Lit Midterm

avid

avid

desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager

brackish

having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink

coherent

holding or sticking together; making a logical whole; comprehensible, meaningful

credence

belief, mental acceptance

devious

straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way

distraught

very much agitated or upset as a result of emotion or mental conflict

emulate

to imitate with the intent of equaling or surpassing the model

eulogy

a formal statement of commendation; high praise

insatiable

so great or demanding as not to be satisfied

maelstrom

a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction

murky

dark and gloomy, obscure; lacking in clarity and precision

nefarious

wicked, depraved, devoid of moral standards

overt

open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized

primordial

developed or created at the very beginning; going back to the most ancient times or earliest stage; fundamental, basic

sacrilege

improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

unwonted

not usual or expected; not in character

utopian

founded upon or involving a visionary view of an ideal world; impractical

verdant

green in tint or color; immature in experience or judgement

epic heroes

the product of the cultures from which they hail; can provide insight into cultural values, anxieties, beliefs, social customs, historic events, etc.

a larger than life character with 2 traditional values: bravery and wisdom; warrior, polished speaker, supernatural gifts or talents; has loyal followers but completes solitary deeds

epic (genre)

a long poem, typically derived from ancient oral tradition narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation

recited or sung as entertainment

skop (scop)

poet who’s performing an epic; passes is down through generations

quest

a long, dangerous journey taken by the hero; the hero’s opportunity to prove his heroism and win honor and undying renown

excellence often proved through a series of well-matched battles; introduced in mediasres (“in the middle of things”)

kenning

a compound poetic renaming of people, places, or things (nouns); imagery, rhyme/meter

ex: oar-steed: boat that you row; battle-sweat: blood

alliteration and consonance

the repetition of sounds in a sequence of words (often consonants)

consonance: the repetition of consonants throughout words

assonance

the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds

caesure

a pause in a line of poetry, dictated by natural speaking rhythm (as opposed to meter)

end stopped: punctuation at end of stanza

enjambment: no stop (punctuation) at the end of line

Beowulf geography

from Geatland (King Higlac)

Southern Sweden; Beowulf helped people in Denmark (Danes; King Hrothgar)

mead-hall

place of gathering and peace; weapons left at door

wergild

man-price; custom of reparation that’s paid in exchange for murder

divine right of kings

God grants the King power

patronym

father-naming

litotes

double-negative for emphasis

wyrd

fate

parts of an epic boast

1. identity: background, about people, country, family

2. resume: special skills, past deeds

3. promise

Edgetho

Beowulf dad; was banished for killing a Wulfing warrior; Hrothgar paid the Wulfings so Edgetho could go home

epithet

descriptive word/phrase and name

ex: Grandel’s mighty mother; Grendel’s fierce mother

Battle of Hastings

1066; invasion from western France; William the Conqueror defeats Herold; 100 years of Norman Kings

feudal system

social, economic, and political system, land divided among noble lords (barons), knights pledge wealth and services in order to receive use of the land; serfs are peasants engaged to work the land

Henry the 2nd

wanted control of the Catholic Church; murder of Thomas a Becket; married Elanor of Aquitaine

Magna Carta (1215)

limits power of the monarch; more power to the barons; Privy Council of Advisors (eventually becomes House of Lords); can only raise taxes with a vote

Fall of Feudalism

contributing factors: House of Lords (Magna Carta); increased trade (merchant class); specialized economy (guilds)

result: emergence of towns/charters independent of/distanced from lord’s control

the hundred year’s war

England vs. France, 1337-1453; Joan of Arc breaks the siege at Orleans; Battle of Agincourt; England loses most French (Norman)land

the black death

plague; killed 1/3 of the British population

the War of the Roses

dynamic rivalry between Plantagenet nobility

House of Lancaster: Henry IV (Bollingbroke); Henry V (Agincourt); Henry VI (insane?)

House of York (Plantagenet): Edward VI (civil wars); Richard VIII (murderous)

House of Tudor: Henry VII (Battle of Bosworth)

lit developments: Briton/Welsh oral epics

combines with French stories to become Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur

lit developments: romances

tales of Chivalric Knights (ex: Arthur and his roundtable); Sir Gawain and Green Knight

lit developments: histories

mostly written by monks (ex: Bede)

Geoffrey Chaucer

son of a shoemaker; 14th-century poet, merchant, courtier; diplomatic missions, patronage of John of Gaunt; buried in Poets’ Corner (Westminster Abbey)

the Canerbury Tales

collection of 24 tales and a prologue; pilgrims on the west to Thomas a Becket’s shrine at Canterbury; diverse group of travelers (nobility, clergy, commoners); unfinished at the time of Chaucer’s death

who does the narrator approve of

knight, squire, wife of bath, franklin, cleric, haberdasher etc., cook, parson (priest), plowman

who is the narrator neutral of

sgt. at law, merchant

who does the narrator disprove of

friar, monk, nun, skipper, doctor, miller, summoner, pardoner

chiasmus example

brother born…born brother

themes in Hamlet

monarchy, madness, murder and suicide, grief

soliloquy

an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearing, especially by a character in a play