These questions are only INDICATIVE. Do some more reading on the aspects / features referred to, as well as on other similar content. Several of these questions have appeared in past interviews.

• The Faerie Queene was written by whom?

Edmund Spenser

• During the reign of which monarch?

Elizabeth Tudor

• What's significant about it?

The longest poem in English, 2 installments over 6 years, yet incomplete.

• Its style, content?

Allegorical, political and in praise of the Tudors

• 'Tom Jones' was written by whom?

Henry Fielding

• In which century?

The 18th century

• The book's complete title?

The history of Tom Jones, a foundling

• Its significance?

One of the earliest of those works of English prose that are categorised as novels

• 'Let the Women Speak' - a book on women's rights to preach - was written by?

Catherine Mumford

• What else is she known for?Co-founder (with her husband) of The Salvation Army How would you explain the term 'modernism'?

In its broadest definition, 'modernism' is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The term encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the 'traditional' forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social and political conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world.

• Name a few writers who are referred to as 'modernists'.

Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf, W. B. Yeats

• Name two or three of Virginia Woolf's better known works.

Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, A Room of One's Own.

• How did she begin, as a professional writer?

As a contributor to The Time's Literary Supplement

• Her way of examining her characters' emotional and psychological motives places her in a particular school of authors, called?

The 'Stream of Consciousness' school of thought

• What is the literary significance of the phrase 'Stream of Consciousness'?

Stream of consciousness is a narrative mode that seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions. It is primarily a fictional device. The term was introduced to the field of literary studies from that of psychology, where it was coined by philosopher and psychologist William James.

• What are the usual features of such writing?

Such writing is characterized by associative leaps in syntax and punctuation that can make the prose difficult to follow. Unlike in dramatic monologue (as in poetry or drama), where the speaker is addressing an audience or a third person, in stream of consciousness and interior monologue, the speaker's thought processes are more often depicted as overheard in the mind (or addressed to oneself).

• Joyce's novel 'Ulysses' takes place over what period of time?

24 hours

• Who's the central character?

Leopold Bloom

• What's significant about the book and the way it is structured?

The title parallels and alludes to Ulysses, the hero of Homer's 'Odyssey'. Joyce divided Ulysses into eighteen chapters or 'episodes'. While at first glance the book may appear unstructured and chaotic, every episode has a theme, technique, and correspondences between its characters and those of the Odyssey.

• John Milton is of which century?

Seventeenth century

• What work is generally referred to as Milton's 'magnum opus'?'

Paradise Lost'

• Describe the work, in a few words.

This is an epic in blank verse, originally published in ten books. The poem concerns the Christian story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel, Satan, and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's stated purpose was to 'justify the ways of God to men' and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will.

• Who wrote 'Jane Eyre'?

Charlotte Bronte

• How many children were there in the Bronte family?

4

• What is her sister's best known work?

Wuthering heights

• Briefly, what is the book about?

It is the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliffe and Catherine, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and many around them.

• What was the nationality of Oscar Wilde?

Irish

• Which is he better known as - a playwright or a novelist?

A playwright

• Which novel is he known for?

The picture of Dorian Gray

• Which is his most popular play?

The Importance of Being Earnest.

• Who is Mrs. Malaprop, and what is her legacy?

She is a character in the play 'The Rivals' by Richard Sheridan. In the play, she frequently misspoke (used words inappropriately) to great comic effect. The word 'malapropism' (to mean inappropriate use of words) came into common use after the play was written.

• Which era did Charles Dickens belong to?

The Victorian Era

• Which of his books is set during the French Revolution?

A Tale of Two Cities

• Which of his books bears the influence of his brief career as a court reporter?

Bleak House

• In social aspects, what is significant about Dicken's books?

His novels were works of social commentary. He was a fierce critic of the poverty and social stratification of Victorian society. He helped build awareness, in the reading public, of the miserable state of the poor and downtrodden.

• Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' is what type of work?

Comedy

• Which of his plays has regicide in Scotland as its theme?

Macbeth

• While soliloquy had long been an instrument in drama, how did Shakespeare change the way it was used?

Soliloquies had been used mainly to convey information about characters or events; but Shakespeare used them to explore characters' minds.

