Test 1

Question 1

What invasion took place in the Anglo-Saxon Period and had the biggest influence on the course of English literature?

Answer 1

Norman invasion of 1066

Question 2

What were the characteristics of the Anglo-Saxons?

Answer 2

• stern, barbaric life
• mixture of savagery, sentiment, nobility
• fatalism (wyrd)
• responsive to nature, especially the sea
• code of comitatus
• wergild/weregild

Question 3

What is the code of comitatus?

Answer 3

loyalty of warrior to chief and chief to warrior

Question 4

what is wergild?

Answer 4

man price

Question 5

What were the ideals of the Anglo-Saxons?

Answer 5

• love of glory is the ruling motive of every noble life
• allegiance to lord or king is social virtue most extolled
• hospitality of lord to thane

Question 6

What were some structures in Anglo-Saxon literature?

Answer 6

caesura and alliteration

Question 7

What was some of the content in Anglo-Saxon literature?

Answer 7

kennings and litotes

Question 8

What are kennings?

Answer 8

primitive speech form; a compound noun which describes terms in use (whale-path, swan-road, for sea)

Question 9

What are litotes?

Answer 9

a type of understatement

Question 10

What literature were of the Anglo-Saxons?

Answer 10

“Ecclesiastical History of the English-Speaking People”
“Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”
“Beowulf”

Question 11

What are some characteristics of the “Ecclesiastical History of the English-Speaking People”?

Answer 11

• written by Venerable Bede
• first known record of the English people

Question 12

What are some characteristics of the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”?

Answer 12

• begun by Alfred the Great
• first continuous history of a western nation in its own language
• first great book of English prose

Question 13

What are some characteristics of Beowulf?

Answer 13

• oldest surviving epic of Teutonic people
• folk epic - didactic

Question 14

What is a didactic?

Answer 14

a teaching first rather than entertainment

Question 15

What war occurred during the Medieval Period?

Answer 15

Wars of the Roses (York v. Lancaster)

Question 16

What religious influences was exerted during the Medieval Period?

Answer 16

the Catholic Church heavily influenced people’s worldviews

Question 17

What are some culture characteristics of the Medieval Period?

Answer 17

• chivalry
• language is Middle English

Question 18

Define Chivarly

Answer 18

the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, especially courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and readiness to the weak

Question 19

What is the medieval worldview?

Answer 19

chivarly

Question 20

What are some literary terms used in the Medieval Period?

Answer 20

• didactic (teach/instruct)
• genre (category of literature)

Question 21

What are some of the genres in the Medieval Period?

Answer 21

• romance (a tale of adventure)
• ballad (short narrative poem intending to be sung)
• allegory (story with two or more levels of meaning)
• satire (corrective ridicule in literature)

Question 22

What formed the basis for Shakespeare’s plays?

Answer 22

drama

Question 23

Who were the authors in the Medieval Period?

Answer 23

Geoffrey Chaucer and Sir Thomas Malory

Question 24

Who is known as the “Father of English Literature”?

Answer 24

Geoffrey Chaucer

Question 25

Who wrote “The Canterbury Tales”?

Answer 25

Geoffrey Chaucer

Question 26

What is the setting of “The Canterbury Tales”?

Answer 26

pilgrims are on their way to the tomb of Thomas Becket (the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in the cathedral in 1170)

Question 27

What is the genre of “The Canterbury Tales”?

Answer 27

estates satire (the three estates were knights, nobility, and peasantry)

Question 28

What are some lessons from the “Nun’s Priest’s Fable”?

Answer 28

• don’t listen to women
• pay attention to dreams
• don’t listen to flattery
• keep your mouth shut

Question 29

Who wrote “Le Morte d’Arthur”?

Answer 29

Sir Thomas Malory

Question 30

What does Arthur ask at the end of “Le Morte d’Arthur”?

Answer 30

“I want you to pray for my soul”

Question 31

What were some of the political events during English Renaissance?

Answer 31

separation from Rome by Henry VIII and the Elizabeth Age

Question 32

What is the “Golden Age of British Literature”?

Answer 32

the Elizabeth Age

Question 33

What was the social/economic conditions of the English Renaissance?

Answer 33

their philosophy was humanism

Question 34

What is humanism?

Answer 34

• the study of ancient works
• “Man’s place in God’s world”

Question 35

What were the religious affairs during the English Renaissance?

Answer 35

• separation from Rome by Henry VIII
• Catholic persecution under Mary I

Question 36

What two literary works were produced due to the religious fleeing to Europe?

Answer 36

• production of the Geneva Bible
• John Foxe produced “Acts and Monuments”

Question 37

What were some types of literature during the English Renaissance?

Answer 37

eclectic and difficult

Question 38

Define Eclectic

Answer 38

composed of ingredients from different sources (continental combined with English)

Question 39

Define Difficult

Answer 39

highly artificial, academic, ornate

Question 40

Where were some of the lyric poetry used in English Renaissance literature?

Answer 40

• Sonnet (came from Italy; perfected by Shakespear)
• Pastoral (exalts simple country life)

Question 41

Who were the authors during the English Renaissance?

Answer 41

• Edmund Spencer
• Christopher Marlowe
• William Shakespeare

Question 42

Who wrote the “Faerie Queen”?

Answer 42

Edmund Spencer

Question 43

Who was the first to receive critical praise for using blank verse? (also influenced William Shakespeare)

Answer 43

Christopher Marlowe

Question 44

Who is the greatest author in world literature?

Answer 44

William Shakespeare

Question 45

Who wrote “Hamlet”?

Answer 45

William Shakespeare