in October"?
Ans: The weather is bright.
(k) What is the theme of the poem "The Rival"?
Ans: The rivalry between husband and wife is the theme of the poem.
(l) What is the poem "Words" about?
Ans: The poem "Words" is about the act of writing.
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