Exam #1 Flashcards
The book of manuscripts containing Beowulf is called:
- The Nowell Codex
- The Beowulf Judith Manuscript
- Cotton Vitellius
What’s Beowulf’s excuse for having lost a swimming contest?
He paused to kill a load of sea monsters
Which is the main reason why Grendel’s mother attacks Heorot?
She wants to avenge her son
How does Beowulf kill Grendel’s mother?
With an ancient sword he finds in her lair
Why does Grendel attack Heorot?
He doesn’t like the christian singing and storytelling, he wants to eat some danes, he’s a jealous lonely freak of nature living with his mother
At the beginning of the “Dragon” episode, how long has Beowulf been ruler of Geats?
50 years
What makes the Dragon attack Geats?
A passerby steals a cup from his treasure hoard
How many biological children does Beowulf have?
none
Which friend of Beowulf criticizes the Geat’s lack of support for Beowulf, concluding, “Better to die than dwell in disgrace”
Wiglaf
What rank of people does most of the mead serving that we see in this poem?
Queens
Oxenforde
The setting of the Miller’s tale. This is the original name of Oxford the college town
“Help! Water! Water! Help, for Goddes Herte!”
This quote comes from the Miller’s Tale. Nicholas shouts that after being branded by Absolon and it makes John believe that the flood has come.
Lollard
Someone who believed that they had a direct personal relationship with God.
The Pardoner
A character in the Canterbury tales who pardons people’s sins. During this time, many people paid to have their sins absolved but this practice wasn’t endorsed officially by the church
Alliterative Meter
uses alliteration (the repetition of first letters) throughout the poem. (many medieval poems like Bisclavret used this.
The wife of bath claims she is an expert on marriage from:
being married 5 times herself
According to the wife of bath’s tale, why are there no longer fairies and elves?
The friars have driven them out
Why is the knight in the wife of bath condemned to death?
He raped a virgin
The knight in the wife of bath’s tale discovers what it is that women most desire. What is it?
To have sovereinetee/As wel over hir housbonde as hir love
How does Mak’s wife Gill hide the sheep he has stolen from the shepards?
She pretends it is a newborn baby
At the end of the second play of the shepards, who the gifts of some cherries, a bird, and a ball?
Baby Jesus the Christ Child
Auctoritee
authority. This means that you are pulling your knowledge from a previous well known source. The wife of bath claims she doesn’t use auctoritee.
Gentilesse
Gentility or gentlemanlike. The wife of bath uses this term in her tale to describe how men should be.
Mak
A character in the second play of the shepards who stays with the shepards one night and steals one of their sheep.
Renaissance
The rebirth of classical learning
English Reformation
The English Church’s break away from Catholicism
In the address to the troops at Tillbury about to fight the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth says “I low I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the stomach of a…
King