Midterm Review Flashcards
A stage device in which a character briefly discloses his thoughts in the presence of other characters who by convention do not hear him.
Aside
The emotion pervading a work
Atmosphere
The repetition of similar consonant sounds within a group of neighboring words or lines. Often initial consonant sounds are repeated. This poetic device often increases the musical effect of the language.
Alliteration
A narrative poem that can be set to music and sung. Often features alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimester with a regular meter and rhyme scheme.
Ballad
Unrhymed iambic pentameter
Blank Verse
A break or pause introduced in the midst of a line of verse, language or by content
Caesura
A striking and often elaborate comparison carried out in considerable detail
Conceit
A pair of rhymed lines.
Couplet
Literature intended to teach or instruct
Didacticism
A mournfully contemplative poem that mourns the death of someone, or the loss of something
Elegiac Poetry
A long narrative poem, usually larger-than-life heroes and legendary events, which celebrates the history, culture and character of a people
Epic
Anonymously composed and passed down orally through the generations before it is committed to print
Folk Ballad
A narrative technique where by a main story is contained within another story that acts as its setting. (Group of stories unified by central situation.)
Frame Story / Tale
A standard type or category of literature.
Genre
Exaggeration - implies less than what is said
Hyperbole
A form of poetic imagery commonly found in Anglo-Saxon poetry. A metaphorical phrase or compound word that is used to indirectly name a person, place or thing.
Kenning
Is written by known poets for literary effect.
Literary Ballad
Short, melodious poems that focus on expressing emotions
Lyric Poetry
The regular arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem
Meter
An expression in which a related thing stands for the thing itself
Metonymy
A work that treats a trivial subject in heroic terms.
Mock Epic
A highly artificial literary mode which centers on shepherds and idealizes rural settings
Pastoralism
The expression of an idea in a roundabout, more elegant way
Periphrastic Epithet
A figure of speech in which instinctive human characteristics such as emotions and reason are attributed to an animal, object or idea
Personification
First eight line, called the octave, rhymes abbaabba and forms a distinct unit of the thought; the last six lines, a sestet, rhymes variously with them or three new rhymes and forms another unit of thought.
Petrarchan / Italian Sonnet
Connect d seri s of incidents. Connecting principle is not chronological but casual.
Plot
A stanza consisting of four lines or a four-line poem
Quatrain
Typical long narrative poem
Romance
Identical sound in corresponding words or phrases
Rhyme
An Old English poet or bard
Scop
The unit of thought is usually distributed over three quatrains with a concluding couplet, the whole rhyme scheme is ababcdcdefefgg
Shakespearean / English Sonnet
A speech addressed to an audience by an actor alone on stage
Soliloquy
A lyric poem of fourteen iambic pentameter lines conventionally rhyming according to one of two patterns
Sonnet
An object that stands for something else as well as for itself
Symbolism
A recurring or emerging idea in a work of literature
Theme
The attitude of a work towards its subject
Tone
Implies more than what is said
Understatement
The repetition of an idea in different words with the same grammatical form
Variation
What is the earliest surviving English poem?
“Caedmon’s Hymn”
Humor in Old English poetry evidenced itself in the forms of what?
Irony and riddles
Name the common features of English poetry.
Irony, alliteration, variation
Epics are traditionally what?
Didactic
What are other forms of epics?
Literary and folk
The most accurate assessment of the Middle Ages is that the period was a time of ______________ change.
Dynamic
Benedictine monk
Bede
“The Ecclesiastical History of the English People” is a major source of information about who and before the time of who?
Anglo-Saxons and Alfred the Great
What was the purpose of “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People”?
To chart the spread of Christianity throughout England from Roman times to the present
The 3 basic philosophical questions alluded to by Edwin’s counsellors deal with what subjects?
Origin, meaning, and destiny
What heroic virtues does Beowulf have?
Fortitude, prudence, loyalty and generosity
What does wyrd mean?
Fate
What is the main theme of Beowulf?
