BRIT LIT

According to the lecture, what is the term for double-speaking about a figure without overt criticism or malice?

soft irony

doubling

Shakespearean irony

Chaucerian irony 

Chaucerian irony 

What stage of English is Chaucer writing in?

Renaissance English

Middle English

Modern English

Old English

Middle English

What does it mean to "canonize" someone?

make them a knight

make them a saint

make them a king

make them a martyr

make them a saint

In the line, "My bonds in thee are all determinate," the word "are" is what part of speech?

verb

What kind of journey is being undertaken by the main characters in The Canterbury Tales?

pilgrimage

According to the lecture, what is the literary term for, "something appropriate to a situation"? 

Correct answer:

decorum

What is the term for the genre that satirizes social types in relationship to their occupations?

estates satire

True or False: Chaucer writes in rhyme.

True

Adjectives and adverbs are what part of speech?

Correct answer:

modifiers

What is a group of four lines called?

Correct answer:

quatrain

Shakespeare's sonnets follow in an Italian poetic tradition started by what poet?

Correct answer:

Petrarch

Which is not a central them of Shakespeare's sonnets?

procreation

love

warfare

none of the above

time

warfare

According to the lecture, where in a Shakespearean sonnet does a couplet usually appear? 

the end

True or False: Shakespeare also wrote narrative poems.

True

What is "iambic pentameter"?

Correct answer:

a verse containing five poetic feet

What is the base meter of Shakespeare's sonnets? 

Correct answer:

iambic pentameter

Traditionally, how many lines are in a sonnet in the English language?

14

True or False: An imperfect, extrasyllabic line is known as a "masculine" rhyme. 

False

True or False: Shakespeare's sonnets were most likely revised over his lifetime.

True

According to the lecture, a poetic catalogue of body parts is called what? 

blazon

What is always contained in a Renaissance tragedy? 

Correct answer:

a fall from high degree into misery

True or False: There was likely another theatrical work with Hamlet in the title in circulation before Shakespeare's play. 

True

Hamlet takes places where?

Denmark

True or False: Shakespeare's plays were also read in his time.

True

Who is Hamlet's best friend in the play?

Horatio

True or false: There are many nighttime scenes in Renaissance tragedy.

True

According to the lecture, a character of high rank and education might speak in what form? 

verse

True or false: There is one consistent version of Hamlet that editors draw upon for organizing and printing the play. 

False

According to the lecture, Hamlet is known as a play with remarkable soliloquies. 

True

True or False: According to the lecture, Hamlet acknowledges its distance from the classical past. 

True

What is a "metaphysical conceit"?

A complicated extended metaphor

What was Donne best known for in his lifetime?

Correct answer:

his sermons

What major playwright of the Renaissance was influenced by Donne?

Correct answer:

William Shakespeare

True or False: John Donne was born a Catholic. 

True

According to the lecture, in what "style" did Donne write? 

metaphysical

According to the lecture, during the Renaissance, what word meant "a really high form of intelligence"?

wit

Which of the following is not a deictic marker?

but

According the lecture, what form of literature uses a lot of deictic markers?

lyric poetry

verse vs. prose

verse: high class, important, elevated, tension

prose: not important, low class/order

According to the lecture, what is the name for a term that describes “pointing” in literature?

Correct answer:

deixis

The sonnet, "Death, be not proud" defends a theological idea. 

True

According to the lecture, all other literary genres are contained within the epic.

True

What major sense did John Milton lose later in life?

sight

In the English Civil War, which side was Milton on?

Correct answer:

Parliament's side

According to the lecture, Paradise Lost is a literary adaptation of what book?

Bible

True or False: According to the lecture, Milton uses accessible, non-Latinate language. 

False

According to the lecture, John Milton's life and writing bridges what two periods?

Renaissance and Restoration

According to the lecture, which late-18th century/early-19th century poet and artist was a devoted reader of Paradise Lost?

William Blake

True or False: According to the lecture, 20th century criticism points us to the fact that Milton knew what he was doing by crafting Satan as an attractive character in Paradise Lost. 

