English Literature
Questions on The Canterbury Tales
1.Lines 1-18 are the introduction to the weather. Why did the author write so
many words to describe it?
To answer why so many pilgrim go to the Canterbury at the same time.
2.Summarize the main idea of lines 19-34.
A group of pilgrims came across at the Canterbury and go together.
3.How many people are there in the group of pilgrims?
Thirty
4.Based on Prioress’s portrait, can you give a possible reason why she is
undertaking this pilgrimage?
She wants to look for the worldly love.
5.What details does the narrator use in describing the Prioress, and in what
order?
1,Facial expression2,voice 3,etiquette 4，sympathy and charity 5，appearance 6，dress 7，personal accessories..
6.Why does the Wife of Bath go on pilgrimage?
For husband.
7.What is the “framing device” that Chaucer uses for his collection of stories? Framework:a narrative which was composed for the purpose of introducing and connecting a series of tales
8.The General Prologue was written in heroic couplet, analyze some of the
lines.
9.Please name and define five specific methods of characterization Chaucer
uses in the “General Prologue”.
Appearance description：her nose was elegant, her eyes glass-gray; her mouth was very small，but soft and red. Facial description：her way of smiling was simple and coy . behavior description：
Color description 夸张
Questions on Sonnet 18
1.What are the themes of the sonnet 18?
2.What images does Shakespeare use in order to strengthen the theme?
And what kinds of figures of speech are used in the sonnet?
3.Analyze the meter and rhyme of the poem.
Questions on Paradise Lost
1.The poem opens with a long sentence. Analyze the first sentence and
identify the writer’s conception about the poem.
2.Who first seduced the mother of mankind to the revolt?
3.How long does Satan and his peers suffer the penal fire?
4.How does Satan feel about being in Hell according to the poem?
5.Describe the condition of the Hell in your own words according to the poem.
6.Write an essay about the image of Satan.
Questions on The Pilgrim’s Progress
1.Why is the market called “Vanity Fair”?
2.What is the original of the fair?
3.What did people in the fair do to Christian and his friend?
4.What does this episode symbolize?
Questions on William Wordsworth’s poems
1.Identify the meter of the first poem.
2.What mood does the opening simile suggest, and what change in mood
occurs later on?
3.At what time of day is London being described in the second poem?
4.Which descriptive elements are presented objectively and which
subjectively?
5.What are the themes of the third poem?
6.There are two images in the third poem. Identify them and analyze them. Questions on Great Expectations
1.In what details does Pip describe Miss Havisham and her room?
2.What is Pip’s impression about Estella?
3.How does Estella treat Pip? And why?
4.Analyze the characters of Miss Havisham and Estella.
5.Does Pip fall in love with Estella after the first meeting? And why?
6.There is an image in Chapter 8. Identify it and analyze it.
Questions on Tess of the d’Urbervilles
1.What effect does Tess’s confession have on Angel?