Medieval & Renaissance Criticism Flashcards

A set of 100 question-and-answer flashcards examining key concepts, figures, texts, and theories in Medieval and Renaissance Criticism based on lecture notes by Dr. Kalyani Vallath.

Who was the Church Father born in Africa known for synthesizing classical and Christian doctrines?

St. Augustine

In what year was St. Augustine's Confessions written?

400

What main process did St. Augustine describe in his Confessions (400)?

His long and arduous process of conversion to Christianity.

According to St. Augustine in Confessions, what studies were truly liberating?

Only the scriptures

Which lines from T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land quote St. Augustine's Confessions?

"To Carthage then I came Burning" and "O Lord Thou pluckest me out"

Between which years was St. Augustine's City of God written?

412-27

How is human history viewed in St. Augustine's City of God (412-27)?

As the unfolding of a divine plan.

Which period in the High Middle Ages was marked by social, political, and economic transformations?

The 12th Century Renaissance

What historical events brought Europeans into touch with new lifestyles, technologies, and developments during the High Middle Ages?

The Crusades

The 12th Century Renaissance laid the foundation for the Renaissance of which century?

The 16th century

What three major areas of study were focused on during the 12th Century Renaissance?

Literature, logic, and rhetoric

Which Islamic scholars influenced the intellectual revitalization of Scholasticism during the 12th Century Renaissance?

Avicenna and Averroes

Which three major Christian scholars flourished under the influence of Aristotle and Islamic scholars during the 12th Century Renaissance?

Albertus Magnus, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas

Where was St. Thomas Aquinas born?

In a noble family near Naples in Italy.

Which ancient Greek philosopher served as the primary basis for St. Thomas Aquinas's philosophy?

Aristotle

Besides Aristotle, which other thinkers and schools of thought influenced St. Thomas Aquinas?

The Stoics, Neo-Platonists, Augustine, Boethius, and Cicero

Which religious order of friars, known for valorising poverty and simplicity, influenced St. Thomas Aquinas?

The Dominican friars

What are the two major works of St. Thomas Aquinas listed in the lecture?

Summa contra Gentiles (1259-64) and Summa Theologiae

Between which years was St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa contra Gentiles written?

1259-64

How did St. Thomas Aquinas define Art?

Art is simply the right way of doing things.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, what are the three elements of beauty?

Integritas (wholeness/soundness/blamelessness), Claritas (radiance/intelligibility/power to reveal ontological reality), and Consonantias (proportion).

Which literary character in James Joyce's work is inspired by St. Thomas Aquinas's elements of beauty?

Stephen Dedalus

What type of aesthetic theory does Stephen Dedalus develop in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?

A largely amoral theory similar to art for art's sake.

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, how is art defined in Stephen's aesthetic theory?

Art is the human disposition of sensible or intelligible matters for an aesthetic end.

What are the three parts of Stephen's aesthetic theory in Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?

1) Definitions of beauty and art, 2) Qualifications of beauty, and 3) The artist's view of his own work.

From which Roman figure is the term Humanism derived?

Cicero

Why was the term Humanism adopted during the Renaissance?

To distinguish the era from medieval scholastics.

Humanism marked a philosophical shift away from what orientation to what orientation?

From "other-worldliness" to "this worldliness".

Which four medieval institutions and practices were undermined during the period of Humanism?

Feudalism, the authority of the Pope, the Holy Roman Empire, and medieval practices of trade.

The revival of learning under Humanism involved the study of which specific type of Latin?

Classical Latin (not medieval Latin)

What replaced the monopoly of Latin during the Renaissance Humanism period?

The rise of vernacular literature and the cultivation of prose.

What key concepts were promoted by Protestantism during the Renaissance?

Individualism, nationalism, self-discipline, industry, and intellectual achievement.

Why did Humanism specifically promote literary criticism?

Because Humanism promoted individualism.

How did the public status of the poet change during the Renaissance Humanism period?

The poet became a public figure and exercised greater economy.

How was language understood by Renaissance Humanist thinkers?

Language was understood to be dialogic and historically evolving.

