British Literature Test Review

Old English Riddles

• Basic Plot: A collection of poetic riddles from the Old English period that use metaphor and wordplay to describe everyday objects or natural phenomena. Example: Riddle 6 describes the sun using themes of power and conquest.

• Themes from the list: Heroic tradition, wisdom, language as a puzzle.

• Elements of Style: Alliteration, parallel structures, personification, metaphor.

• Contextual details:

  • Originates from Anglo-Saxon literary tradition.

  • Reflects oral storytelling and cultural values, including heroism and admiration for nature.

• Additional Notes:

  • Illustrates a genre of question-answer writing.

  • Uses poetic techniques to engage audiences in critical thinking and appreciation of wordplay.

The Dream of the Rood

• Basic Plot:

  • A dream vision where the narrator sees the cross (rood) on which Christ was crucified.

  • The rood speaks, recounting its experience of the crucifixion and Christ’s heroism.

  • Dreamer describes Jesus approaching the cross, sacrificing himself, and dying.

• Themes from the list: Heroic sacrifice, divine suffering, Christian redemption, pre-Christian and Christian traditions.

  • Heroic/elegiac, sacrifice and death.

• Elements of Style:

  • Personification (the rood as a narrator)

  • Alliteration, caesura

  • Blend of elegiac and heroic modes

• Contextual details:

  • Written in Old English, likely 10th century.

  • Combines Germanic warrior culture with Christian theology.

  • Draws from oral tradition and biblical themes.

  • Christian doctrine, oral tradition: alliteration, Old English, heroic/elegiac, suffering, humanity.

• Additional Notes:

  • The rood is depicted with both pre-Christian and Christian imagery, blending traditions.

  • Symbolizes both physical and spiritual significance in Christian faith.

Beowulf (assigned lines from Headley translation)

• Basic Plot:

  • Beowulf, a heroic warrior, aids King Hrothgar by battling Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and later a dragon.

  • His feats highlight fate, loyalty, and leadership.

  • Beowulf's journey in battles, warrior/king.

• Themes from the list: Heroism, loyalty, fate, masculinity, mortality.

  • Masculinity, honor, good vs. evil, heroic.

• Contextual details:

  • Headley’s translation modernizes the text with contemporary language and feminist perspectives.

  • Headley wrote The Mere Wife prior to her translation, influencing her ideas about the characters.

  • Her history of listening to tales in bars influences how she translates the pieces.

  • Childbirth, she was pregnant.

• Additional Notes:

  • Emphasizes Beowulf’s journey from warrior to king.

  • Highlights the oral tradition and Anglo-Saxon values of bravery and kinship.

  • Headley’s translation brings new energy to the storytelling, making it more accessible to modern readers.

Elsner, "On Not-Translating Neruda"

• Basic Plot:

  • Explores ethical complexities of translating Pablo Neruda’s works.

• Themes from the list: Ethics in literature, language and power, silence as resistance.

• Elements of Style: Free verse, rhetorical questioning, metaphor.

• Contextual details:

  • Critiques how translation shapes literary legacy.

  • Challenges the idea that all voices should be amplified.

• Additional Notes:

  • Explores the power dynamics of translation and its impact on legacy.

  • Highlights the tension between artistic merit and moral responsibility.

Morrison, "Grendel and His Mother" Gardner, Grendel

• Basic Plot:

  • Morrison reinterprets Grendel’s story, focusing on how he and his mother are demonized by human civilization.

• Themes from the list: Otherness, fear of the unknown, narrative bias.

• Elements of Style: Psychological depth, mythological retelling.

• Contextual details:

  • Challenges the hero-villain dichotomy, showing Grendel as a misunderstood outsider.

• Additional Notes:

  • Examines how literature shapes perceptions of good and evil.

  • Explores existential themes and the role of storytelling in constructing identity.

Headley, The Mere Wife (selected chapters)

• Basic Plot:

  • Modern retelling of Beowulf, centering on Grendel’s mother (Dana) and the suburban world of Herot Hall.

  • A veteran taken hostage wakes up in a foreign world, having to protect her child.

• Themes from the list: Motherhood, war trauma, class divide.

  • Motherhood, PTSD, gentrification.

• Elements of Style: First-person narration, fragmented storytelling.

• Contextual details:

  • Published in 2018, influenced by the War on Terror and contemporary gender studies.

  • 2018: end of the War on Terror, inspired translation of Beowulf.

• Additional Notes:

  • Highlights the impact of war on women and children.

  • Uses modern settings to critique gentrification and privilege.

Reeves, "Grendel" (poem and video)

• Basic Plot:

  • Connects Grendel’s isolation with James Baldwin’s experience, exploring exclusion and longing.

• Themes from the list: Identity, belonging, societal rejection.

• Elements of Style: Alliteration, repetition, rich imagery.

• Contextual details:

  • Highlights the connection between mythological monsters and real-world marginalization.

The Tempest (play and RSC film)

• Basic Plot:

  • Prospero, a magician and former duke, orchestrates a shipwreck to enact revenge but ultimately chooses forgiveness.

  • Prospero uses magic from spirits to avenge himself, romantic subplot (Ferdinand and Miranda), ending with forgiveness.

• Themes from the list: Power, colonialism, redemption, illusion vs. reality.

  • Authority vs. subplot, forgiveness and empathy, colonialism.

• Elements of Style: Iambic pentameter, dramatic irony, metaphor.

• Contextual details:

  • Written by Shakespeare (1610-1611), reflecting Renaissance politics and colonial expansion.

  • Modern English.

  • Tackled modern-day topics (of the time), religious revolution, reflection of cultural changes, romance (conventions of a romance).

• Additional Notes:

  • The RSC adaptation adds environmentalist themes and a modern perspective on power dynamics.

Césaire, A Tempest (selected scenes)

• Basic Plot:

  • A postcolonial adaptation of The Tempest, centering on Caliban’s resistance against Prospero’s rule.

  • Similar to Shakespeare's The Tempest but focused on Caliban and Ariel.

• Themes from the list: Colonial oppression, racial identity, resistance.

  • Colonialism, freedom, slavery, racial inequality.

• Elements of Style: Political allegory, direct language.

• Contextual details:

  • Written in 1969, influenced by the Negritude movement.

  • References to Malcolm X.

  • Written in French.

  • Césaire was a politician/political philosopher.

• Additional Notes:

  • Challenges Eurocentric narratives and reclaims identity for the colonized.

Atwood, Hag-Seed (selected chapters)

• Basic Plot:

  • A modern retelling of The Tempest set in a prison, where a deposed theater director (Felix) uses Shakespeare as rehabilitation.

  • Felix, former director, ousted, goes to a cottage and plots to get back at those who wronged him through directing a Shakespeare play at a prison, lost his wife and daughter (Miranda).

• Themes from the list: Revenge, transformation, redemption through art.

  • Revenge, loss, betrayal, opportunity, redemption.

• Elements of Style: Meta-theatrical structure, modern dialogue.

• Contextual details:

  • Atwood reimagines Prospero as a flawed but sympathetic figure.

  • Very modern retelling.

  • Inspired by the idea of an illusionist, and Prospero and The Wizard of Oz

• Additional Notes:

  • Explores literature as a tool for rehabilitation and justice reform.