eng11 midterm practice qs

  1. What makes something literature?
            For something to be considered literature, it typically has to carry a certain universality, resonating with people regardless of the location, time period, identity, etc. It will also include themes or styles of writing that are continuing traditions of that genre, and will often times be a base point, creating new traditions.

  2. What is the theme of a particular short story? What are three methods we can use to discover the themes in a piece of literature?
            The main themes of “The Shining Houses” are conformity and individualism, though it can also be seen as a critique against capitalism and colonialism. This is seen in the extremism with which practically all the characters despise Mrs. Fullerton’s home, which is filled with life (in terms of liveliness and her vegetation) and personality, as opposed to their ‘tombstone houses’, lined up in blank, soulless rows.

            Three methods we can use to discover the themes in a piece of literature is by looking at the characters, repetition, and the main conflict. The main conflict in a story will oftentimes reveal what the theme is, by virtue of it being the primary plot point that the piece is based around. Characters are also oftentimes allegories, helping to portray a certain ideal that the author is praising or critiquing. Certain symbols, words, or even events that appear multiple times within a piece of literature are also oftentimes integral to understanding the theme, with the author making them reoccurring to ensure understanding in their audience.

  3. What is symbolism?
            Symbolism is when a symbol (oftentimes an object) is used to allude to something bigger than itself. Interpretations for the meanings of symbols can vary based on the audience, and proper context is required to understand symbols correctly. Symbols will often reference an author’s time period, and they are typically used to deepen the theme and an audience’s understanding of the piece.

  4. Draw a Freytag’s Pyramid for a short story of your choosing.
            THE PAINTED DOOR - SINCLAIR ROSS
            Exposition: Background information about John and Ann’s relationship, and information about Steven;
            Inciting Incident: Steven’s arrival
            Rising Action: Ann and Steven playing games and getting closer
            Climax: Ann cheating with Steven
            Falling Action: Ann’s contemplations after sleeping with Steven
            Resolution/Denouement: John’s death
        

  5. What has been the most impactful 5-8 lines from one of our poems so far. How do these lines connect to its literary period and how do they impact you personally Choose one you would like to carry with you through life :)
            i gotta read more

  6. What are three things that characterize the Renaissance Period? Explain each one.
            Secularism, individualism, and ad fontes were three ideas that characterized the Renaissance period. Ad fontes, meaning ‘to the source’, refers to the Renaissance philosophers, artists, and scientists returning to the classics for inspiration. They sought out Greek and Roman ideas in an effort to return to a time of good, and to find the source of all the good in the world. This relates directly to the steep rise in secularism during this time, furthered especially by the Protestant Reformation as people began to question and draw away from the Catholic Church. While the people themselves were still deeply religious, art began to take a more secular view, away from solely being meant to glorify God. There was a break in the idea of everyone’s lives needing to center around God however religious they still were, and this introduces the idea of individualism, that people were allowed to think and want for themselves without it being seen as greedy or sinful. Human capability was a novel idea, that humans had the ability to create and act apart from subsistence and religion.

  7. What are three things that characterize the Enlightenment? Explain each one.
            The Enlightenment was a period of intellectual discovery, bridging the gap between the incredibly artistic Renaissance and Scientific Revolution. Rationalism, empirical knowledge, and the future were three things that characterized the Enlightenment. Rationalism and empirical knowledge work together, with the former being the idea that everything on earth could be rationalized and explained with pure reason, throwing away the mysticism of religion and heady artfulness of the Renaissance. Empirical knowledge is the result of this rise in rationalism, with Europeans insisting on having proof for everything, a birth of experimentation and the scientific method. Everything needed an explanation, an insistence that birthed empiricism and rationalism.

            ‘The future’ is the tendency to look forwards for answers as averse to the past. Enlightenment thinkers were spurred by possibilities and the limits of the universe and human potential, a growing up from the childishness of the Renaissance where humans were first learning that they existed and could truly live in a world rather than just survive. They looked ahead, and in the present, at their own world for answers to their questions rather than relying on the thinking done in the past. This was a period of discovery, wherein mathematical formulas were conceived and scientific theories were thought and tested. Sapere aude, meaning ‘dare to know’, ties into these three themes, with Enlightenment thinkers looking at the world around with with an analytical view, a mind that desired to pick things apart rather than wax lyrical about.

