English 225 - Exam 1 (Lechler)

Imagery:

-A piece of writing that creates a picture in your mind. -Engages one of the five senses.

Arthurian romance:

-A romance that is more like an adventure story - quest/test, supernatural events, love/sex. -"Sir Gawain and The Green Knight" -"Lanval" -"The Wife of Bath's Tale"

What is acceptable violence in "Beowulf"?

-It is when you are exacting violence on the right people. -Shield Sheafson uses acceptable violence because he kills the enemies of his tribe. -Grendel does not demonstrate acceptable violence because he kills the wrong people (the Dains).

Emphasis on the right kind of speech in "Lanval":

-Knights were supposed to practice "refined speech": Speaking in a sophisticated and formal manor, no cussing. -Lanval boasts to the Queen about his relationship with the fairy lady, when she tries to seduce him. This is not "refined speech" because knights were supposed to be humble and not boast.

Themes in "Lanval"

-love -magic/fairytale -civilization/fairytale -chivalry -honor

Elegy:

A poem about lamenting for something that is lost.

Kenning:

A short metaphoric phrase that is describing something else (i.e. Gold Friend - a rich friend in "The Wanderer").

Epigram:

A short pithy "truism" or proverb.

Rhyme:

The repetition of sounds that sound the same.

Allegory in "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight":

The story is a religious allegory of Christianity because Gawain needs Christ's forgiveness, and as a reminder of his failings Gawain wears his green girdle.

How is "The Wife of Bath's Tale" as christian allegory?

The wife is supposed to obey the husband; the husband is supposed to love the wife like Christ loved the church.

True or False: The story of Camelot mirrors the fall of man.

True, Camelot fell because of adultery (cardinal sin).

True or False: A hero is allowed to boast in Beowulf.

True, boasting is how a hero gains their glory.

Who is the author of "Beowulf"?

unknown author

Sentence and solas (a tale of meaning and delight) in the "General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales":

-"And which of yow that bereth him best of alle, That is to seyn, that telleth in this cas tales of best sentence and most solas, shal have a soper at oure aller cost." -The Host is a lot more specific about what will win the competition than just, "the best tale." The winner has to tell a tale from their journey to Canterbury that has the most meaning and delight.

John in "The Miller's Prologue and Tale":

-A Carpenter and Alison's husband. -He is old, jealous of his wife, and superstitious. -Nicholas tricks him (so he can have sex with Alison) into building boats for a supposed "biblical flood". -Nicholas screams, when Absolon accidently brands his but cheek, "Water! Water!" He wakes John up, John thinks it's the flood so he cuts the rope and falls to the ground and breaks his arm.

Grendel:

-A demon descended from Cain, Grendel preys on Hrothgar's warriors in the king's mead-hall, Heorot. Because his ruthless and miserable existence is part of the retribution exacted by God for Cain's murder of Abel, Grendel fits solidly within the ethos of vengeance that governs the world of the poem. -Described as a "Powerful Demon" and "The Captain of Evil" who posses supernatural strength.

What makes a good king in "Lanval"?

-A good king is talented and courtly. -A good king must be rich and generous.

The Green Knight:

-A mystery man whose body, hair, and clothing are all green. -He is very large "Mountain of a Man", but well-formed. -He is wearing courtly garments with lots of embellishments—part of civilization and society, also possibly wealth. -He carries a holly branch (symbol of Christmas festivities) and an axe (a weapon)—two instruments that seem to be antithetical to each other. -His appearance is natural but civilized. -He is a supernatural figure from nature that tests the rules of civilization (courtly love, chivalry).

Nicholas in "The Miller's Prologue and Tale":

-A scholar who is skilled in Astrology (can predict the future). -"This clerk was clipped handy Nicholas. Of kerne love he coude, and solas." -He knows about Astrology and sex. -He is "handy" -The Miller compares him to The Scholar from the Canterbury Tales. -He has sex with Alison which is a form of sentence and solas. -Absolon accidentally cuts one of his but cheeks in half with a hot iron.

Courtly Love in "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight":

-A secret love between a knight and a noble born lady. -It is a kind of love that was idealized for noble knights at the time. -It was the essence of true romance. -It involved trading gifts. -It did not involve sex. -Gawain enacts Courtly Love when he is being seduced by Bertilak's wife.

