Midterm

Question 1

Language of the ruling class and business after the Norman invasion

Answer 1

French

Question 2

Action that contributed most to the development of Old English as a written language

Answer 2

Introduction of Latin alphabet

Question 3

Alfred’s concern for an educated leadership and the loss of Latin manuscripts in the Viking raids were primarily responsible for ?

Answer 3

Transmission of most Old English literature into the dialect of West Saxon

Question 4

Common features of of Old English poetry

Answer 4

Irony, alliteration, and variation

Question 5

Most accurate description of Caedmon

Answer 5

Humble, uneducated man who had the gift of versifying sacred history

Question 6

3 basic philosophical questions alluded to by Edwin’s more spiritually astute counselor deal with the subjects of ?

Answer 6

Orgin, meaning, and destiny

Question 7

King Edwin’s counselor uses the illustration of the sparrow to portray

Answer 7

Brevity of life

Question 8

Subject of Caedmon’s Hymn

Answer 8

Creation

Question 9

Reasons that epics are not generally written today include these

Answer 9

Novels, notion of antihero, and most people with lack of faith

Question 10

Epics are traditionally?

Answer 10

Didactic

Question 11

In Beowulf, the Danes are being assaulted by Grendel because of what sin?

Answer 11

Pride

Question 12

Main theme of Beowulf

Answer 12

Continuance of civilization required virtuous heroes

Question 13

One evidence of mixing of pagan and Christian elements in Beowulf

Answer 13

The assertion that Wyrd is Providence

Question 14

Anglo-Saxon term for fate

Answer 14

Wyrd

Question 15

How does Beowulf wound Grendel?

Answer 15

Tearing his arm off

Question 16

Word that best describes the attitude of the shield and the weathercock in the Anglo-Saxon riddles

Answer 16

Resigned

Question 17

William of Normandy lacked what heroic quality

Answer 17

Generosity

Question 18

Edmund faced what difficulties

Answer 18

Mobility of Danes, unreliability of followers, and conflicting loyalties in the Danelaw

Question 19

Word that best describes William the Conquerer as a ruler

Answer 19

Severe

Question 20

Inventor of the term Dark Ages and why they named it that

Answer 20

Rationalists and the spread of the church

Question 21

2 major contributions made by the Normans to English life

Answer 21

Futile administration and nobility

Question 22

What language’s impact on Old English is most apparent in ordinary speech and in grammatical influence?

Answer 22

Scandinavian

Question 23

Humor in Old English poetry evidenced itself in what 2 forms?

Answer 23

Riddles and Irony

Question 24

Earliest surviving English poem

Answer 24

Caedmon’s hymn

Question 25

One of Bede’s works that is a major source of information about the Anglo-Saxons before Alfred the great

Answer 25

Bede’s history

Question 26

Wave-skimmer and swan road are examples of what poetic device?

Answer 26

Kenning

Question 27

A story about the rise and fall of a hero

Answer 27

Epic

Question 28

Two types of epics

Answer 28

Folk and literary

Question 29

4 traditional heroic virtues illustrated by Beowulf

Answer 29

Fortitude, prudence, loyalty, and generosity

Question 30

Why does Beowulf have circular structure?

Answer 30

Begins and ends with the death of a king

Question 31

Most accurate assessment of the middle ages

Answer 31

Time of dynamic change

Question 32

Traditional aim of a poet

Answer 32

To teach by delighting

Question 33

How is the iceberg charming?

Answer 33

Laughing and beauty

Question 34

King responsible for the initiation of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle

Answer 34

King Alfred

Question 35

What is a fyrd?

Answer 35

National army

Question 36

Who was the next king after Ethelred?

Answer 36

Edmund

Question 37

The purpose of the doomsday book?

Answer 37

It had everything that Edmund owned