IGNOU BEGC-112
- British Literature: The Early 20th Century,
Latest Solved Assignment
(July 2023 - January 2024)

SECTION A

I. Explain the following passages with reference to the context. 

1. ““What are you saying Septimus,” Rezia asked, wild with terror, for he
was talking to himself. She sent Agnes running for Dr. Holmes. Her
husband, she said, was mad. He scarcely knew her. “You brute! You
brute!” cried Septimus, seeing human nature, that is Dr. Holmes enter the
room.”

2. “….. but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

3. “We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.”

4. “He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint.”

Section B

II. Write short notes on the following:

A. The major characteristics of modernism
B. British War Poetry of the early twentieth century.
C. The central theme of the poem “The Second Coming”.
D. Symbolism in “The Journey of the Magi”.

III. Write short essays on the following:

a. Explain the title of the poem “I think continually of those who are truly great.”
b. Discuss how Virginia Woolf employs the “Stream of Consciousness Technique” in her novels. How did her novels differ from those novels written in the realist tradition?

Section C

IV. Discuss the psychoanalytic readings of D. H. Lawrence’s novel Sons and Lovers.

SECTION A

I. Explain the following passages with reference to the context.

1. “For, now that it was all over, truce signed, and the dead buried, he had,
especially in the evening, these sudden thunder-claps of fear. He could not
feel. As he opened the door of the room where the Italian girls sat making
hats, he could see them; could hear them; they were rubbing wires among
coloured beads in saucers; they were turning buckram shapes this way and
that; the table was all strewn with feathers, spangles, silks, ribbons; scissors
were rapping on the table; but something failed him; he could not feel. Still,
scissors rapping, girls laughing, hats being made protected him; he was
assured of safety; he had a refuge.”

2. “But no, he would not give in. Turning sharply, he walked towards the
city’s gold phosphorescence. His fists were shut, his mouth set fast. He
would not take that direction, to the darkness, to follow her. He walked
towards the faintly humming, glowing town, quickly.”

3. “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

4. “Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.”

SECTION B

II. Write short notes on the following:

A. Characteristics of modernism and post-modernism.
B. The “Stream of Consciousness Technique” and early twentieth century British fiction.
C. Modern British drama of the early twentieth century.
D. The major themes and concerns of the novel Mrs. Dalloway.

III. Write short essays on the following:

A. “The early years of the twentieth century were significant for the movement for women’s rights.” Discuss how the literary texts that you have studied in this course, reflect the developments in the contemporary movement for women’s rights.
B. Explain the title of the poem “I think continually of those who are truly great”.

SECTION C

IV. Discuss the central theme of the poem “Journey of the Magi” and comment on the symbolism in the poem.