Old English Literature
Review Questionscentering
1. Give an account of the history of England from the Celtic settlement to the Norman Conquest.
2. How did Christianity came to England? Name the most important monasteries of this period.
3. Name some representative pieces of the Old English poetry.
4. Name the two most important Christian poets of this period.
5. Analyse the artistic features of Beowulf, using the quoted passage to illustrate your points.
Middle English Literature
I. Fill in the blanks: (30%)
1. The first settlers of the British Isles were ________, and Britain got its name from a branch of this people called ________. But later they were driven to live in ________, ________ and ________.
2. The ________, ________ and ________ were ________ tribes originally living on the Continent. They moved to the British Isles and became the ancestors of the ________ people.
3. The most important event of the Old English Period was ________, which took place in the year ________.
4. The Roman Catholic Church sent ________ to England in 597 ________ the English people to Catholicism.
5. Name two poems of this period apart from Beowulf: ________, and ________.
6. Beowulf is an epic of ________ lines, and it tells the events that took place on ________ before they moved to the British Isles.
7. After the Anglo-Saxon English took in loan words from ________ and ________ and lost most of its ________ and many of its grammar rules, it was called ________.
8. Romance can be divided into three kinds according to subject matter. They are ________, ________ and ________.
9. Romances of the English subject are tales about ________ and his ________.
10. John Wyclif was a translator of ________, William Langland wrote ________ and the most famous English ballads are those about ________.
II. Mark the following statements as true (T) or false (F): (10%)
The two centers of Christian culture in the Old English Period was in Canterbury and Northumbria.
Caedmon belonged to Northumbrian School, whereas the Venerable Bede was a member of the Canterbury Abbey in south England.
The first English national epic poem is Widsith.
Old English poetry is distinguished by its use of alliteration and kennings.
Chaucer is the greatest lyrical poet of the Middle English Period
The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer's masterpiece, but it is unfinished with only 24 tales written.
Modern English is developed from the London dialect of the Middle English Period, which is a great contribution made by Chaucer to the English language.
Most of the English popular ballads have their origin in the French folklore.
The Normans were interested in the Cycle of King Arthur because they wanted to prove they were lawful heirs to the Celtic ancestors of Britain.
Chaucer's humanistic ideas anticipate the English Renaissance.
IV. Explain the following literary terms: (15%)
1. epic
2. alliteration
3. iambic pentameter
4. romance
5. ballad
IV. Choose one from each of the following two groups of questions and write a short essay of about 300 words to the first and about 500 words to the second: (45%)
Group One: (20%)
1. Give a historical review of the Old English Period.
2. Say something about the transition from Old English to Middle English and the historical elements that had brought about this transition.
Group Two: (25%)
1. Analyze the theme(s) and artistic features of Beowulf.
2. Comment on Chaucer's achievements and contributions with examples from his works.
English Renaissance Period
Review Questions
1. How did England become the most powerful country during the Tudor reign?
2. What does the word "Renaissance" mean and why do we call this historical period the English Renaissance Period?
3. Give a brief account of Thomas More's life and his major work Utopia.
4. Name Spenser's major literary work and tell what it is about.
5. Name more writers (poets and playwrights) of this period and tell what you know about t
hem.
6. What are Bacon's chief contributions?
7. Who was the greatest playwright before Shakespeare? Discuss one of his plays.
8. What kind of comedy is Ben Jonson's special contribution? And as a playwright how different is Ben Jonson from Shakespeare?
Quiz
Fill in the blanks: (50%)
1. ________ broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and established ________.
2. It was ________ and ________ who introduced Italian sonnets into England.
3. Thomas More's famous line in Utopia that exposes the calamities of the Enclosure Movement is ________.

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