7. Johnson.  For what is Dr. Johnson famous in literature?  Can you explain his great influence?  Compare his style with that of Swift or Defoe.  What are the remarkable elements in Boswell’s Life of Johnson?  Write a description of an imaginary meeting of Johnson, Goldsmith, and Boswell in a coffeehouse.

8. Burke.  For what is Burke remarkable?  What great objects influenced him in the three periods of his life?  Why has he been called a romantic poet who speaks in prose?  Compare his use of imagery with that of other writers of the period.  What is there to copy and what is there to avoid in his style?  Can you trace the influence of Burke’s American speeches on later English politics?  What similarities do you find between Burke and Milton, as revealed in their prose works?

9. Gibbon.  For what is Gibbon “worthy to be remembered”?  Why does he mark an epoch in historical writing?  What is meant by the scientific method of writing history?  Compare Gibbon’s style with that of Johnson.  Contrast it with that of Swift, and also with that of some modern historian, Parkman, for example.

10.  What is meant by the term “romanticism?” What are its chief characteristics?  How does it differ from classicism?  Illustrate the meaning from the work of Gray, Cowper, or Burns.  Can you explain the prevalence of melancholy in romanticism?

11. Gray.  What are the chief works of Gray?  Can you explain the continued popularity of his “Elegy”?  What romantic elements are found in his poetry?  What resemblances and what differences do you find in the works of Gray and of Goldsmith?

12. Goldsmith.  Tell the story of Goldsmith’s life.  What are his chief works?  Show from The Deserted Village the romantic and the so-called classic elements in his work.  What great work did he do for the early novel, in The Vicar of Wakefield?  Can you explain the popularity of She Stoops to Conquer?  Name some of Goldsmith’s characters who have found a permanent place in our literature.  What personal reminiscences have you noted in The Traveller, The Deserted Village, and She Stoops to Conquer?

13. Cowper.  Describe Cowper’s The Task.  How does it show the romantic spirit?  Give passages from “John Gilpin” to illustrate Cowper’s humor.

14. Burns.  Tell the story of Burns’s life.  Some one has said, “The measure of a man’s sin is the difference between what he is and what he might be.”  Comment upon this, with reference to Burns.  What is the general character of his poetry?  Why is he called the poet of common men?  What subjects does he choose for his poetry?  Compare him, in this respect, with Pope.  What elements in the poet’s character are revealed in such poems as “To a Mouse” and “To a Mountain Daisy”?  How do Burns and Gray regard nature?  What poems show his sympathy with the French Revolution, and with democracy?  Read “The Cotter’s Saturday Night,” and explain its enduring interest.  Can you explain the secret of Burns’s great popularity?