Honors BritLit Renaissance Buzz Words and Time Periods Flashcards
Stage Archetype
Overarching pattern that describes life as a play, complete with a stage, audience, actors, plot, etc.
Example: The Renaissance poem On the Life of Man has the overriding stage archetype. Life is like a live performance with Heaven as the judicious sharp spectator.
Example: Shakespeare, All the World’s a Stage, 7 ages of man speech.
Journey Archetype
An overarching pattern or theme found in a work of literature, which describes life as a certain expedition from one event to the next. One of the most common archetypes. Example: the journey archetype is found in the medieval poem The Last Journey which represents a spiritual journey through life and how hard is the journey from sleep to active life.
Fortune
Humanity looking up to determine what destiny is, limited view of God’s plan, draws connection between man and God, new link on the chain of being. Example: Lady a Fortune in The Mirror of the awhile Nature and the Image of Art, Fortune connected to a God and Ape (Chain of being)
Fate
What happens based on what God knows (destiny), new link on the chain of being under God. Example: Martin Luther opposed fate because he believed it was a person’s faith that got them into heaven. A popular belief during that time was that some people were predestined for heaven and some were predestined for hell.
Macro/Micro Correspondences
What happens on the large scale in the universe also corresponds to what happens in the small scale (man). Example: Troilus and Cressida, humors (4 characteristics of matter correspond to humors , for example, fire/hot/dry=choleric); soul of man corresponds to the state (says Plato).
Analogies
Comparison between 2 things. Example: Troilus and Cressida, If the general is not like the hive that all the bees come back to, no honey is expected.
Common sense
Ability of the mind in animals and humans to integrate sense date/images from sense perception, central sense, synthesizes all 5 senses, part if understanding. Example: it is part of the sensitive soul, animals and humans are able to use their 5 senses to experience the world around them in a way that plants cannot.
Fancy
Imagination, part of the sensitive soul, the recollection of images. Example: any image that causes an emotional response.
Memory
The ability to store images, helps in understanding, part of the sensitive soul, recall previous experience. Example: can be used by both fantasy (creative images of devils, witches, etc…) or can be used by reason.
Wit
The active power of the rational soul, power of rational soul to check understanding for error. Example: like a spell check for a paper, “wit is diseased” according to Hamlet. Means that wit is in error and can no longer purge error from understanding; can not check reality.
Understanding
Passive power of the rational soul, gets info from the sensitive soul and combines that data. Example: the term paper, shows collection of data, but needs to be purged of error.
Will
The rational moving power that acts on knowledge from understanding and wit to make proper choices. Example: Adam and Eve (free will).
Image
Part of imagination, recalling a representation of something in the mind, impressions. Example: Reality is made of different images, image can defer an emotional response, just as Macbeth waits to kill Duncan.
Imagination (classical)
Recalling an image, can produce various emotional responses, Aristotle. Example: tragedy and catharsis.
Indulgences
Pay a donation to soul in purgatory so that God will remit sentence, paying for sins so that punishment in purgatory is not as bad, corruption, focus of Luther (says that Jesus’ death was not enough). Example: money used for the rebuilding if St. Peter’s (corruption)
Law of Nature (mathematics)
Certain truths about nature that can be proven with math; these “laws” make nature predictable (less need for fate). Example: Galileo proved that objects always fall at 32 ft/sec due to gravity, first law of nature proven using math
95 Thesis
Document written by Martin Luther and nailed to the Wittenberg Church. It criticized practices of the Catholic Church like papal infallibility and indulgences. Example: salvation through faith alone (Luther), good works do not change salvation.
Vegetal soul
Plant soul, soul is an element of life, plants have a soul because they are alive. Different from human soul.
Sensitive soul
The animal soul with an apprehending power (ability to perceive reality; inward: soul can organize sense data like common sense,fancy, memory. outward: 5 senses contact reality) and a moving power-natural, retentive, voluntary. Example: passion from the voluntary moving power can lead to tragedy like King Lear (desire for power and attention from daughters).
Rational soul
Ability to reason, with active power (wit) and passive power (understanding). Example: humans have a rational soul (ability to reason-unique to man.
Mimetic
Art imitates life, classical theory (Aristotle). Example: tragedy (according to Aristotle, catharsis), man apes the universe (as shown in the wood cut).
Classical Period
55 B.C.. Mimetic theory, chain of being. History and art: art and entertainment. 1) Theocentric 2) Humanistic 3) Naturalistic 4) Economic Good Realism Chain of being Nominalism Bad Pyramid: reason courage passion appetites. Plato's soul. Aristotle: golden mean. Literary criticism.
Anglo-Saxon Period
To 1066 No chain Comitatus Code (the heroic) Mead hall Journey archetype Descent archetype Poetry 1) E Pic Beowulf 2) ring structure 3) alliteration MSGF- both Christian and pagan What saved the culture?
