Oswal 36 Sample Question Papers ISC Class 12 English-II Solutions
Section-A
Answer 1.
| (1) 1. over | (6) (c) normality and mundane life |
| (2) (d) Both (b) and (c) | (7) (d) All of these |
| (3) (b) Ariel | (8) (a) Life |
| (4) (d) Forgives them | (9) (a) Resting pose |
| (5) (a) A covering of ice on the face | (10) (c) Ode |
Answer 2.
Section-B
Answer 3.
(i) At the outset we see Prospero creating a storm to bring his enemies ‘shipwrecked’ on the island. The magic spell created through the spirits, especially his trusted spirit Ariel has throughout kept his adversaries in a state of shock as is evident from the play. But he isn’t an outright stone hearted avenger. At the core of his heart he wants to bring reconciliation between him and his arch enemies, his treacherous brother Antonio and his accomplice Alonso, the duke of Naples who conspired to oust him. Gonzalo, an honest Neapolitan, provided them with food and clothing, as well as books of magic from his library. However, when Ferdinand and Miranda confront each other for the first time, they fall in love with each other. Prospero is elated to see that both have fallen in love with each other, and is happy to see a hope for the
future through the couple for both Milan and Naples. By his magic he keeps himself invisible to both
Miranda and Ferdinand so see their love develop in full purity of pious purpose that would ensure their marriage consummate in complete spiritual purity. His first part of his master plan is fulfilled. Apart from this, the other plan is to bring Alonso and his group into total submission by using his magic to make them penitent for their horrible deeds. Alonso is heart-broken at his perceived loss of his only son Ferdinand, his heir to the throne of Naples. Prospero through his magic makes his airy spirit Ariel bring them at his cell. Thus guided more by reason than anger he reunites Alonso with his lost son, Ferdinand and his wife Miranda. In the highly emotive scene of finding his son alive, that too with his newly wed wife, the plot developed by Prospero concludes in a happy ending. Indeed first scene of Act 3 is a wellplanned
plot that makes everyone happy and contented. Enemies become friends just for the sake of the future of their children.
(ii) In Act 2 Scene II, we see that Caliban is carrying a load of wood under the orders of Prospero. Any dereliction of the duty assigned invites spirits under control of Prospero to pinch him or frighten him by a hedgehog—shaped goblins. Spirits come in the shape of ape, chattering and biting him. Sometimes even as poisonous snakes wraps around him to make him go crazy with fear. The shipwrecked Trinculo, a jester in the court of Naples takes shelter under his cloak. And after a short while Stephano, the butler too comes along the same way, hears the voice of a human shrieking that a spirit is torturing him. He is given a drink and thinks that Sebastian must be a god from heaven. The intoxication of the drink makes him think that they must be from heaven. He agrees to be a loyal servant to Stephano on the condition
that he kills Prospero and agrees to be a king of the island. He hatches a plot to kill Prospero along with the two, where Stephano gives him a patient hearing. Their plan is overheard by the invisible Ariel who reports it to Prospero. It is just at the end of the masque that Ariel hastily drives away Caliban and his ‘confederates’ by setting on the spirits as hunters and dogs chasing them away. At the end of Act 5 Scene I, he sends Caliban to clean his hut and promises him his forgiveness. Thus, despite knowing the plans of Caliban, we see that he is ready to forgive Caliban before leaving the island.
(iii) (a) “Getting loved too easily lowers the yearning for it.” It was probably with this premonition that Prospero wanted to test the strength and fidelity of the young lovers. So, he cast aspersions to test Ferdinand, knowing very well that his upbringing was under Alonso who treacherously had ousted him from his dukedom. Although at heart he was happy to hear Ferdinand saying that all his difficulties of bondage and punishment wouldn’t upset him only if he was able to see Miranda once a day through his prison windows. He was happy to see that soft tender feelings of both were growing stronger which is beautifully brought out in Act 3 Scene I. It is in Act 4 Scene I that he apologised to Ferdinand for his harsh treatment and agreed to give his daughter’s hand in marriage to him to compensate for all the ill treatment he got from him. Prospero then arranged a masque with his magical powers for the happy couple to make it feel like a divine event. Ferdinand was overwhelmed
to say that to have such a father -in-law and a wife made the island look like a paradise. Thus, with a deft use of his magic, Prospero executed what he planned.
