English Literature II Final Exam

has a fixed number of stresses per line regardless of the number of syllables that are present.

Has a fixed number of both stresses and syllables within a line or stanza.

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure

the use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition, such as do in I like it and so do they

When a noun or word is followed by another noun or phrase that renames or identifies it

in poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in non-rhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible (e.g., penitence, reticence ).

a theatrical entertainment popular in early 18th-century England, taking the form of a satirical play interspersed with traditional or operatic songs

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.

a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form; e.g. ‘Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.’

an idea or feeling that a word invokes

the literal or primary meaning of a word

a tragedy in which the tragic protagonists are ordinary middle-class or lower-class individuals
o Focusses on issues of family life
o Written for mass protestant middle class
o Basic plot is almost always about a female character who cheats on her husband/lover conspires to kill him, and then everybody dies

having a pause at the end of each line

the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza

a long narrative poem, often written about a hero or heroines

a metrical tale, typically a bawdily humorous one, of a type found chiefly in early French poetry

is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative

a pair of rhyming iambic pentameters, much used by Chaucer and the poets of the 17th and 18th centuries such as Alexander Pope

a closed iambic pentameter couplet. Each couplet is almost always end stopped
Always well balanced and parallel in its syntax; very ordered

A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy

the act of appealing to a higher authority, such as a muse, for help

ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary

A lyric is a fairly short poem which is the expression of strong feelings of thoughts or perceptions of a single speaker in a meditative manner

a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics

a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated

a poem that parodies epic conventions

Has shepherds
Nature
Childhood innocence
A simpler time

a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes

a verse with four lines, or even a full poem containing four lines, having an independent and separate theme

a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things by using like or as

a method of narration that describes in words the flow of thoughts in the minds of the characters

a literary device in which a part of something represents the whole or it may use a whole to represent a part

a three-lined stanza or poem that often contains a rhyme

two things that are very different are governed by the same verb

Bede

Bede

Astell

Bunyan

Chaucer

• Pretense of journal account
• Estates satire
• Theory of three estates (theory of social organization in which there are three types of people)
o Knights (responsible for protecting the people and enforcing the law)
o Clergy (praying for people and saving souls)
o Laborers (everyone else; those who grew the food and stuff)
• Problems with the theory of three estates
o Left out half the population (women)
o There were some that didn’t fit into those categories
Is a banker really a laborer? Definitely isn’t clergy
• Distinction between Chaucer the pilgrim and Chaucer the poet
o One is the author, and the other is a character

Chaucer
• Churl: freeborn middle class person
o Later a churl means a bore
o The Miller is a churl
• Fabliau (plural fabliaux)
o A short story in verse that is often quite crude that tells a tale about someone getting what they want sexually or monetarily
o Often has stock (cliché story)
Senex amans (old lover)
• Old guy gets young hot thing
Misdirected kiss
• Nicholas approaches Alison while her husband is away for business, and instead of having an affair then, he comes up with this overly elaborate plot to get John away, so he can have sex with Alison
• John
o Jealous
o Gullible
o Old
o Rich
o sely
• Alison
o Young
o Beautiful
o Weasel-like (slim as any weasel? Wtf)
o She dances like a kid or calf, following its mother; Continuously compared to animals; Backhanded compliments; Immature; Defined by the physical; High spirited; She is pretty enough for a lord to sleep with or for a commoner to marry; Pretty but common; Airhead
• Nicholas
o Sly/trickster
o poor homewrecker
• Absolan
o Clerk
A priest’s helper
o Stalker
o Pretty boy
o Dresses really well for a small town guy
o Chivalric lover trapped in a small town clerk’s body
o Squeamish of farts
o clueless

Chaucer
• In the tale three men wish to defeat death; someone tells them that death is under the tree, so they go to the tree and there is a pot of gold. They all see it and fight over it, and all end up dying, so death wins. Gold leads to death. Gold is greed, so greed leads to death.
• Relationship between the prologue and the tale
o Pardoner first tells the group that he is a con man and they should not trust him
But he is so good at his job, he can still spin a good, moral, tale
If we didn’t know who he was ahead of time, this would sound like a really moral tale
He preaches against, gluttony, drinking, gambling, and swearing

Chaucer
• She cherry picks different scriptures to support her own argument
• She is okay not holding onto her virginity, because she sees it as her godly duty to reproduce more virgins
• Analogies
o Not every plate in a Lord’s house can be made of gold; some of them have to be made of wood (I. 105). She’s not a virgin and she is okay with that
o Some people are like fine white bread, others are like cheap bread that everyone can eat. She is the cheap bread that everyone can eat—or screw

the tale is about a knight, who rapes women

Cowper

Defoe

Donne

Donne
about a guy trying to get a girl to have sex with him

Donne

Donne

Donne

Donne

Gay

Herrick

Malory
• Arthur has a deeming
o He knew about Lancelot and Guenevere, but was in denial
• Gawain
o Logical in the beginning
Wrong thing, right reason
o Illogical after he brothers die
Has a moment of clarity once it is too late and he dies

Marlowe

Marlowe

Marvell

Milton

Pope

Ralegh

Rochester

Shakespeare

Shakespeare
• characters
o Viola: twin sister of Sebastian, posing as Cesario, works for Orsino
o Sebastian—Twin brother of Viola, lost at sea
o Orsino—lord, lonely, wants to marry Olivia
o Olivia—rich woman, doesn’t want to marry Orsino
• Gender roles
o Viola—her lines seems to be more male-centered. In other words, she seems to say things that a guy would say
o Olivia—rich lady
o Antonio—homosexual. ambiguous ending, in which he runs off
• Malvolio
o Kind of gets screwed over, when everyone tries to turn Olivia against him. Leaves at the end
• The ending
o Everyone gets married, and those that don’t run off or disappear

Sidney

Author unknown

• The symbol on the shield
o Flawless five senses
o Five fingers never at fault
o Five wounds that Christ had received on the cross
o Five joys of the virgin, Mary
o Tenants of the chivalrous knight
Friendship with all men
Have to get along and be friendly with everyone
Purity
politeness
Pity
Fighting
o Endless knot—there’s no way out of it
• Bertilak: the king and the Green Knight

Spenser

Spenser
• Tendency to add an “a” at the end of various names
o Lucifer—Lucifera, an evil woman
o Coerce—Coerca
• Red Cross
o Saint George
Catholic saint and roman soldier, executed for his faith
Fought a dragon
Saves the wife of the emperor who ends up executing him
Unique among saints in that he is revered by Muslims
o Represents Protestant England asking for favors of the Faerie Queene, Queen Elizabeth
o Bumbling hero at first, much like England?
o Not faithful to Una
• The Lion
o Runs up and roars and has Oona rub his belly
o The perfection of Una’s existence calms the Lion; she doesn’t actually do anything
o The Lion represents the natural laws of God
o The lion is no match for a knight in armor, because this lies outside of the natural law

Surrey

Swift

Author unknown
• This is an account of a real battle, but it probably has very little to do with the reality.
o We have very little information about the actual battle
o So why did the poet write this epic-esque poem?
The battle wasn’t that grand

Webster
• Domestic tragedy
o Huge and numerous plot holes
The duchess has a child from her first marriage that we never see
• Technically he is the duke, so half of the plot shouldn’t matter
In one scene, he is proposing marriage, and in others she has been married years
After the death of her husband, her brothers try to prevent her from marrying the man of her choice, so they will get her money

Wyatt

Author unknown