Late Nineteenth Century

Question 1

Name two features of Herman Melvilles Moby Dick

Answer 1

1. Considered a prominent instance of anthropomorphism, ascribing intentions to animals, to nature, and therefore, to fate
2. Complex treatment of diverse themes, viz. eternal conflict of good and evil, personal morality vs. divine retribution

Question 2

Name two features of Victorian literature.

Answer 2

1. Development of aesthetics; focus on “taste”, or the sense of discrimination
2. Diversity of literary genres and forms, but dominance of the realist novel

Question 3

What is meant by art for arts sake? How does it characterize literature?

Answer 3

Oscar Wilde was strongly associated with the phrase “art for art’s sake,” though it doesn’t actually appear in his writing. It stems from his role in the Aesthetics Movement, in which he advocated that art needed no justification or purpose. As he notoriously claimed in the preface to his dark novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, “All art is quite useless.” Wilde believed that art need not express anything but itself. He put the value on artistry above anything else and regarded life as a kind of art form, to be lived beautifully.

Question 4

Name two features of the novels of Charles Dickens

Answer 4

1. Composite writing style: Sentimental realism, with satire, caricature, allegory, an eye for detail
2. Diverse and appealing characters: Both complex figures with emotional and intellectual depth, and stock or caricature-like figures
3. Striking visual imagination and verbal virtuosity

Question 5

Name two characteristics of Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights

Answer 5

1. Gothic romance: Dark setting, doomed passion, revenge and horror, menacing and supernatural forces
2. Complex storytelling technique: Frame narrative, disjointed; story within a story; intergenerational narrative, recounted by a distant and largely uninvolved narrator

Question 6

What is the main theme of Mathew Arnolds Dover Beach?

Answer 6

the loss of faith or culture in his society and painting a picture of a world that, as a result of this loss of faith, is full of cruelty, uncertainty and violence.

Note how the sea imagery develops this theme. Reference to the “Sea of Faith” and its gradual withdrawal from the coast indicates that Arnold considers its loss is a negative occurrence:

Question 7

Name two features of Oscar Wildes writing.

Answer 7

1. he was ver concerned with perfection especially when it comes to the closing the right words
2. Style: Witty, engaging, provocative; apparently frivolous, but also incisive social critique