True

Milton's Paradise Lost is part of what major formal literary tradition?

epic

What is the best argument for the position that Satan is the hero in Paradise Lost? 

He is a proponent of personal freedom over mindless obedience

He is a rebel against unjust authority

All of the above

He is modeled on epic heroes such as Achilles, Odysseus, and Aeneas

He is a fearless leader

All of the above

verb

action: running, loving

state/action linking: am, is, are, was, be, being, been

occurence: happen, become, occur, take place

noun

common: person, place, thing

proper nouns: places, names

modifiers

adjective - describes noun: that, those, what kind/color, how many, quick, sharp

adverb- describes a verb: quickly, quietly, really

rhyme schemes

masculine= perfect rhyme: flee, thee

feminine = imperfect rhyme: treasure, pleasure (2 syllables)

shakespear sonnets = ababcdcdefefgg

petrarchin/milton = abab cde cde

makes us focus on the meanings of words that sound the same and how they compare with eachother

gives poem flow

modes (3) and corresponding genres (literary type/kind)

1. lyric = short poem, 1st person

• sonnet

• ode

• elegy

petrarchan sonnet

2. dramatic = conflict through action or speech

• comedy

• tradjedy

• history

revenge tradgedy

3. narrative = substantial story

• movel

• short story

romance or historical novel

ALL OF THESE ARE CONTAINED IN AN EPIC

John Donne poems (6) - metaphysical wit

The Flea: A flea has bitten both lovers, and now the flea marks their union because it has both of their blood. The poet asks his lover not to kill it, but the lover does, and finds herself not diminished. When she yields to her lover, he says, her honor likewise will not be diminished, so there's nothing to fear by going for it.

The Canonization: The poet demands that some complainer leave him alone to love. The complainer should turn his attention elsewhere, and nobody is hurt by the love. The poet and his lover take their own chances together; they are unified in their love. On the other hand, their love is a beautiful example for the world that will be immortalized, canonized, a pattern for all other love in the world.

A Valediction: The beloved should not openly mourn being separated from the poet. Their love is spiritual, like the legs of a compass that are joined together at the top even if one moves around while the other stays in the center. She should remain firm and not stray so that he can return home to find her again..

Song: The reader is told to do impossible things like catch a meteor or find a "true and fair" woman after a lifetime of travels. The poet wishes he could go and see such a woman if she existed, but he knows that she would turn false by the time he got there.

Holy Sonnets:) are 19 intense 17th-century poems (first published 1633) that can be identified by their hybrid structure—combining Petrarchan octave (abbaabba) with Shakespearean, rhyming couplets—written in iambic pentameter. They focus on death, sin, and dramatic, passionate arguments with God

Elegy 19/To His Mistress: poem of seduction. In it, the speaker tries to convince his “mistress” to undress, get in bed, and have sex with him.

Who is the main character of "The Rape of the Lock"?

Correct answer:

Belinda

According to lecture, Gray's "Elegy" anticipates which larger European phenomenon?

Correct answer:

Romanticism

True or False: "The Rape of the Lock" highlights consumerism.

Correct answer:

True

According to lecture, imagery in literature is best defined as:

Correct answer:

anything making a vivid appeal to the senses

"The Rape of the Lock" is considered what genre? 

Correct answer:

mock epic

To illustrate its points about imagery, the lecture quotes these two authors multiple times:

Shakespeare and Keats

Where does Gray's "Elegy" purport to have been written?

Correct answer:

a country churchyard

Alexander Pope is known to have perfected what form? 

Correct answer:

heroic couplet

Alexander Pope only wrote poetry.

Correct answer:

False

Hamlet summary

• Prince Hamlet of Denmark learns from his father’s ghost that his uncle Claudius murdered him.

• Claudius married Hamlet’s mother Gertrude and took the throne.

• Hamlet vows revenge but delays, questioning morality, truth, and action.

• He stages a play to confirm Claudius’s guilt.

