Review for Midterm

Review for Midterm--2012 British Literature Boagni

This list may be amended as we get closer to exams. For midterms, you will be responsible for all of the material that we covered in class. You should go through your textbook carefully and take notes from all of the pieces of literature that you read. (Don’t forget supplemental handouts on Beowulf , “A Modest Proposal.”) For each work, know the following:  literary terms  literary time period (ex. Renaissance, Romantic)  theme of work  characters  setting  literary genre (poem, essay)  author  plot, conflicts, point of view, narrator, form (if poem) Make sure that you also review all of the important historical information that we discussed in class. You should know the dates of all the major literary movements. If in doubt, read and take notes from the introductory sections from each period. Reading the material in a narrative format will help you to further process this information.

Anglo-Saxon Period (449-1066) 1. origin of name 2. Wyrd 3. Exeter Book 4. Old English 5. oral tradition 6. “The Seafarer” 7. caesura 8. Pagan and Christian Beliefs 9. alliteration 10.kenning 11.Venerable Bede 12.in media res 13.Epic/Characteristics 14.characteristics of Anglo-Saxon people 15.Grendel 16.good versus evil 17.Hrothgar 18.Herot 19.Unferth 20.Beowulf 21.Sutton Hoo Medieval Period (1066-1485) 22.Feudal system 23.Thomas a Becket 24.Chaucer 25.Chivalry (characteristics) 26.John Wycliffe 27.Johann Gutenberg 28.William Caxton 29.Thomas Malory 30.Geoffrey Chaucer 31.The Canterbury tales (review notes) a. “Prologue” b. “Pardoner’s Tale “(theme) c. “Miller’s Tale” 32.physiognomy 33.“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” a. Characters b. Challenge c. Gawain and chivalry

The English Renaissance (1485-1625)

34.characteristics of 35.Renaissance man 36.Luther’s 95 Theses 37.characteristics of sonnets 38.Shakespeare--background 39.Globe theater 40.difference between Shakespearean and Italian Sonnets (format) 41.review Shakespearean Sonnets—themes, images 42.The Classical Tragedy 43.Macbeth a. characters b. soliloquy c. excerpts from class 44.equivocation--witches 45.blood=guilt 46.sleeplessness=guilt 17th and 18th Century Poetry (1625-1798)

47.Metaphysical poetry (definition and poets that are defined as such) 48.Cavalier poetry (definition of and poets that are defined as such) 49.Restoration 50.Neoclassicism/ 51.Age of Satire/Satire—definition 52.Augustan Age 53.William Blake 54.“A Modest Proposal”—Jonathan Swift 55.carpe diem 56.The Poets: a. Holy Sonnet X: John Donne b. Virtue: George Herbert c. When I consider how my light is spent: John Milton d. To his Coy Mistress: Andrew Marvell e. To the Virgins, to make much of time: Robert Herrick

Romantic Period (1798-1832)

57.origin of 58.Wordsworth—all poems in book i. Tintern Abbey ii. London, 1802 iii. It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free iv. Composed Upon Westminster Bridge v. The World is Too Much with Us vi. My Heart Leaps up when I behold vii. The Solitary Reaper

59.Samuel Taylor Coleridge—Kubla Khan