Dr. Moulay Tahar University
Department of English
First term Exam in Initiation to Literary Texts
Level: 1st Year
Responsible for the Module: Dr. OUHIBA
Sample correction
Activity One: Answer Briefly the Following Questions (3 pts)
1. What are the major characteristics of Romantic Poetry?
Romantic poetry emphasizes emotion, imagination, and individualism. It often highlights nature's beauty, explores the supernatural, and celebrates the common man and the inner self.
2. What is the difference between sound devices and poetic versification techniques?
Sound devices focus on the auditory effects in poetry, such as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, and onomatopoeia. While Poetic versification techniques involve structural elements, including meter, rhythm, stanza patterns, and rhyme schemes, which govern the poem's form.
3. Why is rhythm significant in poetry?
Rhythm provides a musical quality to poetry, enhancing its emotional impact and aiding in the creation of mood and meaning. It also helps unify the poem's structure, making it more engaging to read or hear.
Activity Two: Figures of Speech (7.5 pts)
1. “What happens to a dream deferred? ... like a raisin in the sun?” (Langston Hughes)
The Figure of Speech is Simile. The dream is compared to a raisin drying in the sun, symbolizing neglect or unfulfilled aspirations.
2. “Earth felt the wound, and Nature ... gave signs of woe.” (John Milton)
The Figure of Speech is Personification. Earth and Nature are given human traits, emphasizing the universal sorrow over a tragic event.
3. “... died two months ago and not forgotten yet? ... outlive his life half a year.” (Shakespeare)
The Figure of Speech is Irony. The statement critiques the fleeting nature of human memory through a sarcastic observation.
4. “Love is a smoke rais’d with the fume of sighs ... A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.” (Shakespeare)
The Figure of Speech is Metaphor. Love is described with contrasting images, highlighting its complex and bittersweet nature.
5. “O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (The Bible)
The Figure of Speech is Apostrophe. Death and the grave are directly addressed, dramatizing the triumph over mortality.
Activity Three: Sound Devices (6 pts)
1. “The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew…”
The Sound Devices are Alliteration and internal rhyme. The repetition of "b" and "f" sounds creates rhythm, and "breeze/blew" forms internal rhyme.
2. “There will come soft rains ... shimmering sound.”
The Sound Devices are : Assonance and onomatopoeia. Repetition of vowel sounds and the word “shimmering” mimics the gentle sounds described.
3. “Who knows why the cold wind blows ... Until it finally slows.”
The Sound Devices are Consonance and end rhyme. Repetition of "s" and "w" sounds enhances mood, while rhymes like "blows/knows" create cohesion.
Activity Four: Metric Feet and Justification (3.5 pts)
The Type of Meter in the given stanza is Iambic pentameter because each line consists of five iambs (unstressed-stressed syllables)