Marymount Secondary School
English Literature
Form 5 Mock Exam 2003
Time: 2 ½ hours
Marks: 100
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Answer FOUR questions only
Answer ONE question from Section A, Section B(a), Section B (b) and Section C
Start each question on a new page
Remember to write the question number for each of your answers
You are advised to spend some time on planning before you write your answers
Your plan, which should be done on a separate sheet, should be submitted
together with your answers
Section A
PROSE
THE OXFORD BOOK OF ENGLISH SHORT STORIES
Answer only ONE question from this section. All questions carry 33 marks.
1. Identify qualities which contribute to the success of a story. Illustrate these with
reference to any TWO of the following stories.
Dream Cargoes
The Waterfall
The Blush
Solid Objects
2. "What one intends to achieve may be very different from the actual outcome."
Discuss any TWO of the following stories in the light of the above statement.
The Reverent Wooing of Archibald
A Mere Interlude
Toys of Peace
The Destructors
Section B
POETRY
B(a) BY HEART
Answer either Question 3 or 4. Both questions carry 22 marks.
3. (A) Invictus
(B) 'Seventy feet down'
(C) The Road Not Taken
a. "Human beings are often at the mercy of Nature / Fate."
With reference to poems A and B, compare and contrast the attitudes of the
poets / personas towards the above. (10 marks)
b. How do poetic techniques contribute to the liveliness in poem B? (6 marks)
c. How do poetic techniques contribute to the poet's helplessness in poem C?
(6 marks)
4. (D) The Way Through the Woods
(E) Sandpiper
(F) Carry Her Over the Water
a. Compare and contrast the way the poets capture the process of discovery in
poems D and E. (10 marks)
b. How does poem E appeal to our senses? (6 marks)
c. With reference to poem F, illustrate and examine the importance of
personification in conveying the message of the poem. (6 marks)
Section B(b) UNSEEN POETRY
You MUST answer question 5, which carries 12 marks.
Read the following poem which describes a skater representing her country at an
International Games. Answer the questions which follow it.
The Skater
Narrowing, narrowing, she tightens
To a pirouette –
The spin, the flash,
The spent coin of her fate.
Who loves her? The State
Manoeuvres on ice
And in step, but without, oh without
Her grace. Too late
Its applause for such beauty comes,
A luxury, exchange
At the wrong rate
Which will buy no guns
And can save no one;
Yet how she loosens and leaps now
To strains of Rachmaninov
And how, at the end, she bows
As if offering love
From the heart of this cold rink,
And how, oh how she is more beautiful
Than the patterns she made.
John Mole
5. (a) Look at the phrase “the spent coin” (line 4)
(i)
Why is this an appropriate phrase to describe the movement that is taking
place? (2marks)
(ii)
What does the poet tell us about the skater’s life by his use of this phrase?
(3 marks)
(b) (i)
Quote the lines from the poem which continue the idea first expressed in
the word “coin” in line 4. (2 marks)
(ii) What do the lines you have just quoted suggest about the relationship
between the State and the skater? (3 marks)
(c) Write down one of the words in the poem which suggests that the skater
has some freedom. Explain your choice. (2 marks)
Section C
DRAMA
MACBETH
Answer ONE question from this section. All questions carry 33 marks.
6. a. How would the play be affected if the supernatural elements were omitted?
(15 marks)
b. Create TWO new scenes, one in Act I Scene 1 and one in Act IV Scene 1, to
replace all the scenes involving the supernatural. Describe the two scenes
individually and explain how they would fit in without affecting the development
and other dramatic aspects of the play. (18 marks)
7. With close reference to THREE recurrent sets of images, trace the rise and fall of the
tragic hero, Macbeth. (33 marks)
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