Portfolio with Correct Answers and Analysis
Description: ENG2613 Exam Portfolio for October/November 2023 containing
verified answers, essays, and analytical responses. Covers critical interpretation,
poetry analysis, and academic writing components required for the ENG2613
module.
Keywords: ENG2613 exam portfolio 2023 english literature exam answers critical
interpretation analysis verified portfolio responses unisa english studies
ENG2613 Exam Portfolio October/November 2023 || Verified English Studies
Portfolio with Correct Answers and Analysis
Disclaimer: This is a simulated portfolio created for study and revision purposes.
It is based on common themes, learning outcomes, and assessment criteria for a
course like ENG2613. Students should always consult their official study materials
and lecture notes for definitive content.
Section 1: Literary Concepts and Critical Theory (Questions 1-25)
1. What is the primary focus of literary theory?
a) To find the one true meaning of a text.
b) To establish a definitive ranking of great books.
c) To provide readers with a set of tools and perspectives for interpreting texts.
d) To analyze the author's biography for clues about the text's meaning.
Answer: c) To provide readers with a set of tools and perspectives for
interpreting texts.
2. A critic using Marxist theory would be most interested in:
a) The unconscious desires of the characters.
b) The economic and class structures represented in the text.
c) The portrayal of gender roles and patriarchy.
,d) The use of symbols and archetypes.
Answer: b) The economic and class structures represented in the text.
3. What is the "death of the author," as proposed by Roland Barthes?
a) The author's physical death.
b) The idea that the author's intentions and biography are irrelevant to a text's
meaning.
c) The trend of authors killing off their main characters.
d) The decline of the publishing industry.
Answer: b) The idea that the author's intentions and biography are irrelevant to
a text's meaning.
4. Feminist criticism primarily seeks to:
a) Analyze texts written only by women.
b) Examine how literature reinforces or challenges the oppression of women.
c) Promote female authors over male authors.
d) Focus exclusively on themes of romance and marriage.
Answer: b) Examine how literature reinforces or challenges the oppression of
women.
5. In literary studies, what is "defamiliarization"?
a) Making a text easier to understand.
b) A technique to make the familiar seem strange, thereby refreshing the reader's
perception.
c) The process of translating a text into another language.
d) Analyzing a text from a foreign culture.
Answer: b) A technique to make the familiar seem strange, thereby refreshing
the reader's perception.
6. Which critical approach is most concerned with the unconscious mind,
dreams, and repressed desires?
a) Psychoanalytic Criticism
b) New Criticism
c) Historical Criticism
d) Reader-Response Criticism
Answer: a) Psychoanalytic Criticism
, 7. New Criticism emphasizes:
a) The reader's personal emotional response.
b) The text as a self-contained object, analyzed through close reading.
c) The historical context of the text's production.
d) The author's intended message.
Answer: b) The text as a self-contained object, analyzed through close
reading.
8. Postcolonial criticism often analyzes:
a) The literature of colonial powers.
b) The effects of colonialism and cultural imperialism.
c) Science fiction set in the future.
d) The grammar and syntax of a language.
Answer: b) The effects of colonialism and cultural imperialism.
9. What is a "binary opposition" in Structuralist theory?
a) A computer code.
b) A pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning (e.g., light/dark,
male/female).
c) A two-sided argument.
d) A type of poem with two stanzas.
Answer: b) A pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.
10. Reader-Response Theory argues that:
a) The reader's interpretation is invalid.
b) Meaning is created by the interaction between the text and the reader.
c) The text's meaning is fixed and unchanging.
d) Only trained critics can understand a text.
Answer: b) Meaning is created by the interaction between the text and the
reader.
11. What is the difference between "story" and "discourse" in narratology?
a) Story is the content (what happens), discourse is the expression (how it's told).
b) Story is fiction, discourse is non-fiction.
c) They are synonyms.