Brit Lit Mid Term Review

Beowulf

An Old English epic poem about a heroic warrior who fights monsters and later dies fighting a dragon.

The Wanderer

An Old English elegy about an exile reflecting on loss, loneliness, the passage of time, and the importance of loyalty.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

A Middle English romance about Sir Gawain’s test of courage, honesty, loyalty, and chivalry.

“They Flee from Me”

A poem by Thomas Wyatt about a speaker reflecting on past romantic relationships and how people who once pursued him now avoid him.

Astrophil and Stella

A sonnet sequence by Philip Sidney about Astrophil’s love for Stella and his struggle between desire, reason, and poetic expression.

The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer’s collection of stories told by pilgrims traveling to Canterbury.

“The General Prologue”

The opening section of The Canterbury Tales, introducing the pilgrims and satirizing different levels of medieval society.

“The Wife of Bath’s Tale”

A tale in which a knight must discover what women most desire, ultimately learning about choice and authority in relationships.

Everyman

A medieval morality play in which the main character faces death and discovers what can truly help him at judgment.

Amoretti 75

Edmund Spenser’s sonnet about preserving love and memory through poetry despite the passing of time.

Geoffrey Chaucer

The Middle English poet who wrote The Canterbury Tales and used humor, characterization, and satire to examine medieval society.

The Wife of Bath

A confident, experienced woman who challenges traditional medieval expectations about marriage, women, and authority.

The Wife of Bath’s argument about marriage

She uses personal experience and religious interpretation to challenge the idea that women should always submit to men.

The knight’s crime in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”

He commits sexual assault against a young woman and is sentenced to death before the queen gives him a chance to save himself.

The knight’s quest

He must discover what women most desire in order to avoid execution.

The loathly lady

An older woman who helps the knight answer his quest and teaches him about women’s sovereignty and choice.

Sovereignty

The power to make decisions and exercise authority over oneself or others.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale’s lesson

Women most desire sovereignty, or the ability to have authority over their own lives and relationships.

Allegory

A story in which characters, objects, or events represent larger ideas or moral lessons.

Everyman

The central character in the morality play who must prepare to face God’s judgment.

Good Deeds in Everyman

The character who represents the good actions that can help Everyman at judgment.

Anglo-Saxon literature

Literature from early medieval England, often focused on warriors, loyalty, fate, faith, and the hardships of life.

Epic poem

A long narrative poem about a heroic figure and events important to a culture.

Elegy

A poem expressing grief, loss, or reflection on mortality.

Scop

An Anglo-Saxon poet or storyteller who preserved history and cultural values through performance.

Wyrd

The Anglo-Saxon concept of fate or the course of events that may be beyond human control.

Comitatus

The bond of loyalty between a lord and his warriors, involving protection, service, and mutual obligation.

Mead hall

A gathering place where warriors and their lord shared feasts, stories, gifts, and community.

Kennings

Compound expressions that describe something indirectly, such as “whale-road” for the sea.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words, a major feature of Old English poetry.

Christianity and pagan traditions in Beowulf

The poem combines Christian references with older warrior-culture values, reflecting a culture influenced by both traditions.

Chivalry

A code of conduct for knights emphasizing courage, loyalty, honor, courtesy, and service.

Courtly love

A literary tradition in which a lover idealizes and serves a beloved, often treating love as a difficult pursuit.

Romance

A literary genre featuring knights, quests, adventures, tests of character, and extraordinary events.

Sir Gawain

King Arthur’s knight who accepts the Green Knight’s challenge and is tested throughout his journey.

The Green Knight

A mysterious figure who challenges the knights of Arthur’s court and tests Gawain’s integrity.

The beheading game

The challenge in which one person may strike the Green Knight if he agrees to receive a return blow a year later.

The Green Girdle

A belt that Gawain keeps because he believes it may protect his life; it becomes a symbol of his fear and imperfect honesty.

Gawain’s main conflict

He struggles to balance the desire to survive with his duties of honesty, courage, and chivalry.

Satire

The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to criticize people, institutions, or social problems.

Social estates

Traditional medieval divisions of society, often described as those who pray, those who fight, and those who work.

The clergy

Religious officials who were expected to guide people spiritually but could be criticized for greed, corruption, or hypocrisy.

The Knight in The Canterbury Tales

A respected warrior presented as an example of traditional chivalric virtues.

The Prioress

A nun whose manners and behavior can be interpreted as showing the influence of worldly social expectations.

