Survey of English Literature: Old English to the Fin de Siècle

300 practice flashcards in vocabulary style covering English Literature history from Old English features to early Modernism, based on lecture transcripts.

Alliteration

The repetition of the first letter (consonant) in a line stressing its metrical scheme in Old English poetry.

Kennings

Circumlocutions for ordinary names, condensed similes, or poetic descriptions of a thing used in Old English poetry.

Formulaic Language

A characteristic of Old English poetry where the language follows set patterns and expressions.

Scop

The traditional name for the poet or composer who orally delivered and composed poetry in Old English society.

Hall of a lord or king

The typical location where poetry was recited in Germanic tradition.

Pagan elements in Old English literature

References to Germanic myths, deities, ethics, values, and the heroic ideal.

Christian elements in Old English literature

References to God’s Providence, biblical stories, Christian morality, and the fight between Good and Evil.

Dragon and supernatural motifs

Pagan elements common in Old English poetry, such as those found in Beowulf.

Grendel

A character in Beowulf described as a descendant of Cain, representing a Christian element in the poem.

Germanic Heroic Ethics

A system of values including loyalty to the king and brethren, vengeance, war, and killing.

Vengeance

A pagan element in Germanic tradition where blood had to be repaid.

Physical strength

A quality defining the Germanic hero, often used to fight supernatural forces.

Fearlessness in battle

A key characteristic of the Germanic hero’s ideal presentation.

Dignified acceptance of fate

A defining behavioral quality of the Germanic hero when facing $Wyrd$.

Beowulf

The central figure who exemplifies the Germanic hero: courageous, loyal, and fighter of supernatural opponents.

Royal court

The central social institution in the story of Beowulf, reflecting pagan Germanic society.

Hrothgar’s scop

The figure who sings the story of creation in Beowulf, representing a Christian motif.

$Wyrd$

An Old English word meaning fate or destiny; the force that shapes what happens in a person’s life.

Destructive power of $Wyrd$

A theme in Old English poetry connected with war, loss, death, and the passing of human glory.

Deor

A scop who was supplanted by a rival and expresses his loss in Deor's Lament.

Heorenda

The rival scop who supplants Deor at his master’s court.

Deor's Lament

An Old English poem that reflects the transience of things and the loss of worldly glory.

Melancholy tone

The reflexive mood found in Deor's Lament describing lost security and happiness.

The Norman Conquest

A major turning point in Medieval English culture occurring in $1066$.

French

The language that became the 'polite language' and dominated literature under aristocratic patronage after $1066$.

14th Century

The century until which almost all literature in England was written in French due to Norman influence.

Feudalism

A social system introduced by the Norman Conquest based on the relationship between vassal and master.

Chivalric culture

A later Norman addition to literature involving knighthood and specific codes of conduct.

Rhyme

The literary device that replaced Old English alliteration following the Norman Conquest.

Middle English

The language that developed from Old English through the loss of inflections and the addition of French vocabulary.

Jean Bodel

The individual who divided narrative romances into three main categories: Matter of France, Matter of Rome, and Matter of Britain.

Matter of France

A narrative romance cycle dealing with Charlemagne, his knights, and conflicts between Christians and Saracens.

Chanson de Roland

An example of a romance belonging to the Matter of France cycle.

Saracens

The group referred to as 'infidel invaders of Europe' in the Matter of France cycle.

Matter of Rome the Great

Romances dealing with the ancient classical world, including Troy, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar.

Medievalised Ancient World

The presentation of ancient heroes as medieval feudal lords in the Matter of Rome cycle.

Matter of Britain

The category of narrative romance dealing with Arthurian stories and the Knights of the Round Table.

Historical Arthur

The figure who, according to the presentation, did not actually have knights in the historical record.

Chivalric Code

A code of conduct requiring loyalty to a master, courage, honor, and service to those in distress.

Damsels in distress

The group of women a knight was specifically required to defend under the chivalric code.

Courtly Love

A concept first developed in the poetry of troubadours and trouvères, portraying love as the service of a slave to a master.

Troubadours and trouvères

The specific groups of poets responsible for the first development of courtly love.

Vassal and Liege

The feudal relationship model (servant and lord) transferred to describe the relationship between knight and lady in courtly love.

Idealised love

A feature of courtly love where the knight shows humility, devotion, and suffering for his lady.

The Crusades

The historical context during which masters were often absent, leaving their wives to represent them and be served by knights.

Yvain, the Knight of the Lion

A poem by Chretien de Troyes exploring the tension between chivalric duty and love.

Laudine

The woman whom Yvain loves, marries, and later neglects due to his absorption in knightly exploits.

Gawain

The character who persuades Yvain to leave his wife for a year of knightly adventures.

Psychological difficulties

The result presented in Yvain when a knight must choose between deeds of honor and love.

