ULTIMATE LITERATURE

"Since the siege and the assault was ceased at Troy,

The walls breached and burnt down to brands and ashes,

The knight that had knotted the nets of deceit

Was impeached for his perfidy, proven most true,

It was high-born Aeneas and his haughty race

That since prevailed over provinces, and proudly reigned

Over well-nigh all the wealth of the West Isles."

Title: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Author: anonymous

Literary Period: Medieval (Alliterative Revival)

Genre: Chivalric Romance

Stylistic Devices: Bob and Wheel (stanza structure), Alliteration, Symmetry (3 hunts / 3 kisses).

Literary elements/ themes: Chivalry, Courtly Love, Moral testing, the "Beheading Game.

Analysis: This opening uses alliteration (siege/assault, breached/burnt/brands) and establishes a heroic, historical lineage tracing Britain's founding back to the fall of Troy, a common medieval literary convention to lend epic scope and legitimacy to the narrative.

"When all is done, divinity is best:

Jerome's Bible, Faustus, view it well:

Stipendium peccati mors est: ha! Stipendium, etc.

The reward of sin is death? That's hard.

Si pecasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas.

If we say that we have no sin,

We deceive ourselves, and there's no truth in us."

Title: Doctor Faustus

Author: Christopher Marlowe

Literary Period: Elizabethan

Genre: Elizabethan Tragedy

Stylistic Devices: Blank Verse, Soliloquy (Faustus's final speech), Allegory (Good/Bad Angels).

Literary Elements / Themes: Renaissance Humanism, Ambition (the "Overreacher"), Damnation.

Analysis: This excerpt demonstrates the central theme of hubris and flawed reasoning. Faustus selectively quotes scripture (Romans 6:23 and 1 John 1:8), ignoring the context of redemption and forgiveness, to rationalize his decision to abandon divinity and pursue necromancy. This misuse of logic is a key element of his tragic downfall.

"There was a Knight, a most distinguished man,

Who from the day on which he first began

To ride abroad had followed chivalry,

Truth, honour, generousness and courtesy.

He had done nobly in his sovereign's war

And ridden into battle, no man more,

As well in Christian as in heathen places,

And ever honoured for his noble graces."

Title: The Canterbury Tales ('The General Prologue')

Author: Geoffrey Chaucer

Literary Period: Medieval

Genre: Estates Satire

Stylistic devices: Heroic Couplets (rhymed iambic pentameter); Frame Narrative.

Literary elements / themes: Pilgrimage; Social hierarchy; Human frailty.

Analysis: This passage introduces the Knight, the idealized figure of the noble estate. The stylistic device is the heroic couplet (two consecutive rhyming lines in iambic pentameter), which Chaucer uses to create a formal, structured, and flowing narrative. The description serves as a benchmark of perfect chivalry against which other, more corrupt characters are measured."

"He told what he'd heard repeated in songs

about Sigemund's exploits,

all of those many feats and marvels, the struggles

and wanderings of Waels's son..."

"Title: Beowulf

Author: n/a

Literary Period: Old English

Genre: Heroic Epic

Stylistic Devices: Kenning (whale-road); Alliteration; Caesura (mid-line pause).

Literary Elements / Themes: Comitatus (loyalty); Wyrd (fate); Christian vs Pagan values.

Analysis: This excerpt illustrates the role of the scop (poet-musician) and the importance of oral tradition in Anglo-Saxon culture. The performance of songs about legendary heroes like Sigemund serves to entertain, preserve history, and provide a model of heroic behaviour for warriors like Beowulf to emulate, linking his deeds to a larger heroic past."

"Whatever I win in the woods I will give you at eve,

And all you have earned you must offer to me;

Swear now, sweet friend, to swap as I say,

Whether hands, in the end, be empty or better."

Title: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Author: unonymous (The Gawain-Poet)

Literary Period: Medieval (Alliterative Revival)

Genre: Chivalric Romance

Stylistic Devices: Bob and Wheel (stanza structure), Alliteration, Symmetry (3 hunts / 3 kisses).

Literary elements/ themes: Chivalry, Courtly Love, Moral testing, the "Beheading Game.

Analysis: This passage establishes the central 'exchange of winnings' game that structures the narrative's middle section. This game creates the central moral dilemma for Gawain, forcing him to navigate the conflicting demands of courtesy to the lady (who offers him kisses and more) and his vow of fellowship and honesty to his host, Lord Bertilak."

Kenning

Definition: A creative, metaphorical phrase used in Old English poetry that replaces a simple noun, enriching imagery and style. Example: In Beowulf, the sea is referred to as the 'whale-road'.

Alliteration

Definition: The repetition of initial sounds in nearby words, essential for creating rhythm and structure in Anglo-Saxon poetry. Example: In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 'The walls breached and burnt down to brands and ashes'.

Estate Satire

Definition: A literary genre that critically depicts the three medieval social classes (clergy, nobility, and commoners), highlighting their vices and failure to uphold social ideals. Example: Chaucer's 'General Prologue' to The Canterbury Tales satirises figures like the Monk and the Friar.

