Q.1. “The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together”-who wrote this and why?
Ans. Samuel Johnson composed this line to define the idea of conceit.
Q.2. What is the purpose of the volume The Lives of the Poets”?
Ans. This volume exhibits Johnson’s critical powers and prejudices.
Q.3. What is Davideis?
Ans. Davideis is a work in which materials could not be collected without the study of many years. It was possible for him to write the greater part of this book with a mind of the greatest vigor and activity when he was still a student.
Q.4. Why was The Cutter of Coleman Street censured?
Ans. The Cutter of Coleman Street was treated on the stage severely and it was censured as a satire on the king’s party.
Q.5. When did he die?
Ans. The end of Cowley’s life came in 1667 at the Penthouse in Chester and then he was forty-nine only.
Q.6. How did Dr. Sprat represent him?
Ans. Abraham Cowley was represented by Dr. Sprat as the most amiable of mankind. It was posthumous praise and it was never contradicted by envy or faction.
Q.7. What was the name of the epic poem that Cowley attempted to write?
Ans. The epic poem, Cowley attempted to write, is the Davideis which he designed to have twelve books, but left it unfinished.
Q.8. What does Dr. Johnson represent?
Ans. Dr. Johnson eminently represents the persistence of classical dogma. He is the central figure in an age of bourgeois classicism.
Q.9. What do we find in The Lives of the Poets?
Ans. The Lives of the Poets is a progress of the doctrine of Dr. Johnson. Here we find the secret movement of a thought that is shifting toward the future.
Q.10. Who is Donne?
Ans. Donne is known as the leader of the metaphysical school of poetry. He is known for his use of metaphysical conceits in his poems.
Q.11. How does Cowley use love in his poetry?
Ans. Cowley’s love poems are philosophical and there are more perplexities applied to love in his poems.
Q.12. How does Donne use the tears of lovers?
Ans. Donne uses the tears of lovers to a great poetical account. Donne has extended them into the world.
Q.13. What Pindaric odes did Cowley paraphrase?
Ans. Cowley paraphrased Olympic Ode and Nemaean Ode following Pindar.
Q.14. What does the reader find in the Nemean Ode?
Ans. The reader observes in the Nemacan Ode that “the original new moon, her tender forehead, and her horns” is superadded by Cowley’s paraphrase.
Q.15. What does Cowley think of the Pindaric style?
Ans. Cowley thinks of the Pindaric style to be the highest and noblest kind of writing in verse. It can be adapted only to high and noble subjects.
Q.16. What are the basic differences between Cowley and Tasso as writers of epic?
Ans. The resemblance of Cowley’s work to Tasso’s is only that they both exhibit the agency of celestial and infernal spirits. But they differ widely. Cowley supposes them to operate upon the mind by suggestions, while Tasso represents them as promoting or obstructing events by an external agency.
Q.17. How has Johnson described truth and reason?
Ans. According to Johnson truth is always the truth, and the reason is always a reason. They have intrinsic and unalterable value. It constitutes that intellectual gold that defies destruction.
Q.18. Why was Cowley censored for Guardian?
Ans. Cutter of Coleman Street was taken for a satire on the king’s party which was severely censored.
Q.19. What are the essential features of Cowley’s poetry?
Ans. Cowley had his own wit, Curiosity, and elegance which took different farms at different times. He was a man of learning and intellect.
Q.20. What are the effects of metaphysical conceits?
Ans. The effect of metaphysical conceits is to startle and surprise.
Q.21. What have the metaphysical poets written?
Ans. It is alleged that metaphysical poets have written rhymes instead of poems. It is rhyme, not poetry that they have written.
Q.22. How does Cowley portray love and lover?
Ans. To Cowley love and lover are supposed to be his lady acquainted with the ancient laws and rites of the sacrifice.
Q.23. What is wit?
Ans. Wit is the product of the brain and needs learning.
Q.24. What is aggregation?
Ans. Aggregation is the root of sublimity. Great thoughts are generally accepted because their positions are not limited by exception.
Q.25. What is an ode?
Ans. An ode is an elaborate lyric poem.
Q.26. What is a sonnet?
Ans. A sonnet is a poem of fourteen iambic pentameter lines having two parts-octave and sestet.
Q.27. Who was the famous biographer of Samuel Johnson?
Or, Who is Sprat?
Ans. Mr. Sprat is Cowley’s biographer.
Q.28. What kind of biographer is Dr. Johnson?
Ans. As a biographer, Dr. Johnson threw a stream of light on both the merits and demerits of the metaphysical poet including Cowley.
Q.29. What is Cowley’s idea of love?
Ans. Cowley added more perplexities to love. With the passage of time. Love also changes its character.
Q.30. What does Cowley consider the Pindaric Odes?
Ans. Cowley considers Pindaric odes in the least of the lost inventions of antiquity.
Q.31. Who are the metaphysical poets?
Ans. John Donne, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Andrew Marvell, and Henry Vaughan are the most prominent metaphysical poets.
Q.32. What kind of writing is ‘The Guardian’ by Cowley?
Ans. “The Guardian’ is a comedy..
Q.33. What kind of odes did Cowley write?
Ans. Abraham Cowley liked and wrote mainly Pindarique Odes.
Q.34. Who first coined the term ‘metaphysical poets”?
Ans. Samuel Johnson
Q.35. Whom did Cowley follow in writing odes?
Ans. Cowley followed Pinder and his style in writing odes. Because he considered the Pindaric style to be the highest and the noblest kind of writing.
Q.36. What type of men were the metaphysical poets?
Ans. The metaphysical poets were men of learning, men of wit and conceit.
Q.37. How does Cowley compare a lover to Manna?
Ans. Cowley suggests that manna was less inclusive of a diet. The taste of it was like “wafers made with honey.”
Q.38. What type of composition is The Life of Cowley?
Ans. The Life of Cowley is a biography and critical study of his character and works.
Q.39. What kind of poet was Cowley?
Ans. The school of metaphysical poetry flourished at the beginning of the seventeenth century and Cowley belonged to this race of writers.
Q.40. What do metaphysical conceits do?
Ans. Metaphysical conceits are drawn from all spheres of knowledge help to startle and surprise the readers.
