English 112: Discourse, Yeats, and Tennyson Review

Comprehensive vocabulary and conceptual flashcards covering literary theory, the biography and works of William Butler Yeats, and the poetry and life of Alfred, Lord Tennyson based on lecture notes.

Discourse

The specialized common language of a subject or study.

Signifiers

Signs with value and meaning used by authors for specific purposes to create meaning for specific audiences.

Exigency

The rhetorical or conceptual reason that produced the writing, often reflecting a phenomenon or artifact of experience.

Occasion

The event for which an author writes.

Audience

The author's ideal conception of the person or group to whom he or she writes, defined by experience and biases.

Aristotelian Model of Purpose

A model identifying writing purposes based on time: issues of the present involve praise or blame, issues of the past involve justice or injustice, and issues of the future involve purpose.

Tone

The attitude an author adopts with the audience; when this shifts, the meaning changes.

Meaning

The combination of diction (word choice) and tone (attitude) created for the audience.

Genre

The type or category in which authors write and compose, which defines audience expectations.

Rhetorical Situation

Defined as the 'means' or the general space of an argument.

Rhetorical Context

The 'end goal' that qualifies the relationship between genre, audience, and purpose.

William Butler Yeats

An Irish poet, dramatist, and literary critic who was a foremost figure of 20th-century literature and driving force of the Irish Literary Revival.

The Abbey Theatre

A theater founded by William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, and Lady Gregory.

Mosada: A Dramatic Poem ($1886$)

Yeats's first solo publication, a pamphlet with a print run of $100$ copies paid for by his father.

Rhymers' Club

A group of London-based poets co-founded in $1890$ by Yeats and Ernest Rhys who met in a Fleet Street tavern to recite verse.

Irish Republican Brotherhood

A group Yeats belonged to in the earlier part of his life, reflecting his revolutionary spirit and nationalist views.

$1923$ Nobel Prize in Literature

Awarded to Yeats 'for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.'

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign, holding the position from $1850$ to $1892$.

Arthur Hallam

A fellow poet and student at Trinity College, Cambridge, whose death at age $22$ from a stroke inspired Tennyson’s 'In Memoriam A.H.H.'

The Charge of the Light Brigade

A dramatic poem produced in $1855$ as a tribute to British cavalrymen in the Crimean War.

Idylls of the King

Tennyson's famous Victorian adaptation of the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

The Apostles

A secret society at Trinity College, Cambridge, joined by Tennyson in $1827$.

Telemachus

The son of Ulysses described in Tennyson's poem as 'centered in the sphere of common duties' and 'discerning' enough to subdue a rugged people.

Ulysses

A poem by Tennyson featuring an 'idle king' who wishes 'to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield' despite his old age.