Survey of English and American Literature – Prelims Lecture (Anglo-Saxon to Early Modern)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key people, texts, literary periods, poetic forms, and concepts from the Anglo-Saxon through Early Modern English literature lecture.

Anglo-Saxon Period (450 AD – 1066)

Earliest recorded era of English history and literature, dominated by Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) and Old English culture.

Old English

Early form of the English language used from roughly 450 AD to 1066; most surviving texts are religious and written in Latin, not English.

Celts

Pre-Roman inhabitants of Britain, divided into Goidels (Gaels) and Brythons (Britons, Cymri).

Druidism

Celtic religious practice led by druids; connected with sacred sites such as Stonehenge.

Stonehenge

Prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain, dating to the Bronze or early Iron Age.

Julius Caesar

Roman general who led expeditions to Britain during the Gallic Wars in 54–53 BC.

Emperor Claudius

Roman emperor whose invasion in 43 AD marked sustained Roman occupation of Britain.

Angles, Saxons & Jutes

Germanic tribes that settled Britain after Roman withdrawal; gave rise to ‘Angleland’ (England).

Witan (Witenagemot)

Council of Anglo-Saxon nobles and clergy that advised the king; early form of representative government.

Five Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

Northumbria, Mercia (Angles); Essex, Wessex (Saxons); Kent (Jutes).

Alfred the Great (848-901)

King of Wessex who defeated the Danes, strengthened monarchy, codified laws, and promoted learning.

Venerable Bede

Anglo-Saxon monk called the Father of English History; author of Ecclesiastical History and contributor to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Historical record begun in Alfred’s reign, documenting early English history in Old English prose.

Beowulf

Epic Old English poem preserved in the Cotton Manuscript; follows the hero Beowulf’s battles and death (a trilogy structure).

Junius Manuscript

Old English codex containing biblical poems Genesis, Exodus, Daniel.

Vercelli Book

Manuscript that includes the dream-vision poem ‘The Dream of the Rood.’

Exeter Book

Anthology of Old English poetry (e.g., ‘The Wanderer,’ ‘The Seafarer,’ ‘The Wife’s Lament’).

Cotton Manuscript (Vitellius A xv)

Manuscript housing Beowulf and other Old English works.

Norman Conquest (1066)

Invasion by William of Normandy; introduced Norman French rulers, feudalism, and extensive linguistic change.

Magna Carta (1215)

Charter limiting royal power and foreshadowing constitutional government; English counterpart to the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Feudalism

Medieval social system in which all land belonged to the king, granted to nobles and vassals for service.

Chivalry

Medieval knightly code stressing loyalty to God, king, lady, and protection of the helpless.

Arthurian Legends

Medieval tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table concentrating on chivalry and adventure.

Ballad

Traditional narrative folk song/poem exhibiting swift narration, dialogue, repetition, and vigorous diction.

Percy Folio

17th-century manuscript of English and Scottish ballads later published in Bishop Percy’s ‘Reliques’ (1765).

Geoffrey Chaucer

Father of English Literature and Language; author of ‘The Canterbury Tales.’

The Canterbury Tales

Frame narrative of pilgrims telling varied tales on the road to Canterbury; only 20 of the planned 120 stories completed.

The Pardoner’s Tale

Moral fable within ‘The Canterbury Tales’ about three friends who seek—and meet—Death.

Midland Dialect

Middle English dialect that became the core of standard English after Norman and Anglo-Saxon mingling.

Renaissance

Cultural rebirth emphasizing humanism, classical learning, and artistic innovation; in England spans late 15th–early 17th centuries.

Humanism

Renaissance intellectual movement focusing on human potential, classical texts, and secular subjects.

Tudor Literature

Writings produced under Tudor monarchs (1485-1603); often courtly and reliant on patronage.

Literature of the Courtier

Romantic, French-influenced works reflecting noble tastes and continental borrowings.

Literature of the Citizen

Bourgeois Tudor prose and drama featuring realistic characters such as rogues and barmaids.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Introduced the Italian sonnet and other short forms into English poetry.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Originator of the English (Shakespearean) sonnet and developer of blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter).

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter; foundational meter of English dramatic and epic poetry.

Sonnet

14-line lyric poem, traditionally iambic pentameter, with specific rhyme schemes and a thematic volta (turn).

Shakespearean Sonnet

English sonnet form (abab cdcd efef gg) perfected by William Shakespeare.

Edmund Spenser

Renaissance poet, author of ‘The Faerie Queene,’ and patronage seeker of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Faerie Queene

Epic allegorical poem by Spenser celebrating Elizabeth I and chivalric virtues.

Christopher Marlowe

Elizabethan dramatist whose plays (e.g., ‘Doctor Faustus’) influenced Shakespeare and the English stage.

Elizabethan Theatre

Late 16th-century entertainment culture with public playhouses; peak of English drama.

Elegy

Poetic form mourning a death or reflecting on loss; includes classical, pastoral, and modern types.

Pastoral Elegy

Elegy using rural imagery to lament a death, such as Milton’s ‘Lycidas.’

Lyric Poem

Short, first-person poem expressing personal emotions rather than narrative.

Francesco Petrarch

Italian poet whose vernacular sonnets to Laura shaped the Petrarchan sonnet tradition.

John Donne

Metaphysical poet noted for inventive conceits and exploration of love, faith, and mortality.

Carpe Diem

‘Seize the day’; 17th-century poetic and philosophical theme encouraging enjoyment of the present.

Comedy of Humours

Ben Jonson’s dramatic form where characters are ruled by one of four bodily humors (sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic).

Four Bodily Humors

Ancient theory linking temperament to blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile.

Iambic Pentameter

Line of five iambs (unstressed/stressed); primary meter of English sonnets and dramatic verse.

Volta

The thematic or tonal ‘turn’ in a sonnet, often occurring at line 9 in Italian and Spenserian forms.

Petrarchan Sonnet

Italian sonnet form with octave (abba abba) and sestet (cde cde or variant) separated by a volta.

Spenserian Sonnet

Sonnet form with interlocking rhyme scheme (abab bcbc cdcd ee) and a volta, created by Edmund Spenser.

Shakespeare’s 154 Sonnets

Sequence exploring procreation, immortality, beauty (Sonnets 1-126 to a young man) and desire (Sonnets 127-154 to the ‘dark lady’).

Dark Lady

Sensuous, morally ambiguous woman addressed in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 127-154.

Couplet

Two successive rhymed lines, often indented in Shakespearean sonnets to provide a concluding epigram.

Metrical Feet

Units of stressed/unstressed syllables: iamb, trochee, spondee, dactyl, anapest, amphibrach.

Octave & Sestet

First eight lines and final six lines of an Italian sonnet, respectively, separated by the volta.