World Literature and Literary History Flashcards

A set of 100 flashcards identifying key vocabulary, authors, works, and literary movements from the lecture notes on Romanticism, Victorian literature, Classical epics, Philippine traditions, and world literature.

The Sublime

A sense of god-like awesomeness that mixes ecstatic pleasure with pain, and beauty with terror, often associated with nature in Romanticism.

William Wordsworth

A Romantic poet known for works such as "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and "My Heart Leaps Up."

William Shakespeare

The pre-eminent English dramatic poet and dramatist known for masterpieces like Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet.

Sir Walter Raleigh

An English explorer, soldier, and writer known for his voyages to the Americas and writings about court life.

Romantic movement

A late $18th$ century literary movement that prioritized internal life, emotions, and the transformative power of nature over logic and facts.

Heroic Individualism

A Romantic tenet celebrating the individual as separate from the masses and responsible for their own destiny.

Childhood (Romantic view)

Considered a "golden age" of superior insight, innocence, and wisdom.

Adulthood (Romantic view)

Viewed as a period of corruption and betrayal of one's initial innocence.

"The Child is father of the man"

A line from "My Heart Leaps Up" illustrating the belief that childhood experiences fundamentally shape an adult.

Natural piety

A term used by Wordsworth to describe the maintenance of a sense of wonder and connection to nature throughout life.

Edmund Spenser

A famous poet best known for the epic poem The Faerie Queene.

Christopher Marlowe

An influential Elizabethan playwright and poet, and the author of Doctor Faustus.

Lord Alfred Tennyson

A Victorian poet who often reflected on his friendship with Arthur Henry Hallam in his work.

Robert Browning

The author of "My Last Duchess," known for his use of dramatic monologues.

Anton Chekhov

A Russian physician and writer celebrated for his plays and short stories focusing on the inner lives of characters.

"Chekhov’s Gun"

A literary principle stating that every element in a story must be necessary and important for plot structure or foreshadowing.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

A Russian novelist who explored the darkest parts of the human heart and conflicts between good and evil.

Leo Tolstoy

A master of Russian realism known for epic storytelling in novels like War and Peace.

War and Peace

A massive novel by Leo Tolstoy set against the historical backdrop of the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in $1812$.

Anna Karenina

A tragic story by Leo Tolstoy focusing on love, marriage, and moral conflict within Russian aristocratic society.

Aristotle's Poetics

A foundational work defining the six constituent elements of a tragedy, with plot as the "first principle."

Plot (Poetics)

According to Aristotle, the most important of the six elements of a tragedy.

Character (Poetics)

The second most important element of tragedy, which supports the plot and the protagonist.

Spectacle

One of the six elements of tragedy; it is the main difference between an epic and a tragedy.

Niccolò Machiavelli

The author of The Prince, recognized as a founder of modern political philosophy.

The Prince

A political treatise describing how to obtain and retain political power.

"Break, Break, Break"

A poem written by Tennyson in $1834$ following the sudden death of Arthur Henry Hallam.

"Crossing the Bar"

An elegy by Tennyson that uses a sailor to represent a human being transitioning from life to existence beyond death.

"In Memoriam"

A work by Tennyson exploring themes of nature’s cruelty, mortality, faith, and materialist science.

"The Social Contract"

A work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau describing an agreement where people band together for mutual preservation.

"The Republic"

A Socratic dialogue by Plato concerning justice and the order of the just city-state.

"Freedom of the Will"

A foundational theological and philosophical work written by Jonathan Edwards.

"Dialectics"

George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s method of argument involving a contradictory process between opposing sides.

Gilgamesh

An ancient work considered the first heroic narrative and the first epic in world literature.

The Aeneid

A Latin epic by Virgil following the journey of Aeneas, the ancestor of the Romans.

Song of Roland

A $13th$-century French narrative poem depicting the bravery of Roland and idealizing feudal society.

Nibelungenlied

A medieval German epic centered on heroism, betrayal, and revenge.

Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri's masterpiece, originally titled Comedia, divided into Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

Inferno

The first part of the Divine Comedy where sinners are punished according to the nature of their sins.

Nestor

The wise and elderly King of Pylos in the Iliad, respected for his advice to younger warriors.

Patroclus

Achilles' closest friend whose death caused Achilles the most intense sorrow in the Iliad.

Thestor

A figure in Greek mythology and the father of the prophet Calchas.

Menelaus

The King of Sparta, husband of Helen, and brother of Agamemnon.

Pathei Mathos

A concept from Aeschylus’ Agamemnon meaning "learning through suffering."

Redemption (in "The Prometheia")

A central theme where bliss and glory, such as Io becoming the mother of Heracles, are achieved through ordeals.

Nero

The Roman emperor who blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in $64$ CE.

Diocletian

The emperor who launched the "Great Persecution" ($303$-$311$ CE), the harshest in Roman history.

