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Love & Relationships Practice Questions

Question 1

30 marks

When We Two Parted

Lord Byron

1When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
5Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning
10Sunk chill on my brow—
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
15I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.
They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o’er me—
20Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:—
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.
25In secret we met—
In silence I grieve.
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
30After long years,
How should I greet thee?—
With silence and tears.

‘When We Two Parted’ by Lord Byron (1816).

Compare how poets present feelings about the end of a relationship in ‘When We Two Parted’ and in one other poem from ‘Love and relationships’.

[30 marks]

Question 2

30 marks

Love’s Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

1The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
5Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?—
See the mountains kiss high Heaven
10And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
15What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?

‘Love’s Philosophy’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1819).

Compare how poets present desire in ‘Love’s Philosophy’ and in one other poem from ‘Love and relationships’.

[30 marks]

Question 3

30 marks

Porphyria’s Lover

Robert Browning

1The rain set early in to-night,
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
And did its worst to vex the lake:
5I listened with heart fit to break.
When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;
10Which done, she rose, and from her form
Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,
And laid her soiled gloves by, untied
Her hat and let the damp hair fall,
And, last, she sat down by my side
15And called me. When no voice replied,
She put my arm about her waist,
And made her smooth white shoulder bare,
And all her yellow hair displaced,
And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,
20And spread, o’er all, her yellow hair,
Murmuring how she loved me—she
Too weak, for all her heart’s endeavour,
To set its struggling passion free
From pride, and vainer ties dissever,
25And give herself to me for ever.
But passion sometimes would prevail,
Nor could to-night’s gay feast restrain
A sudden thought of one so pale
For love of her, and all in vain:
30So, she was come through wind and rain.
Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshipped me; surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
35While I debated what to do.
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
40Three times her little throat around,
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain.
As a shut bud that holds a bee,
I warily oped her lids: again
45Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.
And I untightened next the tress
About her neck; her cheek once more
Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:
I propped her head up as before,
50Only, this time my shoulder bore
Her head, which droops upon it still:
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorned at once is fled,
55And I, its love, am gained instead!
Porphyria’s love: she guessed not how
Her darling one wish would be heard.
And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
60And yet God has not said a word!

‘Porphyria’s Lover’ by Robert Browning (1836).

Compare how poets present power and control in a relationship in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and in one other poem from ‘Love and relationships’.

[30 marks]

Question 4

30 marks

Sonnet 29 – ‘I think of thee!’

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

1I think of thee!—my thoughts do twine and bud
About thee, as wild vines, about a tree,
Put out broad leaves, and soon there’s nought to see
Except the straggling green which hides the wood.
5Yet, O my palm-tree, be it understood
I will not have my thoughts instead of thee
Who art dearer, better! Rather, instantly
Renew thy presence; as a strong tree should,
Rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk all bare,
10And let these bands of greenery which insphere thee,
Drop heavily down,—burst, shattered everywhere!
Because, in this deep joy to see and hear thee
And breathe within thy shadow a new air,
I do not think of thee—I am too near thee.

Sonnet 29 from Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1850).

Compare how poets present longing for someone who is absent in ‘Sonnet 29 – ‘I think of thee!’’ and in one other poem from ‘Love and relationships’.

[30 marks]

Question 5

30 marks

Neutral Tones

Thomas Hardy

1We stood by a pond that winter day,
And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,
And a few leaves lay on the starving sod,
—They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.
5Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
Over tedious riddles solved years ago;
And some words played between us to and fro—
On which lost the more by our love.
The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing
10Alive enough to have strength to die;
And a grin of bitterness swept thereby
Like an ominous bird a-wing . . .
Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,
And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me
15Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree,
And a pond edged with grayish leaves.

‘Neutral Tones’ by Thomas Hardy (written 1867, published 1898).

Compare how poets present love through images of the natural world in ‘Neutral Tones’ and in one other poem from ‘Love and relationships’.

[30 marks]

Question 6

30 marks

The Farmer’s Bride

Charlotte Mew

1Three Summers since I chose a maid,
Too young maybe—but more’s to do
At harvest-time than bide and woo.
When us was wed she turned afraid
5Of love and me and all things human;
Like the shut of a winter’s day.
Her smile went out, and ’twasn’t a woman—
More like a little frightened fay.
One night, in the Fall, she runned away.
10“Out ’mong the sheep, her be,” they said,
’Should properly have been abed;
But sure enough she wasn’t there
Lying awake with her wide brown stare.
So over seven-acre field and up-along across the down
15We chased her, flying like a hare
Before our lanterns. To Church-Town
All in a shiver and a scare
We caught her, fetched her home at last
And turned the key upon her, fast.
20She does the work about the house
As well as most, but like a mouse:
Happy enough to chat and play
With birds and rabbits and such as they,
So long as men-folk keep away.
25“Not near, not near!” her eyes beseech
When one of us comes within reach.
The women say that beasts in stall
Look round like children at her call.
I’ve hardly heard her speak at all.
30Shy as a leveret, swift as he,
Straight and slight as a young larch tree,
Sweet as the first wild violets, she,
To her wild self. But what to me?
The short days shorten and the oaks are brown,
35The blue smoke rises to the low grey sky,
One leaf in the still air falls slowly down,
A magpie’s spotted feathers lie
On the black earth spread white with rime,
The berries redden up to Christmas-time.
40What’s Christmas-time without there be
Some other in the house than we!
She sleeps up in the attic there
Alone, poor maid. ’Tis but a stair
Betwixt us. Oh! my God! the down,
45The soft young down of her, the brown,
The brown of her—her eyes, her hair, her hair!

‘The Farmer’s Bride’ by Charlotte Mew (1916).

Compare how poets present marriage in ‘The Farmer’s Bride’ and in one other poem from ‘Love and relationships’.

[30 marks]