W. B. Yeats
1. Write an essay on ONE of the following poems, making reference to AT LEAST ONE OTHER text in prose or verse in order to illustrate its meaning and interest as an example of his work: “Cuchullain's Fight With the Sea” (1892), “Upon a House Shaken by the Land Agitation” (1910), “Easter, 1916” (1917); “Ancestral Houses” (1923); “Sailing to Byzantium” (1927), “Meru” (1934), “Circus Animals Desertion” (1939), or “Under Ben Bulben” (1939).

2. Yeats once wrote: ‘You cannot keep the idea of a nation alive where there are no national institutions to reverence, no national success to admire, without a model of it in the mind of the people.’ (“Memoir”). How did he himself address this matter and what did his activity in that sphere contribute to his achievement as a poet? Illustrate your essay with reference to AT LEAST TWO individual works.

3. In 1892 Yeats told John O’Leary: ‘Next to my poetry the most important pursuit of my life is mysticism. The mystical life is the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write.’ What did he mean by this and what were the chief effects of such an emphasis on his published work? Illustrate your answer with close reference to AT LEAST TWO poems.

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James Joyce
4. ‘The Dublin papers will object to my stories as to a caricature of Dublin life. Do you think there is any truth in this?’ Illustrate your answer with clear examples from AT LEAST TWO stories in Dubliners , making reference to moral perspective, characterisation, and the method of narration.

5. ‘In Dubliners James Joyce had explored consciousness from outside; in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man from inside’ (Richard Ellmann). Assess the truth of this statement and indicate how far it explains the stylistic methods of the novel. In so doing, you should convey a definite idea of the kind of person/character Stephen Dedalus is.

Samuel Beckett
7. ‘Habit is a compromise effected between the individual and his environment […], the guarantee of a dull inviolability, the lightning conductor of his existence.’ ( Proust , 1929). How far does this help us to understand Beckett’s plays? Make reference to TWO or MORE of the following in your answer: Waiting for Godot , Endgame , All That Fall, That Time , Not I and Play .

8. ‘There is nothing to express, nothing from which to express, no power to express, no desire to express, together with an obligation to express.’ (Three Dialogues, 1949). How far does this help us to understand Beckett’s novels? Illustrate your answer in relation to AT LEAST ONE of the novels in the Trilogy (Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable).

9. ‘Consciousness makes ready to look its own end in the face’ (Theodor Adorno on Endgame). In this view, Samuel Beckett is the laureate of depression and decline. Do you accept that judgement, or can you see any grounds for optimism and celebration in his work? Refer to TWO or MORE texts by Beckett in your answer.

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General topic
10. Describe the literary relationships between ANY TWO or MORE of the major Irish modern writers (W. B. Yeats, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett), indicating points of influence and contrast while showing, if possible, their shared (or differing) relationship to the Irish social, cultural and historical context from which they emerged.