Overreacher

Definition: A character who ambitiously defies moral, natural, or divine limits, seeking knowledge or power beyond human bounds, which leads to their downfall. Example: Dr. Faustus in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is the archetypal overreacher.

Faustian Bargain

Definition: A deal with the devil or a morally dangerous trade where someone sacrifices their soul, values, or integrity for worldly gain or knowledge. Example: Doctor Faustus makes a pact with Mephistopheles in Doctor Faustus.

Psychomachia

Definition: The inner conflict within a character between opposing moral forces, often personified as a spiritual or psychological struggle. Example: The Good and Evil Angels who attempt to persuade Faustus in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.

Metaphysical Conceit

Definition: An extended, ingenious, and often surprising metaphor that links disparate ideas to explore abstract concepts like love or faith. Example: In John Donne's 'A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning', the souls of two lovers are compared to the two legs of a drawing compass.

Carpe Diem Motto

Definition: A literary theme meaning 'seize the day', which urges the audience to enjoy life and love before time runs out. Example: Andrew Marvell's poem 'To His Coy Mistress' is a classic example, arguing that because of mortality, the speaker's lover should not delay their passion.

Blank Verse

Definition: Unrhymed iambic pentameter, a form that allows for natural-sounding speech while maintaining an elevated, poetic expression. Example: Christopher Marlowe uses blank verse for the main dialogue in Doctor Faustus, and Shakespeare uses it extensively in plays like The Tempest.

Chivalric Romance

Definition: A story of knights, adventure, and courtly love, often featuring quests, magic, moral lessons, and heroic deeds. Example: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a prime example of the genre.

Frame Story

Definition: A narrative structure where one main story surrounds or introduces a series of smaller stories, connecting them within a larger context. Example: The Canterbury Tales uses the pilgrimage to Canterbury as a frame story for the various tales told by the pilgrims.

Fabliau

Definition: A short, comic, and often bawdy tale from medieval literature that mocks human vices, social norms, and the clergy. Example: 'The Miller's Tale' from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is a classic fabliau.

Gnomic Saying

Definition: A short, wise statement reflecting universal truths or moral lessons, often used in epic poetry to convey cultural values. Example: A statement like 'Wisdom is the best possession' in an Anglo-Saxon poem would be a gnomic saying.

Scops

Definition: Anglo-Saxon poet-musicians who composed, memorized, and performed poetry orally, thereby preserving history, legends, and heroic tales. Example: The poet who performs the song about Sigemund in Beowulf is acting as a scop.

How does Beowulf reflect the blend of pagan and Christian values present in Anglo-Saxon culture?

Beowulf integrates pagan Germanic traditions through its emphasis on heroic values like courage, loyalty, fame after death (lof), and the concept of wyrd (fate). Simultaneously, it incorporates Christian elements through its references to an almighty God, Cain as the ancestor of Grendel, divine providence, and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. This fusion shows how scribes reinterpreted older heroic stories through a Christian lens.

What central conflict of chivalric codes does Sir Gawain face at Lord Bertilak's castle?

Sir Gawain faces a conflict between two key aspects of the chivalric code. On one hand, the code demands courtesy and service to ladies, obligating him to be gracious and responsive to Lady Bertilak's advances. On the other hand, it demands absolute loyalty, fellowship (trawthe), and honesty to his host, Lord Bertilak, to whom he has sworn to exchange his winnings each day. This creates a moral dilemma where adhering to one duty means failing the other.

How does Shakespeare's The Tempest comment on colonialism?

The Tempest explores colonialism through the relationship between the European sorcerer Prospero and the island's native inhabitant, Caliban. Prospero seizes control of the island, enslaves Caliban, and imposes his language and culture upon him. The play examines themes of domination, the justification of power, cultural conflict, and the resistance of the colonized, as Caliban's curses and rebellion highlight the injustices of his subjugation.

According to T.S. Eliot, what was unique about the Metaphysical Poets' sensibility?

T.S. Eliot argued that the Metaphysical Poets possessed a unified sensibility, embodying a 'fusion of thought and feeling'. He believed that they could integrate abstract, intellectual concepts with profound emotional experience. Eliot claimed that later poets suffered from a 'dissociation of sensibility', resulting in poetry that was either purely intellectual or purely emotional, but not both at once.

How does Doctor Faustus's use of scripture in his opening soliloquy reveal his character?

Faustus's selective quotation from the Bible reveals his intellectual pride and his predisposition to despair. He reads that 'the wages of sin is death' but deliberately omits the following clause, 'but the gift of God is eternal life'. This half-reading allows him to dismiss divinity as a harsh and unforgiving field, justifying his turn to the forbidden art of necromancy. It shows he is not a true seeker of truth but is looking for an excuse to pursue limitless power.

What was the immediate source for Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, and what elements did it provide?

The immediate source was an English translation of a German narrative, The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus. This source provided Marlowe's drama with the scenes of low comedy, horseplay, and practical joking that contrast with the play's passages of high ambition and tragic despair.

How do Anglo-Saxon poetic translations of the Bible differ from prose translations of the same period?

Anglo-Saxon prose translations aimed to be more or less faithful to the biblical text. Poetic translations, however, were much freer, taking liberties with the narrative and style of the sources. Poets would reshape the biblical stories, placing them within a recognizably Germanic heroic and cultural setting to make them more resonant with their audience.

