English Exam

Author of Lenore’

Gottfried August Bürger

Author of Darkness

Lord Byron

Author of Haunted Palace

Edgar Allan Poe

Author of The conqueror Worm

Edgar Allan Poe

Author of The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe

Author of A Dream Within A Dream

Edgar Allan Poe

Author of The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe

Author of A Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe

Author of The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe

Author of Goblin Market

Christina Rossetti

Author of The Spook House

Ambrose Bierce

Author of Sweat

Zora Neale Hurston

Author of A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner

Author of Clytie

Eudura Welty

Author of The lottery

Shirley Jackson

Author of A Good Man is Hard to Find

Flannery O'Connor

Author of Where Are You Going, Where Have you Been?

Joyce Oates

Author of The Passing

Durango Mendoza

Characters, Summary and themes in Lenore’

• Characters:

  • Lenore: A young woman mourning her fiancé’s absence after war.

  • The Knight: A ghostly figure who comes to take Lenore away.

• Themes: Love and loss, supernatural vengeance, death, and the afterlife.

• Summary: Lenore laments her fiancé’s failure to return from war, accusing God of injustice. One night, a ghostly knight appears, claiming to be her fiancé and urging her to ride away with him. As the ride grows darker and more surreal, Lenore realizes she’s being taken to the graveyard. The knight reveals himself as Death, symbolizing Lenore’s punishment for her blasphemy.

Characters, Summary and themes in Darkness

• Characters:

• Humanity as a collective protagonist.

• Themes: Apocalyptic despair, loss of civilization, and the fragility of humanity.

• Summary: This bleak poem imagines a world without sunlight, where an apocalyptic darkness consumes the earth. Humanity falls into chaos, with people turning on one another to survive. The poem ends with the destruction of all life, highlighting humanity’s inherent destructiveness.

Characters, Summary and themes in Haunted Palace

• Characters : A king and his subjects, who inhabit a cursed palace.

• Themes : Madness, isolation, and the loss of innocence.

• Summary : The poem depicts a once-beautiful palace that becomes a symbol of madness and despair. The king, once noble, descends into insanity, reflecting the decay of his realm. As the palace falls into ruin, it embodies the tragic consequences of isolation and despair.

Characters, Summary and themes in The Conqueror Worm

• Characters:

  • A troupe of mimes representing humanity.

  • The Conqueror Worm symbolizes death and decay.

• Themes: Inevitability of death, futility of life, and cosmic indifference.

• Summary: The poem presents a theater performance in which humanity is depicted as puppets controlled by fate. The play ends with the Conqueror Worm devouring the performers, symbolizing death’s dominion over life.

Characters, Summary and themes in The Raven

• Characters:

  • Narrator: A grieving man mourning his lost love, Lenore.

  • The Raven: A bird symbolizing despair and eternal sorrow.

• Themes: Madness, grief, the supernatural, and unending loss.

• Summary: A man grieving his lost love is visited by a raven, which repeatedly utters the word “Nevermore.” The bird’s presence drives the narrator into madness as he obsesses over whether he’ll reunite with Lenore in the afterlife.

Characters, Summary and themes in A Dream Within a Dream

• Characters:

  • Narrator: A person questioning reality and the fleeting nature of life.

• Themes: Illusion vs. reality, existential despair, and the transience of life.

• Summary: The narrator laments the impermanence of life, likening it to a dream. They attempt to grasp sand, but it slips through their fingers, symbolizing the impossibility of holding onto time or meaning.

Characters, Summary and themes in The Fall of the House of Usher

• Characters:

  • Roderick Usher: A mentally unstable man plagued by illness.

  • Madeline Usher: Roderick’s twin sister, who suffers from catalepsy.

  • Narrator: A friend of Roderick, who visits the Usher mansion.

• Themes: Decay, madness, family curses, and the supernatural.

• Summary: The narrator visits his friend Roderick Usher at the crumbling Usher mansion. As Roderick descends into madness, Madeline is buried alive, only to return and kill her brother. The mansion collapses, symbolizing the family’s ultimate demise.

Characters, Summary and themes in A Tell-Tale Heart

• Characters:

  • Narrator: An unnamed murderer obsessed with their guilt.

