W.B. Yeats Previous Year UGC-NET English Questions

Directions (Q.no. 4 to 6): Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow:

A Prayer for Old Age

God guard me from those thoughts men think

In the mind alone;

He that sings a lasting-bone;

Thinks in a marrow-bone;

From all that makes a wise old man

That can be praised of all;

O what am I that I should not seem

For the song’s sake a food?

I pray-for fashion’s word is out

And prayer comes round again-

That I may seem, though I die old,

A foolish, passionate man.

W.B Yeats

Thoughts true for all time are:

[1] Born of God’s care.

[2] Felt deep inside the self.

[3] For all human hearts.

[4] Imbued with logic of mind.

Answer: 2

In the second stanza the poet thinks of:

[1] What all earns all others’ praise.

[2] What all makes a wise old man.

[3] What he does not want to appear.

[4] What he thinks he is, a fool.

Answer: 3

Which one of the following best captures what we infer about the poet?

[1] He believes in the efficacy of prayer.

[2] He is a foolish young man who thinks wisely.

[3] He is an old man wise as old are.

[4] He is old but happy in not being wise.

Answer: 4

Arrange the following poems by W.B. Yeats in the chronological order of publication?

(a) “The Wild Swans at Coole”

(b) “The Second coming”

(c) “Among School Children”

(d) “Adam’s Curse”

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

[1] (a), (c), (d), (b)

[2] (c), (a), (b), (d)

[3] (c), (a), (d), (b)

[4] (d), (a), (b), (c)

Answer: 4

Which of the following two plays were written by W. B Yeats?

A) The Land of Heart’s Desire

B) Time and the Conways

C) The Silver Tassie

D) The Countess Cathleen

E) The Plough and the Stars

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1) C and D only.

2) A and D only.

3) A and E only.

4) B and E only.

Answer: 2) A and D only.

Identify the poems termed as “pastoral elegies”:

[A] Lycidas

[B] In memory of W.B. Yeats

[C] Adonais

[D] Thyrsis

[E] In memoriam

Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:

[1] A, B and C only

[2] B, C and E only

[3] A, C and D only

[4] C, D and E only

Answer: [3] A, C and D only