From what three charges did Renaissance literary criticism defend poetry?

Immorality, triviality, and impracticality.

What important poetic miscellany was published in 1557?

Tottel's Miscellany

The rediscovery of which classical text significantly shaped Renaissance Criticism?

Aristotle's Poetics

Which Puritan critic challenged the nature, value, and function of poetry in the Elizabethan era?

Stephen Gosson

Name four central literary concepts emphasized by Renaissance Criticism.

The notion of imitation, didactic function of literature, classical unities, and the notion of verisimilitude.

Which new poetic/dramatic genre was invented during the Renaissance?

Tragicomedy

In what year was Stephen Gosson's Schoole of Abuse published?

1579

To whom was Stephen Gosson's Schoole of Abuse dedicated?

Sir Philip Sidney

How did Stephen Gosson refer to poets in his work Schoole of Abuse?

"pipers, jesters and caterpillars of the Commonwealth"

What was Stephen Gosson's view of music in Schoole of Abuse?

Music is debilitating and undermines virtue.

What negative effect did Stephen Gosson claim drama causes?

It incites "popular debauchery".

Which ancient philosopher did Gosson cite as having banished poets from the Commonwealth?

Plato

For what two reasons was drama denounced by Stephen Gosson?

For its pagan origins and because males playing female parts is against nature.

How did Gosson describe Tragedy and Comedy in Schoole of Abuse?

Tragedy involves cruelty, bloodshed, and murder; Comedy is vulgar, degrading love—both weaken moral fibre.

In what years was Sir Philip Sidney's Apologie for Poetrie written and printed?

Written in 1580-81; printed twice in 1595.

What is the historical significance of Sir Philip Sidney's Apologie for Poetrie in English literature?

It is the epitome of Renaissance poetics and the formal inauguration of literary theory in England.

Which Italian neo-Aristotelians influenced passages of Sir Philip Sidney's Apologie for Poetrie?

Minturno, Scaliger, and Castelvetro

How many main divisions are outlined in the plan of Sir Philip Sidney's Apologie for Poetrie?

5 divisions

In the introduction to Apologie for Poetrie, who is the horsemanship instructor whose excessive praise Sidney mentions?

Pugliano

Why does Sidney feel compelled to defend "poor poetry" in his introduction?

Because poetry has fallen from its high status and has become the laughing stock of children.

What does Sidney state regarding the antiquity of poetry?

Poetry preceded other branches of learning and elucidates them.

According to Sidney, which groups of people have their hard hearts softened or their wit sharpened by poetry?

Poetry softens the hard hearts of Turks & Tartars, and sharpens the Red Indians' wit.

How did ancient Greco-Romans honor poets according to Sir Philip Sidney?

As seers / creators (prophets).

Which Biblical book does Sidney cite to show that sacred works are composed in verse?

The Psalms

How does Sidney define poetry as an art of imitation?

A representing, counterfeiting, or figuring forth: to speak metaphorically, a "speaking picture" with the end "to teach and delight".

How does Sidney combine Aristotle's concept of Mimesis with Plato's philosophy?

He intermixes Aristotle's Mimesis with Plato's concept of "ideal forms" as forming another nature.

What are the three main divisions of poetry according to Sir Philip Sidney?

1) Religious (Divine) Poetry, 2) Philosophical or informative Poetry, and 3) Right or true kind of Poetry.

How does Sidney characterize the "Right or true kind of Poetry"?

As the imaginative or creative kind where poets are truly 'creators'.

Which poetic genres does Sidney describe as "the best and most accomplished kind of poetry"?

Heroic and Epic poetry

According to Sidney, what is the specific moral function of Tragic poetry?

To reveal the wickedness of men in high places.

According to Sidney, what is the function of Satiric poetry?

It laughs folly out of court.

According to Sidney, what does Pastoral poetry deal with and arouse?

It deals with lowliest life, arousing sympathy & admiration for simple life and hatred for cruelty & tyranny.

According to Sidney, what is the ultimate moral aim of poetry?

Goodness

According to Sidney, what is the dual function of poetry that serves self-knowledge and virtuous action?

