Study Guide for Quiz #1

Study Guide for Literary History 1 quizzes

Each quiz will have a mix of multiple choice and short answer questions.  Usually, you will choose among questions, although there will sometimes be questions that you are required to answer.  There may be a long passage from a work that I ask you multiple questions about. 

For each text, know:
Title, author, date (-ish—see below*), genre (and form, e. g. prose or poetry), original language, plot, names of major characters.

Know the following specifics:

--4 major invasions (Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Vikings, Norman) and dates

--*The century in which each work was written (except OE and ME lyrics and short poems) and the relative dating of each work (that is, what was written earlier? What later?)

--Beowulf (dates of both composition–including the possible and more probable range of dates and the reasons for those dates–and date of the manuscript.  With Beowulf, you’ll need to know more specifics about the dates, rather than just the centuries involved.)
--different characteristics of OE heroic and elegaic poetry

Period of Old English literature (ca. 700-1100) v. Anglo-Saxon Period (449-1066)

                                                                                                                                               

Know the meanings of the keywords and be able to define them in a short answer format.

Be able to explain, in detail, the construction of the typical OE alliterative line .

Helpful hints:

Flip through the pages of readings to re-familiarize yourself with key passages.                                                     

Read through your notes.

Re-read the introductory essays in the book–very helpful.

Make practice quizzes for the others in your study group.