Im20th Century Poetry Important Brief Questions
Brief Questions Exam-2013
(a) What is the occasion of Dylan Thomas’ poem “Poem in October”?
Ans. A wonderful lyric to celebrate his thirtieth birth anniversary.
(b) What does the phrase ‘October blood’ mean?
Ans. The red-colored autumnal leaves.
(c) When was the poem “Morning Song” written?
Ans.In 1961.
(d) What incident hurt Sylvia Plath very much?
Ans. Plath’s mother refuses to attend her children in Plath’s father’s funeral.
(e) What does “The Second Coming” refer to?
Ans. The coming of new destructive good and happy things.
(f) What does Eliot mean by ‘unreal city’?
Ans. Landon is cut off from both natural and spiritual sources of life.
(g) What is the last line of the poem “The Waste Land”?
Ans. “Shantih, shantih, shantih”
(h) Who is Michelangelo?
Ans. A great Italian sculptor, painter, and poet of the early sixteenth century.
(i) Why does Yeats want to go to the Lake of Innisfree?
Ans. To Escape from the fever and fret of his life.
(j) What is terrible beauty”?
Ans. The heroic achievement involved the deaths of many people.
(k) Who is Maud Gonne?
Ans. Maud Gonne is the Beloved of Yeats
(L) Who is addressed by Sylvia Plath in the poem “The Rival”?
Ans. Her husband.
Brief Questions Exam-2014
(a) What will the poet build in the Isle of Innisfree?
Ans. A small cabin or hut with clay and wattles.
(b) What does falcon stand for in the poem “The Second Coming”?
Ans. A Symbol of Mankind or the intellect, science, technology, and so on.
(c) What is the poem “Easter 1916” about?
Ans. The nationalist uprising of the Irish people against British rule.
(d) Name some water creatures we find in the poem “Poem in October’.
Ans. Mussel, Heron, Seagull, snail, and so on.
(e) How does Madame Sosostris foretell?
Ans. With the help of her Tarot pack of cards.
(f) What does the blindness of one eye of the merchant symbolize?
Ans. His religious eye is blind.
(g) What does the word ‘rose’ mean in the sentence “And I rose In rainy autumn”?
Ans. The word ‘rose’ means ‘born’. That means that 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. Being old and unfit for the world of the senses.
(i) How is the weather on the hilltop in the poem “Poem in October”.
Ans. Bright weather.
(j) How does Sylvia Plath make a comparison between a child and a cat?
Ans. Plath thinks that a child sucks the mother’s nipple or swallows milk in a manner as a cat does.
(k) What is the poem “Crossing the Water” about?
Ans. A mystical journey of the soul in the underworld.
(l) Why does Prufrock want to be Lazarus?
Ans. By wishing to be Lazarus, he imagines himself as the representative of the dead people that is why he wishes to tell his experience to the lady.
Brief Questions Exam-2015
a) What does terrible beauty signify in the poem “Easter 1916”
Ans. The heroic achievement involved the deaths of many people.
b) How does Prufrock visualize death?
Ans. He visualizes death that The eternal Footman is coming near him and mocking at his cowardice and he is afraid of death naturally.
c) How does Dylan Thomas Celebrate his birthday?
Ans. By observing the games of water creatures like mussels, herons, and seagulls, by listening to the songs of birds, and by enjoying the beauty of nature.
d) Who is the “dying generation”?
Ans. The young men and women, all the creatures, fish, flesh or fowl’ in the fullness of their powers, are the ‘dying generation’.
e) What kind of man is Prufrock?
Ans: A neurotic modern lover.
f) What does Innisfree stand for?
Ans. Innisfree is an imaginary island of Yeats.
g) Who is the hyacinth girl?
Ans. Young and beautiful lady of the present age who has been forgotten by her lover.
h) What is the central image in the poem, “The Rival”?
Ans. The Moon.
i) What does the title “Crossing the Water” signify?
Ans. A mystical journey of the soul in the underworld.
j) What is the poem “Words’ about?
Ans. About the act of writing.
k) Who is Tiresias?
Ans. A seer of Thebes during the time of King Oedipus and he is a blind prophet.
l) What does “gyre mean in Yeats’ poem ‘The Second Coming?
Ans. It stands for the pathways on the sides of streets for pedestrians, usually made of stones.
Brief Questions Exam-2016
(a) What does the title ‘The Second Coming’ signify?
Ans: The coming of new destructive good and happy things.
(b) Why does April appear to be the cruelest month?
Ans. Generally, April is considered to be a happy month, the beginning of the spring but for the modern man, it appears to be a cruel month because he has no desire for regeneration.
(c) Why will not ‘mermaid’ sing for Prufrock?
Ans. In Greek myth, Mermaids are found singing to be brave and adventurous but Prufrock is a cowardly man.
(d) Who is Fisher King?
Ans. A mythical figure.
(e) On what occasion was ‘Poem In October’ written?
Ans. A wonderful lyric to celebrate his 30th birth anniversary.