OR
(b) There are many loose ends in the plot. For instance, the audience is left curious to know what will become of Caliban or what will happen to Antonio or Sebastian. Even a more curious mystery is, why Sycorax did not train her only son, Caliban in black magic so that he too could control the spirits to keep the island under his control. Even in Act 1 Scene II Ferdinand mentions the death of the son of the Duke of Milan to Miranda, probably Antonio’s son, who again is never mentioned in the play. In a
traditional way epilogue is used to tie up loose ends and clarify unresolved issues. Prospero requests his audience to bid him a warm farewell from the stage or may be from the island. He seeks a great round of applause for his performance on the stage. He further insists that without the applause it wouldn’t be for him to free himself from the ‘constraints’ of the role he has enacted on the stage. He solicits their compassion probably to forgive the shortfalls of the production. Prospero reiterates that
the ending of the play will be absolved of its faults only if the audience gives a thunderous applause to his performance. So instead of tying up the loose ends, the epilogue is more about a soliciting the approval of the audience. So in this sense the epilogue digresses from its usual function.
Answer 4.
(i) Human beings are severely limited against the extremities of climate but unfortunately the man in the story is utterly ignorant of this limitation. This was the fatal flaw, his lack of common sense from where the story begins. A journey that starts from the departure of the man from the main Yukon trail to a little travelled trail that will take him to destination of meeting with the boys (his travel companions). The limited imagination of the man causes him to underestimate the power of nature. He relies too much on man-made resources and overlooks the limitations of the natural abilities. His freezing spit should have alerted him to the dangers that lay ahead but he still wants to hazard the consequences of the dangers lurking ahead. His incidental companion, the dog is a complete antithesis of the man. While the dog
is instinctual, the man is not. The dog is aware of the power of the natural world, the man is not. The man’s rationality is useless compared to the instinctive understanding of nature. He even continuously overlooks the advice of the old man at Sulphur Creek, even foolhardy to disprove the sane advice. Finally, due to frost bite he becomes so helpless that he dies a painful death but the dog survives.
(ii) In the story, ‘The Singing Lesson’, we see that the protagonist, Miss Meadows is a very balanced character, very amiable and a lively person. Yet the inner turmoil of rejection by her fiance, Basil with a hard word ‘disgust’ scratched and then the ‘regret’ written over the top of the letter upsets her so much that she is scared to be a laughing stock of the teaching staff. She tries to act normal but her calm demeanour is utterly shaken. She fails to reciprocate simple courtesies of Mary Beazley. She does not tuck the beautiful yellow chrysanthemum under her belt and even makes no reply to her greeting. Mary was embarrassed until tears stood in her eyes. Even while conducting the music classes her repressed anger and sadness makes her students sing with a loud lament with a diction that leaves the girls sad. Most of them, heavy with emotion, stood subdued. But fortunately, again when she receives a letter of assurance from Basil, she comes back to the music class on wings of hope, of love of joy and picks up the yellow chrysanthemum lovingly and holds it to her lips to hide her smile. She tells the students to stop being dreadful and tells them not to be doleful. She puts up a cheery appearance and tells them to sing in a warm, joyful and eager voice. As a human the emotional distress fails her to keep a calm demeanour, but at the same time a happy reassurance from Basil her fiancé brings her back to her original cheery disposition.