Medieval Period
1066-1485
Chain of being
God, fate, angles, fortune, man(soul = faith. body= reason.)
Good (realism) Bad (Nominalism)
Poetry: Chaucer-Canterbury tales journey archetype
Drama EVERYMAN
Philosophy what is reasonable to believe
Even suffering
Renaissance Period
1483-1603 Chain of being/pragmatic theory Diversity of knowledge Science-Galileo Technology-printing press Medicine-haruty Psychology- burton What does science allow us to do? How do we know? Deduction-syllogism (Aristotle) Induction (bacon) reason v. Faith Literature Sidney defense of poetry Shakespeare sonnets plays Church, Luther
Scholasticism
A formal method of logical inquiry used to classify knowledge, school that was rejected by Bacon, use of deduction and the syllogism
Example: Syllogism (no world independent of consciousness exists, an external world is independent of consciousness, therefore an external world does not exist).
Universal Syllogism
a method of deductive logic that applies to all people, uses the word all
Example: All men are mortal, John is a man, John is mortal
Conditional Syllogism
deductive logic that uses the word if, the minor premise is used to affirm the antecedent
Example: The Last Journey, If you think deeply about the hard journey of life, you will have no desire to sin; you think deeply about life; you have no desire to sin
Induction
a form of reasoning promoted by Bacon that started with the particular and moved to the general (make observation before making a hypothesis), start of the scientific method
Example: Bacon performed an experiment of where heat is present/not present (made observations of where heat was present—in fire, sun, man—and where it was absent and in varying degrees; made conclusion based on observations)
Things
According to Bacon, we must renounce our prejudices, etc. to become acquainted with things (observation/experimentation in nature)
Example: Galileo renounces the traditional belief of the different types of motion as laid out by Aristotle, uses induction, drops objects that fall at the same time
Deduction
a form of reasoning that forms a logical argument then finds claims to support it (general to particular), scholasticism, often in error of general is not necessarily true
Example: Syllogism
Idols of the tribe
false “gods” that prevent true learning, false notions in human understanding that prevent understanding; errors common to the entirety of mankind
Example: Procrastination
Earth
one of the four elements, matter has 4 characteristics existing in combinations called elements; earth is cold and dry
Example: corresponds to microcosm (humor—melancholic)
Air
hot/moist
Example: humor—sanguine
Fire
hot/dry
Example: humor—choleric
Water
cold/moist
Example: humor—phlegmatic
Melancholic
humor (characteristics that determine personality), corresponds with Earth, moody, rigid, unsociable, introvert, intelligent, unstable
Example: Hamlet: He is introverted and sarcastic and is believed ad by other characters because of the imbalance of him humors
Sanguine
sociable, easygoing, extrovert, easily hurt, shy away from challenges
Example: Ophelia in Hamlet (possibly?) She is very friendly and loving towards Hamlet, but is distraught after his rejection and death of her father so she kills herself
Choleric
fire, hot, dry, unstable, extrovert, touchy, aggressive, angry, good leader, risk taker
Example: Lear (when his choleric humor dominates, he becomes mad)
Phlegmatic
lazy, passive, controlled, introvert, stable
Example: Ophelia called ‘Too much water’ by her brother and is very controlled by her father (Hamlet)
Imbalance
when one humor dominates the other three, results in disorder and ultimately madness; also an imbalance resulting from injustice/vice in the human body resulting in insanity
Example: Lear; injustice, according to Plato is a lack of balance at strife among the 3 parts of the soul
wit : understanding :: teacher : pupil
wit checks understanding just as a teacher checks a student’s paper (purge it from error)
Example: Doc Nighan checking Drafts at Draft conference
Chain of Being
The universe is composed of an infinite number of links ranging in hierarchical order form the meagerst which barely escapes non-existence through every possible grade to God. Every one of the links differs from that immediately above and below by the least degree of difference.
Example: addition of Fortune and Fate to chain, Edmund mocks chain of being in King Lear, Troilus and Cressida passage describes how it reflects the hierarchy of the universe
Bee
animal imagery used in Troilus and Cressida passage to create an analogy; macro/micro correspondence
Example: General must be like Queen Bee/Hive so that all the worker bees/soldiers will follow him and create honey
Sharp spectator
a description used in the Renaissance poem, On the Life of Man to compare God/Heaven to a critic that watches the life/play of man
Example: Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is / that sits and marks still who doth act amiss
(In regular English, it’s God)
Theocentric
God-centered view of history
Example: the Medieval Period was a theocentric period, as everything was focused on God and the Bible; the plague was thought to be a punishment from God
Homocentric
humanistic view of history
Example: the Renaissance was homocentric, “man is the measure of all things,” intellectual thought, man matters, exploration, science, medicine, etc.