(f) What does ‘New Statue’ refer to in the poem ‘Morning Song’?
Ans. The newborn child.
(g) What does ‘falcon ‘symbolize in the poem ‘The Second Coming”?
Ans. A Symbol of Mankind or the intellect, science, technology, and so on.
(h) Who is Madame Sosostris?
Ans. The Lady of Situations.
(i) What is ‘interior monologue”?
Ans. Interior Monologue means the presentation to the reader of the flow of a character’s inner emotional experience through his single speech.
(i) Who is Mac Bride in the poem ‘Easter 1916’?
Ans. Husband of Maud Gonne.
(k) What is the source of the subtitle “What the Thunder Said”?
Ans. From the parable embodying the divine message of thunder as found in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad V.
(l) Who is ‘Lazarus’?
Ans. the brother of Mary and Martha.
Brief Questions Exam-2017
a) In which year did the historical ‘Easter Rising’ take place?
Ans. In 1916.
b) What is ‘Spiroties Nundi’?
Ans. A Collection of images that gives the shape of a fearful beast with the body of lion and the head of a man.
c) What is the significance of ‘gyre’ in the poem ‘The Second Coming”?
Ans. It stands for the pathways on the sides of streets for pedestrians, usually made of stones.
d) Whose rivalry do you find in the poem ‘The Rival”?
Ans. The rivalry between husband and wife.
e) What are the threefold meanings of the voice of Thunder ‘Da’?
Ans. First Da means Datta, second Da means Dayadham, and the third Da means Damyata.
f) What does ‘Byzantium’ Symbolize in the poem “Sailing to Byzantium”?
Ans. An ideal country of culture and wisdom.
g) What is the significance of the subtitle ‘The Fire Sermon?
Ans. The subtitle ‘The Fire Sermon’ expresses Lord Buddha’s great sermon to his disciples against the fires of anger, lust, and malice, the temptations that consume human beings.
h) What does the word ‘rose’ mean in the sentence “And I rose In rainy autumn”?
Ans. The word ‘rose’ means ‘born’. That means that Dylan Thomas was born in October which is a month of autumn.
i) How does the “Waste Land” end?
Ans. “Shantih Shantih Shantih”
j) Why does the poet want to go to the Lake of Innisfree?
Ans. To Escape from the fever and fret of his life.
k) What are the major themes of the poem “The Waste Land”?
Ans. the disintegration of the modern civilization, sexual perversion, loss of faith and moral values, and so on.
l) Which city is called “unreal city”?
Ans. Landon is cut off from both natural and spiritual sources of life.
Brief questions Exam-2018
1. (a) What does the falconer symbolize in the poem ‘The Second Coming”?
Ans. Christianity or the soul or the spiritual and emotional part of man.
(b) What do you mean by ‘Murmur of maternal lamentation?
Ans. 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 Glorious visions and wonders of childhood.
(d) How does a mother resemble a cloud?
Ans. In giving birth to a child.
(e) What does ‘interior monologue’ refer to?
Ans. Interior Monologue means the presentation to the reader of the flow of a character’s inner emotional experience through his single speech.
(f) What do you understand by “The Second Coming”?
Ans. The coming of new destructive good and happy things.
(g) What is the central image of the poem, “The Rival”?
Ans. The moon.
(h) Who is the ‘Phoenician Sailor”?
Ans. Phlebas.
(i) What is ‘Ganga’?
Ans. A River in India.
(i) What does ‘terrible beauty’ refer to in Yeats’ poem ‘Easter1916″?
Ans. The heroic achievement involved the deaths of many people.
(k) What is ‘October Blood”?
Ans. The red-colored autumnal leaves.
(l) Who is Maud Gonne?
Ans. Beloved of W.B. Yeats.
Brief Questions Exam-2019
(a) What does ‘red rock’ stand for in ‘The Waste Land’?
Ans.
(b) Who is Lazarus”?
And: The brother of Mary and Martha.
(c) What does eternal footman imply in the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”?
Ans. The difference between good and great.
(d) What does ‘Black’ symbolize in the poem “Crossing the Water’?
Ans. Full Darkness.
(e) What is the poem ‘Easter 1916’ about?
Ans. The nationalist uprising of the Irish people against British rule.
(f) On what occasion was ‘Poem in October written?
Ans. A wonderful lyric to celebrate his thirteenth birth anniversary.
(g) What is Byzantium famous for?
Ans. Birth of Jesus Christ.
(h) What is a Mermaid?
Ans. In Greek myth, Mermaids are found singing to be brave and adventurous
(i) What does ‘a tattered coat’ stand for?
Ans. Escaping from reality into the world of art.
(j) What figure of speech lies in the phrase “restless night’?
Ans. Metaphor.
(k) What do the white horses symbolize?
Ans. The Balance of wisdom and power.
(l) What is the meaning of the voice of thunder-Da, Da, Da?
Ans. First Da means Datta, second Da means Dayadham and the third Da means Damyata.