British Literature I > Final > Flashcards
Final Flashcards
1562-1807
British Slave Trade. Famously idealized by Ooranoko. 3.4 million slaves were circulated
1600
Year in which the East India Company recieved its treaty. New economic oppurtunites were found in buying shares. Volpone
1603
James I of England comes to the Throne (James VI of Scotland); Queen Elizabeth dies
1623
Shakespeare’s First Folio published
1625
Assention of Charles I
1642
English Civil War
1649
Death of Charles I (executed in front of Banqueting House)
1660
Resotration of English Monarchy; Charles II comes to the throne
1666
Great Fire of London; Pepys
1678
Popish Plot; Dryden
1688
Glorious Revolution; King William comes to the throne
1707
United Kingdom is Formed (joining England and Scotland)
1714
Anne dies; George I comes to the throne
1789
French Revolution; Marks the beginning of the next literary period (Romantic Period)
East India Company
Trading Company; Major new step in development of economies
Globe Theatre
Shakespear’s Theatre on the South Bank
Lord Chamberline’s Men
Shakespear’s acting company; He joins/gets shares in them
Privy Council
Advisors to the Monarch; Marlowe gets his degree from them due to his political sympathies (he was not allowed into a university)
First Folio
First printing of shakespear’s collected plays
Quarto
Publishing of individual plays by Shakespear
Mary Herbert
Sister of Sir Phillip Sydney; First Major Rennaisance Poet
Aemilia Lanyer
First woman to produce a substantial volume of poetry
Areopagitica
Milton; Defense of the press demanding no prior censorship to publication
Tenure of the Kings and Magistrates
Milton; Kings rule beause people give them the power to rule. Argued that people had the right (and power) to renounce kings
Banqueting House
Charles I is executed in front of it. It was a part of his palace
Oliver Cromwell
Lord Protector. Leader of the parliamentary forces after Charles I is executed
James Scott
Charles II’s illegitmate son. Absalon
John Locke
Great English Enlightenment philosopher. Articulates many Revolutionary Ideals
Sir Isaac Newton
The mind behind Gravity, Calculus, and optics; Professor of Optics at Cambridge. UNderstood world emperically; emblimatic of the 18th century
Sureham
Setting of Ooranoko; Dutch Guianna. The Dutch traded it for NY
Allegory
A work that exists both literally and symbolically; Pilgrim’s progress, Absolam and Acetophill
Novel
In prose, and a certain length. Rooted in a complex social world and sensitive to realities of life. It is about characters. Roseanna is the most novelistic
Satire
Diminishes/mocks a target. Used commonly in the form of social satire, aimed at particular social problems. Examples of satirists are Dryden and Swift
Irony
Inconsistency between a statement and what it means. Structural irony can run through entire works
Marlowe’s Mighty Line
First playwrite to write in blank verse, credited by Ben Jonson in the first folio. (Shakespear is argued to be even better)
Rhymed Couplets
Opposite to blank verse; restoration poets return to this more formal style (due to their emphasis on wit)
Whig
One of the two main politcal parties; Liberal (Locke)
Torry
One of the two main politcal parites; Supports Loyalist Positions
“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Illium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss:
Her lips sucks fort my soul, see where it flies!
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus-Christopher Marlowe
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
‘Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe’er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.
Twelfth Night- William Shakespeare
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o’ the world!
Crack nature’s moulds, an germens spill at once,
That make ingrateful man!
King Lear- William Shakespeare
MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is ;
It suck’d me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper’d swells with one blood made of two ;
And this, alas ! is more than we would do.
O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we’re met,
And cloister’d in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck’d from thee?
Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou
Find’st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
‘Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;
Just so much honour, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.
John Donne- The Flea
Good morning to the day; and next, my gold:
Open the shrine, that I may see my Saint.
[MOSCA WITHDRAWS THE CURTAIN, AND DISCOVERS PILES OF GOLD,
PLATE, JEWELS, ETC.]
Hail the world’s soul, and mine! more glad than is
The teeming earth to see the long’d-for sun
Peep through the horns of the celestial Ram,
Am I, to view thy splendour darkening his;
That lying here, amongst my other hoards,
Shew’st like a flame by night; or like the day
Struck out of chaos, when all darkness fled
Unto the centre. O thou son of Sol,
But brighter than thy father, let me kiss,
With adoration, thee, and every relick
Of sacred treasure, in this blessed room.
