(English Medium) ICSE Class 10 - CISCE Question Bank Solutions for English 2 (Literature in English)

Read the following extract from Leigh Hunt's poem, ‘Abou Ben Adhem’ and answer the question that follows:

1. The poem begins with a blessing. What is this blessing? Explain its significance.    [3]
2. Explain in your own words the following lines and phrases from the poem:    [3]
   1. ‘Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,’
   2. A look made of all sweet accord
   3. A great wakening light
3. What was the angel doing in Abou Ben Adhem’s room? What did Abou ask the angel?   [3]
4. Why did Abou say to the angel, “Write me as one that loves his fellow men”? (Give the context)   [3]
5. Explain the last line of the poem: ‘And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.” If you had to give the poem a different title, what would you call it? Give a reason for your answer.   [4]

Read the following extract from Robert Browning's poem, “The Patriot” and answer the question that follows.

1. What can you conclude of the Patriot's mood from the given lines?
   Quote the line from the given extract which tells us that the Patriot did his utmost to satisfy his people?   [3]
2. The last line of the extract suggests that a year has gone by.
   How had the speaker been treated a year ago?   [3]
3. How did the situation change a year later? Give details of his present state.   [3]
4. Why were only a ‘palsied few” onlookers seated at the windows?
   ‘Where had the other townspeople gone?‘Why had they gone there?   [3]
5. How is the speaker's faith in God revealed at the end of the poem?
   Do you think the poem ends on a note of hope or despair? Justify your answer.   [4]

Where was Caesar put to death?

Who asks permission to speak at Caesar’s funeral?

“Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy...”
These lines tell us that Antony is ______.

When Antony says, ‘This is a slight unmeritable man/Meet to be sent on errands’, he refers to ______.

What strategy does Cassius suggest that the conspirators follow?

When Cassius says, ‘My life is run his compass’, he means that ______.

Which of the given options contains the figure of speech that appears in the following line from Leigh Hunt's poem “The Glove and the Lions’: ‘Ramped and roared the lions’:

Which of the following is NOT an effect of Bhishma Lochan Sharma’s powerful singing in Sukumar Ray’s poem 'The Power of Music’?

Which of the following words does H. W. Longfellow use to describe the movement of the phantoms in his poem, ‘Haunted Houses’?

The theme of Maya Angelou’s poem ‘When Great Trees Fall’ is ______.

The poem, 'A Considerable Speck’, captures ______.

In Stephen Leacock’s ‘With the Photographer’, while waiting for the photographer, the narrator spent time ______.

In Ama Ata Aidoo’s short story, ‘The Girl Who Can’, Nana expressed her disapproval of Adjoa’s legs because ______.

Choose the option that lists the sequence of events from Alphonse Daudet’s short story ‘The Last Lesson’ in the correct order.

1. But, when he arrived at school, Franz was dismayed to find his classmates already seated quietly and solemnly in their places ... and shocked when M. Hamel simply urged him to take his place.
2. Franz hurried to school that morning he was very late and dreaded being scolded by M. Hamel, the teacher.
3. After he had settled at his desk, he noticed something really odd: the back benches of the classroom were occupied by adults from the village!
4. He hoped to slip into the classroom unnoticed, under cover of the bustle and noise of a typical school day morning.

Select the option that shows the correct relationship between statements (1) and (2) from William Sleator’s short story, ‘The Elevator’.

Statement 1: Terrified of the fat lady in the elevator, Martin ran down the dark stairs, fell and broke his leg.

Statement 2: Angry and disappointed that his son had behaved like a fool and a coward, Martin’s father did not talk to him on the way to the hospital.

Ray Bradbury’s short story ‘The Pedestrian’, can be best described as ______.

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

1. Where are the speakers?
   What does ‘puissant’ mean?
   Explain: ‘Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat a humble heart’.  [3]
2. At the beginning of the scene, Caesar says, ‘The Ides of March are come.’
   Why do you think Caesar said this?
   What does the Soothsayer say in response?  [3]
3. What specific duties do the conspirators allot to Trebonius and Casca?
   Why does Cassius become nervous when Popilius Lena speaks to him as they enter?  [3]
4. What does Artemidorus want of Caesar?
   How does Caesar respond to his plea?  [3]
5. Shortly after this exchange, Caesar is stabbed to death by the conspirators. Whom do you sympathise with — Julius Caesar or the conspirators? Give reasons for your choice.  [4]

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

1. To whom are these words addressed?
   Why is Brutus angry with this person?  [3]
2. How does this person feel when he hears these words?
   What does he say to defend himself?  [3]
3. Why did Brutus need ‘certain sums of gold’?
   Why was he unable to raise these sums of money?  [3]
4. Earlier in this scene, Brutus refers to Lucius Pella.
   What had he been accused of?
   Who had supported him and how?  [3]
5. Mention any two aspects of Brutus’ character that are revealed in the above extract.
   What do you understand about the relationship between Brutus and the person he addresses?  [4]