UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "UNIVERSITY OF LONDON"

Alison West
6 years ago
Views:

1 THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALLS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 033 E0 BA/DIPLOMA EXAMINATION 20 for External students ENGLISH Foundation Unit: Approaches to Text Thursday, 6 May 20, am-1pm THREE HOURS Answer THREE questions: QUESTION 1 from Section A and TWO further questions from Section B (all three questions carry equal marks). YOU SHOULD READ INSTRUCTIONS FOR SECTION B BEFORE COMMENCING YOUR ANSWER TO SECTION A. Do NOT present substantially the same material in any two answers, whether on this paper or on any other parts of your examination. SECTION A 1. EITHER comment on ONE, OR compare and contrast TWO, of the following examples using terms and concepts you have encountered in studying for this unit. You should pay attention to issues of form as well as content. Example A 1 Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. She was the youngest of the two daughters of a most affectionate, indulgent father; and had, in consequence of her sister s marriage, been mistress of his house from a very early period. Her mother had died too long ago for her to have more than an indistinct remembrance of her caresses; and her place had been supplied by an excellent woman as governess, who had fallen little short of a mother in affection. Sixteen years had Miss Taylor been in Mr. Woodhouse s family, less as a governess than a friend, very fond of both daughters, but particularly of Emma. Between them it was more the intimacy of sisters. Even before Miss Taylor had ceased to hold the nominal office of governess, the mildness of her temper had hardly allowed her to impose any restraint; and the shadow of authority being now long passed away, they had been living together as friend and friend very mutually attached, and Emma doing just what she liked; highly esteeming Miss Taylor s judgment, but directed chiefly by her own. TURN OVER

2 The real evils, indeed, of Emma s situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself; these were the disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments. The danger, however, was at present so unperceived, that they did not by any means rank as misfortunes with her. Sorrow came a gentle sorrow but not at all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness Miss Taylor married. It was Miss Taylor s loss which first brought grief. It was on the wedding-day of this beloved friend that Emma first sat in mournful thought of any continuance. The wedding over, and the bride-people gone, her father and herself were left to dine together, with no prospect of a third to cheer a long evening. Her father composed himself to sleep after dinner, as usual, and she had then only to sit and think of what she had lost. The event had every promise of happiness for her friend. Mr. Weston was a man of unexceptionable character, easy fortune, suitable age, and pleasant manners; and there was some satisfaction in considering with what self-denying, generous friendship she had always wished and promoted the match; but it was a black morning s work for her. The want of Miss Taylor would be felt every hour of every day. She recalled her past kindness the kindness, the affection of sixteen years how she had taught and how she had played with her from five years old how she had devoted all her powers to attach and amuse her in health and how nursed her through the various illnesses of childhood. A large debt of gratitude was owing here; but the intercourse of the last seven years, the equal footing and perfect unreserve which had soon followed Isabella s marriage, on their being left to each other, was yet a dearer, tenderer recollection. She had been a friend and companion such as few possessed: intelligent, wellinformed, useful, gentle, knowing all the ways of the family, interested in all its concerns, and peculiarly interested in herself, in every pleasure, every scheme of hers one to whom she could speak every thought as it arose, and who had such an affection for her as could never find fault. (JANE AUSTEN, from Emma, 181) Example B It was an uncertain spring. The weather, perpetually changing, sent clouds of blue and of purple flying over the land. In the country farmers, looking at the fields, were apprehensive; in London, umbrellas were opened and then shut by people looking up at the sky. But in April such weather was to be expected. Thousands of shop assistants made that remark, as they handed neat parcels to ladies in flounced dresses standing on the other side of the counter at Whiteley s and the Army and Navy Stores. Interminable processions of shoppers in the West End, of business men in the East, paraded the pavements like caravans perpetually marching so it seemed to those who had any reason to pause, say, to post a letter, or at a club window in Piccadilly. The stream of landaus, victorias and hansom cabs 1 was incessant; for the season was beginning. In the quieter streets musicians doled out their frail and for the most part melancholy pipe of sound, which was echoed, or parodied, here in the trees of Hyde Park, here in St James s by the twitter of sparrows and the sudden outbursts of the amorous but intermittent thrush. The pigeons in the squares shuffled in tree tops, 1 Landaus, victorias, and hansom cabs are all types of horse-drawn carriages; victorias were principally used for pleasure.