• Who wrote the poem 'Requiem'?

R. L. Stevenson

• How significant an influence has R. L. Stevenson been?

Stevenson was a celebrity in his own time, but with the rise of modern literature after WW I, he was sidelined as a writer of the second class, good only for children's literature and horror stories. He was gradually excluded from the canon of literature taught in schools. The late 20th century saw the start of a re-evaluation of Stevenson as an artist of great range and insight, a literary theorist, an essayist and social critic, a witness to the colonial history of the Pacific islands, and a humanist. He is now being re-evaluated as a peer of authors such as Conrad and Henry James with new scholarly studies and organizations devoted to him. No matter what the scholarly reception, Stevenson remains very popular around the world, and is the 25th most translated author in the world, ahead of fellow nineteenth-century writers Dickens, Wilde and Poe

• Who composed The Prelude?

William Wordsworth

• What had he in mind, when he considered composing the poem?

It was intended to be the prologue to a long three-part philosophical poem Wordsworth had planned to call The Recluse. Though he planned the project when he was in his late 20s, by the time of his death 60 years later he had completed only the first part, The Prelude, and some of the second part, The Excursion.

• How would you analyse the poem?

Wordsworth chooses his own mind and imagination as a subject worthy of epic. The work is a poetic reflection on his own sense of his poetic vocation as it developed over the course of his life. But its focus and mood present a fundamental movement away from the Neoclassical and into the Romantic. Although the episodes of the poem are recognizable events from Wordsworth's life, they are interpreted in retrospect, reordered in sequence, retold as dramas involving the interaction between the mind and nature and between the creative imagination and the force of history as Wordsworth tries to reconstitute the grounds of hope in a time of post-revolutionary reaction and despair.

• Who was the author of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'?

Lewis Carroll

• Did the book have a sequel?

Through the Looking Glass

• In essence, what has been the influence of the book?

It is considered to be one of the most characteristic examples of 'literary nonsense', and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre.

• How many lines does the normal sonnet have?

14

• What is iambic pentameter?

Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry, and one of many meters used in poetry and drama. It describes a particular rhythm that the words establish in each line. In English, the rhythm is created through the use of stress, alternating between unstressed and stressed syllables. When a pair of syllables is arranged as a short followed by a long, or an unstressed followed by a stressed, pattern, that arrangement is said to be 'iambic'. Iambic pentameter is a line made up of five pairs of short / long, or unstressed / stressed, syllables.

• 'Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise' - whose line is this?

Gray

• From which of his poems?

Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College

• Which poem is considered his masterpiece?

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard - often referred to as 'Elegy'.

• We often use the name of the bird - albatross - figuratively. What is the literary origin of this use?

In the epic 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner', an albatross that leads the ship out of difficulty is shot by the Mariner. When the ship eventually lands in difficulty again, the crew blame it on the Mariner's act and force him to wear the dead albatross around his neck. This has led to the figurative use of the word, to indicate the burden one must suffer for ones errors, or a heavy regret that is borne following an error.

• Who composed the poem?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

• What is Coleridge's best known work in prose?

Biographia Literaria, a collection of his thoughts and opinions on literature which he published in 1817

• In literature, who do we refer to as an 'Unreliable Narrator'?

A narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised. An author usually uses such a narrator to deceive the reader or audience. Unreliable narrators are usually first-person but could be third person as well. The nature of the narrator is sometimes immediately clear. For instance, a story may open with the narrator making a plainly false or delusional claim or admitting to being severely mentally ill, or the story itself may have a frame in which the narrator appears as a character, with clues to his unreliability. A more dramatic use of the device delays the revelation until near the story's end. This twist ending forces the reader to reconsider his point of view and experience of the story. In some cases the narrator's unreliability is never fully revealed but only hinted at, leaving the reader to wonder how much the narrator should be trusted and how the story should be interpreted.

• In which century were the Canterbury Tales written?

14th Century

• Whose work is it?

Geoffrey Chaucer

• How is the work arranged?

The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey. By casting a bumbling, credulous version of himself as tour guide, Chaucer created literature's first unreliable narrator.