Carnival (esque) in "The Miller's Prologue and Tale":

-An old religious festival that is celebrated right before lent. -Associated with a lot of drinking, partying, and debauchery. -Reversal of high and low of the body and the soul in literature. -Reversal of high and low status (Chaucer overturns the class structure by having the Miller tell his story after the Knight and before the Monk). -Gender Roles were reversed in the Miller's Tale (Allison is the only one in the story who doesn't face any physical consequences).

What are the different genres in "The Wife of Bath's Tale"?

-Arthurian romance -Fairytale (like Lanval) -Matter of women (discussing nature of women; the "woman question")

Fairy's in "Lanval":

-Described as miraculous others, powerful, beautiful, associated with nature, and they always have conditions (Lanval is not supposed to tell anyone that he is in love with a fairy lady). -The Fairy lady has all the qualities of both a good king and a good knight. -The Fairy Lady is described as stunningly beautiful, (pretty, pale, and blonde) her beauty elicits joy. -Lanval is rescued by the Fairy Lady at the end and is taken to the mystical Isle of Avalon.

What is the most important quality of a hero in an epic poem?

-Glory -Beowulf wants his name to live forever through his deeds by seeking glory.

How does Chaucer elevate the genre of Fabliau?

-He elevates the genre by using biblical references in the story. -He elevates the genre by including a theme/moral (love and sexual desire makes a fool out of everyone) in the story. -He elevates the genre by having literary language and symbolism in the story. -He elevates the genre by writing two intersecting plot lines in the story (misdirected kiss and false flood). -The author elevates the genre by making the voice of the narrator (The Miller) distinct from his own.

Absolon in "The Miller's Prologue and Tale":

-He has curly golden blonde hair and he cares a lot about his looks. -The Miller compares him to the Squire from The Canterbury Tales. -He is a effeminate man. -He is very squeamish of farts. -He tries wooing like a knight by giving Alison gifts. -Alison tricks him into french kissing her but hole.

King Arthur in "Lanval":

-He is described as valiant (brave) and courtly (well-mannered). -He is not generous to Lanval because he is envious of his good looks. -He is a golden age king. -He son/nephew kills him.

Estates satire:

-It is a genre of writing showing the three Medieval estates, or social classes of the time: the Clergy (this who prayed), the Nobility (those who fought) and lastly the Peasantry (those who labored). -It praised the glories and purity of each class in its ideal form, but was also used as a window to show how society had gotten out of hand. -"The Canterbury Tales"

Themes in "The Wanderer":

-Kinship and Honor -The Mead-Hall: Central structure in Anglo Saxon society as a place of community, kinship, and warmth. -Talking vs Not Talking: Being stoic always in "The Wanderer". -Fate is firmly set: The pagans believed that everyone has a certain "Wyrd" - fate.

Chivalry in "Lanval":

-Knight were expected to be Valiant, Courtly, Generous, and Beautiful -They also had to adhere to the Code of Chivalry: 1. Loyalty to God 2. Loyalty to a King 3. The office of a knight is to protect the land. 4. The office of a knight is to maintain and defend women, widows, and orphans. 5. The office of a knight is to have a castle and horse to keep the ways and to defend them that labor the lands and the earth.

Themes in "The Wife's Lament":

-Love and longing -Overwhelming emotion of Love and Lost

Seduction/The Hunt in "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight":

-Parallels between hunting and seduction: 3 hunting sequences and 3 seduction scenes; at the end of each sequence a trade happens.

What is Dame Ragnell's proposal to The Knight in "The Wife of Bath's Tale"?

-Ragnell gives The Knight two options: 1. She can be ugly and old but stay a good/faithful wife. 2. Or she can fulfill his "worldly appetite" and become a hot and young wife, but she makes no promise to him of being a good/faithful wife.

What is Dame Ragnell's lecture on gentillesse (gentility) about in "The Wife of Bath's Tale"?

-Ragnell tells The Knight that nobility is not about what family you're born into, noble people do the right thing always, even when they're alone/ in secret (that's what makes a gentleman). -Ragnell thinks that if nobility is a matter of birth, then everyone who is high-born wouldn't commit any crimes. The knight would not have raped the maid. -Ragnell believes that gentillesse comes from God.

Alliteration:

-Repetition of initial consonant sounds. -In Beowulf, "blundering back with the butchered corpses"

Who is Dame Ragnell in "The Wife of Bath's Tale"?