That the continuance of civilization requires virtuous heroes
Grendel is the of who?
Cain
Why are the Danes being assaulted by Grendel?
Because of the sin of pride
Who is most responsible for initiating the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles?
Alfred the Great
Who was sever as a ruler?
William the Conqueror
Old English literature reacted primarily against the ____________ threat to society while Middle English literature sought to remedy the _________ threat to society.
External ; internal
What did the writers of the Middle English period declare to be the primary remedy for the ills of society?
A return to the ideals of the past
The event associated with the end of the English Middle Ages was
The ascension of Henry VII to the throne
What system blended philosophy and theology, and what did it attempt to do?
Scholasticism and attempted to use reason to support faith
Which writers most influenced English medieval poets who wrote for sophisticated audiences?
French
Name three elements emphasized in the medieval romance.
An adventurous knight’s quest, romantic love, acts of chivalry, supernatural elements, the ideals of civilized society
What is Wycliffe associated with?
Nationalism, scholasticism, and Lollardism
Who considered Wycliffe’s beliefs to be heretical and who was his trial brought before?
Chancellor at Oxford University and the Ecclesiastical council
Ecclesiastical synod
In “For the Order of the Priesthood,” Wycliffe taught that the primary requirement for clergy is
A godly lifestyle
What were Chaucer’s aims?
Literary as well as moral
Civil official and diplomat
Chaucer
Chaucer’s work offers both what?
High literary artistry and a satiric commentary on his times
Chaucer used satire to successfully do what?
Entertain and show moral indignation
The original plan for “The Canterbury Tales” projected about how many stories?
120
Why was Chaucer’s use of pilgrimage appropriate?
It allowed him to structurally unite a variety of tales in a single composition and it provided a vehicle for social commentary by bringing together people from all walks of society and with universal character traits
In what section of “The Canterbury Tales” does the author give his plan for the work?
“The General Prologue”
In “The General Prologue” where does the story start and where do the Pilgrims first meet?
Tabard Inn in Southward, London
What were the embellishments added as the legend of King Arthur spread in the 13th and 14th centuries
The French turned Arthur from chieftain into King.
The welsh added supernatural elements to the tale.
When the legend returned to England, it became fiercely patriotic.
The Tudor dynasty claimed descent from Arthur.
What incidents in Morte d’Arthur foreshadow the outcome?
Lancelot’s stating his opinions that Beaumains is “a man of great worship.”
The narrator’s mentioning of the kinship of Beaumains and Sir Gawin.
The narrator’s mentioning of Beaumains’s interest in observing jousts.
In Morte d’Arthur, why does King Arthur agree to let Beaumains try to rescue the damsel?
He promised him 3 wishes and it was one of them
List the typical characteristics of a ballad.
Impersonal, concentrated, dramatic ironic
Repetition, detachment, conciseness
Thee features generate atmosphere and tone
What is incremental variation?
Repetition with variation
Which famous cycle of ballads especially communicates the common man’s viewpoint?
“The Robin Hood Cycle”
This ballad is not concerned with death
“Get Up and Bar the Door”
During the Tudor Period, how did the middle class gain power?
Rise if power of local governments
Growth of the trade companies
Increased membership in the House of Commons
Which decree officially divorced England from the Roman Catholic Church?
Act of Supremacy
Describe Elizabeth’s religious policy
Moderate
Who was the leading humanist during the Tudor period?
Thomas More
Who produced the first complete Bible in English?
Miles Coverdale
What is pastoralism?
A highly artificial literary mode which centers on shepherds and idealizes rural setting
The greatest English literature was written for what purpose?
Moral improvement
Why was the Reformation not as successful in Italy as it was in England?
The reformation took hold quickly because the growing strength of the middle class. The Italian middle class was equally as strong, but the reformation didn’t take hold because they didn’t have the doctrine
What writers and what did they teach that enabled them to offer more to God’s people than those of any other British literature period?
