ENG202, midterm (infomation on the readings)

The Ruin - Theme

Transience, Providence

The Ruin - year

8-10th century CE

The Ruin - type

Old English elegy

The Ruin - about

The decay of a once great city

The Ruin - from

Exeter Cathedral Library (since 1072 CE), poem likely from south of England, (this one is the only one in first person out of the bunch)

The Ruin - Lines

Not longer than 10 syllables (can be shorter)

Dream of the rood - year

Early 8th century CE

Dream of the rood - type

Old English Christian poem

Dream of the rood - theme

Incarnational piety: christ as a heroic warrior

Dream of the rood - from

Ruthwell cross, in a small church in Dumfriesshire on the western border of England and Scotland

Dream of the rood - about

Crucifixion of Christ

Beowulf - year

700-1000

Beowulf - themes

Heroism, Mortality, Inner Demons,

Beowulf - from

South of England → Cotton library (1571-1631)

Beowulf - type

Anglo-Saxon epic poem

Maybe originally composed in Dutch, only English version survived

Eclectic anthology containing prose and verse, hagiography and secular heroism, oriental and biblical and Germanic lore, prose translation from latin

Beowulf - about

Takes place in Scandinavia around 520, a political poem, fights Grendel, his mom, a dragon

Beowulf - author

Unknown but still a Christian

Beowulf - lines

Alliterative verse

Lanval - author

Marie De France

Lanval - years

1170-1190

Lanval - type

Lai - short narrative poem about courtly love and the supernatural (Anglo - Norman)

Lanval - from

France (dedicates poems to Henry 2

Lanval - lines

Octosyllabic rhyming couplets

Lanval - themes

Doomed lovers over come, women have some power

Lanval - about

Arthurian legend of mystical women

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - year

1375 - 1400

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - theme

Chivalry, courtly love, imperfection

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - type

Alliterative revival

Middle English romance

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - author

Unknown author

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - lines

Alliterative verse (often longer)

Stanzas followed by five short lines (ABABA)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - from

Northwestern England

The Canterbury Tales - author

Chaucer

The Canterbury Tale - type

Middle English

Draws on a traditional of medieval estates satire, poems that describe members of three estates (pray, fight, work)

The Canterbury tales - years

1387-1400

Miller’s Tale - years

1387-1400 (M)

Miller’s Tale - author

Chaucer (M)

Miller’s Tale - type

A fabliau

Middle English

Satirical portraits of medieval society

Miller’s Tale - about

You should not offend women, trickery and having the men of the story face punishment

Miller’s tale - lines

Middle English

Showing and Revelation of love - Author

Julian of Norwich (an Anchoress)

Showing and Revelation of love - type

Middle English prose

Mystical theology written by an anchoress

Showing and Revelation of love - year

1373-1393

Showing and Revelation of love - about

Love to god, sin is necessary, but all will be well,

• Providentialism

Book done reader continues to perform it

The crucifixion - author

A ‘the York Corpus Christi Play’

Produced by the Pinners’ Craft

The Crucifixion - lines

12 line stanzas rhyming ABAB-ABAB-CDCD

The Crucifixion - years

1376-1569

The Crucifixion - about

Christ’s passion and the Soldiers perpective

Second Shepard’s Play - author

The Wakefield Master

Second Shepherd’s play - about

A nativity story about Jesus

Second shepherds play - years

1400-1450

Second Shepherds’ Play - lines

13 lines stanzas rhymed (ABAB-ABAB-CDDDC)

Second Shepherds’s play - type

Biblical without biblical sources

Anachronism → shepherd acting like a medieval peasant

The Second Shepherds’ play - Charaters

Mak, Christ-child, Mary, coll, Gill, Gyb, Angel, Daw

Crucifixion - characters

Jesus, 4 roman soldiers

Showing and revelation of love - character

The fiend, Mary, the creature, Jesus, the trinity

Canterbury Tales general prologue - characters

Narrator, knights, monks, clerk, 30 pilgrims

Miller’s Tale - Characters

Alison, John, Nicholas, Absolon

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - characters

Gawain, Green Knight, King Arthur, Lady Bertilak, Morgan le Fay, Guinevere, Gringolet, Ywain

Lanval - characters

Lanval, the Fairy Lady, King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, the maidens, sir Gawain, Yvain

Beowulf - Characters

Grendel, Beowulf, Wiglaf, The Dragon, Grendel’s mother, Unfero, Healfdene, Hildeburh, Onela, Sigmund, Frooi, Halga