(iii) (a) Kate Chopin, writing in the Victorian times, explicitly attacked the fundamental laws of the society in her works. In her short story, “The Story of an Hour”, she narrates the ordeal of a woman who is informed of her husband’s death in a train accident. The lady suffers from heart disease, therefore, her friends and family take immediate care to break the news gently to her to avoid any harm on her life.
The lady’s response to her husband’s death is quite contrary to what the readers of contemporary times would expect. She feels free from the shackles of her marriage and society after the death of her husband. Her response to her newfound freedom is full of hope, she desires to live a life truly for herself. She finds a contradiction in her own response to her husband’s death, while she mourns and laments in front of society, her personal response is full of hope. She is excited with the opportunity
that has been thrown before her, joyfully looking forward to a life where she could exercise her own will. This duality of response evokes a sense of conflict within her.
The lady’s sense of joy is momentary and fleeting. The story progresses to reveal to the readers that her husband is alive and unhurt. But unfortunately, she does not survive as the doctor proclaims that she died out of the “joy that kills.” People around her believed that she was too overjoyed to see her husband alive and unhurt and died out of the shock from joy. However, in reality, Chopin has used dramatic irony to provide the readers with a shock that was definitely unexpected. The lady does not die out of joy on seeing her husband, but she dies out of shock and disbelief to find her hopes of new life shattered. The pure joy that she had found in her freedom evaporated within seconds and gave her a shock that resulted in her untimely death.
OR
(b) The child and the poet became friends over a period and he visited the poet’s house regularly to meet him. During one such visit, the poet narrated to the boy a story about a girl and a boy who were in love and their love culminated into a happy marriage. Both were poets, and while the boy poet loved words, the girl poet loved to watch the flowers and the trees in the garden. They lived in a one-room house but were contented with the life they were living. Soon the girl poet announced the arrival of their baby in their house. But unfortunately, they could never celebrate the arrival of the baby because it died in her womb. The girl too died, leaving the boy poet sad and fuming over his life and destiny. He refused to pay attention to the girl’s garden which resulted in its growing high and wild.
The significance of this story is that the poet narrated his own story to the child. However, he never accepted the fact that it was a true story because he did not want the boy to see the harsh reality. The death of his wife had created a vacuum in his life and rendered him wordless. He saw no meaning in the beauty of life and continued to live for the sake of it. The same applied to his poetry. The love that he poured in the words went away with his wife’s death. What was left were words which were mechanical with no feelings. Thus, his poetry was drab with no real inspiration to touch the heart of the readers. So, the poet though wished to write the greatest poem of the world, was incapable of doing so.
Answer 5.
(i) Hardy writes in a variety of tightly structured forms with a well-defined poetic pattern. Hardy uses metaphorical language frequently. A metaphor compares two different things without using the words “like” or “as”. It gives the qualities of one thing to something that is quite different. ‘The Darking Thrush’ depicts the bleakness and coldness in this poem. It is the end of the century, and of the year. The sharp outlines of the winter landscape seem to him like the sharp features of a corpse,
specifically, the corpse of the dying nineteenth century. In the first stanza, metaphor is used to depict the end of the year. Here the sunset symbolises the end of
the year. The metaphor tells the reader that the day is coming to an end so the sun is setting.
In the second stanza, the harsh barren landscape is a symbol of the death of the 19th century and loss of the nineteenth-century value in modern life. The metaphor represents the end of spring. He sees no hope for rebuilding or renewal in the coming century. In the third stanza, despite the “growing gloom” of the end of the 19th century, the song of the thrush is a symbol of hope for new meaning in the new century, which emphasizes Hardy’s search for meaning. Century’s corpse shows the comparison of the death of the previous century. “His crypt the cloudy canopy” brings out the comparison of the cloud cover to a crypt. Finally, “Had chosen thus to fling his soul” brings the comparison of the bird’s song to a soul.
