Midterm Practice Test
Fill-in-the-Blank
1. The only manuscript of Beowulf dates from the year 1000 and is now in
Answer: British Museum in London.
2. Loyal Dependency is basic to Anglo-Saxon life.
3. Unferth is the foil in “Beowulf”
4. The term taut is the opposite of loose.
5. Sinews: internal tissue that can also be used as string.
6. In The Canterbury Tales, the Doctor ably attended upon the sick, but was not
reluctant about charging a good fee.
7. In The Canterbury Tales, the Monk was an affluent priest who combined
godliness and worldliness into a profitable and comfortable living.
8. The meaning of the word avarice is too great a desire for wealth.
True or False
1. True Before King Alfred, tales and poems in English were not considered great
literature.
2. True Anglo-Saxon poets held an honored position in society primarily because
they preserved heroic deeds in the collective memory.
3. True The most positive effect of the medieval church was the fostering of
common beliefs and symbols.
4. False When the Anglo-Saxons conquered Britain, renaming it England, the Celts
retreated to Ireland.
5. False The Romans introduced the use of iron to the rest of Europe.
6. True During the Anglo-Saxon period, Great Britain was isolated from the
European continent.
Multiple Choice
1. Alfred the Great helped create all of the following except:
a. a cohesive English society from small, fractious kingdoms
b. a trading system for the Romans
c. restored cities destroyed during the invasions
d. a revived interest in learning and in the English language.
2. The moral of “The Pardoner’s Tale” is
a. money is the root of all good
b. avarice is wrong
c. death will find you
3. Which of the following is not true?
a. Humbaba is a giant bird that swoops down on its victims.
b. Humbaba has never been appreciated by the gods for whom he works.
c. Humbaba attacks Enkidu first.
d. Humbaba offers to serve Gilgamesh instead of the gods.
4. The growth of cities in the Middle Ages led to all of the following except
a. a revival of courtly love and a system of chivalry
b. the development of lower, middle, and upper-middle classes
c. the rise of “peoples” art: such as the ballad and the mystery play
d. the eventual collapse of the European feudal system
5. The crusades influenced everyday life in England by
a. causing writers to publish in many different languages
b. exposing the English to other civilizations
c. recapturing Jerusalem for the Christians
d. affecting the creators of the Magna Carta