Students can refer to the following Sample Paper ICSE Class 10 English Literature Set I with Answers provided below based on the latest syllabus and examination guidelines issued for ICSE English Literature. All specimen papers have been prepared covering all chapters given in ICSE English Literature book for Class 10. You should also refer to ICSE Class 10 English Literature Solutions.
Sample Paper ICSE Class 10 English Literature Set I with Answers
Subject: English Literature
Answer to this paper must be written on the paper provided separately.
You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes.
This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
The time given at the head of this Paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
Attempt five questions in all. You must attempt one question from each of the Sections A, B and C and
any two other questions.
The intended marks for the questions or parts of questions are given in brackets ( ).
SECTION – A [DRAMA]
Merchant of Venice – Shakespeare
Question 1
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Portia: …… The brain may devise laws for the blood; but a hot temper leaps o’er a cold decree:
a) What was Portia’s mood as the scene opened? What philosophical statements does Nerissa utter when Portia says that her body is tired of this great world? (3)
b) According to Nerissa, how is happiness to be acquired? When would chapels become churches and poor men’s cottages become princess palaces, according to Portia? (3)
c) Explain: (3)
i. The brain may devise laws of the blood; but a hot temper leaps o’er a cold decree;
ii. Such a hare is madness the youth, to skip o’er the meshes of good counsel the cripple.
iii. I may neither choose whom I would, nor refuse whom I dislike;
d) Who is the first suitor? How does Portia describe him? (3)
e) How does Portia describe Monsieur Le Bon?
Question 2
Morocco: Some god direct my judgment! Let me see; I will survey the inscription back again…….
a) Quote the words written on the gold, silver and lead caskets respectively. (3)
b) What are Morocco’s reason for rejecting the lead casket? (3)
c) What are Morocco’s reason for rejecting the silver casket? (3)
d) How does Morocco describe the extensive rivalry for Portia’s hand? (3)
e) What does this scene reveal about the Prince of Morocco? (4)
Question 3
Bassanio: So, may the outward shows be least themselves: The world is still deceived with ornaments.
a) Who is Bassanio? Where is he now? What is his reason to be there? (3)
b) Why does Portia ask Bassanio to wait for a day or two before making his choice of a casket? What is the ‘sin’ in her mind? If it turned out that she would not be his wife, whose fault would it be, according to Portia? (3)
c) What does she finally acknowledge as the reason for her talking too much? What is Bassanio’s reaction? What teasing remark does Portia make now? Explain. (3)
d) What reasons does Bassanio give for rejecting the gold casket? (3)
e) Who arrives then? What does he give Bassanio? What confession does Bassanio make to Portia?
SECTION – B [ POETRY ]
Question 4
Old Kasper took it from the boy, who stood expectant by;
a) Where is the scene of the poem set? What is its historical importance? (3)
b) What did Kasper take from the boy? Who is the boy? Does the boy know what it is? (3)
c) The boy stood ‘expectant by’. What does it mean and show? The old man shook his head and sighed. What did it signify? (3)
d) Why was it that the ‘ploughshare turn them out’ so often? Why does old Kasper say that it was a great victory in spite of so much loss? What words used in the poem show the eagerness of the boy and the girl to hear about the past? (3)
e) What is the contradiction that you find in the statement ‘Who fell in the great victory?(4)
Question 5
…. They sit and stare and stare and sit until they’re hypnotised by it……
a) Who are ‘they’ in the first line? What do they do? Why does the poet say, ‘sit and stare’ and ‘stare and sit’? (3)
b) What does the line ‘Until they are hynoptised by it’ mean? (3)
c) Why does the poet use the word ‘drink’? What impact does it create? (3)
What do the children get from the television according to the poet?
d) What are the benefits of watching television? (3)
e) What is one asked to ‘stop’ from the line ’stop to think’? Are the benefits of watching television real benefits? What is the tone used here? Why does the poet do so?
Question 6
……The angel wrote and vanished. The next night It came again a great wakening light.
a) What did the angel write? Where is the angel now and what time of day is it? (3)
b) What did the angel show? What does it signify? (3)
c) What had Abu asked the angel a night before? What was the answer? How did Abou react?(3)
d) Describe the ambiance of Abou’s room when the angel appeared for first time. (3)
e) ‘Abou Ben Adhere (may his tribe increase!)’ Do you agree with this thought? Justify your answer. (3)
SECTION – C [PROSE]
Question 7
I was watching the bridge and the African looking country of the Ebro Delta and wondering….
a) What is a platoon bridge? Why were so many people crossing the bridge? What was the narrator doing there? (3)
b) What was the first question that the narrator asks the old man? What does he answer? Why does the old man smile? (3)
c) Why is the old man the last to leave his town? Describe his physical appearance? (3)
d) State from the text lines that show that the old man was about to give up on life. Support them with an explanation. (3)
e) Throw some light on the two major conflicts dealt with in the story?
Question 8
‘Do you mean it was like this, Sahib?’
a) Name the protagonist of this story? Write a few lines about the ‘Eton of the East’. (3)
b) Where would the protagonist usually spend his evening. Describe the place. (3)
c) How would the protagonist usually return home? What made most people stay away from taking the same route? (3)
d) What did the protagonist encounter on his way back home? (3)
e) How does Ruskin Bond create an eerie atmosphere in his story ‘The Face in the Dark’?
Question 9
I wasn’t too worried about all this. I’d trained, sweated and disciplined myself for six years, with the Game in mind……
a) Who was Hitler? What was his belief? What effect did it have on his people? How did this affect Jesse Owens and why? (4)
b) Why was Jesse surprised at the trials? What was Jesse’s thoughts after what he had seen? (4)
c) What would any coach tell Jesse? What happed after he kicked the dirt in disgust? Enumerate the build up of the friendship between Jesse Owens and Luz Long.