Name: ________________________________________ Date: ______________ Block: ________ 2012 midterm hon.
DIRECTIONS: READ THEM!
This is your study guide for you English midterm exam. I will not be going over each question and giving the
answers. We will be playing a game on the last regular class day before your midterm that will act as a review.
The winners of this game will receive 5 additional points on their midterm grade. You may not use your guide
on game day but you will be able to get the correct answers to the exam.
Review Game is on : __________________
English Midterm Exam is on: __________________
Types of Questions:
Major Topics on Midterm:
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Multiple Choice
Matching
Identifying vocabulary in context
Short Answer
ORQ
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The Anglo-Saxon Period-Beowulf
The Hobbit
The Medieval Period-Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight and The Canterbury Tales
The Renaissance- Carpe Diem Pastoral poetry
The Victorian era, A Christmas Carol
1. Beowulf is considered what type of literature?
2. Beowulf was first passed from generation to generation in what fashion?
3. What does Beowulf use to kill Grendel?
4. Which of the following qualities best fit Beowulf’s character?
5. Beowulf is from what period of British Literature?
6. Britain and its language were influenced by invading tribes from what country in the Anglo-Saxon
period?
7. Beowulf’s sign of victory from his battle with Grendel that he hangs from the rafters is what?
8. Where does Beowulf fight Grendel’s mother?
9. What was the most important attribute to an Anglo-Saxon warrior?
10. There are elements combined of what two religions in Beowulf?
11. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives his readers insight into what aspects of the time period?
Name: ________________________________________ Date: ______________ Block: ________ 2012 midterm hon.
12. The main story in The Canterbury Tales is based on a pilgrimage. What is a pilgrimage?
13. What is a “Pardoner?”
14. What is the literary device used in “The Pardoner’s Tale” in reference to Death?
15. What are the three young men seeking in “The Pardoner’s Tale?”
16. What is the crime the Knight commits in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale?”
17. What is the question the knight is seeking to answer in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”?
18. What does the old woman ask for first in exchange for the answer in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”?
19. Which work we have read this year is a frame story?
20. In Medieval society, who was the highest in the social hierarchy?
21. In which of the three periods of literature we have covered thus far did women have the most rights and
privileges?
22. What is an incubus?
23. What is chivalry?
24. What is a cuckold?
25. What is the game the Green Knight proposes to Arthur and his knights in Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight?
26. Who is the first person to accept the Green Knight’s challenge in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?
27. What is the length of time Gawain has before he has to fulfill his end of the game in Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight?
28. What is striking about the Green Knight in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?
29. What caused Gawain to fail in his challenge?
30. Why does Gawain keep the sash after his encounter with the Green Knight?
31. Which of the following is not a characteristic of a ballad?
Name: ________________________________________ Date: ______________ Block: ________ 2012 midterm hon.
32. What is the name of the literary period during which Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales?
33. What disease was rampant during the time period when Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales?
34. What is the destination of the shrine in The Canterbury Tales?
35. “The Pardoner’s Tale” is an exemplum, or sermon, against what vice?
36. Which time period is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from?
37. Why did Lewis Carroll write the novella, The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland?
38. Which time period is The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland from?
39. What society group did Chaucer strongly criticize for being corrupt in The Canterbury Tales?
40. Which poem was written as a response/call out to Marlowe’s pastoral poem with a carpe diem theme?
41. Who wrote 95 arguments against the Roman Catholic Church?
42. What is the setting and genre of The Hobbit?
43. Why did Henry VIII want to annul his first marriage (with Catherine of Aragon)?
44. What does the term “renaissance” mean?
45. Which Renaissance monarch is widely considered one of the most successful in English history (with
many contributions to the arts as well)?
46. Who is the author of A Christmas Carol?
47. What time period was A Christmas Carol written in?
48. Who is the leader of the dwarves in The Hobbit?
49. Which country invaded and influenced the language and culture of Great Britain in the medieval period?
50. What religion did nearly all of Europe practice at the beginning of the Renaissance?
51. Be able to describe how the worldview on religion of the Renaissance was different from the medieval
period due to humanism and the key facts on the new way of thinking in the Elizabethan Age.
52. Know the key facts and characters of The Hobbit.
Name: ________________________________________ Date: ______________ Block: ________ 2012 midterm hon.
53. Recognize parallels between The Hobbit and Beowulf.
54. Know the different elements that make up the Hero’s Journey and be able to apply them to the texts we
have read.
55. Know the poets and the poem titles we covered for the Renaissance.
Define the following literary terms:
56. Alliteration
57. Kenning
58. Personification
59. Irony
60. Simile
61. Metaphor
62. Hyperbole
63. Theme
64. Pastoral
65. Carpe Diem
66. Frame Story
67. Allusion