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UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Summer Examinations 2013
Medieval to Renaissance English Literature
First Year / Level One Students:
Time allowed:
3 hours plus 15 minutes reading time during which notes may
be made on the question paper but NO ANSWER MAY BE
BEGUN.
Answer questions 1-4.
Students taking the module at Honours Level:
Time allowed:
1 ½ hours plus 15 minutes reading time during which notes
may be made on the question paper but NO ANSWER MAY
BE BEGUN.
Answer questions 1 and 2.
For all students taking the exam: Read carefully the instructions on the answer
book and make sure that the particulars required are entered fully on each answer
book used.
Do not substantially repeat material from assessed essays (Honours level) or between
sections on the exam.
1. Translate the following passage into modern English prose. (12 marks)
(approx. 20 mins)
On the morn, as uch mon mynnes that tyme
That Dryghtyn for oure destiny to deye was born,
Wele waxes in uch a wone in worlde for his sake.
So did hit there on that day thurgh dayntyes mony,
Both at messe and at mele messes ful quaynt,
Derf men upon dece dressed of the best.
The olde auncian wyf highest ho sittes,
The lord lovely hir by lent, as I trowe.
Gawayn and the gay burde togeder thay seten
Even inmyddes, as the messe metely come,
And sithen thurgh all the sale as hem best semed.
By uch grome at his degree graythly was served,
There was mete, there was mirthe, there was much joy,
That for to telle therof hit me tene were.
from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
mynnes: thinks, recalls
Dryghtyn: God
messe: breakfast, light meal
mele: dinner
messes: dishes
quaynt: finely made
lovely ... lent: courteously ... took his place
graythly: promptly
tene: trouble, vexation
Continued
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2. Write a critical commentary on ONE of the following passages. (24 marks)
(approx. 40 mins)
a) “O cruel god, O dispitouse Marte,
O Furies thre of helle, on yow I crye!
So lat me nevere out of this hous departe,
If I mente harm or vilenye!
But sith I se my lord mot nedes dye,
And I with hym, here I me shryve, and seye
That wikkedly ye don us bothe deye.
“But sith it liketh yow that I be ded,
By Neptunus, that god is of the see,
Fro this forth shal I nevere eten bred
Til I myn owen herte blood may see;
For certeyn I wol deye as soone as he.”
And up he sterte, and on his wey he raughte,
Tyl she agayn hym by the lappe kaughte.
Criseyde, which that wel neigh starf for feere,
So as she was the ferfulleste wighte
That myghte be, and herde ek with hire ere
And saugh the sorwful ernest of the knyght,
And in his preier ek saugh noon unryght,
And for the harm that myghte ek fallen moore,
She gan to rewe and dredde hire wonder soore,
And thoughte thus: ‘Unhappes fallen thikke
Alday for love, and in swych manere cas
As men ben cruel in hemself and wikke;
And if this man sle here hymself – allas! –
In my presence, it wol be no solas.
What men wolde of hit deme I kan nat seye;
It nedeth me ful sleighly for to pleie.”
From Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, Book 2
dispitouse: malicious
me shryve: make my confession
raughte: started out
Unhappes: misfortunes
b)
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She comes, and straight therewith her shining twins do move
Their rays to me, who in their tedious absence lay
Benighted in cold woe; but now appears my day,
The only light of joy, the only warmth of love.
She comes with light and warmth, which, like Aurora, prove
Of gentle force, so that mine eyes dare gladly play
With such a rosy morn, whose beams, most freshly gay,
Scorch not, but only do dark chilling sprites remove.
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But lo, while I do speak, it groweth noon with me,
Her flamey-glistring lights increase with time and place,
My heart cries, oh! It burns, mine eyes now dazzled be;
No wind, no shade can cool: what help then in my case?
But with short breath, long looks, staid feet, and aching head,
Pray that my Sun go down with meeker beams to bed.
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Those looks, whose beams be joy, whose motion is delight;
That face, whose lecture shows what perfect beauty is;
That presence, which doth give dark hearts a living light;
That grace, which Venus weeps that she herself doth miss;
That hand, which without touch holds more then Atlas might;
Those lips, which make death’s pay a mean price for a kiss;
That skin, whose pass-praise hue scorns this poor term of white;
Those words, which do sublime the quintessence of bliss;
That voice, which makes the soul plant himself in the ears,
That conversation sweet, where such high comforts be,
As, constered in true speech, the name of heav’n it bears;
Makes me in my best thoughts and quiet’st judgments see
That in no more but these I might be fully blest:
Yet, ah, my maid’n Muse doth blush to tell the best.
From Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella
constered: construed
c) “Faire knight,” quoth he, “Hierusalem that is,
The new Hierusalem, that God has built
For those to dwell in, that are chosen his,
His chosen people purged from sinfull guilt,
With pretious bloud, which cruelly was spilt
On cursèd tree, of that unspotted lam,
That for the sinnes of all the world was kilt:
Now are they Saints all in that Citie sam,
More deare unto their God, then younglings to their dam.”
