(English Medium) ICSE Class 10 - CISCE Important Questions for English 2 (Literature in English)

Read the following extract from Ray Bradbury's short story, ‘The Pedestrian’ and answer the questions that follow:

1. What was Leonard Mead’s occupation?
   What did he love to do?
   When is the story set? [3]
2. To what does Mead compare his walk through the empty streets?
   Mention TWO reasons he gives for making this comparison.  [3]
3. ‘Why had Mead decided to change his footwear from hard-heeled shoes to sneakers?  [3]
4. What happened quite suddenly as he was making his way home?
   What was Mead's immediate reaction?  [3]
5. ‘Why was Mead taken away by the police car?
   ‘Would you call this a horror story or a piece of science fiction?
   Give reasons for your answer.  [4]

Read the following extract from H.W. Longfellow’s poem, ‘Haunted Houses' and answer the questions that follow:

1. What makes the poet-narrator different from the stranger at his fireside?  [3]
2. What, according to the poet, turns a house into a ‘haunted’ house?  [3]
3. Where is one likely to meet the ‘phantoms’ in a haunted house?  [3]
4. What are the poet-narrator’s views on owning property?  [3]
5. How do the poet’s views of ghosts differ from the traditional perception of ghosts? How would you describe the mood that the poem evokes? Give ONE reason for your answer.  [4]

Read the following extract from Maya Angelou’s poem, ‘When Great Trees Fall’ and answer the questions that follow:

1. What effect does the falling of a ‘great tree’ have on the creatures of the forest?  [3]
2. How does the death of a great soul affect the lives of those left behind in the immediate aftermath of their passing?  [3]
3. What long-term effect does the death of a ‘great soul' have?  [3]
4. What feeling is being expressed by the following lines/phrases?  [3]
   1. small things recoil into silence
   2. kind words/unsaid,
   3. Beand be/better. For they existed
5. What is a ‘Great tree’ a metaphor for?  [4]
   What is the central message of Angelou’s poem, “When Great Trees Fall"?

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.
(i) Name the speaker. Why did the speaker appeal to the Jew for mercy? Earlier who else in the play appealed for mercy? 
(ii) What are the three qualities of mercy which the speaker has stated just before the extract? 
(iii) Give the meaning of‘But mercy is above this sceptred sway’. How does Shylock turn down Portia’s plea for mercy? What does he insist on? 
(iv) What is Bassanio ready to do for Antonio in the court? Why is Bassanio snubbed immediately by the disguised Portia? 
(v) Mention two prominent character traits of Shylock as highlighted through the scene from which the extract has been taken. Substantiate your answer with examples from the text. 

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Inspector: [Sharply] Are you sure there was nobody in the room already?
De Levis: [Taken aback] I don’t know. I never thought. I didn’t look under the bed if you mean that.
Inspector: [Jotting I Did not look under bed. Did you look under it after the theft?
De Levis: No. I didn’t.
Inspector: Ah! Now, what did you do after you came back from your bath? Just give us that precisely.

(i) What reply did De Levis give to the inspector’s last question in the extract? 
(ii) What made De Levis check the contents of his pocketbook? What did he find there?
Whom did he go to upon discovering the theft? 
(iii) Who was Robert? Where was Robert’s room? At what time did he take De Levis’ clothes and boots? 
(iv) What is the Inspector’s final theory of the theft? 
(v) Whom did De Levis accuse of stealing his money? What were his reasons for making this accusation? 

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Mabel: [Utterly surprised] Ronny! Do they want me in Court?
Dancy: No.
Mabel: What is it, then? Why are you back?
Dancy: Spun.
Mabel: [Blank] Spun? What do you mean? What’s spun?
Dancy: The case. They’ve found out through those notes.
Mabel: Oh [Staring at his face] Who?
(i) Where are Mabel and Dancy at this time? What was Mabel doing just before this conversation? 
(ii) Why did Mabel say, “Do they want me in court?” Explain the meaning of spun in the extract? 
(iii) What ‘notes’ is Dancy talking about now?. How does Mabel react immediately after the extract”: 
(iv) Dancy leaves a note for his best friend towards the end of the play. What is the name of his best friend? What is written in the note?
(v) What does Dancy do at the end? Why does he do that? What is your opinion of Mabel and Dancy? 