• A famous 19th century English poet had separated his collections into the 'Songs of Innocence' and the 'Songs of Experience'. Who was he?

William Blake.

• Which planet is closet to the Sun? Discuss briefly the main characteristics of other planets.
• What do you know about Perihelion and Aphelion?
• What do you know about the'International Date Line'?
• What is the relationship between the Solar Day and Sidereal Day?
• Why do we always see the same face of the Moon?
• What do you know about Tides? How are they formed?
• The difference in the duration of day and night increases as one moves from the _________ to the_________.
• What are 'Equinoxes'? When do they occur?
• What do you know about the 'Atmosphere' and what are the different layers in it?
• What is Wind? How do winds form?
• What are Doldrums? Where do they occur?
• What is meant by 'Horse Latitudes'?
• What are the factors responsible for change in seasons on the Earth's surface?
• What are 'rocks' and how do they form? What are the different types of rocks?
• What is 'Ferrel's Law'?
• What is a 'Cyclone' and how does it form?
• What is measured by the Sling Psychrometer?
• What is meant by 'Cirrus'?
• Rains caused due to the presence of mountains in the way of winds are called _________.
• Where is the famous 'Tuscarora Deep' located?
• What does the term 'Lithosphere' refer to?
• The term 'Epicentre' is associated with?
• What is meant by 'Willy Willy'?
• What is measured on the 'Richter Scale'?
• To which racial group do most of the Indians belong?
• 'Bindibu' are natives of...
• The largest producer of long staple cotton is...
• The largest producer of mercury is...
• What countries are separated by the Durand Line?
• Which two countries are separated by the 'Palk Strait'?
• Why do trees shed their leaves in winter season?
• What do you know about'Pacific Ring of Fire'?
• What do you know about 'Echo-Sounding'? How is it used?
• What is the length of India's coastline?
• Where is the 'Gulf of Mannar' located?
• In which state of India is the Aravalli Range located? What is the speciality of this range?
• Name the highest peak in India. Where is it located?
• Which area in India has an internal type of drainage?
• Which river is called Tsangpo in one of its reaches?
• Some rivers like Narmada and Tapti flow west. Why?
• Most rivers flowing west from the Western Ghats in India do not form deltas because of...
• How are Monsoons formed? Which part of India gets the Summer Monsoon first and why?
• Winter rains in north-western India are caused by...
• In India, during the SW Monsoon, Tamil Nadu remains dry because...
• What are the major causes of droughts in India?
• Rajasthan receives very little rainfall because...
• Name some places of India which receive very low rainfall.
• The amount and intensity of Monsoon rains in India are affected by...
• What do you know about 'October Heat'?
• Name the soil which requires low application of fertilisers, as it gets renewed naturally.

• What are the three broad divisions of History?
• Name two ancient civilisations of the world.
• What do you know about the Egyptian Civilisation?
• Briefly describe the contribution of the Greek Civilisation.
• Briefly describe the contribution of the Roman Empire to Europe.
• What do you know of the Crusades, which took place in the Middle Ages?
• What is Renaissance?
• What do you know of the Reformation Movement in Europe?
• What do you know of the Ottoman Empire?
• Briefly discuss the American Revolution.
• What do you know about the 1789 French Revolution?
• Briefly discuss the rise of the Japanese Empire.
• Discuss why the rise and fall of the Soviet Union was an important event in the 20th Century.
• What do you know about the 1919 Treaty of Versailles?
• When was the League of Nations formed?
• What were the important events in the World War II?
• What do you understand by Cold War?
• Which leaders attended the Yalta Conference in 1945?
• Discuss briefly about the European Community formed in 1967?
• What do you know of 'the Holocaust'?
• Name the Axis Powers and the Allies, during the Second World War.
• Briefly discuss about the October Revolution in Russia.
• What do you know about the Chinese Revolution of 1911?
• Briefly discuss about the Industrial Revolution.
• What was the philosophy of the Fabian Society?
• What was the aim of the Ku Klux Klan and when was it formed?
• The Magna Carta is a Bill of Rights. Briefly discuss the spirit of the charter.
• What were the principles outlined in the Monroe Doctrine?
• When did the attack on Pearl Harbour take place, and what is its importance?
• What did the New Deal proposed by President Roosevelt, promise?
• Briefly discuss the historic declaration of the Rights of Man, found in the French Constitution.
• When did the Russo-Japanese Wars take place in the 20th Century?
• What do you know about the Spanish Civil War?
• Briefly discuss about the historic Bandung Conference of 1955.
• What is ASEAN?
• When was the Balfour Declaration announced and what were its main proposals?
• Who initiated the Marshall Plan after the Second World War, and what were its achievements?
• When was the Group of Seven (G-7) formed and when did Russia become a member?
• Discuss the landmark Indo-Soviet Friendship Treaty of 1971.
• When was the Indus River Water Treaty signed between India and Pakistan and what are the rights and obligations of the two countries under the treaty?
• What do you know about the Non-Alignment Movement and who were its founder-leaders?
• When was the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ratified? Is India a member of the NPT?
• What do you know about the Pugwash Conference?
• When was the Tashkent Declaration signed and what was it all about?
• What is the other name of India according to our Constitution?
• Discuss the Indus Civilisation, in brief
• What is the number of Puranas?
• Name the four Vedas and the Upavedas.
• Tirthankaras are connected with which religion?
• Which religion would you associate the Eight-Fold Path with?