Well did wise poets, by thy glorious name,
Title that age which they would have the best;
Thou being the best of things: and far transcending
All style of joy, in children, parents, friends,
Or any other waking dream on earth:
Thy looks when they to Venus did ascribe,
They should have given her twenty thousand Cupids;
Such are thy beauties and our loves! Dear saint,
Riches, the dumb God, that giv’st all men tongues;
That canst do nought, and yet mak’st men do all things;
The price of souls; even hell, with thee to boot,
Is made worth heaven. Thou art virtue, fame,
Honour, and all things else. Who can get thee,
He shall be noble, valiant, honest, wise,–
Volpone- Ben Jonson
A married state affords but little ease
The best of husbands are so hard to please.
This in wives’ careful faces you may spell
Though they dissemble their misfortunes well.
A virgin state is crowned with much content;
It’s always happy as it’s innocent.
No blustering husbands to create your fears;
No pangs of childbirth to extort your tears;
Few worldly crosses to distract your prayers:
Thus are you freed from all the cares that do
Attend on matrimony and a husband too.
Therefore Madam, be advised by me
Turn, turn apostate to love’s levity,
Suppress wild nature if she dare rebel,
There’s no such things as leading apes in hell.
“A Married State”- Katherine Philips
My muse now happy, lay thyself to rest,
Sleep in the quiet of a faithful love,
Write to you no more, but let these fancies move
Some other hearts, wake not to new unrest.
But if you study, be those thoughts addressed
To truth, which shall eternal goodness prove;
Enjoying of true joy, the most, and best,
The endless gain which never will remove.
Leave the discourse of Venus and her son
To young beginners, and their brains inspire
With stories of great love, and from that fire
Get heat to write the fortunes they have won.
And thus leave off, what’s past shows you can love,
Now let your constancy your honor prove.
Pamphilia to Amphilanthus “103”- Mary Wroth
If thou beest he; But O how fall’n! how chang’d
From him, who in the happy Realms of Light [ 85 ]
Cloth’d with transcendent brightness didst out-shine
Myriads though bright: If he Whom mutual league,
United thoughts and counsels, equal hope
And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize,
Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd [ 90 ]
In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest
From what highth fall’n, so much the stronger prov’d
He with his Thunder: and till then who knew
The force of those dire Arms?
Paradise Lost- John Milton
Of these the false Achitophel was first;
A name to all succeeding ages cursed:
For close designs, and crooked counsels fit;
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of with;
Restless, unfixed in principles and place;
In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace:
A fiery soul, which, working out its way,
Fretted the pygmy body to decay,
And o’er-informed the tenement of clay.
Absalom and Achitophel- John Dryden
I to White Hall (with a gentleman with me who desired to go off from the
Tower, to see the fire, in my boat); to White Hall, and there up to the
Kings closett in the Chappell, where people come about me, and did give
them an account dismayed them all, and word was carried in to the King.
So I was called for, and did tell the King and Duke of Yorke what I saw,
and that unless his Majesty did command houses to be pulled down nothing
could stop the fire. They seemed much troubled, and the King commanded me
to go to my Lord Mayor–[Sir Thomas Bludworth. See June 30th,
1666.]–from him, and command him to spare no houses, but to pull down
before the fire every way. The Duke of York bid me tell him that if he
would have any more soldiers he shall; and so did my Lord Arlington
afterwards, as a great secret.
The Dairy- Samuel Pepys
Now I saw in my dream that, just as they had ended this talk, they drew near to a very miry slough that was in the midst of the plain; and they being heedless, did both fall suddenly into the bog. The name of the slough was “Despond.” Here, therefore, they wallowed for a time, being grievously bedaubed with the dirt; and CHRISTIAN, because of the burden that was on his back, began to sink in the mire.
The Pilgrim’s Progress- John Bunyan
This Person had often before been in these countries, and was very well known to Oroonoko, with whom he had trafficked for slaves, and had used to do the same with his predecessors.
This commander was a man of a finer sort of address and conversation, better bred, and more engaging, than most of that sort of men are; so that he seemed rather never to have been bred out of a court than almost all his life at sea. This captain therefore was always better received at court than most of the traders to those countries were; and especially by Oroonoko, who was more civilized, according to the European mode, than any other had been, and took more delight in the white nations, and, above all, men of parts and wit. To this captain he sold abundance of his slaves; and for the favor and esteem he had for him, made him many presents, and obliged him to stay at court as long as possibly he could. Which the captain seemed to take as a very great honor done him, entertaining the prince every day with globes and maps, and mathematical discourses and instruments; eating, drinking, hunting, and living with him with so much familiarity that it was not to be doubted but he had gained very greatly upon the heart of this gallant young man
Ooranoko- Aphra Behn
One morning, in the middle of our unlawful freedoms—that is to say, when we were in bed together[Pg 220]—he sighed, and told me he desired my leave to ask me one question, and that I would give him an answer to it with the same ingenious freedom and honesty that I had used to treat him with. I told him I would. Why, then, his question was, why I would not marry him, seeing I allowed him all the freedom of a husband. “Or,” says he, “my dear, since you have been so kind as to take me to your bed, why will you not make me your own, and take me for good and all, that we may enjoy ourselves without any reproach to one another?”