(ii) Each poem of Robert Frost exhibits a different aspect of his poetic writing style—some are long narratives whereas, some are more like a short story than to be a poem and some others deal with his sharp sense of satire and fictional genius. His poems, however, have a common theme with a sentimental touch of day-to-day activity of rural England, and unveiling the real struggles of real people. In ‘Birches’, Frost’s use of the childhood game of swinging on birches is drawing the reader to the nostalgia of childhood. While writing this poem, Frost seems to be highly influenced by his childhood memories of swinging on the birches, which used to be a popular game for children in rural England during those days. Though it is related to nostalgic memories of childhood, Frost is repentant as he realises that he cannot enjoy the swinging on birches as it doesn’t provide him peace of mind. Because he is an adult, who has a lot of responsibilities to fulfil. He cannot leave them behind and swing towards heaven by swinging like a boy.
The use of birches and swinging is quite symbolic as it suggests a common man’s wish to escape the materialistic world and reach up to the heights of imagination. The conflict between desire and responsibility is also expressed in “The Sound of Trees”, where the narrator finds a need to escape the “roots” of responsibility in the persistent swaying of the trees outside his house. There is a brilliant use of blank verse with an emphasis on the “sound of sense”, which makes the nostalgia clearer in the following lines: “Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells Shattering and avalanching on the snow crust—
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away…”
(iii) (a) ‘Dover Beach’ by Matthew Arnold bears clearly on the conflict between traditional faith in religion and science. We are made aware of the loss of faith in the modern world, with its ill-effects. It is important to keep in mind that the Victorian Age, in which this poem was written, saw the fast development of science. Charles Darwin’s Theory of Origin of the Species and many other scientific discoveries shook People’s faith in God. The very basis of religion was eroded. The creation of mankind, according to science, was a slow process of evolution. Man’s origin was traced to the ape or the monkey. It falsified the earlier belief that God made man in His own image. The result was a conflict in people’s mind. Some lost faith in God, others clung to it, and there were many, like Arnold, who wavered in their faith. In ‘Dover Beach’, Arnold gives expression to this conflict and the loss
of traditional faith. ‘Dover Beach’ is a reflection of the ‘crisis of faith’ during the Victorian Era. The melancholy note of the sea that the poet hears reminds him of human misery. The sea of faith was once full and permeated the lives of human beings as the sea wraps itself around the continents and islands of the world. As faith declines, the harsh reality symbolised by the “naked shingles” leaves mankind sad and dejected. Without faith the world is hollow and uncertain, devoid of peace and happiness. In a beautiful image the poet brings out confusions, doubts and uncertainties of man in the new world. He says that people on this earth are no better than two opposing armies fighting each other in total darkness, and thus not knowing whether they are hurting and killing friends or their enemies. Arnold suggests a way to live in the midst of the soul-killing loss of faith in our world, and that is, to love and remain loyal to each other.
OR
(b) Tennyson talks about the breaking of the waves at the sandbars. He uses it as a reference to the final moments of a person’s life when most people become sad and wish to delay their departure. The poet expresses how he wants to leave peacefully avoiding moaning and regret. Sandbars form at the mouth of rivers and harbours and when one has to leave for a journey on the sea, the sandbars have to be disturbed and crushed. The poet probably indicates that when he leaves for his final journey, that is, when he dies, he doesn’t want the people left behind to create much fuss about it. He does not want them to moan when he passes away. Tennyson wishes that when he passes away, his death should be discreet and not many people should know of it, which will prevent the moaning and weeping. Also, he hopes that when he embarks on the journey, the sea is quiet and calm appearing asleep and undisturbed. He wants the tide to be so full that it cannot contain sound or foam and therefore, seems asleep. This may mean that he does not want his death to disturb the living as well as the dead in the heavens.
ISC 36 Sample Question Papers
All Subjects Combined for Class 12 Exam 2023
ISC 36 Sample Question Papers
All Subjects Combined for Class 12 Exam 2023
ISC 36 Sample Question Papers
All Subjects Combined for Class 12 Exam 2023
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