Marcus Aurelius

A Stoic "philosopher king," author of Meditations, who allowed Christian persecutions to protect Roman unity.

Constantine the Great

The first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, ending the era of church persecution.

Epic

A long, serious narrative poem about a hero whose actions determine the fate of a nation or the human race.

Ballad

A narrative poem focusing on folk tales, love, or tragic events.

Romance

A literary genre focusing on adventure, chivalry, and the exploits of knights on quests.

Lyric

A short poem expressing the personal feelings, emotions, or thoughts of the speaker.

Essay

A form of prose writing used to present ideas, opinions, or arguments.

Drama

A form of literature specifically meant to be performed on a stage.

Short Story

A brief fictional narrative.

Power of Fate (Greek)

The mysterious and absolute power to which even the highest god, Zeus, was considered subject.

Nature of the Gods (Greek)

Viewed as personified expressions of the uncontrolled forces of the natural and spiritual world.

Valor

Bravery in battle; one of the two most emphasized virtues in the literature of the Heroic Age.

Loyalty

Faithfulness to one's lord or kingdom; a primary value in medieval literature.

Beowulf

The oldest surviving epic in England, focusing on the heroic values of a Scandinavian hero.

Wole Soyinka

The first African Nobel laureate in literature.

Camara Laye

A Guinean novelist famous for The African Child, which portrays traditional African culture.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

A Kenyan writer known for sharp critiques of colonialism and post-colonial society.

Chinua Achebe

A Nigerian novelist celebrated for Things Fall Apart, one of the most read African novels globally.

Modernism

A literary movement characterized by fragmentary discourse and stream of consciousness techniques.

Local Color

A technique using setting, dialect, and customs to portray a specific region; perfected by Manuel Arguilla.

Mahabharata

The "greatest epic of India," containing approximately $100,000$ verses and encompassing Hindu mythology and ethics.

Dharma

The concept of moral law emphasized in the Mahabharata.

Ramayana

An Indian epic detailing Prince Rama's journey to rescue his wife, Sita, from Ravana.

Panchatantra

A collection of ancient Indian animal fables designed to teach moral lessons and practical wisdom.

"Kubla Khan"

A poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge composed after an opium-influenced dream about Xanadu.

Xanadu

The summer palace of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan mentioned in Coleridge's poetry.

Pasyon

A Philippine verse narrative traditionally chanted during Holy Week detailing the life and death of Jesus Christ.

Doctrina Cristiana

Published in $1593$, it is recognized as the first printed book in the Philippines.

Cenaculo

A Philippine dramatic stage performance reenacting the Passion of Christ.

Ulod

A traditional oral epic from the Visayas region recounting the adventures of local heroes.

Creation Myth

A literary type often starting with the story of Malakas and Maganda in Philippine tradition.

Legend

A traditional story based on historical events or figures that are often highly exaggerated over time.

Supernatural Tale

A story featuring ghosts, spirits, or magical events that cannot be explained by natural laws.

Folktale

An umbrella term for orally passed stories, including myths, legends, fables, and fairy tales.

Manuel Arguilla

A master of local color in Philippine literature, famous for "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife."

Carlos Bulosan

A Filipino-American writer known for America Is in the Heart and "My Father Goes to Court."

Juan C. Laya

A Filipino novelist and poet known for works dealing with social issues.

F. Sionil Jose

The author of the Rosales Saga, which explores Philippine history and social injustice.

Loreto Paras Sulit

The author of "The Harvest," a short story exploring the theme that beauty can be dangerous.

Paz Latorena

The author of "Desire," a story about an intelligent woman seeking intellectual love in a world of lust.

Edith Tiempo

A National Artist for Literature and author of "Bonsai," known as a "Goddess of Philippine Poetry."

Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta

A prominent figure in Philippine literature celebrated as a "Goddess of Philippine Poetry."

Nick Joaquin

The author of Summer Solstice, May Day Eve, and The Woman Who Had Two Navels.

Poetry (Spanish Colonial Philippines)

The most popular vehicle for literary expression during the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines.

Rabindranath Tagore

The author of Gitanjali and the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Gitanjali

A collection of $157$ poems by Tagore, translated as "Song Offerings" or "Devotional Songs."

Victor Hugo

A French literary master known for Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Rudyard Kipling

The first English-language writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature ($1907$) and author of The Jungle Book.

Robert Frost

An American poet famous for "The Road Not Taken" and "Mending Wall."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The author of The Great Gatsby, a novel that explores the American Dream.

Ivan Turgenev

The author of Fathers and Sons, which explores generational conflict in Russia.

The Knight's Tale

A chivalric romance in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales involving Palamon and Arcite.

Roman Law

Beginning with The Twelve Tables, it is considered Rome's greatest contribution to the Western world.