lit

the middle ages, the old English, the middle English

Periods of British Literature

wyrd

fate, anglo-saxon worrior

Beowulf

where can wyrd be seen?

liege, comitatus

mutual loyalty between the lord and his warrior

wergild

an established price for compensation depending on the crime

alliteration

head rhyme, the repetition of initial identical consonant sounds or any vowel sound in successive or closely associated syllables

gnomic saying

short, memorable statement of traditional wisdom and morality

Kenning

A poetic description of an ordinary thing, a standard Anglo-Saxon metaphor

caesura, heroic line

a pause in the middle of a verse, there are two stresses on both sides of it

Volta

The turn of thought or argument in Sonnets

fable

a story which features animals as stand ins for people

the Pardoner's tale

Name an example of exemplum

Caedmon of Whitby

who was an illiterate man from Whitby who became a monk and produced many literary works after an apparition in his dreams told him to sing? (first known author according to Bede)

pageant wagon

a wheeled vehicle used in the processional staging of the medieval vernacular cycle plays in late 14th to mid-16th century

Canterbury Tales

give an example of estate satire

theatere-in-the-round

A theater which consisted of a circular ditch, an earthen embankment on which people could sit

accentual verse

a line that has a fixed number of stresses in it, regardless of the number of syllables

miracle play

a play that presents a real or fictional account of the life of a saint (miracles, martyrdom...)

blazon

What is a literary device used in order to compare attributes of a female to other rare and beautiful objects

riddle

a puzzle to be solved, usually without a title, contemplates an object or an abstract notion

charm

a set of instructions generally written to resolve a problem

Old English Period

In what literary period was Beowulf written?

The Beowulf manuscript

what is the full title of Beowulf

heroic poem

What literary genre is Beowulf?

allegory

an extended metaphor where characters stand for issues, concepts and ideas

English, Anglo-Norman, Latin

what three languages were used in middle English period literature?

Thomas Mallory

Who wrote La morte Da'Arthur?

Scop

in medieval times, he was a poet who traveled around mead halls

elegiac poem

medieval lyric poem lamenting the death of a public person, a friend or a loved one

dream vision poem

a literary device where some truth, which would be unavailable in a waking state, is revealed in a dream to the dreamer (medieval)

perception of transience

what is the notion that all things, even the grates ones, will come to pass?

Caedmon's hymn

what is Caedmon's work called?

chivalric romance

a story, usually in verse, about the adventures of a legendary knight, celebrating an idealized code of behavior that combines loyalty, honor and courtly love

courtly love

the idea of love as a voluntary and ennobling service of a knight to a lady of his choice

knight errant

a knight wandering the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric virtues

code of chivalry

a system of discipline and social interactions that include courage, honor and courtesy

alliterative revival

a collective term for the group of poems from late 14th century which used alliteration once again

Chivalric Romance

What genre is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?

14th century

When was Sir Gawain written?

nature

Allegory in Sir Gawain: What does the Green Knight stand-in for?

Controller of Customs, Page, Deputy forester, MP

Name some of the positions which were once held by Geoffrey Chaucer

Vernacular

Chaucer's version of middle English

decasyllable line

a poetic meter of 10 syllables

iambic pentameter

what did decasyllable line developed into?

no

did Chaucer's writing have alliteration?

trips to Italy, Italian authors: Boccaccio, Dante

What were Chaucer's inspirations for writing?

symbolic and literal

what were two meanings of allegory

estate satire

a way of criticizing a group of people or a system by making them seem funny so that people will see their faults

Parliament of Fowls

Name an example of a fable

Fabliau

a humorous story with a moral in which characters come from lower levels of society (crude humor)

The Miller's Tale

Name an example of Fabliau

Dream vision poem

a poem in which the poet pictures himself as falling asleep and envisioning in his dreams a series of allegorical people and events (Chaucer)

exemplum

a story with a moral which illustrates moral or philosophical truth

sermon

a story with a moral which illustrates an aspect of religious doctrine

the Parson's tale

name an example of a sermon

frame story

a tale is told within the concept of a longer story

Boccaccio's Decameron

where did Chaucer get inspired to use frame story?

verbal irony

where there is a meaningful contrast between what is being said and what is actually meant

Monk being describes as "best monk" even though he is not

Name an example of verbal irony in Canterbury Tales

trope

a short text, spoken or sung, used as an ornament of the church liturgy

mystery plays

usually representing biblical subjects, developed from plays presented in Latin by churchmen on church premises and depicted such subjects as the Creation, Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel, and the Last Judgment

biblia pauperum, educational purposes

what was the other name of mystery plays and what was their purpose

psychomachia

battle between good and evil over the human soul

miracle plays

presents a real or fictitious account of the life, miracles, or martyrdom of a saint

morality play

the characters personify moral qualities (such as charity or vice) or abstractions (as death or youth) and in which moral lessons are taught

liturgical drama

what did medieval drama evolved from?

trade guilds

Tightly controlled groups of skilled laborers. These groups controlled production of specific products. Examples would be cobblers, blacksmiths, tanners, etc. Each group consisted of masters and apprentices.

place-and-scaffold

Instead of employing individual pageant wagons, the performance space was marked with multiple scaffolds, each one of which represented a concrete location in the narrative of the play. The space between them, or "place," was undifferentiated and could take on multiple roles as needed over the course of the play.

16, 30,5

How many visions did Julian of Norwich experience and at what age?

a book of showing

how was Julian's work called?

that sin was "behovely" which means, necessary and appropriate

what did Julian of Norwich say abut sin?

sensuality

physical body

substance

spiritual life

torn from each other by sin, united by Jesus

what was the relationship between sensuality and substance?

14

How many lines does a sonnet have?

octave and sestet

what parts does Italian/Petrarchan sonnet have?

after the octave, after line 8

where does volta occure in the Italian sonnet?

ABBAABBA CDECDE

rhyme scheme of a Italian/petrarchan sonnet

abab cdcd efef gg

rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet

anywhere but usually before the final couplet

where does volta occur in the English sonnet?

three quatrains and a rhymed couplet

A Shakespearean Sonnet is written in

translations or imitations of Italian poetry

Sir Thomas Wyatt, what were most of his works?

use of antithesis

2nd quatrain: antithetical ideas placed on both sides of the caesura

final couplet: ironical note

build of Surrey's work - Th'Assyrians' King

Edmund Spenser

who to associate blazon with?

a blond young aristocrat, a mysterious dark lady, a rival poet

who did Shakespeare write sonnets about?

a single female figure

who did Petrarch, Sidney and Spenser write sonnets about that Shakespeare did not?

154

How many sonnets did Shakespeare published?

adapting the traditional Petarchan conceit but also turning them on their heads

How did Shakespeare write sonnets (conceit)?

sonnet 18

Name a Shakespearean sonnet with traditional conceit

sonnet 130

name a Shakespearean sonnet with nontraditional conceit

beauty, time, decay, immortality, procreation, selfishness

What were Shakespeare's major themes in sonnets?

blank verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter

thrust stage

theatrical stage without a proscenium, projecting into the audience and surrounded on three sides by the audience

University Wits

poor graduates from Oxford or Cambridge who came to London in order to write plays for new, popular theaters

Christopher Marlowe, George Peele

name two University Wits

Tragedy of blood

An intensified form of the Revenge Tragedy popular on the Elizabethan stage. It works out the theme of revenge and retribution through murder, assassination, mutilation, and carnage.

Hamlet

Name an example of tragedy of blood

Christopher Marlowe

who wrote Dr Faustus?