• When did the constitutional history in India start?
• When was the East India Company incorporated in England?
• When was the governance of British India transferred from the East India Company to the British crown?
• Who took the initiative in 1922 to call a convention for framing a constitution for India?
• Who was the president of the convention which drafted the 'Commonwealth of India Bill'?
• Who presided in 1925 over an all-party meeting to consider the draft 'Commonwealth of India Bill'?
• When was the Simon Commission appointed by the British Government?
• When did the Indian National Congress adopt a resolution on the framing of a constitution?
• When was the famous Nehru Report on a constitution for India submitted?
• When did the Congress Working Committee pass a resolution for a Constituent Assembly, based on the adult suffrage?
• The failure of the Simon Commission and the Round Table Conference led to the enactment of which Act?
• When did the British Government concede the demand for a constituent assembly?
• When did the British Labour party announce its India policy?
• Who succeeded Lord Linglithgow as Viceroy in 1943?
• What was the total strength of the Constituent Assembly in our country?
• When was the Constituent Assembly first convened?
• Who was elected permanent chairman of the Constituent Assembly in 1946?
• Who moved the historic Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly?
• When was the draft Objectives Resolution adopted by the Constituent Assembly?
• Who was the chairman of the Drafting Committee in the Constituent Assembly?
• When was the Constitution of India adopted by the Constituent Assembly?
• When was the Indian Constitution finally signed?
• In which year did the Indian National Congress pass a resolution for adoption of Fundamental Rights and Duties?
• Nearly 75% of the Indian Constitution was said to be drawn from __________
• Mention names of some countries from which the Indian Constitution borrowed some concepts and features.
• The concept of a written Constitution was borrowed from the __________ Constitution.
• The concept of the federation or a union of states was borrowed from the __________ Constitution.
• The parliamentary type of government was borrowed from the __________ Constitution.
• The principle of Directive Principles was borrowed from the __________ Constitution.
• How many Anglo-Indian members can the President nominate to the Lok Sabha?
• The Preamble to the Indian Constitution was amended in which year, by adding the terms 'socialist', 'secular', and 'integrity'?
• Which state has a special status in the Indian Constitution, under Article 370?
• The Union Territory of Delhi was renamed as __________.
• When was Pondicherry ceded to India?
• Which state was incorporated into the Indian Union in 1975?
• How many Articles and Schedules did the Indian Constitution have, when it was adopted in 1949?
• Which Article of the Indian Constitution abolished 'untouchability'?
• What Articles of the Indian Constitution deal with the 'Right to Freedom'?
• What Articles of the Indian Constitution deal with 'Right against Exploitation'?
• The Right to Freedom of Religion is covered by __________.
• Which Article of the Indian Constitution deals with the Right to Constitutional Remedies?
• When was the concept of Fundamental Duties incorporated in the Indian Constitution?
• Article 356 deals with the imposition of