Renaissance Humanists

Scholars influenced by classical figures like Plautus, Terence, and Seneca who helped shape English drama.

Plautus and Terence

The two Roman authors who provided the models for English comedy, including stock characters and ridiculous plots.

Seneca

The Roman model for English tragedy, influencing themes of revenge, ghosts, and violence.

Stock characters

Character types adopted from Plautian comedy, such as clever slaves or ridiculous lovers.

Senecan Tragedy

A dramatic form based on revenge, often featuring rhetorical outbursts and characters tormented by passion.

Revenge Theme

The central theme of Senecan drama which frequently begins with a ghost demanding vengeance.

Rhrectorical speeches

A stylistic feature of Senecan tragedy used to express strong emotions and passion.

Violence only implied

The specific staging convention of Senecan tragedy where horrific acts were avoided on stage.

The Spanish Tragedy

Described as the 'great property-room of Elizabethan tragic devices.'

Hamlet

A Shakespearean tragedy based on a lost play by Thomas Kyd which features the Senecan revenge theme.

Play within a play

A tragic device appearing in both The Spanish Tragedy and Hamlet.

Machiavellian master

A character archetype skilled in malicious plotting, found in Elizabethan revenge tragedies.

Inns of Court

One of the locations in Elizabethan England where Humanist drama was performed.

Queen Elizabeth I

The monarch who loved theatrical performances and often had actors perform for her court.

Public Theatres

Round or octagonal structures built for city crowds, such as The Globe or The Theatre.

Galleries

The seating areas in public theatres reserved for the richer audience members.

Standing places

The areas in the open yard of public theatres reserved for the poorer audience.

Boys in Elizabethan drama

The actors who played all the women’s parts on the public stage.

Corporation of the City of London

One of the institutions that opposed the existence of theatres, considering them immoral.

Puritans

The religious group critical of Elizabethan theatre who viewed it as Immoral.

University Wits

A group of young, secular professional playwrights educated at Oxford or Cambridge.

Christopher Marlowe

The most talented of the University Wits and author of Doctor Faustus.

Thomas Kyd

A member of the University Wits known for The Spanish Tragedy.

Overreacher

The term used for Marlowe’s heroes who want to go further than is allowed to man.

Tamburlaine

A Marlovian overreacher who seeks world mastery and power beyond human limits.

Doctor Faustus

An overreacher dissatisfied with human knowledge who sells his soul to the devil.

Renaissance zeal

The drive for limitless understanding and world mastery that motivates Marlowe's heroes.

Historia Regum Britanniae

The work by Geoffrey of Monmouth that served as a source for King Lear and Cymbeline.

Saxo Grammaticus

The author of the story of Prince Amleth, which served as a primary source for Hamlet.

Robert Greene

A playwright from whom Shakespeare borrowed romantic comedy story elements.

The Comedy of Errors

Shakespeare's play that takes its plot from the Menaechmi of Plautus.

Antipholus of Syracuse

One of the identical twins in The Comedy of Errors separated during a shipwreck.

Adriana

The character in The Comedy of Errors who falsely accuses her husband of infidelity due to mistaken identity.

Oberon and Titania

The fairy rulers in A Midsummer Night's Dream who manipulate human fate like dramatic authors.

Athens and the forest

The two primary planes of action in the setting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Forest around Athens

A symbolic space resembling pastoral Arcadia where ordinary rules disappear and identities transform.

Metaphor of theatre

A description of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where enchantment creates an artificial reality.

Mirror for magistrates

The Elizabethan view of history, suggesting it serves as a lesson for rulers and monarchs.

Wars of the Roses

The historical civil wars that provided Shakespeare with material to discuss the dangers of political instability.

Richard III

A 'serialized schemer and murderer' who demonstrates Machiavellian political calculation.

Machiavellian thinking

The political philosophy where 'the end justifies the means,' exemplified by Richard III.

Hamlet’s hesitation

The result of sensitivity and intelligence that produces an inability to face the world as it is.

Conceit

A characteristic Metaphysical metaphor achieved by the 'violent yoking together of apparently unconnected ideas.'

The Flea

A John Donne poem that compares physical love and marriage to an insect.

Discordia concors

Samuel Johnson's term for metaphysical conceit, meaning 'harmony of discord' or combining opposites.

The Sun Rising

A poem where Donne describes love using terms from $17^{th}$ century science, economics, and politics.

The Pulley

A poem by George Herbert where man's relationship with God is compared to a mechanical device.

Withholding of rest

The specific blessing God keeps back in The Pulley to ensure man strives back toward Him.

Pattern Poetry

Also called 'shape poetry,' where the layout of the poem on the page reflects its meaning.

Easter Wings

A pattern poem where narrowing and widening lines represent the spiritual fall and rise of the soul.

Clara Reeve

An author who contrasted the 'heroic' romance with the 'realistic' modern novel.