Bishop Cotton School, Shimla

Final Examination July, 2021

English II

Class: IX MM:80

Time: 2 hrs

Answers to this Paper must be written with a blue/ black pen on ruled sheets of paper
duly numbered along with your name, class, section & roll number.
You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes.
This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
The time given at the head of this paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
You will be given 15 minutes to upload a single pdf file renamed as your first name,
class section.pdf with clear & straight (portrait orientation) pictures of your answers.
[For e.g. Tanmay_9A.pdf]
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Attempt five questions in all from the three text books.

You must attempt at least one question from each of the Sections A, B and C and not
more than two other questions from the same book/ Section.
______________________________________________________________________

The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets.
______________________________________________________________________

SECTION A
DRAMA

The Merchant of Venice – Shakespeare

Answer one or more questions from this section.

Question 1
Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow-

ANTONIO: Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for it,

My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,
Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year:
Therefore, my merchandise makes me not sad.

(i)Whom is Antonio speaking to? Explain the first two lines. [3]
(ii) What reasons are ascribed to Antonio’s sadness? [3]
(iii) Who joins Antonio a little later? What does he need and why? [3]
(iv) What is the ‘merchandise’? Why should it make a person sad? [3]
(v)In the scene that follows, a lot is revealed about the character of Portia. Elucidate.[4]

Question 2
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow-

SHYLOCK: Why, look you, how you storm!

 I would be friends with you, and have your love,
Forget the shames that you have stain’d me with,
Supply your present wants, and take no doit
Of usance for my moneys, and you’ll not hear me:
This is kind I offer.

(i) Whom is Shylock speaking to and what has the person just told Shylock? [3]
(ii) Explain the word ‘shames.’ [3]
(iii) What does the ‘present wants’ refer to? Explain. [3]
(iv) What opinion do you form of Shylock from the above lines? [3]
(v) Explain what happens ultimately. [4]

Question 3
Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow-

LAUNCELOT: Adieu! Tears exhibit my tongue. Most beautiful

pagan, most sweet Jew! If a Christian do not play
the knave and get thee, I am much deceived. But,
adieu! These foolish drops do something drown my
manly spirit: adieu!

(i)Who was Launcelot? Whom is he bidding goodbye to? Is he happy? [3]

(ii) Who is sorry to see Launcelot leave? What does this person tell and give Launcelot?
[3]
(iii) Why is Launcelot leaving? [3]
(iv) Explain the above lines. [3]
(v) In the scene that follows where Bassanio’s friends have planned some kind of
entertainment to amuse the guests at dinner, what does Lorenzo tell Gratiano and the
others of the contents of Jessica’s letter to him? [4]

SECTION B – POETRY

Answer one or more questions from this Section

A collection of Poems
Question 4
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow-
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In love of home and loyalty
And far-cast thought of civic good—
His blessings on the neighbourhood
Who in the hollow of His hand
Holds all the growth of all our land—
A nation’s growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.
(i) What do you mean by ‘civic good’? How does a tree planter do civic
good? [3]
(ii) How is the title of the poem apt and suggestive? Explain. [3]
(iii) How is the poem relevant today? [3]
(iv) How is the tree described metaphorically by the poet? [3]
(v) Imagery abounds in the poem. Name the two types of images and state all
their examples from the poem. [4]
Question 5
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow-
Bangle sellers are we who bear
Our shining loads to the temple fair……
Who will buy these delicate, bright
Rainbow-tinted circles of light?
Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,
For happy daughters and happy wives.
(i) What does the poem speak of? Explain. [3]
(ii) The poem lacks contemporary value. Why? [3]
(iii) What do you understand by ‘rainbow-tinted circles of light’? Name this literary
figure. [3]
(iv) Explain the ‘colour imagery’ used by the poet Sarojini Naidu. What do each of
the colours represent? [3]
(v) Explain the line- ‘Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear’. Name and explain
the figure of speech used. [4]

Question 6
Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow-
With fire and sword the country round
Was wasted far and wide,
And many a chiding mother then,
And new-born baby died;
But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory.
(After Blenheim by Robert Southey)
(i)When was this poem written and what is it about? [3]
(ii) What do you think of ‘blind patriotism’ especially in the light of this poem. [3]
(iii) What does the poet wish to emphasise through the repetition of certain lines in the
poem? [3]
(iv) Explain the above stanza. [3]
(v) Bring to light the theme of ‘generation gap’ in this poem. [4]

SECTION C- PROSE
A Collection of ICSE Short Stories
Answer one or more questions from this section.

Question 7
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow-

The younger man roused himself sharply at the sound of her voice, seemed to struggle
with a slight embarrassment which he threw off instantly, and then clasped her fingers
with his left hand.

(i)Who is the ‘man’ in the above lines? Whose voice did he hear? What does she ask
him? [3]
(ii) Where does the above take place? Describe the condition of the man when ‘she’
sees him. [3]
(iii) Comment on the marshal accompanying the ‘younger man’. [3]
(iv) Explain the ‘irony’ in the story. [3]
(v) What do you like about this story? Elucidate. [4]
Question 8
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow-

A few more moons, a few more winters, and not one of the descendants of the
mighty hosts that once moved over this broad land or lived in happy homes,
protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to mourn over the graves of a people once
more powerful and hopeful than yours. But why should I mourn at the untimely fate
of my people? Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the
sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be
distant, but it will surely come, for even the White Man whose God walked and
talked with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny.

(i) How does the speaker differentiate his tribal people from the white people?[3]
(ii) How does the speaker realize that he should not mourn at the ‘untimely fate’
of his people? [3]
(iii) What is the figure of speech used in the fifth line? Explain. [3]
(iv) Who was Chief Seattle? What did he plead for in his widely publicized
speech? [3]
(v) ‘To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is
hallowed ground’- the Red Man attached great significance to “traditions”.
State all that mattered to the Red Man and how do you view the same? [4]

Question 9
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow-

The village consisted of less than thirty houses, only one of them built with brick and
cement. Painted a brilliant yellow and blue all over with gorgeous carvings of gods
and gargoyles on its balustrade, it was known as the Big House. The other houses,
distributed in four streets, were generally of bamboo thatch, straw, mud, and other
unspecified material. Muni’s was the last house in the fourth street, beyond which
stretched the fields. In his prosperous days Muni had owned a flock of forty sheep
and goats and sallied forth every morning driving the flock to the highway a couple of
miles away.
(i) What is the name of the village referred to here and what does it mean?
Where is it situated? Describe it. [4]
(ii) Describe the character of Muni. [4]
(iii) What does the writer R. K. Narayan describe in this story? Point out
instances with elements of ‘realism’ and ‘humour’? [8]

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