In Shakespeare's sonnets, what are the three key figures to whom the poems are often addressed?

The three key figures are the 'Fair Youth', a young nobleman admired for his beauty whom the poet urges to marry and preserve his legacy; the 'Dark Lady', a seductive but morally complex woman with whom the poet has a tortured affair; and the 'Rival Poet', another writer who competes for the patronage and favour of the Fair Youth.

What is the primary theme of John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a *****?

The main theme of 'Tis Pity She's a ***** is forbidden love, specifically incest, and its destructive consequences. The play explores the collision of overwhelming passion with societal morality and religious law, leading to hypocrisy, revenge, and ultimately, a tragic bloodbath that consumes the characters.

How does John Donne use allusions to contemporary science and geography in his poetry?

John Donne frequently uses allusions to science (astronomy, medicine), geography (maps, navigation, exploration), and politics to create intellectual and surprising metaphors (conceits). For example, he might compare the microcosm of the human body to the macrocosm of the universe or use the discovery of new lands to describe a lover's body, grounding abstract emotional and spiritual ideas in the tangible world of new learning.

What is a shape poem, and which Metaphysical poet is known for using this form?

A shape poem (or pattern poem) is a poem whose visual arrangement on the page reflects its subject matter, combining form and meaning to enhance its spiritual or thematic effect. The Metaphysical poet George Herbert is famous for his shape poems, such as 'Easter Wings', where the stanzas are shaped like a pair of wings.

What distinguishes a Shakespearean romance like The Tempest from a Shakespearean comedy?

While both genres typically have happy endings, Shakespearean comedies focus on social humour, misunderstandings, and witty wordplay, usually concluding with multiple marriages. Romances, like The Tempest, place a greater emphasis on magic, adventure, fantastical settings, themes of loss and reconciliation over time, and a deeper exploration of moral or spiritual lessons, often involving the reunion of long-lost family members.

Who were the University Wits?

The University Wits were a group of late 16th-century English playwrights and poets who had been educated at the universities of Oxford or Cambridge. They are credited with advancing Elizabethan drama through their sophisticated plots, rhetorical skill, and integration of classical learning. Christopher Marlowe is a prominent member of this group.

What is the significance of the Cotton Nero A.x manuscript?

The Cotton Nero A.x is a unique and highly significant medieval manuscript because it is the sole surviving copy of four major Middle English poems, all believed to be by the same anonymous author: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Patience, and Cleanness.

Why did John Milton choose to write Paradise Lost in blank verse?

Milton chose blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) for Paradise Lost to achieve a natural yet elevated style suitable for his grand, epic subject. He sought to imitate the unrhymed verse of classical epics by Homer and Virgil and to free his poetry from the 'bondage of rhyme', which he considered a trivial constraint, allowing for greater flexibility and grandeur.

What is a heroic couplet?

Definition: Two consecutive rhymed lines in iambic pentameter, often used for epic, narrative, or satirical poetry. Example: Geoffrey Chaucer perfected the use of the heroic couplet in English, using it throughout The Canterbury Tales.

What is a dream-vision poem?

Definition: A narrative genre popular in the Middle Ages where the speaker recounts a dream or vision, often used to explore moral, spiritual, or allegorical themes. Example: Chaucer's early work The Book of the Duchess is a classic example of a dream-vision.

In what way does the character Pride introduce himself in Doctor Faustus?

When Faustus asks who he is, Pride, the first of the Seven Deadly Sins, responds disdainfully that he scorns to have parents and compares himself to Ovid's flea, able to creep into any corner of a wench. He complains about the smell of the room and refuses to speak more unless the ground is perfumed and covered with expensive cloth (arras).

According to the source material, what was William Harvey's discovery and why was it significant in the 17th century?

William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood. This was significant because it subverted the long-established theory of the four humours (blood, phlegm, black bile, choler), which had been the foundation of medicine for centuries, representing the period's questioning of established beliefs through new empirical methods.

What is hubris?

Definition: Excessive pride or self-confidence, often leading a character to defy moral, social, or divine limits and consequently suffer a downfall. Example: The character of Doctor Faustus is a prime example of hubris, as his prideful ambition leads him to make a pact with the devil and reject salvation.

Why were the 'Metaphysical Poets' originally given this name?

The term was initially used pejoratively by critics like John Dryden and Samuel Johnson. They criticized poets like John Donne for affecting 'the metaphysics' and for perplexing readers with 'nice speculations of philosophy' and abstract ideas, rather than writing about love in a simple, soft manner. The label was intended as a censure of their intellectual and complex style.

What role does the 'exchange of winnings' game play in the plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?

The 'exchange of winnings' game, proposed by Lord Bertilak, structures the three days of temptation at the castle and serves as the central test of Gawain's integrity (trawthe). The parallelism between Bertilak's hunt outside and the lady's 'hunt' of Gawain inside the bedroom creates dramatic tension and forces Gawain into a moral dilemma that culminates in his decision to conceal the green girdle, the act that constitutes his failure.

Wyrd

Often translated as "fate" or "destiny," reflecting a fatalistic worldview prevalent in Anglo-Saxon culture

Caesura

A pause or break in a line of poetry, often occurring near the middle. It contributes to the rhythm and structure of the verse

Charms

Magical incantations or spells, often found in the context of Old English poetry

Medieval Romance

A literary genre featuring chivalric knights, courtly love, supernatural elements, and heroic quests, often centered around themes of honor and adventure (e.g., "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight").

Epic Poem (Beowulf)

Celebrates the heroic deeds of a legendary figure, often involving monsters and supernatural elements.

Wergild

The "man price" or compensation paid for a crime against another person. It reflects the importance of personal relationships and the idea of restitution rather than strict punishment

Elegiac Poem (The Wanderer)

Expresses sorrow and lamentation, often reflecting on the transience of life and the impermanence of earthly things.

Accentual System

The rhythm of Old English poetry was based on stressed syllables rather than a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (as in iambic pentameter)

Fable

a story with a moral where animals represent human characteristics- The Nun's Priest's Tale

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Form: Alliterative verse (lines held together by consonant sounds, not rhyme) and the caesura (a strong pause in the middle of each line).

• Key Device: Kennings – compressed metaphors like whale-road (sea) or sky-candle (sun).

• Key Concept: Comitatus – the code of loyalty between a lord and his warriors.

• Thematic Conflict: The blending of Pagan heroism (fate, glory in battle) and Christian morality (God as the creator, pride as a sin).

Beowulf | Anonymous | Old English Period | Heroic Epic

Literary Elements / Themes:
Comitatus (loyalty); Wyrd (fate); Christian vs Pagan values.

Stylistic Devices:
Kenning (whale-road); Alliteration; Caesura (mid-line pause).

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

Form: Bob and Wheel – a very specific stanza structure where a long alliterative passage ends with a short "bob" (2 syllables) and a "wheel" (4 rhyming lines).

• Key Symbol: The Pentangle on Gawain’s shield, representing his five virtues.

• Thematic Conflict: Chivalry vs. Survival. Gawain struggles to balance his loyalty to King Arthur with the "courtly love" advances of Lady Bertilak.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Anonymous | Medieval Period | Chivalric Romance

Stylistic Devices:
Bob and Wheel (stanza structure); Symmetry (3 hunts/3 kisses).

Literary Elements / Themes:

Chivalry; Courtesy; Moral testing; The Beheading Game.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

Form: Heroic Couplets

A heroic couplet is a pair of rhyming lines, written in iambic pentameter (ten syllables with an alternating unstressed/stressed rhythm), that often forms a complete thought, creating a balanced and memorable unit, famously used in English epic and narrative poetry for serious or witty themes.

• An Estates Satire – Author critiques the three "estates" (Nobility, Clergy, Commoners) by showing their hypocrisy.

The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue | Geoffrey Chaucer | Medieval Period | Estates Satire

Stylistic Devices:

Heroic Couplets (rhymed iambic pentameter); Frame Narrative.

Literary Elements / Themes:

Pilgrimage; Social hierarchy; Human frailty.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

Form: Heroic Couplets (rhymed iambic pentameter).

• Focuses on Sovereignty (maistrye) – the idea that women desire power over their husbands.

The Canterbury Tales: Wife of Bath | Geoffrey Chaucer | Medieval Period | Breton Lai

Stylistic Devices:

Digression (stories within stories); First-person narrative voice.

Literary Elements / Themes:

Sovereignty (maistrye); Experience vs Authority.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

Form: Heroic Couplets (rhymed iambic pentameter).

• A Fabliau – a bawdy, dirty, and humorous story about lower-class characters, often involving infidelity.

The Canterbury Tales: Miller’s Tale | Geoffrey Chaucer | Medieval Period | Fabliau|

Stylistic Devices:

Bawdy humour; Double Entendre; Caricature.

Literary Elements / Themes:

Poetic Justice; Cuckoldry; Parody of Courtly Love.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

Form: Blank Verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter).

• Key Concept: The Renaissance Overreacher – a man who seeks knowledge beyond human limits.

• Themes: The conflict between Medieval values (fear of hell) and Renaissance Humanism (belief in human potential).

Doctor Faustus | Christopher Marlowe | Elizabethan Period | Elizabethan Tragedy

Stylistic Devices:

Blank Verse; Soliloquy; Allegory (Good vs Evil Angels).

Literary Elements / Themes:

Renaissance Humanism; The Overreacher; Damnation.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Structure: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme. Ends with a couplet that usually provides a "twist" or summary.

• Characters: Fair Youth (ideals of beauty), Dark Lady (complex, sensual love), Rival Poet (competition).

• Primary Theme: Immortality through Verse – beauty fades, but the poem lives forever.

Sonnets | William Shakespeare | Elizabethan Period | Lyric Poetry (Sonnet)

Stylistic Devices:

Quatrain & Couplet; Volta (the "turn" at line 9 or 13).

Literary Elements / Themes:

Time (Devouring Time); Immortality; Identity.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Genre: Romance – combines elements of tragedy and comedy, but focuses on reconciliation and magic.

• Context: Colonialism. The relationship between Prospero (the coloniser) and Caliban (the indigenous "monster") reflects 17th-century European exploration.

The Tempest | William Shakespeare | Elizabethan Period | Romance (Tragicomedy)

Stylistic Devices:

Masque (play-within-a-play); Symbolism (staff/book).

Literary Elements / Themes:

Colonialism; Reconciliation; Magic/Art as power.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Genre: Jacobean/Caroline Tragedy. It is much darker, more cynical, and bloodier than Elizabethan tragedy.

• Main Theme: Incest (Giovanni and Annabella). It explores forbidden desire as a form of rebellion against a corrupt society.

• Critique: Highlighting the hypocrisy of the Church and social institutions.

'Tis Pity She's a Whore | John Ford | Caroline Period | Caroline Tragedy

Stylistic Devices:

Tragedy of Blood (violence); Gothic elements; Dark irony.

Literary Elements / Themes:

Incest; Moral decay; Hypocrisy of the Church.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Key Device: The Metaphysical Conceit – an elaborate, intellectual, and "far-fetched" metaphor (e.g., comparing lovers to a mathematical compass or a flea).

• Style: Blending Sacred and Profane – using religious language to describe sex, or scientific language to describe the soul.

The Flea /or/ A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning | John Donne | 17th Century | Metaphysical Poetry

Stylistic Devices:

Metaphysical Conceit (compass/flea); Paradox; Colloquial tone.

Literary Elements / Themes:

Microcosm/Macrocosm; Sacred and Profane love.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Form: Pattern Poetry (or Shape Poems) – the physical shape of the poem on the page mirrors its subject (e.g., Easter Wings looks like birds' wings).

• Tone: Deeply personal and devotional conversations with God.

Easter Wings /or/ The Collar | George Herbert | 17th Century | Shape Poem

Stylistic Devices:

Visual Hieroglyph: The shape is not just decoration; it is a "hieroglyph" of the soul's spiritual state. Alliteration & Paradox: "With thee / O let me rise / As larks, harmoniously."

Literary Elements / Themes:

The Fall and Redemption: The narrowing of the lines represents man becoming "most thin" and "most poore" due to sin; the widening represents the soul’s flight and strength through Christ.

Spiritual Growth: The idea that suffering (thinness) allows one to "imp" (graft) their wings onto God's.

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Key Concept: Carpe Diem ("Seize the Day").

• Structure: A logical argument in three parts: If we had enough time... But we don't (Time's chariot is coming)... Therefore, let us love now.

To His Coy Mistress | Andrew Marvell | 17th Century | Metaphysical

Stylistic Devices:

Syllogism (If/But/Therefore logic); Hyperbole (vegetable love).

Literary Elements / Themes:

Time; Mortality; Sexual urgency.

"A figure of the night... Grendel gript and grappled... He was spawned in slime, of the seed of Cain."

Beowulf | Anonymous | Old English Period | Heroic Epic

Keywords:

• Wyrd: (Fate) "Wyrd often saves an undoomed man."

• Heorot: The great mead-hall.

• Kenning: Look for compound metaphors like whale-road (sea) or ring-giver (king).

"...with care, wherefore, (Bob) He takes his leave to fare, With a grim and ghastly air, To find the giant there." (Wheel)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Anonymous | Medieval Period | Chivalric Romance

Key Fragment: Look for the "Bob and Wheel" at the end of stanzas

Keywords:

• The Pentangle: The five-pointed star on his shield (truth/virtue).

• Green Girdle: The symbol of Gawain’s failure and survival.

• Courtesy: (Fraunchyse) The social code he must follow.

"Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote / The droghte of March hath perced to the roote." (When April with its sweet showers...)

The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue | Geoffrey Chaucer | Medieval Period | Estates Satire

• Key Concept: Estates Satire. Chaucer describes characters from all levels of society (Nobility, Clergy, Commoners) to expose their corruption or praise their virtue.

• Keywords:

  • Pilgrimage: The journey to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury.

  • The Tabard Inn: Where the pilgrims meet.

  • Spring: Symbol of spiritual and physical rebirth.

  • Character Sketches: Look for specific descriptions of the Knight (brave), the Prioress (fake manners), or the Friar (greedy).

"Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee / As wel over hir housbond as hir love, / And for to been in maistrie hym above."

"Experience, though noon auctoritee / Were in this world, is right ynogh for me / To speke of wo that is in marriage." (Experience, even if there were no other authority, is enough for me to speak of the woe in marriage).

The Canterbury Tales: Wife of Bath | Geoffrey Chaucer | Medieval Period | Breton Lai

Key Concept: Sovereignty (Maistrye). The central argument is that what women want most is "mastery" or power over their husbands and their own lives.

• The Tale itself: A knight must find out what women most desire to save his life. He meets an Old Hag who gives him the answer in exchange for marriage.

• Keywords:

  • Five Husbands: She has been married five times since the age of twelve.

  • Authority vs. Experience: Her preference for life experience over "official" books written by men.

  • Alison: Her name.

"And Nicholas amende hath cloth and bord / Of frendes fyndyng and his owene stor / Al be it that he was a povre scoler." (And "Handy" Nicholas had clothes and food provided by friends, although he was a poor scholar).

The Canterbury Tales: Miller’s Tale | Geoffrey Chaucer | Medieval Period | Fabliau

• Key Concept: Fabliau. A short, humorous, and often "dirty" story involving common people, trickery, and sex. It often parodies the ideals of "Courtly Love."

• The Plot: Nicholas (a student) tricks a jealous carpenter (John) into thinking a second Great Flood is coming so he can sleep with the carpenter's wife (Alison).

• Keywords:

  • Cuckold: A man whose wife is unfaithful (the Carpenter).

  • Misdirected Kiss: The famous scene where Absolon (another suitor) kisses the "wrong" part of a character through a window.

  • The Flood: The fake prophecy Nicholas uses to trick John.

  • Hende Nicholas: "Handy" or "Clever" Nicholas.

"Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships, / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?"

Doctor Faustus | Christopher Marlowe | Elizabethan Period | Elizabethan Tragedy

Keywords:

• Necromancy: Magic/summoning the dead.

• Mephistophilis: The devil’s servant.

• Damnation: The final loss of the soul.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate."

Sonnets (sonnet 18) | William Shakespeare | Elizabethan Period | Lyric Poetry (Sonnet)

Keywords: Fair Youth, Dark Lady, Couplet (the final two rhyming lines).

Genre: Lyric.

Theme: Eternalization (Poetry survives time).

Device: Nature metaphors ("Summer's lease").

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; / Coral is far more red than her lips' red."

Sonnets (sonnet 130) | William Shakespeare | Elizabethan Period | Lyric Poetry (Sonnet)

Keywords: Fair Youth, Dark Lady, Couplet (the final two rhyming lines).

Genre: Anti-Petrarchan Satire.

Theme: Realistic love vs False idealism.

Device: Litotes (understatement) and parody.

"We are such stuff / As dreams are made on; and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep."

The Tempest | William Shakespeare | Elizabethan Period | Romance (Tragicomedy)

Keywords:

• Prospero: The Magus/Coloniser.

• Caliban: The "savage"/colonised subject ("You taught me language; and my profit on't / Is, I know how to curse").

Literary Elements / Themes:

Colonialism; Reconciliation; Magic/Art as power.

Stylistic Devices:

Masque (play-within-a-play); Symbolism (staff/book).

"Mark but this flea, and mark in this, / How little that which thou deniest me is; / It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee."

The Flea | John Donne | 17th Century | Metaphysical Poetry

Keywords: Metaphysical Conceit, Microcosm (the world in a small space), Sacred vs. Profane.

Stylistic Devices:

Metaphysical Conceit (compass/flea); Paradox; Colloquial tone.

Literary Elements / Themes

Microcosm/Macrocosm; Sacred and Profane love.

"If they be two, they are two so / As stiff twin compasses are two."

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning | John Donne | 17th Century | Metaphysical Poetry

Keywords: Metaphysical Conceit, Microcosm (the world in a small space), Sacred vs. Profane.

Stylistic Devices:

Metaphysical Conceit (compass/flea); Paradox; Colloquial tone.

Literary Elements / Themes

Microcosm/Macrocosm; Sacred and Profane love.

"Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store, / Though foolishly he lost the same..." (The text narrows and widens on the page).

The Collar | George Herbert | 17th Century | Devotional Lyric

Thematic Style: Look for poems that visually look like their subject.

• Keywords: Pattern Poetry or Shape Poems.

How to Recognise: A frantic, angry, and rebellious tone. The speaker is complaining about the restraints of a religious life. It ends with a sudden, quiet two-line resolution.

Literary Elements / Themes:

Rebellion vs. Submission: The speaker wants to "abroad" (leave the church) and enjoy life, but is pulled back by God’s voice.

The Pun in the Title: "The Collar" refers to a clerical collar (restraint), a caller (God calling him), and choler (anger/rage).

Stylistic Devices:

Chaos vs. Order: The poem has irregular rhyme and meter throughout to represent the speaker's internal "noise" and rebellion. In the final two lines, the rhyme becomes perfect and calm.

Rhetorical Questions: "Shall I be still in suit?" / "Is the year only lost to me?"

Keywords: "I struck the board", "No more", "Child", "My Lord", Cage, Rope of sands.

Key Quote: > "But as I rav'd and grew more fierce and wilde / At every word, / Me thought I heard one calling, Child! / And I reply'd My Lord."

"But at my back I always hear / Time's winged chariot hurrying near; / And yonder all before us lie / Deserts of vast eternity."

To His Coy Mistress | Andrew Marvell | 17th Century | Metaphysical

Keywords: Carpe Diem (Seize the day), Vegetable Love (slow-growing love), Coyness.

Stylistic devices:

Syllogism (If/But/Therefore logic); Hyperbole (vegetable love).

Literary Elements / Themes:

Time; Mortality; Sexual urgency.

"Must I not praise / That beauty, which, if fram'd as it is now, / Were fitting for no woman but a sister?"

'Tis Pity She's a Whore | John Ford | Caroline Period | Caroline Tragedy

Keywords: Incest, Giovanni & Annabella, Moral Decay, Parma (the setting).

