English FINAL Study Guide! (copy)

Matching Section

Vocabulary -- You will be expected to match these words

Kenning - basically a riddle, describes something in two words instead of just saying it (i.e. tree hugger = environmentalist)

scop - bard, minstrel

Caesura - a pause

Alliteration - repetition of letters esp. consonants

Simile - a figure of speech comparing one thing with another

metaphor - a figure of speech where a word/phrase is applied to an object/action that it is not comparable to

Sonnet - fit loosely together, fourteen lines using a variety of rhyme schemes

Ballad - common people’s music, entertainment, records of events

Morality play - abstract vices/virtues as actual characters

Code of chivalry - system of manners for knights

Allegory - figurative mode of representation of abstract qualities

Blank verse - verse without rhyme, esp in iambic pentameter

Ethos - appeal to the writer’s authority

Pathos - appeal to emotions

Logos - appeal to logic

Soliloquy - aside speech that tells a character’s internal thoughts.

Monologue - a long speech by one actor in a play

Comic relief - comic episodes in a drama that offset more serious sections

tragedy - dark, feeling of evil, supernatural elements

Irony - expressing meaning by using language that typically means the opposite

Dramatic irony - a literary device where the audience’s knowledge of what is happening surpasses the characters’ knowledge.

Theme - a universal idea, lesson, or message expressed in literature

Diction - the choice/use of words in a piece, taking into account things like the audience, location, etc

Satire - a literary technique mixing criticism with humor, leads to social reform, always punching up - never punches down

Iambic pentameter - heartbeat rhythm in poem, bu-BUM bu-BUM bu-BUM (aka every other syllable is stressed)

Literature Identification and Knowledge Section

For each of the following works of literature, you will need to be able to identify it by matching a passage from the text to the title. You will also need to know the following information: Author Time period Basic plot summary How it is a representative piece of work from the time period?

Anglo Saxon period

Beowulf - anonymous, Anglo Saxon, a tale of the rise and fall of kings, representative because it has the 5 themes of ASLit (transience, exile, GHI, christianity, fame + glory)

Seafarer - anonymous (?), Anglo Saxon, tale of a guy exiled from his home, representative because exile and search for glory, strong religious themes

Medieval period

Le Morte D’Arthur - Thomas Mallory, Medieval period, about the death of King Arthur, representative because had ideas of chivalry, courtly love, and loyalty to king as well as how not being loyal to ur king = bad.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Gawain poet (anonymous basically), Medieval period, about Sir Gawain and his quest to kill some guy with a beard before he kills him first, representative because chivalry, honor being valued, idea of a not perfect knight that still is good.

Elizabethan period

Macbeth - William Shakespeare, Elizabethan period, tale of ambition gone wrong, representative because it gave service to the king, it was a tragedy and not a morality play, and it had a lot of hidden more lowbrow jokes

Queen’s speech at Tilbury - Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabethan period, speech to inspire the troops to battle, representative because it’s Elizabeth and this is the Elizabethan period, also it had similar religious themes to Reformation(?)

Foxe’s book of Martyrs - John Foxe, Elizabethan period, tales of martyrs (duh), representative because showed the struggle between Puritans and Anglicans as well as the growing tensions

Passionate Shepherd to his Love - Christopher Marlowe, Elizabethan period, a shepherd’s desire to run around in the fields with his love, representative because idealized love and pastoral poetry

Restoration period

<<Poems by John Donne - John Donne….. yah. Restoration Period, representative because metaphysical/spiritual themes, confusing, argumentative point (metaphysical poetryyy)<<

Modest Proposal - Jonathan Swift, Restoration Period, eat kids to stop poverty, representative because satire and showed the growing problems with poverty in the world at this time.