With close reference to the story ‘The Bet’ by Anton Chekhov, mention the clauses of the bet as laid down between the young lawyer and the old banker. Give an account of the events that follow the bet .

Give an account of how lies were against Snowball after his expulsion, in order to paint him as a traitor.

Which courtesies did Braithwaite ask his class to observe and how did the students react to these ‘new rules’? Describe the incident that brought about a change in  Denham’s hostile attitude towards Braithwaite

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep.
(Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: Robert Frosty)

(i) Who is ‘I’ referred to in the extract? Which season of the year is it? What evidence is there in the poem to support your answer? 

(ii) Who has made him aware of his mistake? How does it make the speaker aware of his mistake? What does it seem to say? 

(iii) What are the three sounds heard? 

(iv) What has been said earlier by the poet about the owner of the woods? 

(v) What does lovely, dark and deep suggest? What is the underlying significance in the repetition of the last two lines of the extract? Mention the moral tag that the poet attaches to the poem. 

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
The morning stretched calm, beautiful, and warm.
Sprawling half-clad, I gazed out at the form
Of shimmering leaves and shadows. Suddenly
A strong flash, then another, startled me.
I saw the old stone lantern brightly lit.
(A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945: Vikram Seth)

(i) In which country did the incident described in the poem occur? What had caused the flashes? What happened to his home soon after? 

(ii) Describe the injuries suffered by the Doctor. 

(iii) What was his wife’s name? What happened to a house standing before them? 

(iv) How does he describe the people he met on the way? 

(v) Why were the people walking with their hands away from their bodies? What was common to all of them? What message does the poem convey? 

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
“That only leaves October, November, and December,”’ said the Queen. "And after that, we shall have to begin all over again.”
“No, we shan’t,” said the King, “because I think twelve daughters are enough for any man and after the birth of dear little December I shall be reluctantly compelled to cut off your head.”
He cried bitterly when he said this, for he was extremely fond of the Queen.

(i) Why did the king change the names of his daughters so many times? 

(ii) In what way was Princess September different from her sisters?  What reason does the author give for this difference in their temperaments? 

(iii) Which unusual birthday tradition did the King of Siam observe? Mention some of the gifts that he gave. 

(iv) Why did Princess September put the Nightingale in a cage? What reasons did she give to the bird for putting it in a cage and then keeping it there? 

(v) How did the bird behave upon being locked in a cage? What is the message of the story? 

The Last Leaf explores the theme of Friendship and Self-sacrifice. Discuss this with close reference to O’Henry’s ‘The Last Leaf’.

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
These three had elaborated old Major’s teachings into a complete system of thought, to which they gave the name of Animalism.

(i) Who had elaborated on Old Major’s teachings? 

(ii) When and where did they hold their secret meetings? How did the meetings end? 

(iii) What had the Old Major said about the ‘nature of this life of ours’? 

(iv) Who were the most faithful disciples? How did they contribute towards the preparations for the rebellion? 

(v) How did the animals celebrate the day after the rebellion? 

Give an account of how Napoleon and his companions were unjust and cruel in their behavior towards the other animals.

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
NEXT MORNING, I HAD AN IDEA. IT WAS nothing clear cut, merely speculative, But I considered it all the way to school. Then, after assembly, as soon as they were quiet I waded in. This might be a bit rough, I thought, but here goes.
“I am your teacher, and I think it right and proper that I should let you know something of my plans-for this class.”

(i) Who is ‘I’ in the above lines? Where is he? In what mood was he when he entered the class? 

(ii) What did the narrator expect from his students at this moment? 

(iii) Who entered soon after this? What did she do that made the narrator angry? What challenges did he give her? 

(iv) What was the effect of the challenge on her? What plan did the narrator have in mind regarding the conduct of the young ladies? Whose help did he seek for this? 

(v) What did the narrator expect from the boy? What was the reaction of the children when they heard the narrator’s expectations? 

Give an account of the incidents of racial discrimination that Braithwaite has described in the novel ‘To Sir With Love’. 

"Boxer lives his life in patience and unquestioning service." How far is this statement true? Throw light on Boxer's character. 

What was the blue bead?

In H.C. Anderson's story, what forces the Little Match Girl to go about selling matches on the street?