Tudor period writers, moral and religious issues
More’s humanism is evident in
Utopia
More’s Dialogue is a reply to what work by Tyndale’s?
Parable of the Wicked Mammon
The main subject of Tyndale’s Parable of the Wicked Mammon is
Salvation by faith
Tyndale says that the righteous man is one who
Hears and believes the Word of God
In his Answer unto Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue, Tyndale declares that the true interpreter of scripture is
The Holy Spirit
Tyndale’s style is informal as a result of what?
His evangelizing
What does Tyndale use to reach the common people?
Plain, energetic language
What did Tyndale’s influence determine about the style of the English Bible?
It would popular rather than erudite and liturgical
Who was the person most responsible for the organization and style of The Book of Common Prayer?
Thomas Cranmer
The popular title of Foxe’s great work is Book of Martyrs; the more accurate title is
“Acts and Monuments”
The influence of John Foxe’s book helped make England firmly what’s?
Protestant
Why did Foxe decide to publish an English version of his Book of Martyers?
He wanted to influence the common people
Describe John Foxe’s writing
Honest, straightforward, structured
What is the scriptures reference for the beatitudes?
Matthew 5:1-12
What is the date of the King James Version?
1611
Which two versions of scripture are most similar to each other?
The Geneva Bible and the King James Version
What did Wyatt introduce to England?
Renaissance themes and verse forms
The typical sonnet line has how many poetic feet?
5
A sonnet consists of how many lines?
14
What did Surrey invent? Define it
Blank verse - unrhymed pentameter
What best describes Sidney?
Idealistic
What did Sidney defend and what did he say about it?
He defended poetry and said it was more effective than philosophy or history
According to An Apology for Poetry, what is the dual purpose of poetry?
They may convey universal spiritual truths rather than particular historical truths
According to An Apology for Poetry, what is the dual purpose of poetry’s?
Teach and delight
What are the “gowns of clay” to which Raleigh refers in “The Pilgrimage”?
Earthly bodies
What is the name of Spenser’s sonnet sequence?
“Amoretti”
Sonnet 68 “(Most Glorious Lord”) celebrates Christ’s
Resurrection
Who is the Fairy Queen?
Gloriana
Who is Spenser’s ideal gentleman-warrior in “The Faerie Queene”?
Arthur
In “The Faerie Queene”, the dwarf represents what concept?
Reason
Una represents what two concepts?
Truth and faith
“The Faerie Queene” is an epic that is both what?
A romance and an allegory
What 6 subjects of the 6 completed books does Spenser treat respectively?
Holiness, temperance (self-control), chastity (chaste love between the sexes), Friendship, justice, and courtesy. There were to be six others also.
Which character does not in some way represent Roman Catholicism?
Una
In “The Faerie Queene,” the flimsiness of the House of Pride is indicated by what?
It’s thin, insubstantial walls, the crumbling back section, and it’s foundation of sand
During the Renaissance, what type of human love was considered the highest and most spiritual?
Friendship
About how many plays did Shakespeare write?
35-37
Name one of Shakespeare’s two long narrative poems.
“The Rape of Lucrece”
“Venus and Adonis”
What kind of reputation did Shakespeare have and what was he considered?
He had a great reputation and was well off. He was also considered materially successful and people followed him.
How did Shakespeare support himself and his company?
by writing plays with a general appeal and an evident meaning.
Shakespeare couldn’t afford to do what?
He could not afford to let meanings be shadowy and only resurface in classrooms centuries later.
What genuine goods does Macbeth forfeit because of his treason?
Sleep, love, and honor
The witches’ statement that “fair is foul, and foul is fair” introduces which major theme of Macbeth?
Deceiving appearances / reversal of values
What prevents Lady Macbeth from murdering Duncan herself?
Duncan reminded her or looked like her father in his sleep
What is the primary function of the porter in Act II?
To provide comic relief for the audience
The appearance of Banquo’s ghost at the banquet in his honor is an example of what type of irony?
Situational