Roxana-Daniel Defoe
But some sage Persons may perhaps object, that were Women allow’d to Improve themselves, and not amongst other discouragements driven back by those wise Jests and Scoffs that are put upon a Woman of Sense or Learning, a Philosophical lady as she is call’d by way of Ridicule, they would be too Wise and too Good for the Men; I grant it, for vicious and foolish Men. Nor is it to be wonder’d, that he is afraid he shou’d not be able to Govern them were their Understandings improv’d, who is resolv’d not to take too much Pains with his own.
Some Reflections on Marriage- Mary Astell
When I was a little refreshed, I went up into the country, resolving to deliver myself to the first savages I should meet, and purchase my life from them by some bracelets, glass rings, and other toys, which sailors usually provide themselves with in those voyages, and whereof I had some about me. The land was divided by long rows of trees, not regularly planted, but naturally growing; there was great plenty of grass, and several fields of oats. I walked very circumspectly, for fear of being surprised, or suddenly shot with an arrow from behind, or on either side. I fell into a beaten road, where I saw many tracts of human feet, and some of cows, but most of horses. At last I beheld several animals in a field, and one or two of the same kind sitting in trees. Their shape was very singular and deformed, which a little discomposed me, so that I lay down behind a thicket to observe them better. Some of them coming forward near the place where I lay, gave me an opportunity of distinctly marking their form. Their heads and breasts were covered with a thick hair, some frizzled, and others lank; they had beards like goats, and a long ridge of hair down their backs, and the fore parts of their legs and feet; but the rest of their bodies was bare, so that I might see their skins, which were of a brown buff colour. They had no tails, nor any hair at all on their buttocks, except about the anus, which, I presume, nature had placed there to defend them as they sat on the ground, for this posture they used, as well as lying down, and often stood on their hind feet. They climbed high trees as nimbly as a squirrel, for they had strong extended claws before and behind, terminating in sharp points, and hooked.
Gulliver’s Travels- Jonathan Swift
I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing.
A Modest Proposal- Jonathan Swift
WHAT dire offence from am’rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing—This verse to Caryll, muse! is due:
This, ev’n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, 5
If she inspire, and he approve my lays.
Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel
A well-bred Lord t’ assault a gentle Belle?
O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor’d,
Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord? 10
In tasks so bold can little men engage,
And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage?
Rape of the Lock- Alexander Pope
Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow; attend to the history of ______ prince of Abissinia.
_____ was the fourth son of the mighty emperour, in whose dominions the Father of waters begins his course; whose bounty pours down the streams of plenty, and scatters over half the world the harvests of Egypt.
According to the custom which has descended from age to age among the monarchs of the torrid zone, _____ was confined in a private palace, with the other sons and daughters of Abissinian royalty, till the order of succession should call him to the throne.
The place, which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the residence of the Abissinian princes, was a spacious valley in the kingdom of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of which the summits overhang the middle part. The only passage, by which it could be entered, was a cavern that passed under a rock, of which it has long been disputed whether it was the work of nature or of human industry. The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth which opened into the valley was closed with gates of iron, forged by the artificers of ancient days, so massy that no man could, without the help of engines, open or shut them.
Rasselas- Samuel Johnson
1546
Death of Martin Luther
1066
The Battle of Hastings; The Norman Conquest of England
1000
Date around which the Beowulf Manuscript was Written
Sonnet
Genre brought to England by Sir Wyatt the Elder. It is a fourteen line poem, with several variations based on the writer (Petrarchan vs Shakespearean)
Flyting
The exchange of insults before a battle
Boccaccio
Writer of the Decameron
This carpenter hadde wedded newe a wif
Which that he loved more than his lif.
Of eighteteen yeer she was of age;
Jelous he was, and heeld hire narwe in cage,
For she was wilde and yong, and he was old
And deemed himself been lik a cokewold
The Miller’s Tale- Chaucer
Whoso list to hunt, I know where is a hind,
But as for me, alas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder
Ovid
Writer of Metamorphoses