“Till now,” said then the knight, “I weenèd well,
That great Cleopolis, where I have beene,
In which that fairest Faerie Queene doth dwell,
The fairest Citie was, that might be seene;
And that bright towre all built of christall cleene,
Panthea, seemd the brightest thing, that was:
But now by proofe all otherwise I weene;
For that great Citie that does far surpas,
And this bright Angels towre quite dims that towre of glas.”
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“Most trew,” then said the holy agèd man;
“Yet is Cleopolis for earthly frame,
The fairest peece, that eye beholden can:
And well beseemes all knights of noble name,
That covet in th’immortall booke of fame
To be eternizèd, that same to haunt,
And doen their service to that soveraigne Dame,
That glorie does to them for guerdon graunt:
For she is heavenly borne, and heaven may justly vaunt.”
From Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Canto 10
sam: together
Panthea: perhaps intended to allude to Westminster Abbey as pantheon of the
English great.
peece: masterpiece
guerdon: reward
heaven may justly vaunt: may justly boast that heaven is her home.
d) Like untuned golden strings all women are,
Which, long time lie untouched, will harshly jar.
Vessels of brass, oft handled, brightly shine;
What difference betwixt the richest mine
And basest mold, but use? For both not used
Are of like worth. Then treasure is abused
When misers keep it; being put to loan,
In time it will return us two for one.
Rich robes themselves and others do adorn;
Neither themselves nor others, if not worn.
Who builds a palace and rams up the gate
Shall see it ruinous and desolate.
Ah, simple Hero, learn thyself to cherish;
Lone women, like to empty houses, perish.
Less sins the poor rich man that starves himself
In heaping up a mass of drossy pelf,
Than such as you: his golden earth remains,
Which after his decease some other gains.
But this fair gem, sweet in the loss alone,
When you fleet hence can be bequeathed to none.
Or if it could, down from th’enameled sky
All heaven would come to claim this legacy,
And with intestine broils the world destroy
And quite confound Nature’s sweet harmony.
Well therefore by the gods decreed it is,
We human creatures should enjoy that bliss.
One is no number; maids are nothing then
Without the sweet society of men.
Wilt thou live single still? One shalt thou be,
Though never-singling Hymen couple thee.
Wild savages, that drink of running springs,
Think water far excels all earthly things;
But they that daily taste neat wine despise it.
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Virginity, albeit some highly prize it,
Compared with marriage, had you tried them both,
Differs as much as wine and water doth.
Base bullion for the stamp’s sake we allow:
Even so for men’s impression do we you;
By which alone, our reverend fathers say,
Women receive perfection every way.
from Marlowe, Hero and Leander.
mine: ore
pelf: wealth
enameled: many-coloured
intestine: internal, civil
Hymen: god of marriage
for the stamp’s sake: for the impression that makes metal (‘bullion’) into a
coin.
our reverend fathers: ancient philosophers
3. Write an essay in answer to ONE of the following questions. (32 marks) (1 hr)
Do NOT write an answer on a text on which you have already commented in
question 2.
a) Are the discontinuities in the depiction of the natural world in Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight superficial or fundamental? What is their function?
b) Explore the representation of masculinity in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
c) In the poem which succeeds Troilus and Criseyde (the Legend of Good
Women), the ‘Chaucer’ persona defends his intention in writing Troilus and
Criseyde:
‘.. yt was my entente
To forthren trouthe in love and yt cheryce,
And to ben war fro falsnesse and fro vice
By swich ensample; this was my menynge.’
Do you agree that Troilus and Criseyde is intended to be a cautionary
example, teaching us to be wary of unfaithfulness in love?
d) Explore the representation of different kinds of spaces in Troilus and
Criseyde, and their relation to the romance narrative of the poem. You may
wish to focus your answer on different types of household (private) and city
(public) space.
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4. Write an essay in answer to ONE of the following questions. (32 marks) (1 hr)
Do NOT write an answer on a text on which you have already commented in
question 2.
a) Thomas More’s Utopia depicts a state in which the individual has very little
privacy. What is the relationship between public and private virtue in Utopia?
b) The end of rhetoric is persuasion. Is Erasmus’ Letter to Dorp a rhetorical
success?
c) ‘Drowned is reason that should me consort’ (Thomas Wyatt). What is the role
of reason in the poetry of Wyatt and Surrey?
d) Compare Wyatt’s and Sidney’s responses to the Petrarchan sonnet tradition.
e) In what senses might George Gascoigne’s The Adventures of Master F.J. be
justifiably regarded as ‘the first English novel’?
f) How well do Spenser’s ‘allegorical devices’ serve his intention to ‘fashion a
gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline’?
g) Examine Shakespeare’s response to Ovidian myth in Venus and Adonis.
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