English IV: Midterm Exam Study Guide (2011-2012)
Literature (texts and periods):
Anglo-Saxon Period (450-1066 A.D.)
Beowulf (excerpts), The Beowulf Poet
“The Seafarer,” anonymous (from The Exeter Book)
“The Wanderer,” anonymous (from The Exeter Book)
“The Wife’s Lament,” anonymous (from The Exeter Book)
Medieval/Middle English Period (1066-1500 A.D.)
A History of the English Church and People (excerpts), The Venerable Bede
The Canterbury Tales (“The Prologue,” “The Pardoner’s Tale,” “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”),
Geoffrey Chaucer
“Barbara Allen,” anonymous (ballad)
“Sir Patrick Spens,” anonymous (ballad)
“Get Up and Bar the Door,” anonymous (ballad)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (excerpt), The Gawain Poet
Le Morte d’Arthur (excerpt), Sir Thomas Malory
English Renaissance (1500-1660 A.D.)
“My Lute, Awake!”, Sir Thomas Wyatt
“On Monsieur’s Departure,” Elizabeth I
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” Christopher Marlowe
“The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” Sir Walter Raleigh
Sonnet 30 (“My love is like to ice, and I to fire”) and Sonnet 75 (“One day I wrote her name
upon the strand”), Edmund Spenser
Sonnet 29 (“When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes”), Sonnet 116 (“Let me not to
the marriage of true minds”), and Sonnet 130 (“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like
the sun”), William Shakespeare
Othello and Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Sonnet 169 (“Rapt in the one fond thought that makes me stray”) and Sonnet 292 (“The
eyes I spoke of once in words that burn”), Francesco Petrarch
“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and “Holy Sonnet 10,” John Donne
Contemporary Novel
Grendel, John Gardner (main characters, ideas, events, themes, compare/contrast with
Beowulf)
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Literary Concepts/Terms:
Metaphor
Extended metaphor
Simile
Image
Diction
Figures of speech
Inversion
Paraphrase
Meter
Rhyme
Repetition
Kenning (p.84)
Elements of tragedy
Tragic flaw
Moment of recognition
Catharsis
Caesura
Allusion
Character/Characterization
Irony
Pun
Hyperbole (exaggeration)
Foreshadowing
Persuasion
Historical writing
Syntax
Thesis
Purpose
Audience
Point of view
Bias
Setting
Stereotype
Tone
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Personification
Soliloquy
Aside
Apostrophe
Symbolism
Connotation
Atmosphere
Refrain
Onomatopoeia
Theme
Epic poetry
Epic hero
The romance (p.209)
Ballad
Madrigal
Pastoral
Sonnet
Volta
Iambic pentameter
Couplet
Quatrain
Sestet
Octave
Spenserian sonnet
Shakespearean sonnet
Italian sonnet
Metaphysical poetry
BE ABLE TO DEFINE AND/OR RECOGNIZE EXAMPLES OF THE ABOVE TERMS. KNOW
MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS AND APPROX. YEARS FOR EACH LITERARY PERIOD STUDIED.
KNOW MAIN CHARACTERS/EVENTS/THEMES FOR EACH TEXT.
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Types of Questions:
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Passage Recognition (Rereading/reviewing text will do a lot more than SparkNotes.)
What is the text?
Who is the author?
Who is the speaker? (if relevant)
What is the context of this passage?
What is going on in the passage?
What rhetorical devices/strategies are present?
What is the purpose? tone? atmosphere? setting? etc.
Paraphrase
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Vocabulary (Not writing out definitions. Possibly matching/multiple choice.)
Multiple choice / matching
Fill in the blank
Short answer
Short essay (1-2 paragraphs). No full-length essays.
Study Tips:
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Know the characteristics of Epic poetry/heroes (pp.28-29).
Know elements of tragedy (class notes and p.321-322).
Know characteristics of ballads (p.192).
Know characteristics of Anglo-Saxon poems (kenning, alliteration, caesura, themes:
uncertainty/hardship/the sea).
Know the characteristics of historical writing (p.98).
Know meter (iambic pentameter) and rhyme scheme (aabb, etc.) for Canterbury
Tales. Be aware of the ironic tone of Canterbury Tales.
Know major characters from the Shakespeare plays, Beowulf, and Canterbury Tales.
Know plot/events/themes for narratives.
Know themes/ideas for poems.
Know sonnet forms/terms. Be able to analyze a sonnet (notes and pp.295-296).
Be able to recognize the meter and rhyme scheme of a poem.
Be able to identify what poetic devices/strategies are used in a given passage.
Be able to paraphrase passages in everyday speech to explain their meanings.
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