Final Flashcards
Who wrote “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?”
The poet’s name is not known; he is simply referred to as the Pearl Poet
What is significant about the way “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is set up?
Each line of each stanza uses alliteration (repeating consonants), and each stanza has four extra lines. These four extra lines have a certain rhyme scheme.
For example: “… on many a broad bank and brac Britain established / full fair / where strange things, strife and sadness / at whiles in the land did fare / and each other grief and gladness / oft fast have followed there” (15-19).
What does the pentagon (star-shaped) in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” refer to?
His five virtues: generosity, courtesy, chastity, chivalry, and piety (reverence for God).
Give a brief summary about “Sir Gawain.”
Sir Gawain is among the guests at King Arthur’s, celebrating the holidays. A tall man dressed all in green comes in and challenges everyone to a dangerous game he invented. In an attempt to save King Arthur’s life, Sir Gawain takes up the offer. He travels to find the Green Chapel a year later, runs into a lord who is willing to offer him a few nights at his palace, and stays there. The lord’s wife attempts to seduce Gawain while the lord is out hunting; Gawain keeps this a secret. Later, when the knight goes off to find the Green Knight, he realizes the Green Knight is actually the lord in disguise.
Who wrote “The General Prologue”?
Geoffrey Chaucer
List some characters from “The General Prologue” and describe their personalities
- Knight: an ideal knight, shows a lot of bravery and courage
- Squire: the knight’s son, described as a lover, tries to catch attention, doesn’t seem to respect his father
- Yeoman: the knight’s servant, armed with weapons and has “a brown face”
- Prioress: otherwise known as a nun, fluent in French, good table manners, rather large, almost eccentric, seems to care about what others think of her
- Friar: described as “pleasure seeking,” looks around for his own pleasurable fulfillment, sleeps with young women, confessions earns him money
- Merchant: wears multi-colored dress, brags continuously about his wealth, extremely pompous, may be insecure
- Clerk: a scholar from Oxford, spends all his money on books instead of on necessities, smart but foolish
- The Wife of Bath: strong-willed, opinionated, and self-centered; makes a lot of cloth; five times married; and is considered sexually attractive
- Miller: muscular, big-boned, red beard, big black hairy nostrils, swears a lot
“The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” are written by ____.
Geoffrey Chaucer
In the “W o B’s Prologue”, the Wife…
Describes how people disapproved of her constant remarriages and how she defended herself by stating Jesus never clarified how many marriages a woman is limited to; says women are only interested in money and power; and describes each of the five husbands she was married to.
In the “W of B’s Tale”, the Wife…
Describes a tale about a knight who raped a young girl, and–as punishment–is sent to go around town and ask people what women are actually after. He runs into an ugly old woman, who helps him with his deed, and is forced into marrying her. On their honeymoon, he complains about her ugliness and she tells him to choose between a beautiful but unfaithful wife or an ugly but faithful wife. He tells her to choose for him instead, and she transforms into a beautiful woman.
“The Miller’s Tale,” which is also written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is about…
A carpenter named John, his wife Alison, a parish clerk named Absolon, and a young scholar named Nicholas. After John rents out his cottage to Nicholas, Nick falls in love with Alison and pursues her. They have an affair. Absolon tries to win her over by singing to her at nighttime; he tries to win a kiss from her too, only to be pranked into kissing her butt. He goes off to find a burning stick, comes back in an attempt to burn Alison, and instead is farted on by Nick. Absolon, who is furious, burns Nick’s butt, and Nick (who has lied to John that God is sending a flood) cries out for water. John hears this and breaks through the roof into the house. Later, Nick and Alison deny telling him the story and John becomes a laughingstock.
1) Who are the three main characters in “The Second Shepherd’s Play”?
2) What do they complain about?
1) Coll, Gib, and and Daw
2) Coll complains about the weather and his poverty; Gib complains about the weather and his wife and marriage; and Daw complains about the weather.
Who are Mak and Gill? What happens when Coll, Gib, and Daw visit them?
Mak and Gill are notorious for stealing sheep. They steal one of the shepherds’ sheep and pretend it is their baby. When the three shepherds visit them, they hear Gill “in labor” with the “baby’s twin”, and they later discover the sheep. They beat Mak. Later that night, the Angel appears and tells them to visit the newborn Jesus Christ, who has just been born in a manger. They bring him cherries, a tennis ball, and a bird.
Describe the rhyme scheme of a typical Shakespearean sonnet:
A, B, A, B, C, D, C, D, E, F, E, F, G, G. The last two lines–called the couplet–do not follow a typical A-B-A-B pattern. The couplet is also the resolution, which responds to the complication that is established in the first twelve lines.
Describe the structure of a Petrarchan or Italian sonnet
The octave (first eight lines, which are split up into two quatrains with four lines each) establish the complication. Between the octave and the last six lines is the turning away from the complication. The last six lines establish the resolution. Rhyme scheme: ABBA ABBA CDC CDC
Who wrote “Written with a Diamond on her Window at Woodstock,” “Written on a Wall at Woodstock,” and “The Doubt of Future Woes”?
Elizabeth I. She had been unfairly thrown into jail by Queen Mary for suspicion of treason.