  • Old Man: The narrator’s victim, whose "vulture eye" drives the narrator to kill.

  • Two policemen: Go and investigate what the Shreek the neighbor heard 

• Themes: Guilt, madness, and obsession.

• Summary: The narrator murders an old man, hiding his body under the floorboards. However, they’re haunted by the sound of the man’s heart beating, which grows louder until they confess the crime in a fit of madness.

Characters, Summary and themes in Goblin Market

• Characters:

  • Laura: A young woman tempted by goblin fruit.

  • Lizzie: Laura’s sister, who saves her.

  • Goblins: Mischievous creatures selling enchanted fruit.

• Themes: Temptation, sacrifice, and sisterhood.

• Summary: Laura succumbs to the temptation of goblin fruit, which drains her vitality. Lizzie risks herself to retrieve the fruit and cures Laura through her selflessness, emphasizing the redemptive power of love.

Characters, Summary and themes in The Spook House

• Characters:

  • Unnamed Narrator: A man investigating a haunted house.

• Themes: Supernatural horror, mystery, and fear of the unknown.

• Summary: In The Spook House by Ambrose Bierce, William Jarrett and John Hardshaw take shelter in an abandoned house rumored to be haunted. Inside, they discover a room full of dead bodies, victims of a past accident trapped by a collapsed structure. The story blends suspense and horror, revealing a tragic history behind the house's eerie reputation

Characters, Summary and themes in Sweat

• Characters:

  • Delia: A hardworking, oppressed laundress.

  • Sykes: Delia’s abusive husband.

• Themes: Domestic abuse, resilience, and poetic justice.

• Summary: Delia endures abuse from her husband, who attempts to kill her with a snake. The snake ultimately kills him instead, granting Delia her freedom.

Characters, Summary and themes in A Rose for Emily

• Characters:

  • Miss Emily Grierson: A reclusive woman trapped by tradition and mental instability.

  • Homer Barron: Emily’s lover, who mysteriously disappears.

• Themes: Decay, isolation, and resistance to change.

• Summary: Emily’s life is recounted through fragmented narration. After her death, townsfolk discover Homer’s corpse in her house, revealing her macabre attempt to preserve love.

Characters, Summary and themes in Clytie

• Characters:

  • Clytie: A spinster trapped in her family home.

  • Octavia: Cyltie’s sister

  • Jerald: Cyltie’s brother

• Themes: Isolation, repression, and psychological decay.

• Summary: Clytie Farr, a lonely and mentally fragile woman, lives a reclusive life in her family's decaying Southern home. Isolated and estranged from the outside world, she becomes obsessed with reflections, often staring into water to find meaning. In a tragic moment, she drowns while gazing at her reflection in a rain barrel, symbolizing her inability to escape her loneliness and inner turmoil.

Characters, Summary and themes in The Lottery

• Characters:

  • Tessie Hutchinson: A villager who becomes the victim of the lottery.

• Themes: Ritual violence, conformity, and tradition vs. morality.

• Summary: In a small village, residents draw lots for an annual ritual. Tessie Hutchinson is selected and stoned to death, exposing the dark side of blindly following tradition.

Characters, Summary and themes in A Good Man is Hard to Find

• Characters:

  • The Grandmother: A manipulative and self-righteous woman.

  • The Misfit: A murderer who confronts the family.

• Themes: Religious hypocrisy, grace, and moral corruption.

• Summary: A family road trip ends in tragedy when they encounter The Misfit. The grandmother’s superficial piety is exposed, and the story ends with their brutal murder.

Characters, Summary and themes in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

• Characters:

  • Connie: A teenage girl drawn into danger.

  • Arnold Friend: A sinister figure who manipulates Connie.

• Themes: Predation, innocence vs. experience, and the loss of agency.

• Summary: Connie, a vain and naïve teenager, is visited by Arnold Friend, who threatens her family to coerce her into leaving with him. The story ends ambiguously, suggesting her ultimate fate.

Characters, Summary and themes in The Passing by Durango Mendoza

• Characters:

  • Felipe: A man struggling with his identity.

  • Joe Willow: poorpoor boy

• Themes: Identity, alienation, and cultural loss.