-She is a fairy who can change her appearance. When The Knight meets her she appears to him as The Loathly Lady (an old and ugly hag), she is so ugly that The Knight loathes looking at her. -The Knight says if Ragnell can tell him what women truly want, he will give her anything she wants. Ragnell tells him the answer and then she tells The Knight that he owes her a favor (Ragnell makes The Knight agree to marry her). -After there wedding, The Knight tells Ragnell that he'd rather die than be with her - she is not of his kind - he is a young and handsome knight, she is an old ugly lady.

Alison in "The Miller's Prologue and Tale":

-She is eighteen and she is described as wild. -She lives in the same house as Nicholas. -She is the wife of an old carpenter (John). -She is very beautiful and thin. -The Miller describers her as a weasel and a swallow, "But of hir song, it was as loud and kerne as any swale sitting on a berne." -The Miller compares her to lower class things (ex: a mast and a pigs eye). -She had a wanton eye (impulsive eye, suggesting Alison is interested in cheating...she looks at men) -The Miller compares her to the Wife of Bath from The Canterbury Tales. -She plays a joke on Absolon when he try to kiss her.

What is a good king in "Beowulf"?

-Shield Sheafson is described as a good king because he has courage and greatness. He is a conqueror, who takes his enemies possessions and brings them back home to his tribe. -Heorogar was a great king because he built a mead-hall (Heorot) that was "meant to be a wonder of the world forever".

Fabliau/Fabliaux:

-Short story, funny and dirty to a sexual/scatological way (bodily fluid joke). -The Miller's tale is both sexual and scatological.

Emphasis on material goods in "Lanval":

-The Fairy's are dressed in luxury garments and gold. -The Fairy's tent is described as magnificent. -The more generous you are, the more you will have.

What is the test in "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight"?

-The Green Knight's test is a test of King Arthur's court, of chivalry itself. -Sir Gawian's courage is tested when he chops of the Green Knights head. -Sir Gawain's honesty is tested when he agree's to Sir Bertilak's deal.

Why does Dame Ragnell choose to become both a beautiful and faithful wife for The Knight in "The Wife of Bath's Tale"?

-The Knight lets Ragnell decide how to look and how to act (sovereignty and mastery over herself). By giving her this choice, The Knight gets both a beautiful and faithful wife.

Authority in "The Wife of Bath's Tale":

-The head is often thought as the symbol or place of authority in the body. -The Law had authority over knights in the Middle Ages, a knight could face serious consequences for committing rape.

Bob and Wheel:

-Two syllable lines that rhymes in poetry. -A "Bob" is a short line, followed by longer lines with internal rhyme.

Punishment vs Rehabilitation in "The Wife of Bath's Tale":

-When the Knight is on trial for rape, the Queen gives the Knight a chance to rehabilitate himself. -The Queen knows that her form of rehabilitation is beneficial for the Knight because it will teach him to see women with value and not as sex objects. -"I graunte thee life if thou canst tellen me what thing it is that women most desire: Be war and keep thy neck boon from iron,"

Pathetic Fallacy:

-When the weather mirrors/matches someones mood in literature. -The coldness in the weather emphasizes the lack of human warmth.

Foil:

A character whose main purpose is to offer a contrast to another character, usually the protagonist.

Caesura:

A pause that occurs in the middle of a line or verse in poetry. You can create this with punctuation like a period, comma, or semicolon.

Peaceweaver:

A woman who married into enemy tribe to end a feud between families (ex: Wealhlpeow and Hildeburh in "Beowulf").

Who is the author of "The Millers Tale"?

Geoffrey Chaucer

Who wrote the "Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale"?

Geoffrey Chaucer

The Knight in "The Wife of Bath's Tale":

He is a young knight who is a lusty bachelor (unnamed, but in other stories he is named Gawain).

Who wrote "Lanval"?

Marie De France

Digression:

Straying from the main point.

What do women want in "The Wife of Bath's Tale"?

The Knight tells the Queen that women want sovereignty over/above men and mastery (forms of authority).

Who is the author of "The Wanderer?"

unknown author

Who is the author of "The Wife's Lament?"

unknown author

Who is Hygelac's Thane in Beowulf?

Beowulf, it is one of his epithets (other names).

Who is the author of "Gawain and The Green Knight?"

Gawain Poet or Pearl Poet

Who is the author of "The Canterbury Tales"?

Geoffrey Chaucer

Symbol:

Something that represents something else. A symbol is a word, an image, or anything that somehow represents a larger idea.

Narrator:

The one who tells the story, can have a limited point-of-view, or they can have total omniscience, can be unreliable or trustworthy, they can be close to the action or as far away as possible, they can become characters in their own right.