UGC NTA NET/JRF Exam, June-2020 ENGLISH (Shift-I)

"Deceptions" is written by Larkin after reading about an incident of a rape of a girl. He used a rape victim's statement from a magazine named "London Labour and the London Poor" of the 1840s as an epigraph. Larkin feels the agony suffered by the victim and consoles her. 'Deceptions' is a two stanza poem that is made up of one set of nine lines and another set of eight.

In "Strange Fruit" the last of Seamus Heaney's bog poem, the body of a murdered bog girl is also presented as a document of ancient violence and human cruelity.
"Here is the girl's head
Murdered, forgotten, nameless terrible,
Beheaded girl, out staring axe .....".

"Paradise Lost" is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th century English poet John Milton. After tempted by Satan Eve eats the fruit of forbidden tree. Eve's first fallen thought is to find Adam and to have him eat of the forbidden fruits to so that they might be equal. She finds him nearby. Adam realizes that if she is to be doomed, then he must follow. He eats the fruit. In Book IX Milton explains that their appetite for knowledge has been fulfilled, and their hunger for God has been quenched. Angry and confused, they continued to blame each other for committing the sin, while neither will admit and fault. Their shameful and tearful argument continues for hours.

"Mazeppa" is a narrative poem written by Lord Byron in 1819. It is based on a popular legend about the early of Ivan Mazepa (1639-1709), who later becomes Hetman (military leader) of Ukraine, The Cultural Legacy of Mazeppa was revitalized with the independence of Ukraine in 1991.

Harold Pinter is known for his magnificent use of language, thus his style of writing was named after him "Pinteresque". His use of colloquial language, numerous cliché's, unpolished grammar and illogical syntax create dialogues that reflect day-to day speech. 'A comedy of menace' is a play in which the laughter of the audience in some or all situations is immediately followed by a feeling of some impending disaster. 'A Pinter Pause' is a radical device that Pinter frequently incorporated into his plays. In Pinter script, an eclipse is denoted by three dots and was used by the playwright to indicate slight hesitation.

'The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus', is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title character. The story's protagonist was compared to the Greek myth of Icarus, a boy whose father, Daedalus, gave him wings made out of feathers and beeswax. Dr. Faustus can be categorized as a hero, only he would be a Tragic Hero. Dr. Faustus has elements of both Christian morality and classical tragedy but deep down the story is a tragedy in Christian terms, because he gives in to temptation and is damned to hell.

"Waiting for Godot" is a play by Samuel Beckett in which two characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters while awaiting Godot, who never arrives. It is Beckett's translation of his own original French-language play. This speech "Astride of a grave and a difficult birth......" is spoken by Vladimir.

"The Way of the World" is a play premiered in early March 1700 in the theater in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. It is widely regarded as one of the best Restoration comedies. The setting of play is in London. In many ways, the play can be thought of as a competition between Mirabell and Fainall to deceive the other by means of opposing schemes to gain control of Lady Wishfort and her fortune. So the basic theme is of Jealousy, Deceit and Intrigue. The title is a flippant expression meaning the way people behave.

"The Birthday Party" is the first full length play by Harold Pinter, in 1957. Pinter began writing 'The Birthday Party' in the summer of 1957 while touring in Doctor in the House. He later said : "I remember writing the big interrogation scene in a dressing room in Leicester". In the play Goldberg, McCann, Lulu, Meg and Stanely decided to play 'blind man's buff game.

"The Duchess of Malfi" is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by John Webster in 1612- 1613, published in 1623, the play is loosely based on events that occurred between 1508 and 1513, surrounding Giovanna d'Aragona, 'Duchess of Malfi' (d. 1511), whose father, Enrico d'Aragona, Marquis of Gerace, was an illegitimate son of Ferdinand I of Naples. As in the play, she secretly married Antonio Beccadelli di Bologna after the death of her first husband Alfonso I Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi. Jacobean drama continued the trend of stage violence and horror set by Elizabethan tragedy, under the influence of Seneca. It is based on an Italian novella.