Exam questions

1.      The title of a poem or short story often gives the reader an idea of what the subject is about. Choose a poem or short story we have read during this term and discuss how the use of the title is fitting to the poem or short story.

Answer: 

The title of the poem ‘In a Station of the Metro’ by Ezra Pound is essential to the poem. It is the major part of the poem. Without the title the meaning of the poem is lost.

The major part of imagery in the poem is from the title.  If it did not take place in a station of the metro but in a field, or on a street, it would not give the same imagery as the dimness of a metro station. The image of the metro takes the reader underground where it is dark and dismal making the pale faces of the commuters easy to imagine as petals on a black bough. This image of the” petals on a wet, black bough” is lost if the title was not made part of the poem...

2.      Write an essay using the following passage. Identify the story and author

I supposed Laird would tell. I wondered what would happen to me. I had never disobeyed my father before, and I could not understand why I had done it. Flora would not really get away. They would catch up with her in the truck. Or if they did not catch her this morning somebody would see her and telephone us this afternoon or tomorrow. There was no wild country here for her to run to, only farms. What was more, my father had paid for her, we needed the meat to feed the foxes, we needed the foxes to make our living. All I had done was make more work for my father who worked hard enough already. And when my father found out about it he was not going to trust me any more; he would know that I was not entirely on his side. I was on Flora’s side, and that made me no use to anybody, not even to her. Just the same, I did not regret it; when she came running at me and I held the gate open, that was the only thing I could do. 

Answer:

In Alice Munroe’s ‘Girls and Boys’, the horse symbolizes the girl’s need for freedom.  The girl relates to the horse as a captive so when she sees the horse running towards her she just has to set it free.  For the girl it is a moment she is letting herself go, she know it will cause problems but she needs the change. When she lets the horse escape she comes to terms with her place in life. She feels that women do not have an important role, but she accepts it because she has no other choice. She knows she will never be free as a woman in the society as it is. It is the only thing she can do...