Realism
looking up on the chain of being, toward God (spiritual)
Example: the soul of man, Adam was considered to be higher reason and therefore associated with realism, Martin Luther
Nominalism
looking down on the chain of being, materialistic
Example: the body of man, Eve was considered to be lower reason and therefore nominalistic; the apprehending power of the sensitive soul allows the man/animal to perceive the world in a nominalistic sense (common sense, fancy, memory)
Rationalism
The obtainment of truth is not sensory or inductive but rather deductive and intellectual
Example: the Rational school of thought according to Bacon was a school of thought that made conclusions based on generalizations from many different experiences (he didn’t like it, it was only memorization)
Empiricism
theory that knowledge is derived from sense experience
Example: Bacon was an empiricist with his method of induction (basic for the scientific method, which is empirical in nature)
Scientific Method
forming a hypothesis after observations and eventually forming a theory (Bacon—induction)
Example: Bacon laid the foundation for the scientific method with his method of induction, which he determined was the only way to study nature
Observation of nature
as laid out by Bacon, it is necessary to study nature with the senses in order to come to a full understanding of the subtleties it holds
Example: Bacon said that man is the interpreter of nature and will only understand nature to the extent of his observations; beginning of scientific method
Theology vs. science
the conflict that arose between religion and science during the Renaissance, as many ideas/theories that science proved to be true were conflicting with the literal words of the Bible
Example: Galileo discovered Earth moves around the sun, which explains the reason why Mars appears to move “backward.” He also said that the earth spins. The Bible says that the Earth does not move and everything orbits around the Earth. This created a conflict between religion and science.
Literal
to take things as they are actually written, meaning that everything means exactly what it means on paper
Example: After Luther, the Council of Trent determined that the Bible was to be taken as literally true, which caused problems for Galileo
Metaphoric
to be taken as abstract or representative of something else, not literal
Example: Galileo said the Bible was not a scientific textbook, but how to get to Heaven. It is meant to be taken metaphorically, not literally, which is why his findings about the universe are not in conflict with the Bible
Reason
the ability to use mental processes to learn, dialectic (treating first principles as assumptions)
Example: reason is at the top of the hierarchy of the soul according to Plato, must be balanced with passions; Part of the rational soul (unique to man—from God), Renaissance
Faith
belief without some burden of proof
Example: faith in God, Medieval
Adam and Eve Allegory
Adam is higher reason (unfallen in the microcosm, Eden-like, realism), Eve is lower reason (fallen, sin)
Example: Madness chain of being (Unfallen creation, higher nature, lower nature, instinctual nature, insanity and madness); Frailty, thy name is woman (Hamlet)
MND Imagination
lovers, mad men, poets (active imaginations, ability to produce images and fantasies); suggest insanity
Example: Lunatic (imagines devils), Lover (imagines Helen’s beauty), Poet (imagines things unknown and writes them down), emotional response can differ (joy vs. fear)
Papal Infallibility
The ability of the Pope to speak without error on matters of faith and morals
Example: Luther denied the existence of papal infallibility because he believed that faith alone would save you (no need for Pope). This was one of the reasons he was excommunicated
Inclined Ramp
Galileo used an inclined ramp to inductively study the effects of gravity
Example: a marble creates a parabola shape when it rolls up/down an inclined ramp
Geocentric Theory
earth is at the center of the universe
Example: Confirmed by the bible
Heliocentric
the sun is at the center
Example: Galileo, Copernicus, in conflict with the Bible
Mind
subject of Renaissance psychology, the human brain and how it works with the ability to reason, and make decisions, madness?; intellectual
Example: Humors, used in Shakespeare
Matter
things that exist on earth, matter has 4 characteristics which exist in combinations called elements in the universe and humors in man; material world (nominalistic)
Example: Earth, Air, Fire, Water; Melancholic, choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic
Burton
The Anatomy of Melancholy; the four humors, their characteristics, and their relation to the elements
Luther
started the Protestant reformation and caused the Council of Trent, 95 Theses; salvation through faith alone, not good deeds; thought scripture should be the sole basis for truth, no need for clergy, can interpret on own; denied Purgatory, indulgences, and papal power
Bacon
induction, Novum Organum, scientific method, criticized deduction and scholasticism, idols, need healthy skepticism, knowledge is power, philosophical founder of science
Galileo
astronomer and physicist, started the scientific revolution with his gravity discovery (first time law of nature was expressed in mathematical terms), Earth orbits around sun, no motion like Aristotle described (linear vs. circular), at first accepted by Church so that they could standardized feast days with the calendar, then regarded as a heretic for going against the Bible
Shakespeare
Renaissance poet and playwright
Plato
Greek philosopher, absolutist, forms/ideas, eternal world, imbalance in soul, macro/micro correspondence between state and soul; cave allegory
Aristotle
“science,” much of physics proved wrong, observation of the world around, classify; all things fell faster if they were larger, different types of motion; golden mean (use for theoretical and practical ways to act to remain balanced
Scholastic Philosophers
followed scholasticism, deduction, syllogisms, “schoolmen,” often integrated Aristotle’s ideas with the Church’s
