Teachers' Outlines for Studies in English

Chapter 34

II What opportunity is provided in _Comus_ for the introduction of instrumental music? dancing? display of scenery? Describe the concluding scene (beginning with the appearance of Sabrina) as you imagine it to have been performed at Ludlow Castle in 1634.

III (_a_) What, according to Burke, are the three possible ways of dealing with the American spirit of liberty? State his reasons for rejecting the first two.

(_b_) What does Burke think should be the att.i.tude of one nation toward another in such a crisis as the one under discussion?

(_c_) Cite any reasons that appeal to you as helping to explain the fame of Burke"s _Speech on Conciliation with America_.

IV (_a_) Write an account of Johnson"s early years in London.

(_b_) Macaulay says of Johnson: "No human being who has been more than seventy years in the grave is so well known to us." Discuss the grounds for this statement.

WELLESLEY COLLEGE

(1906)

A--Reading and Practice

_Answer two of the following questions:_

1 What qualities do Lady Macbeth and Portia of Belmont have in common, and at what point do their characters diverge?

2 Which of the three required _Idylls of the King_, viz. _Gareth and Lynette_, _Lancelot and Elaine_, _The Pa.s.sing of Arthur_, seems to you more beautiful, and why?

3 Compare the life of Goldsmith with that of Dr. Johnson. Which life seems to you the more successful?

B--Study and Practice

_Answer two of questions_ 1, 2, 3, _question_ 4, _and either question_ 5 _or_ 6:

1 What makes the play of _Julius Caesar_ great?

2 Compare the nature pictures in _L"Allegro_ with those in _Il Penseroso_, using, if you prefer, Milton"s own language.

3 What were Burke"s strong points as an orator?

4 Write a well-constructed paragraph of about two hundred words on the character of Samuel Johnson as presented by Macaulay. Give your reasons for the arrangement of the ideas in your paragraph. Show how the principles of unity and coherence are ill.u.s.trated by the arrangement of the ideas or material of your paragraph.

5 (_a_) Give two examples of each of the following kinds of sentences: simple, complex, compound.

(_b_) Punctuate the following pa.s.sage:

"And night came down over the solemn waste And the two gazing hosts and that sole pair And darkened all and a cold fog with night Crept from the Oxus soon a hum arose As of a great a.s.sembly loosed and fires Began to twinkle through the fog for now Both armies moved to camp and took their meal The Persians took it on the open sands Southward the Tartars by the river merge And Rustum and his son were left alone."

6 (_a_) Give explicit reasons for the correctness or the incorrectness of the following sentences:

(1) He, in a moment of excitement and affection, did this act of beneficence and of which he was very proud.

(2) We know that Oliver Goldsmith was himself not unlike the Vicar of Wakefield, which may partly account for the charm of the book.

(3) I neither regarded myself as rich nor poor.

(4) The book will not fail of a permanent place in literature, because it is badly written.

(_b_) Give examples of the correct use of the following words: affect, complement, mad, nice, fellow.

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.

(1907)

_Allow one hour for each division of the examination._

_Consider what you will say, and in what order you will say it, before you begin to write at all._

_Revise your work, and, if time permits, make a clean copy of it after revision._

_No candidate will be accepted in English whose work is notably defective in spelling, punctuation, idiom, or division into paragraphs._

I--Reading and Practice

One especial purpose of this division of the examination is to test the ability of the candidate to express his thoughts in clear, _connected_ sentences, properly combined in at least three _paragraphs_. Single, detached sentences will not meet the requirements.

_Select three of the following topics for discussion._ Be _accurate and avoid generalities_.

1 Give an account of Sir Roger at the play.

2 Describe Arthur"s last battle and the last scene in _The Pa.s.sing of Arthur_.

3 (_a_) Under what circ.u.mstances and by whom are the following lines uttered?

The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.

(_b_) Outline the action from this point to the end of the play.

4 Goldsmith"s life on the Continent after he left Dublin.

5 Describe the place, the cause, and the results of the combat in _The Lady of the Lake_.