SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS. (NOTE.  The best questions are those which are based upon the books, essays, and poems read by the pupil.  As the works chosen for special study vary greatly with different teachers and classes, we insert here only a few questions of general interest.) 1.  What are the chief characteristics of Victorian literature?  Name the chief writers of the period in prose and poetry.  What books of this period are, in your judgment, worthy to be placed among the great works of literature?  What effect did the discoveries of science have upon the literature of the age?  What poet reflects the new conception of law and evolution?  What historical conditions account for the fact that most of the Victorian writers are ethical teachers?

2. Tennyson.  Give a brief sketch of Tennyson’s life, and name his chief works.  Why is he, like Chaucer, a national poet?  Is your pleasure in reading Tennyson due chiefly to the thought or the melody of expression?  Note this figure in “The Lotos Eaters”: 

    Music that gentlier on the spirit lies
    Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes.

What does this suggest concerning Tennyson’s figures of speech in general?  Compare “Locksley Hall” with “Locksley Hall Sixty Years After.”  What differences do you find in thought, in workmanship, and in poetic enthusiasm?  What is Tennyson’s idea of faith and immortality as expressed in In Memoriam?

3. Browning.  In what respects is Browning like Shakespeare?  What is meant by the optimism of his poetry?  Can you explain why many thoughtful persons prefer him to Tennyson?  What is Browning’s creed as expressed in “Rabbi Ben Ezra”?  Read “Fra Lippo Lippi” or “Andrea del Sarto,” and tell what is meant by a dramatic monologue.  In “Andrea” what is meant by the lines,

    Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,
    Or what’s a heaven for?

4. Dickens.  What experiences in Dickens’s life are reflected in his novels?  What are his favorite types of character?  What is meant by the exaggeration of Dickens?  What was the serious purpose of his novels?  Make a brief analysis of the Tale of Two Cities, having in mind the plot, the characters, and the style, as compared with Dickens’s other novels.

5. Thackeray.  Read Henry Esmond and explain Thackeray’s realism.  What is there remarkable in the style of this novel?  Compare it with Ivanhoe as a historical novel.  What is the general character of Thackeray’s satire?  What are the chief characteristics of his novels?  Describe briefly the works which show his great skill as a critical writer.

6. George Eliot.  Read Silas Marner and make a brief analysis, having in mind the plot, the characters, the style, and the ethical teaching of the novel.  Is the moral teaching of George Eliot convincing; that is, does it suggest itself from the story, or is it added for effect?  What is the general impression left by her books?  How do her characters compare with those of Dickens and Thackeray?