  8. What are three things that characterize the period of Romanticism? Explain each one.
            Romanticism was a return to feeling, something that the Enlightenment discarded in favour of scientific discovery. Sturm un Drang, an appreciation of nature, and a return to the past characterized the Romantic period. Sturm un Drang, meaning storm and stress, refers to an exploration of the extremes of humanity, of emotion and the human experience, a suspicion of reason due to the focus on feeling. Importantly, the romantic period returned to some of the ideals from the Renaissance, such as individualism and a return to the past, though it was slightly different in that this era emphasized human connection and the soul, with the past being an individual’s own past, learning from one’s experiences, hoping to return to that period of true innocence and purity found in childhood. Finally, the increased appreciation for nature is due primarily to the Industrial Revolution and urbanization, soul-sucking factories that went against the ideals of Romanticism that looked for childish joy and innocence and yearned for a bucolic life.

  9. What are three things that characterize the period of Modernism? Explain each one.
           Modernism can be can be characterized by despair, uncertainty, and disenchantment. Gone again are the pretty ideals of the Romantic period, replaced with the utter despair that followed WWI and WWII. People were disenchanted, they lost the childlike whimsy from Romanticism and were faced with the utter destruction and loss from the greatest manmade tragedies that ever occurred. This despair accompanied a soullessness, a loss of feeling best captured by the idea of ‘hollow men’, people hiding behind a businesslike facade, a mask palatable for the public with smiles and suits that fit over a void. There was also a deep uncertainty, a chasm in history, a clear break where the tragedies faced are shocking and unlike anything ever faced before. At the same time, this was a period of intense progress despite the devastation of the Holocaust and nuclear bombs and trenches, with great technological advancements, man achieving flight, creating nuclear weaponry and automobiles all at once, the Roaring 20s followed by the Great Depression.

  10. What are the features of Renaissance literature?
            Renaissance literature was frequently done in the form of iambic pentameter, the most popular meter of the day in no short due to Shakespeare, who most frequently used it in blank verse, as did many other Renaissance drama writers. It also often featured ‘courtly love’, an idea left over from the Medieval period, an idealized love where two noble lovers express an undying loyalty and adoration whilst going through intense emotional turmoil, a perfect, unattainable love. It also explored many of the primary features in the Renaissance itself, with a yearning and exploration of human nature and beauty, looking into the complexities of morality, Renaissance writers looking through the world with a new, secular, and curious lens.

  11. What are the features of Romantic literature?
            Romantic literature is focused on feeling, with writers focusing largely on the experience of the human soul, particularly in an industrial environment. Writers focus on individuality and the senses, with poems being highly descriptive and lyrical. Many Romantic writers focused on nature, with London’s intense industrialization. William Wordsworth’s works encompass much of what Romantic literature was about, waxing poetic about the beauty of nature and the terrors of factories.

  12. What are the features of Modern literature?
            Modern literature, written in a period of extreme crisis, represents this, with poetry in crisis. Imagism was one of the dominant forms, with Ezra Pound being one of the leading poets in this style. There was a stark difference from the Romantic era, breaking away from the lyrical, flowing language, instead replaced by the ‘economy of words’, poems quick and brief, to the point. They were descriptive, but very concretely, missing the metaphors and similes that previous periods had. Descriptions were concrete and poems were short, reflecting the harshness of life. Free verse and ‘stream of consciousness’ were other styles that dominated, with the ideas of nihilism present in many Modernist pieces.

  13. How do the different literary periods differ in their definition of poetry?
            “The spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling” - Wordsworth

            
            “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.” - T.S. Eliot

            Romantic vs. Modernist:

            In the Romantic period, poetry was about expressing one’s emotions, expressing discontent or love through words. Poems were deeply personal and raw, reflecting a poet’s inner thoughts and showing their perspective on life. Modernist poetry is the opposite, meant to be an escape from feeling and soul, an escape from these human things rather than an expression of them.