• Tells the story of a young boy named Sonny, who admires his confident and carefree neighbor, Joe Willow. When Joe tragically dies in an accident, Sonny is struck by the realization of their shared background and circumstances, leading him to confront the unsettling possibility that his future could mirror Joe’s. This revelation leaves Sonny deeply disturbed as he faces the harsh reality of his potential fate.

Identify the story and author for the quote: “Die away in the night, die away in the gloom! Earth and Heaven, Heaven and earth, Reft of William are nothing worth.”

Lenore by Gottfried Burger

Identify the story and author for the quote: “Ah! Where is the chamber, William dear, And William, where is the bed?” “Far, far from here: still, narrow and cool: Plank and bottom and lid”

Lenore by Gottfried Burger

Identify the story and author for the quote: “See, see, see! By the gallows-tree, As they dance on the wheel’s broad hoop, Up and down, in the gleam of the moon”

Lenore by Gottfried Burger

Identify the story and author for the quote: “Patience, patience, when the heart is breaking; With thy God there is no question-making: Of thy body thou art quit and free: Heaven keep thy soul eternally!”

Lenore by Gottfried Burger

Identify the story and author for the quote: “All earth was but one thought–and that was death immediate and inglorious; and the pang of famine fed upon all entrails–men Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh; The meagre by the meagre were devour’d,”

Darkness by Lord Byron

Identify the story and author for the quote: “Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead Lur’d their lank jaws; himself sought out no food, But with piteous and perpetual moan” 

Darkness by Lord Bryron

Identify the story and author for the quote: “Each other’s aspects – saw, and shriek’d, and died – Even of their mutual hideousness they died, Unknowing who he was upon whose brow Famine had written Fiend. The world was void, the populous and the powerful was lump, Seasonless, herbless, treeless, meaningless, lifeless—A lump of death–a chaos of hard clay”   

Darkness by Lord Byron

Identify the story and author for the quote: “Round about a throne where, sitting, Porphyrogene! In state his glory well befitting, the ruler of the realm was seen”

The Haunted Palace by Poe

Identify the story and author for the quote: “And with all with pearl and ruby glowing Was the fair palace door, Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing And sparkling evermore, A troop of echoes, whose sweet Duty Was but to sing,”

The Haunted Palace by Poe

Identify the story and author for the quote: “Vast forms that move fantastically To a discordant melody; While, like a ghastly rapid river, Through the pale door A hideous throng rush out forever, and laugh– but smile no more”

The Haunted Palace by Poe

Identify the story and author for the quote: “Through a circle that never returned this in To the self-same spot, and much of madness, and more sin, and horror of the soul of the plot.”

The Conqueror Worm by Poe

Identify the story and author for the quote: “Take This Kiss upon the brow! And, and parting from you now, Thus much let me avow—” 

A Dream Within a Dream by Poe

Identify the story and author for the quote: “I stand admit the Roar of a surf-tormented shore, And I whole within my hand Grains of the golden sand…”

A Dream Within a Dream by Poe

Identify the story and author for the quote: Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream, I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the building. Its principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity. The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves… …I well remember that suggestions arising from this ballad, led us into a train of thought wherein there became manifest an opinion of Usher’s which I mention not so much on account of its novelty, (for other men have thought thus,) as on account of the pertinacity with which he maintained it.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe

Identify the story and author for the quote: The belief, however, was connected (as I have previously hinted) with the gray stones of the home of his forefathers. The conditions of the sentience had been here, he imagined, fulfilled in the method of collocation of these stones — in the order of their arrangement, as well as in that of the many fungi which overspread them, and of the decayed trees which stood around — above all, in the long undisturbed endurance of this arrangement, and in its reduplication in the still waters of the tarn. Its evidence — the evidence of the sentience — was to be seen, he said, (and I here started as he spoke,) in the gradual yet certain condensation of an atmosphere of their own about the waters and the walls. The result was discoverable, he added, in that silent, yet importunate and terrible influence which for centuries had moulded the destinies of his family, and which made him what I now saw him — what he was.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe

Identify the story and author for the quote: “She chipp’d a precious golden lock, She dropp’d a tear more rare than pearl, Then sucked their fruit Globes fair or red:”

Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti