Answer ALL questions
Question 1
25 marks
Write a short essay in which you explain Aristotle’s theory of catharsis and the function of tragedy.
To what extent is the theory relevant to your studies in literature? Illustrate with one novel or play.
Question 2
25 marks
What is Romanticism? Read the poem "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth and then explain the
romantic elements of Nature in this poem.
Daffodils
| wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once | saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw | at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
| gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch | lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Question 3
25 marks
Give a detailed description of the concepts and concerns raised by T.S. Eliot in his essay “Tradition and
the Individual Talent,” and his theory of depersonalisation.
End of Question Paper