  14. How have we seen the concept of individualism develop in poetry over the various literary periods?
            Individualism in the Renaissance referred largely to the previously untapped human potential, in the concept of existing outside of the strict confines of the Medieval period and religion as secularism rose as well. The Enlightenment explored individualism as specifically the ability in people to explore and discover, to power of mankind compared to that of nature, the power and knowledge of the individual. Romanticism thought of individualism as one’s self and their experiences, focusing on each human soul and their emotions, whereas the Modern period saw individualism in ‘hollow men’, in the empty shell of a person as people fell deeper in despair and drew further away from one another, the deterioration of society and community.

  15. What does Ad Fontes mean and how does it relate to literature?
            Ad Fontes means ‘to the source’, a phrase that sums up much of the Renaissance. It relates to literature in how many Renaissance writers attempted to emulate the arts from Greek and Roman times, trying to return to that classical era with their works. Classical allusions were in almost every piece of literature from that era, with references to old myths as well as many pieces of art being entirely inspired by the old ways of thinking and showing off Greek and Roman ideals or ideas.

  16. What is the theme of “No Man is an Island,” by John Donne?
            “No Man is an Island” by John Donne speaks about community, critiquing the loss of this in his modern world. The theme is human connection, and it urges people to have empathy for each other. There is nothing that does not affect you, no matter how far away. Any person’s loss is a loss to yourself. Donne does away with the idea of the ‘individual’, of any person being singular and on their own, of anyone being an ‘island’.

  17. What does William Blake mean by “The mind-forg'd manacles” in his poem “London”?
            “The mind-forg’d manacles” in “London” refers to the restrictions that we have put upon ourselves. Specifically, it talks about how society and industrialization have killed the creative mind, how the rise of capitalism and the idea of ‘work ethic’ are causing the death of humanity. We are trapped by restrictions that we have created ourselves, both outwardly in the sense of the factories and creations from the mind, as well as expectations coming from oneself, along with self-doubt and fear holding us back from truly expressing ourselves.

  18. What is an example of Sturm und Drang we saw in one of our poems?
            um

  19. How do we see pastoralism in the poetry of William Wordsworth?
            Pastoralism can be seen in many of Wordsworth’s poems, particularly in “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” where he contrasts the beauty of nature, idealizing it in comparison to the smog of London and her factories. He praises the nature and yearns for the old rural life before industrialization, shunning urbanization.
      

  20. What does the Leech Gatherer symbolize in William Wordsworth’s poem?
            i literalyl did not pay attention to this poem

  21. What are features of imagist poems?
            bastardly

  22. In “The Wasteland” T.S. Eliot proclaims that “for you know only/ A heap of broken images.” How does this capture the spirit and sum up the period of Modernism?
            i dont even remember reading this poem

  23. How are childhood and adulthood either held up as an ideal or denigrated in the different literary periods? Use at least two specific examples
            During the Enlightenment, they shunned the ‘childish thinking’ of the Renaissance, urging people to grow up, preferring the mind over heart. Logic prevailed over emotion, with

  24. In what ways have we seen a shift in humankind’s relationship with the divine over these literary periods? Use at least three examples from our poems.
            In the Renaissance, the rise of secularism and general religious reform drew people away from Catholicism, evidenced as well by the increase in classical allusions and references to the ‘false Greek/Roman gods’ in poetry. During the Enlightenment, deism, or the idea of a ‘clockwork God’ rose about, a divine being that created the world and then let it run. In the Romantic period, pantheism, or the idea of God being in everything was popular, which can be seen in many of Wordsworth’s poem where he is essentially praising nature for all of her natural beauty. In the Modernist period, with people being wholly disenchanted and disappointed and losing faith in both the world and God, T.S. Eliot’s ‘Burnt Norton’, referencing his own struggles with faith along with the rise in startlingly concrete imagist poems such as the ones by Ezra Pound.