The Monk

A religious figure whose love of hunting and comfort contrasts with traditional expectations for monastic life.

The Friar

A religious figure who is presented as sociable and skilled at gaining money and favors.

The Pardoner

A church-related figure who sells religious pardons or relics and represents greed and religious corruption.

The Summoner

A church court official portrayed as physically unpleasant and morally questionable.

The Merchant

A pilgrim associated with business and profit who attempts to present himself as successful.

The General Prologue’s purpose

It introduces the pilgrims, establishes the storytelling framework, and uses characterization and satire to reveal social values and flaws.

Renaissance

A period of renewed interest in classical learning, art, literature, and human potential.

Renaissance humanism

An intellectual movement emphasizing human experience, education, classical texts, individual thought, and human potential.

Sonnet

A fourteen-line poem that traditionally follows a specific rhyme scheme and often explores love, time, beauty, or conflict.

Speaker

The voice that speaks in a poem; the speaker is not automatically the same person as the author.

Volta

A turn or shift in thought, argument, or emotion within a poem.

Astrophil

The speaker and lover in Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, who struggles with desire and poetic inspiration.

Stella

The beloved in Sidney’s sonnet sequence, often presented as the object of Astrophil’s desire.

The Muse in Astrophil and Stella Sonnet 1

The source of poetic inspiration that challenges Astrophil to look into his heart and write authentically.

The central conflict in Astrophil and Stella Sonnet 1

Astrophil wants to write about love but struggles to find original words and genuine inspiration.

Morality play

A medieval play that teaches a moral or religious lesson through symbolic characters and events.

Personification

Giving human qualities or actions to an abstract idea or nonhuman thing.

Death in Everyman

The messenger who tells Everyman that he must face judgment.

Fellowship

A character representing friendship and companionship who refuses to accompany Everyman on his final journey.

Goods

A character representing material possessions and wealth, which cannot save Everyman at judgment.

Knowledge

A character who helps Everyman understand the path toward spiritual preparation.

The message of Everyman

Earthly status, possessions, and social relationships cannot replace spiritual preparation and good deeds.

Old English

The earliest major form of English, strongly influenced by Germanic languages and used in works such as Beowulf.

Middle English

The form of English used after the Norman Conquest, seen in works such as The Canterbury Tales.

Early Modern English

The form of English associated with the Renaissance and writers such as Shakespeare and Sidney.

Norman Conquest

The 1066 conquest of England that brought major French influence into English vocabulary and society.

Vernacular

The everyday language spoken by ordinary people in a particular region.

Latin’s influence on English

Latin contributed vocabulary through religion, education, scholarship, and science.

French’s influence on English

French contributed many words related to law, government, aristocracy, food, and culture.

The Great Vowel Shift

A major change in the pronunciation of English long vowels that helped shape modern English pronunciation.

Printing press

Technology that helped standardize spelling and spread written texts more widely.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s language

Chaucer wrote in Middle English, helping establish it as an important literary language.

William Caxton

The printer who introduced the printing press to England in 1476.

Imagery

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses.

Symbolism

Using an object, person, place, or action to represent a larger idea.

Metaphor

A comparison that says one thing is another to suggest a connection between them.

Simile

A comparison using “like” or “as.”

Personification

Giving human traits to something nonhuman or abstract.

Irony

A contrast between what is expected and what actually happens or what is meant.

Dramatic irony

When the audience knows something that a character does not.

Situational irony

When an outcome differs significantly from what is expected.

Verbal irony

When someone’s intended meaning differs from the literal meaning of their words.

Motif

A recurring image, idea, symbol, or pattern that helps develop a work’s themes.

Theme

A central idea or insight about life, society, or human experience.

Tone

The speaker’s or author’s attitude toward the subject.

Mood

The feeling or atmosphere a text creates for the reader.

Diction

A writer’s word choice.

Allusion

A reference to another text, historical event, person, or cultural idea.

Individual consciousness

The idea that a person has their own thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and sense of identity.

Self-reflection

Examining one’s own thoughts, actions, feelings, and motives.

Human potential

The belief that people can learn, reason, create, and develop their abilities.

Classical learning

The study of ancient Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, history, and art.

Religious hypocrisy

Claiming to follow religious principles while behaving in ways that contradict them.

Social expectations

Rules and assumptions about how people should behave based on their role or position in society.

Power and authority

The ability to control decisions, behavior, resources, or other people.