Stylistic devices:

Tragedy of Blood (violence); Gothic elements; Dark irony.

Literary Elements / Themes:

Incest; Moral decay; Hypocrisy of the Church.

"A fiend out of hell, began to work his evil in the world. Grendel was the name of this grim demon."

Beowulf | Anonymous | Old English Period | Heroic Epic

• The Structure: It uses Alliterative Verse. There is no rhyme; instead, each line has a Caesura (a break in the middle) and is connected by repeating sounds at the start of words.

• Keywords:

  • Kenning: Look for compound metaphors like bone-house (body) or treasure-giver (king).

  • Wyrd: The Anglo-Saxon concept of inescapable Fate.

  • Comitatus: The sacred bond of loyalty between the lord and his thanes (warriors).

  • Mead-hall (Heorot): The symbol of civilization and light, contrasted with the dark moors where Grendel lives.

Stylistic Devices:

Kenning (whale-road); Alliteration; Caesura (mid-line pause).

Literary Elements / Themes:

Comitatus (loyalty); Wyrd (fate); Christian vs Pagan values.

"The knight in the field, (long alliterative line) and still, (Bob) He stood there at his will, To fight and show his skill, His duty to fulfill. (Wheel - rhyming lines)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Anonymous | Medieval Period | Chivalric Romance

Most Famous Fragment: Look for the "Bob and Wheel" pattern. If the text suddenly has a tiny line followed by four short rhyming lines, it is Gawain.

• Key Concept: The Pentangle. Gawain’s shield has a five-pointed star. Each point represents a set of five virtues (5 senses, 5 fingers, 5 wounds of Christ, 5 joys of Mary, and 5 knightly virtues).

• Keywords:

  • Chivalry: The code of the knight (bravery, piety, and courtesy).

  • Courtesy (Fraunchyse): This is Gawain’s "superpower" but also his weakness; he is so polite he finds it hard to say "no" to the Lady of the Castle.

  • The Green Girdle: A silk belt given to him by the Lady. It represents his fear of death and his "slight" dishonesty.

  • The Beheading Game: The central plot device started by the Green Knight.

Stylistic Devices:

Bob and Wheel (stanza structure); Symmetry (3 hunts/3 kisses).

Literary Elements / Themes:

Chivalry; Courtesy; Moral testing; The Beheading Game.

"But Arthur would not eat till all were served; His life he liked lively—the less he cared To be lying for long, or long to sit, So busy his young blood, his brain so wild. And also a point of pride pricked him in heart, For he nobly had willed, he would never eat On so high a holiday, till he had heard first Of some fair feat or fray some far-borne tale."

PROVIDE:

• Title

• Author

• Literary Period

• Stylistic Device and Definition

• Title: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Author: Unknown

• Literary Period: Middle English (Late 14th Century)

• Genre:

• Chivalric Romance

• Stylistic Device: Alliteration (or Alliterative Verse).

• Definition: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in a line of poetry (e.g., "fair feat or fray"). It was the primary structural device in Old and Middle English poetry.

• Literary Elements / Themes: Chivalry; Courtesy; Moral testing; The Beheading Game.

"But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

PROVIDE:

• Title

• Author

• Literary Period

• Subject/Theme:

• Title: Sonnet 18 (or "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?")

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Literary Period: The Renaissance (English Renaissance)

• Gendre: Lyric.

• Theme: Eternalization (Poetry survives time).

• Device: Nature metaphors ("Summer's lease")

• Subject/Theme: The poem discusses a "fair youth" (a young man). Shakespeare argues that while physical beauty fades like summer, poetry can immortalise the person, granting them eternal life as long as the poem is read.

Define Metaphysical Conceit and give an example.

• Definition: An elaborate, intellectually rigorous, and often surprising analogy between two highly dissimilar things. It requires the reader to use logic to see the connection.

• Example: John Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning." He compares two lovers' souls to the two legs of a mathematical compass; though they move apart, they remain joined at the centre.

What views on poetry in Old English culture does the story of Cædmon illustrate?

• Divine Inspiration: Poetry was viewed as a gift from God, not just a secular skill. Cædmon, an unlearned cowherd, received the gift of song through a vision.

• Social Function: It shows that poetry was used to translate complex religious doctrine into a form (verse) that the common people could understand and enjoy.

• Oral Tradition: It highlights the transition from oral performance in the "mead hall" to written Christian recording.

What allegorical image does the poem Pearl employ and what does it stand for?

• The Image: A lost pearl that has fallen into the grass.

• Meaning: The pearl is a multi-layered allegory representing:

  1. The narrator’s deceased young daughter.

  2. Spiritual purity/innocence.

  3. The Kingdom of Heaven (The "Pearl of Great Price").

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Key Device: The Metaphysical Conceit – an elaborate, intellectual, and "far-fetched" metaphor (e.g., comparing lovers to a mathematical compass or a flea).

• Style: Blending Sacred and Profane – using religious language to describe sex, or scientific language to describe the soul.

The Flea /or/ A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning | John Donne | Elizabethan Period | Metaphysical Poetry

Stylistic Devices:

Metaphysical Conceit (compass/flea); Paradox; Colloquial tone.

