Dr.M.Mazumdar

Internal Examination, 2026 Subject - DSM 401 (English) Full Marks - 20 1. Attempt any 5 questions from the following list- 5×2= 10 a) What are the names of the schools attended by Swami in the novel Swami and Friends? b) Who are the friends of Swaminathan? c) Who are the twins in the play "Tara" by Mahesh Datttani? d) Why was Swami expelled from Albert Mission School? e) What are the key themes of the poem The Night of the Scorpion? f) What does MCC stands for ? Who is the captain of MCC in Swami and Friends? 2. Attempt any one question from the following list- 10  a) Write a detailed note Swami and his friends in the novel Swami and Friends? b) Write a critical appreciation of the poem The Night of the Scorpion?  c) Discuss the central ideas of Kamala Das' poem My Grandmother's House? d) Discuss the theme of memory and forgetting in Judith Wright's Bora Ring.

Q. How does the poet describe the disappearance of Aboriginal culture in the first stanza? Answer: In the first stanza, Wright describes Aboriginal culture as something buried and silenced. The "song is gone" and the "dance is secret with the dancers in the earth," suggesting both death and concealment. Rituals are called "useless," emphasising that they no longer function in contemporary society. The "tribal story" is said to be "lost in an alien tale," indicating that colonial narratives have replaced Indigenous traditions. The language is simple but powerful, conveying finality and sorrow. The stanza establishes the theme of cultural extinction and prepares the reader for deeper moral reflection. Q. What role do the apple-gums play in the second stanza? Answer: The apple-gums are personified as if they "posture and mime a past corroboree." Through this personification, nature appears to imitate the ceremonial dances once pe...

The play Macbeth begins with the brief appearance of a trio of witches and then moves to a military camp, where the Scottish King Duncan hears the news that his generals, Macbeth and Banquo, have defeated two separate invading armies—one from Ireland, led by the rebel Macdonwald, and one from Norway. Following their pitched battle with these enemy forces, Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches as they cross a moor. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will be made thane (a rank of Scottish nobility) of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland. They also prophesy that Macbeth’s companion, Banquo, will beget a line of Scottish kings, although Banquo will never be king himself. Act I On a bleak Scottish moorland, Macbeth and Banquo, two of King Duncan's generals, discover three strange women (witches). The witches prophesy that Macbeth will be promoted twice: to Thane of Cawdor (a rank of the aristocracy bestowed by grateful kings) and King of Scotland. Banquo's descendants will be k...

Chapter 2: The Phantom (spirit of the dead or something we believe exists) Aesthetic State Refuting the "Aesthetic State" where Richards attacks the Kantian assumption that "aesthetic pleasure" is a special, isolated state of mind completely separate from normal sensory, intellectual, or moral experiences.  To Ordinary Experience: He argues that art operates using the same mental apparatus, impulses, and emotions we use in everyday life, dismissing the idea of a mysterious "aesthetic mode". What Happens Modern aesthetics is plagued by the Kantian assumption that aesthetic pleasure is sui generis (of its own kind), separate from ordinary pleasures of the senses as well as our faculties of Will and Thought. Richards dubs this annexation the “phantom problem of the aesthetic mode or aesthetic state,” wherein aesthetics is seen as a distinct world. The author casts aspersions (damaging or risks) on the assumptions upon which the “phantom aesthetic state” rests...

Chapter 1: The Chaos of Critical Theories. Critique of Past Criticism: Richards argues that traditional literary criticism by philosophers, moralists and past scholars lacks scientific rigour and substantive consistency. The Need for Science: He asserts that criticism must adopt systematic, empirical method and grounded in psychology to understand human responses to art rather than relying on empty praise or vague flattery.  The objective of this chapter is explaining how to get most out of something, how to read a book, how to listen to music or how to write poetry. What is the function of critique or criticism to which Richards brings in the famous utterances of Aristotle, Longinus, Horace, Boileau, Dryden, Addison, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Carlyle, Mathew Arnold and other modern authors to justify his assertion. Some of these lines are, "All men naturally receive pleasure from imitation," "Poetry is chiefly conversant about general truth," "It demands an enthu...

Chapter 34: The Two Uses of LanguageScientific vs. Emotive Language: Richards famously splits language into two distinct functions:Scientific (Reference): Used to communicate factual statements, logical data, and verifiable truths where literal correctness is vital.Emotive: Used in poetry and art to evoke feelings, attitudes, and emotional orientations, regardless of literal or factual truth.Value of Poetry: A poetic statement does not need scientific truth; its value is measured by how effectively it organizes and supports valuable human attitudes and emotional responses. The opening line of the chapter “The Two Uses of Language”, Richards declares that there are “two totally distinct uses of language”. However, the two uses have so far remained undistinguished because the theory of language is the most neglected area of all studies. It should be understood that for the explanation of a theory of poetry and for the parochial aim of understanding what is said about poetry, a clear gr...