Exam #1

Question 1

The book of manuscripts containing Beowulf is called:

Answer 1

1. The Nowell Codex
2. The Beowulf Judith Manuscript
3. Cotton Vitellius

Question 2

What’s Beowulf’s excuse for having lost a swimming contest?

Answer 2

He paused to kill a load of sea monsters

Question 3

Which is the main reason why Grendel’s mother attacks Heorot?

Answer 3

She wants to avenge her son

Question 4

How does Beowulf kill Grendel’s mother?

Answer 4

With an ancient sword he finds in her lair

Question 5

Why does Grendel attack Heorot?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

At the beginning of the “Dragon” episode, how long has Beowulf been ruler of Geats?

Answer 6

50 years

Question 7

What makes the Dragon attack Geats?

Answer 7

A passerby steals a cup from his treasure hoard

Question 8

How many biological children does Beowulf have?

Answer 8

none

Question 9

Which friend of Beowulf criticizes the Geat’s lack of support for Beowulf, concluding, “Better to die than dwell in disgrace”

Answer 9

Wiglaf

Question 10

What rank of people does most of the mead serving that we see in this poem?

Answer 10

Queens

Question 11

Oxenforde

Answer 11

The setting of the Miller’s tale. This is the original name of Oxford the college town

Question 12

“Help! Water! Water! Help, for Goddes Herte!”

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Lollard

Answer 13

Someone who believed that they had a direct personal relationship with God.

Question 14

The Pardoner

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Alliterative Meter

Answer 15

uses alliteration (the repetition of first letters) throughout the poem. (many medieval poems like Bisclavret used this.

Question 16

The wife of bath claims she is an expert on marriage from:

Answer 16

being married 5 times herself

Question 17

According to the wife of bath’s tale, why are there no longer fairies and elves?

Answer 17

The friars have driven them out

Question 18

Why is the knight in the wife of bath condemned to death?

Answer 18

He raped a virgin

Question 19

The knight in the wife of bath’s tale discovers what it is that women most desire. What is it?

Answer 19

To have sovereinetee/As wel over hir housbonde as hir love

Question 20

How does Mak’s wife Gill hide the sheep he has stolen from the shepards?

Answer 20

She pretends it is a newborn baby

Question 21

At the end of the second play of the shepards, who the gifts of some cherries, a bird, and a ball?

Answer 21

Baby Jesus the Christ Child

Question 22

Auctoritee

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Gentilesse

Answer 23

Gentility or gentlemanlike. The wife of bath uses this term in her tale to describe how men should be.

Question 24

Mak

Answer 24

A character in the second play of the shepards who stays with the shepards one night and steals one of their sheep.

Question 25

Renaissance

Answer 25

The rebirth of classical learning

Question 26

English Reformation

Answer 26

The English Church’s break away from Catholicism

Question 27

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…

Answer 27

King