Literary Elements / Themes:

Microcosm/Macrocosm; Sacred and Profane love.

"O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you." (Mercutio) or "A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life."

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

Romeo & Juliet

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Period: Elizabethan

• Genre: Tragedy

• Stylistic devices: Oxymoron (cold fire); Petrarchan imagery; Sonnet structure in dialogue.

• Literary Elements / Themes: Fate ("Star-crossed"); Youthful passion vs Civil feud.

• How to Recognise: Look for oxymorons (e.g., "O brawling love! O loving hate!") and dialogue about stars, family feuds, and fast-paced romantic metaphors.

• Keywords: Star-crossed lovers, Feud (Montague vs. Capulet), Verona, Oxymoron (a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction [e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ]), Fate.

"Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back, / Guilty of dust and sin."

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

Love (III) — George Herbert

• Author: George Herbert

• Period: 17th Century (Metaphysical Poet)

• Genre: Devotional Lyric

• Stylistic devices: Dialogue (between Soul and Love); Allegory (the Feast).

• Literary Elements / Themes: Divine Grace; Humility; Spiritual hunger.

• How to Recognise: A polite, humble dialogue between a guilty Guest (the Soul) and a Host (Love/God). It reads like an invitation to a banquet.

• Keywords: Eucharist/Communion, Divine Grace, Sacred Love, Humility.

• Unique Feature: Unlike Donne’s aggressive metaphysical poetry, Herbert is gentle and conversational with God.

"From fairest creatures we desire increase..."

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Title: Sonnet 1

• Period: Elizabethan

• Genre: Procreation Sonnet.

• Theme: Beauty’s waste.

• Device: Imagery of harvest/famine.

• Structure: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

• Topic: Fair Youth

• Distinctive feature:

Procreation: Tells the young man he must have children to make his beauty immortal.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?"

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR, LITERARY PERIOD, GENRE, LITERARY ELEMENTS, STYLISTIC DEVICES:

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Title: Sonnet 18

• Period: Elizabethan

• Genre: Lyric.

• Theme: Eternalization (Poetry survives time).

• Device: Nature metaphors ("Summer's lease").

• Structure: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

• Topic: Fair Youth

• Distinctive feature:

Immortality through Verse: Nature's summer fades, but the poem lasts forever.

"A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted..."

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR & LITERARY PERIOD:

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Title: Sonnet 20

• Period: Elizabethan

• Genre: Lyric.

• Theme: Androgyny / Gender.

• Device: "Master-Mistress" (The Fair Youth's dual nature).

• Structure: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

• Topic: Fair Youth

• Distinctive feature:

Androgyny: Calls him the "Master-Mistress" of his passion; Nature made him a man by mistake.

"O, how I faint when I do write of you, / Knowing a better spirit doth use your name."

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR & LITERARY PERIOD:

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Title: Sonnet 80

• Period: Elizabethan

• Genre: Lyric.

• Theme: Professional Jealousy.

• Device: Nautical metaphor (Rival Poet = Great Ship, Shakespeare = Saucy Bark).

• Structure: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

• Topic: Rival Poet

• Distinctive feature:

Insecurity: Shakespeare feels like a small boat ("saucy bark") compared to a "better spirit" (the Rival Poet).

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments."

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR & LITERARY PERIOD:

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Title: Sonnet 116

• Period: Elizabethan

• Genre: Lyric.

• Theme: Ideal Love.

• Device: Navigational imagery ("Ever-fixed mark," "Star to every wandering bark").

• Structure: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

• Topic: Dark Lady

• Distinctive feature:

Constancy: Love is an "ever-fixed mark" that does not change when things get tough.

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; / Coral is far more red than her lips' red."

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR & LITERARY PERIOD:

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Title: Sonnet 130

• Period: Elizabethan

• Genre: Anti-Petrarchan Satire.

• Theme: Realistic love vs False idealism.

• Device: Litotes (understatement) and parody.

• Structure: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

• Topic: Dark Lady

• Distinctive feature:

Anti-Petrarchan: He mocks poets who exaggerate; his mistress is ugly/real, but he loves her anyway.

"When my love swears that she is made of truth, / I do believe her, though I know she lies."

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR & LITERARY PERIOD:

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Title: Sonnet 138

• Period: Elizabethan

• Genre: Lyric.

• Theme: Mutual Deception.

• Device: Pun ("I lie with her and she with me").

• Structure: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

• Topic: Dark Lady

• Distinctive feature:

Mutual Deception: Both lovers lie to each other (about her faithfulness and his age) to stay happy.

"Two loves I have of comfort and despair, / Which like two spirits do suggest me still."

PROVIDE TITLE, AUTHOR & LITERARY PERIOD:

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Title: Sonnet 144

• Period: Elizabethan

• Genre: Lyric.

• Theme: Psychological Conflict.

• Device: Allegory (Two spirits: Angel vs Fiend).

• Structure: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

• Topic: Dark Lady

• Distinctive feature:

The Conflict: He has two loves: a "better angel" (Fair Youth) and a "worser spirit" (Dark Lady). LOVE TRIANGLE