Students can refer to the following Sample Paper ICSE Class 10 English Literature Set C 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 C with Answers
Class: TEN (X) Full Marks: 80+20
Subject: ENGLISH (LITERATURE)
Attempt FIVE questions in all. You must attempt ONE question from each of the Sections A, B and C and any two other questions from any Section. Maximum you can do 3Questions from a Section. Do not break the sequence.
SECTION A- DRAMA
Question 1.
PORTIA: The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest. It becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
(i) Where is Portia? By what name do people know her here? To whom does she say these lines? [3]
(ii) What does Portia mean when she says “The quality of mercy is not strained’? To what question is she responding when she says this? [3]
(iii) How is mercy twice blessed? [3]
(iv)Explain ‘’ Tis mightiest in the mightiest’. [3]
(v) When does a king come closest to God in his function? What does Portia ask Shylock to consider before he demands for justice? [4]
Question 2.
BASSANIO: O sweet Portia,
Here are a few of the unpleasant’st words
That ever blotted paper. … I was a gentleman,
And then I told you true. And yet, dear lady,
Rating myself at nothing, you shall see
How much I was a braggart. When I told you
My state was nothing, I should then have told you
That I was worse than nothing, for indeed
I have engaged myself to a dear friend,
Engaged my friend to his mere enemy
To feed my means.
(i) What does the paper refer to here? Who has brought it? [3]
(ii) What is Bassanio’s wealth? Why was it his only wealth? Base your answer on the play so far. [3]
(iii) Why does Bassanio call himself a braggart even though he has confessed to having nothing? [3]
(iv) Immediately after these lines, Bassanio uses a metaphor to describe the paper and its contents. Explain the comparison. [3]
(v) What are the contents of the letter? [4
Question 3
Shylock: Is that the law?
Portia: Thyself shalt see the Act; thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest
(i) What is the law as interpreted by Portia just before this extract? 3 “Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.” What kind of justice is Shylock going to have? [3]
(iii) Why does Gratiano rejoice by repeating the words, ‘O learned judge’? [3]
(iv) When the money is being offered by Bassanio, what does Portia say by declining the offer? [3]
(v) After the extract what loophole in the bond is highlighted by Portia? [4]
SECTION B-POETRY
Question 4
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be
a) Explain with reference to context the meaning of the above lines? [3]
b) What does the poet mean by ‘days to be’? Explain “And years that fade and flush again.”? [3]
c) What is meant by forest’s heritage? [3]
d) How is it the harvest of the coming age? [3]
e) Who is being referred to as the unborn eyes? List two phrases which refer to the future
Question 5
For on the faces around the fire,
He noticed one was black.
a) What does happenstance mean? Why does the poet use this language? [3]
b) Give the details of the ‘Six humans’ as much as you know. [3]
c) Explain the symbolism used by the poet. [3]
d) What do the logs denote? [3]
e) Which sin is hinted at in these lines? [4]
Question 6
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
a) How are the daffodils compared to the stars? [3]
b) Explain the reference of the milky way in the extract? [3]
c) What is meant by ‘the margin of the bay’? [3]
d) Comment on the technique of exaggeration used in this extract to heighten the effect. [3]
e) What is meant by jocund company? What is the ‘bliss of solitude’ referred to later in the poem? [4]
SECTION C-PROSE
Question .7
Very part of this soil is sacred…because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors
(a) On what conditions did the speaker agree to accept the proposal put forth by White Chief? [3]
(b) How was the every part of the soil sacred Seattle’s men? [3]
(c)Why did the dust upon which the White Settlers stood, respond lovingly to the footsteps of the tribal people? [3]
(d)Why would the children’s children of White Man never be alone? [3]
(e) What did Seattle mean by, “There is no death, only a change of worlds”? [4]
Question. 8
An old man with steel rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road.
(a) What is a pontoon bridge? What does the bridge symbolise? [3]
(b) What does the ‘day’ signify in the story? [3]
(c) Who was sitting by the roadside? In which condition was the ‘he’ sitting? [3]
(d) Who was the old man taking care of? Why did he have to leave them? [3]
(e) What is the message of the story? [4]
Question 9
Mrs. Thompson saw him approaching from the window, and with ruffling feathers met him a few paces from the door, as he opened the garden gate, and came in. He bore a precious burden, and he felt it to be so. As his arms held the sick child to his breast, a sphere of tenderness went out from her, and penetrated his feelings. A bond had already corded itself around them both, and love was springing into life.
(a) Whom did Mrs. Thompson see approaching? What “precious burden” was he carrying? Why is the burden ‘precious’? [3]
(b) What did Mrs Thompson ask her husband? How did Joe Thompson react to it? [3]
(c) Describe Joe’s behaviour, since the day he brought Maggie. [3]
(d) What reason did Joe Thompson give his wife for bringing the child home? [3]
(e) What was Mrs. Thompson’s reaction when Maggie was brought in? How did her attitude change later?