British Literature Exam Review
Kirk
How to study for the Semester Exam (Oh! Mrs. Kirk is soooo nice!)
-Glance over/re-read all works that we have read
-Look at all notes and handouts
-add info on review sheet to help remember and better understand
-study with a partner (he/she may remember something you do not/ vice versa)
-Think about how literature reflects time period (culture, values, beliefs, etc.)
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Language development
Celtics
Romans- as early as 55 BC
Germanic Tribes: 450 AD (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (Frisians)
*English is largely a Germanic language
Vikings or Danes
French influence 1066: William the Conqueror and feudalism
Alfred the Great: Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Exeter Book, and Translations (aid of monks)
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Periods of study
Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066
Beowulf
Epic translated by monks who added Christian elements to pagan tale
Partially explains Beowulf’s characteristics- boastful (not modest)
Self-importance and desire for fame partly due to brevity of life
Valhalla and Warrior Code
Riddles
Scops were professional orators, story-tellers, etc.
Oral literature
Elements of Anglo-Saxon poetry?
Caesura
Kennings
Alliteration
Rhythmic/musical
No definite end rhyme
Common themes:
Elegiac
Heroic or Fame
* People did appreciate beauty as supported through the artifacts of Sutton Hoo. Climate was
harsh, affecting life expectancy. Through the literature of the period, what else can we tell about the
Anglo-Saxons? Entertainment important?-Mead Halls (setting of Beowulf). Riddles show much of what
was emphasized as well: (remember riddle contest in class) Agrarian: plow (farming elements), images
related to the sea (anchor and iceberg), cup of mead.
British Literature Exam Review
Kirk
Medieval Period (1066-1485)
Geoffrey Chaucer is the Father of English Literature- Why? (look at p.86)
The Canterbury Tales offering best cross-section of 14th century England
Satire- Targets?
By what means? light humor, sarcasm, and irony
Irony: Situational, Dramatic, and Verbal
To what degree? Subtle, Harsh, and Biting
Devices used? Satire of Estates, Physiognomy, Heroic
Couplet form
Frame Story- set up within the prologue
Remember: April, 29 pilgrims, supposedly leaving on
Pilgrimage to see the shrine of Thomas BecketWhy?
Host’s role in the plan to tell the tales
Each tale is another opportunity for satire
Condescension towards women
Questions the validity of marriage
Questions the credibility of the Church
Mock Epic (trivial matters on a heroic scale)
Which characters did Chaucer admire?
Ballads (look at p. 164-177)
A narrative song told of common folk-legend and folklore
“Barbara Allen” “Lord Randall” “Get Up and Bar the Door”
Refrain, repetition, quatrains
Romances and Arthurian Legends
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Knight and Code of Chivalry ( look at p. 140)
Romantic hero compared and contrasted to Anglo-Saxon warrior
Adventurous tales of courage and loyalty, honor king and women
Devout and mannerly
Hundred Year’ War, the Black Death, and the Peasants’ Revolt
British Literature Exam Review
Kirk
The Renaissance 1485-1660
Drama, sonnets, and the King James Translation of the Bible (1611) overshadow this period.
Time of Shakespeare, Spenser, and Sir Philip Sydney!
17th century poetry! > John Donne and Metaphysical poetry, the Cavalier writers, and John Milton
What is a tragedy? (look at Macbeth handout) tragic flaw, learns a lesson about self, climax is in Act III,
etc.
Macbeth: themes? literary devices: hyperbole, dramatic irony, microcosm
Hamlet: introspective- “To be or not to be …”
Compare/Contrast Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth
What are the two sonnet types and how can we tell the difference?
English/Shakespeare: Three quatrains (four line stanzas) with a rhyming couplet
ababcdcdefefgg
Italian/Petrarchian: Octave- poses problem or question (abba abba- varies)
Sestet- resolution or answer (cde cde or cdccdc)
Sonnet Cycle or Sequence: several sonnets on same theme/topic (Book of sonnets)
Spenser’s Amoretti “little love poems” (p.206)
Sydney’s Astrophel and Stella
Common theme of man’s desire for a beautiful woman
Apostrophe? Addressing an object “O Moon” and “Come, Sleep…”
Pastoral poetry? shepherds and rustic life are idealized
Companion poems: showing two attitudes toward life and love
Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd”
Sir Walter Raleigh’s “The Nymph’s Reply”
23rd Psalm- “The Lord is my shepherd…”Extended Metaphor (look at p. 246)
Prodigal Son Parable- moral message or lesson (look at p. 248)
Ben Johnson’s elegies (p.404) and the “Tribe of Ben” or “Sons of Ben”= Cavalier poets
Cavalier poets:
Richard Lovelace (Stone walls do not a prison make/Nor iron bars a cage)
Robert Herrick “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”
John Donne (p.390)- The Metaphysical Poet- “No man is an island; every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main.” “Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” “Death, thou shalt die.”
Holy sonnets and meditations
Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”-heavy carpe diem poem AND metaphysical
John Milton- Puritan writer- sonnets and Paradise Lost (epic), blindness and purpose for writing “To
justify…” Remember his famous quotes: “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven,” and “The mind
is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”
British Literature Exam Review
Kirk
Vocabulary : Define and/or list examples.
Example: microcosm: philosophical term used to explain the relationship between man and the
universe; “small world” representing “larger world.” For instance, Shakespeare employs a microcosm of
depicting the state of the entire nation by portraying the lords from all parts of Scotland leaving the
banquet hall in a disorderly fashion in Macbeth.
alliteration
apostrophe: Ex: “Come, Sleep!” … “Death be not proud!” Define?
ballad
caesura
carpe diem
chivalry
dramatic irony
elegiac: resembling or characteristic of a poetic elegy (praising the dead) in form or content. Ex:?
epic
epic hero
hyperbole: extreme exaggeration Ex:?
juxtaposing
kenning
metaphor
motif: Ex: Macbeth- blood, sleeplessness, clothing, babies, fate, gender. Define?
oxymoron
parable: conveys a moral message or lesson. Ex:?
paradox:
personification
physiognomy
satire
similie
sonnet: English VS Italian. Define?
tragedy
British Literature Exam Review
Kirk
warrior code