Delightful instruction

How do the Philosopher, Historian, and Poet compare in how they teach according to Sidney?

The Philosopher teaches by precept alone; the Historian teaches by example alone; the Poet employs precept & example.

How do the Philosopher and Poet compare in their target audience according to Sidney?

The Philosopher teaches the learned only; the Poet teaches all through delight.

How do the Historian and Poet compare regarding vice and virtue according to Sidney?

The Historian mixes up vice & virtue, while the Poet makes virtue succeed and vice fail (Poetic justice).

What is Sidney's view on the necessity of Metre and Rhyme in poetry?

Metre and Rhyme are not sine-qua-non (essential), but desirable.

What advantages does Sidney attribute to the use of metre and rhyme?

It adds polish, imparts harmony/order/proportion, adds the sensuous quality of music, and aids memory.

How does Sidney answer the charge that poetry is the "mother of lies"?

Poetry offers fiction embodying ideal truths; the poet never affirmeth anything as fact.

How does Sidney counter the objection that Plato banished poets from his Republic?

Plato was against the misuse of poetry, not poetry itself.

What descriptive phrase does Sidney use at the end of Apologie to describe those who despise poetry?

An "earth-creeping mind"

What work published in 1575 by George Gascoigne is recognized as the first English guide to versification?

Certain Notes of Instruction Concerning the making of Verse or Rhyme in English

Which 1583 work by Thomas Lodge served as a direct reply to Stephen Gosson's School of Abuse?

Defence of Poetry, Music and Stage Plays

Which 1586 work by William Webbe provided a historical survey of poetry up to contemporary times?

Discourse of English Poetry Together with the Author's Judgement Touching the Reformation of Our English Verse

What are the three parts of George Puttenham's The Art of English Poesie (1589)?

(1) Of Poets and Poesie, (2) Of Proportion Poetical, and (3) Of Ornament.

What five kinds of English verse structures are outlined in Puttenham's "Of Proportion Poetical"?

Staff or stanza, measure or metre, concord or symphony, situation, and figure.

Which critical work surveying contemporary writing was published by Thomas Nashe in 1589?

The Anatomie of Absurditie

Name two major works written by Roger Ascham listed in the lecture.

Toxophilus (1545) and The Schoolmaster (1570)

Which three scholars composed the critical group known as the "Tudor trio"?

Sir Thomas Wilson, Sir John Cheke, and Roger Ascham

Who wrote The Art of Rhetoric in 1553?

Sir Thomas Wilson

Which critic attacked rhyme in Observations on the Art of English Poesie (1602)?

Thomas Campion

Which critic wrote A Defence of Rhyme (1603) in reply to Thomas Campion?

Samuel Daniel

In which work does Francis Bacon outline the Four Idols or errors of the human mind?

The Advancement of Learning

According to Francis Bacon, what are the Four Idols of the mind?

Idols of the Cave or Den, Idols of the Tribe, Idols of the Marketplace, and Idols of the Theatre.

How does Francis Bacon define the Idols of the Cave or Den?

Mistakes made by each individual person, referring to Plato's Cave Allegory.

How does Francis Bacon define the Idols of the Tribe?

Errors due to the human condition, including sense perceptions and over-generalizations.

How does Francis Bacon define the Idols of the Marketplace?

Mistakes of society as a whole arising through abuses of words during communication.

How does Francis Bacon define the Idols of the Theatre?

Mistakes introduced by theories presenting fantastical or groundless representations of the world.

What is the title of Ben Jonson's commonplace book containing critical remarks?

Timber or Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter

What is the title of the section in Ben Jonson's Timber that focuses on Shakespeare?

"De Shakespeare Nostrat"

Who is recognized as the first neoclassical critic in England?

Ben Jonson

Which verse form did Ben Jonson declare as the best metre in Conversations with Drummond?

The couplet

How did Ben Jonson justify exceeding the classical 24-hour time rule in drama?

He argued that life has many digressions, so art can also have digressions.

What are the five requirements for a good poet according to Ben Jonson?

What he should be by nature, by exercise, by imitation, by study, and by art.