3 letting fall a twig or two, and crooned over and over again the lullaby that was always interrupted. The gates at Marble Arch and Apsley House were blocked in the afternoon by ladies in many-coloured dresses wearing bustles, and by gentleman in frock coats, carrying canes, wearing carnations. Here came the Princess, and as she passed hats were lifted. In the basements of the long avenues of the residential quarters servant girls in cap and apron prepared tea. Deviously ascending from the basement the silver teapot was placed on the table, and virgins and spinsters with hands that had staunched the sores of Bermondsey and Hoxton 2 carefully measured out one, two, three, four spoonfuls of tea. When the sun went down a million gaslights, shaped like the eyes in peacocks feathers, opened in their glass cages, but nevertheless broad stretches of darkness were left on the pavement. The mixed light of the lamps and the setting sun was reflected equally in the placid waters of the Round Pond and the Serpentine. Diners-out, trotting over the Bridge in hansom cabs, looked for a moment at the charming vista. At length the moon rose and its polished coin, though obscured now and then by wisps of cloud, shone out with serenity, with severity, or perhaps with complete indifference. Slowly wheeling, like the rays of searchlight, the days, the weeks, the years passed one after another across the sky. (VIRGINIA WOOLF, from The Years, 1937) Example C 1 20 When my devotions could not pierce Thy silent ears; Then was my heart broken, as was my verse: My breast was full of fears And disorder: My bent thoughts, like a brittle bow, Did fly asunder: Each took his way; some would to pleasures go, Some to the wars and thunder Of alarms. As good go any where, they say, As to benumb Both knees and heart, in crying night and day, Come, come, my God, O come, But no hearing. O that thou shouldst give dust a tongue To cry to thee, And then not hear it crying! all day long My heart was in my knee, But no hearing. Therefore my soul lay out of sight, 2 Bermondsey and Hoxton: areas of London which, during the Victorian period, housed the urban poor. TURN OVER

4 2 30 Untuned, unstrung: My feeble spirit, unable to look right, Like a nipped blossom, hung Discontented. O cheer and tune my heartless breast, Defer no time; That so thy favors granting my request, They and my mind may chime, And mend my rime. (GEORGE HERBERT, Denial, 1633) Example D Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itself. So, a woman will lift her head from the sieve of her hands and stare at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift. Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth enters our hearts, that small familiar pain; then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth in the distant Latin chanting of a train. Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales console the lodger looking out across a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls a child's name as though they named their loss. Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer - Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre. 3 (CAROL ANN DUFFY, Prayer, 1992) 3 Rockall, Malin, Dogger and Finisterre: areas named by the British shipping forecast, broadcast daily on BBC Radio 4.

5 Example E: TURN OVER

6 Example F: (Photograph by Jeff Widener, June 1989)

7 SECTION B You must answer TWO questions from this section. You may use any of the examples from Section A to illustrate your answer, provided you do not use the same examples in your answer to the question in Section A. 2. With reference to key terms and ideas, to what extent do you think psychoanalysis provides a useful critical framework for interpreting literary texts? Your answer should refer to at least two texts. 3. For literature to be literature, it must constantly defamiliarize the familiar, constantly evolve new procedures for story-telling or poetry-making. And such change is entirely autonomous of the social and historical world from which the materials of literature are taken (JULIE RIVKIN AND MICHAEL RYAN). In the light of this statement discuss the relation between literature and history with reference to at least two texts. 4. A woman writer must examine, assimilate, and transcend the extreme images of angel and monster which male authors have generated for her (SANDRA GILBERT AND SUSAN GUBAR). In the light of this statement, consider the ways in which at least two texts have challenged notions of patriarchy and/or gender stereotypes.. With reference to relevant critical ideas and arguments, consider the ways in which intertextuality challenges and/or expands the notion of authorship. Your answer should refer to at least two texts. 6. If we claim that great literature has a timeless and universal significance we thereby demote or disregard cultural, social, regional, and national differences in experience and outlook, preferring instead to judge all literature by a single, supposedly universal standard (PETER BARRY). Discuss this statement with reference to at least two texts. 7. Percy Bysshe Shelley once remarked that poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar. Discuss this statement with reference to the work of at least two poets. 8. Discuss the critical significance of the use of point of view and/or narrative voice in at least two texts. 9. Why is the consideration of literature so central to the practice of postcolonial studies? Your answer should refer to at least two texts. END OF PAPER 7

1. THE NARRATIVE OF HESTER PINHORN, COOK IN THE SERVICE OF COUNT FOSCO

1. THE NARRATIVE OF HESTER PINHORN, COOK IN THE SERVICE OF COUNT FOSCO [Taken down from her own statement] I am sorry to say that I have never learnt to read or write. I have been a hardworking woman all