• Multiple deaths follow due to spying, manipulation, and revenge.

• Ends with a bloody final scene where nearly everyone dies and Fortinbras takes the throne.

Hamlet

• Prince of Denmark

• Intelligent, philosophical, depressed, indecisive

• Obsessed with truth vs appearance

• Famous for soliloquies (especially “To be or not to be”)

Claudius

Claudius

• King of Denmark

• Hamlet’s uncle / father’s murderer

• Guilt-ridden but power-hungry

• Uses spying and manipulation

Gertrude

Gertrude

• Hamlet’s mother

• Marries Claudius quickly

• Morally passive, possibly unaware of the murder

Ghost of King Hamlet

Ghost of King Hamlet

• Hamlet’s dead father

• Demands revenge

• Raises questions: Is he trustworthy? Demon or truth?

Polonius

Polonius

• Court advisor

• Long-winded, meddling

• Spies constantly

• Killed accidentally by Hamlet

Ophelia

Ophelia

• Polonius’s daughter

• Obedient, innocent

• Rejected by Hamlet

• Goes mad and drowns

Laertes

Laertes

• Ophelia’s brother

• Hot-headed, impulsive

• Seeks revenge against Hamlet

Horatio

Horatio

• Hamlet’s best friend

• Rational, loyal

• Survives to tell Hamlet’s story

Famous Moments to Recognize from Hamlet

Famous Moments to Recognize

• Ghost scene → revenge + uncertainty

• “To be or not to be” → suicide, existence, fear of death

• Play-within-a-play → exposing guilt

• Closet scene (Gertrude’s room) → Polonius dies

• Graveyard scene → skull of Yorick, mortality

• Final duel → poisoned sword & cup

• Deep philosophical questions → Hamlet

• Religious guilt / prayer → Claudius

• Rambling advice → Polonius

• Emotional, broken speech → Ophelia

• Calm, logical tone → Horatio

Cantebury Tales

The General Prologue

• Introduces each pilgrim

• Uses estates satire (criticizing social classes)

• Focuses on appearance, clothing, behavior

• Tone: ironic, humorous, sometimes fake praise

The Tales

• Each pilgrim’s story reflects their personality/job

• Wide range of genres: romance, fabliau, sermon, moral tale

Cantebury Tales was written to:

• To entertain

• To criticize medieval society

• To show every social class

• To explore human flaws humorously, not harshly

Pilgrims:

The Knight

• Ideal medieval knight

• Noble, honorable, experienced

• tells a romance

The Squire

• Knight’s son

• Focused on love and appearance

The Wife of Bath

• Married five times

• Bold, sexual, independent

• Argues that women should dominate marriage

• Tells a tale about female sovereignty

The Miller

• Drunk, crude, loud

• Tells a fabliau (dirty comedy)

• Mocks the Knight’s noble tale

The Pardoner

• Corrupt church official

Deictic Markers (Deixis)

Deixis refers to words whose meaning depends on context (who is speaking, when, where).

What Deictic Markers Do:
They “point” to something relative to the speaker.

• Shows point of view

• Reveals power dynamics

• Creates immediacy or distance

• Helps identify speaker and audience

Deictic markers require context to be fully understood.

• Person Deixis – Who

  • I, me, we, you, he, she, they

• Spatial Deixis – Where

  • here, there, this, that, above, below

• Temporal Deixis – When

  • now, then, today, yesterday, tomorrow

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in a series of words. Beginning sounds (not letters — sounds).

• Creates rhythm

• Emphasizes key words

• Makes lines memorable or musical

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within words.

• Creates internal rhyme

• Smooth, flowing sound

• Can set mood or tone

explications

• Tone (ironic, elevated, mocking, sincere, reflective)

• Sound devices (alliteration, heroic couplets, rhythm)

• Diction (religious, scientific, erotic, epic, natural imagery)

• Form (sonnet, couplet, epic invocation, lyric argument)

• Purpose (satire, persuasion, parody, meditation)