CSS English Literature Past Paper 2019

Russell in The Conquest of Happiness identifies a number of causes of unhappiness. If we work on these causes, do you think happiness is still possible?

Both Jim and Della behave impulsively in “The Gift of the Magi” by sacrificing their greatest treasures without thinking of the consequences and focusing instead on making each other happy. Is the author really successful in creating wise characters in literature? Respond to the question by presenting your arguments with supporting evidence.

In what ways is the poem “Ode to a Nightingale” about the co-existence and interdependence of pleasure and pain? Discuss.

Wordsworth does not “mourn” or “murmur” for the loss of “aching joys” of his past. Elaborate by providing suitable textual evidence from “Tintern Abbey”.

Harold Pinter specializes in the tragicomedy of the breakdown of communication, broadly in the tradition of the Theatre of the Absurd. Discuss it with the reference to The Caretaker.

By the end of the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyee renders a portrait of a mind that has achieved emotional, intellectual, and artistic adulthood. Elaborate.

How does the essence of Structuralism, i.e., “Things cannot be understood in isolation, they have to be seen in the context of larger structures they are part of” relate to literature? Discuss in detail by providing relevant examples to support your arguments.