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)