ENGL 320H Review Sheet

Exam set-up: 20 pts. on passage recognition, 20 pts on IDs, 60 pts on 2 essays. For each essay you will have a choice of three questions; these choices will be drawn from the questions you e-mail to the class discussion list unless you don’t submit questions—in which case I will make them up. So write good questions and share them with us on the list!

Important things to know:

  • Relative dates (e.g. who wrote first: Geoffrey, Chrétien, Malory?) You might want to look at Judy Shoaf’s neat review sheet: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jshoaf/Arthchart.html  

  • Major names: Wace, Layamon, Geoffrey, Chrétien, the Pearl-poet, etc. (Note: I am not going to ask minor things from genealogies like "Who was Eleanor of Aquitaine’s first husband?" The genealogies are so that you can put people into some kind of chronological context--so that you can understand, for instance, why Henry II's court was so obsessed with Arthur.)

  • Introducers of elements: e.g. where does the character Arthur first appear in written form? Where does Arthur as king first appear? Where does the Round Table first show up? Where does Guinevere show up? Where does Lancelot first appear? When does the Grail show up?

  • How do major characters change? e.g. How does Arthur’s character evolve? How does Guinevere’s character change? How does Lancelot’s character change? How does Gawain’s character change?

  • When and where do major themes enter the story? For instance, when does Arthur go from being a war leader or regional king to a European emperor? And why? Where does courtly love (fin’ amor) enter the story? When does religion/morality become a major theme? When does political stability become a major theme?

  • Look at repeated issues: rash promises, letter-of-the-law arguments, quests, significant dreams, love triangles, service to ladies. These make good compare/contrast questions.

  • Know major dates: for instance, why are c. 500, 1138, 1170, the last quarter of the 14th century, 1470, etc. important?

  • Know major terms: what’s important about romance, fin’ amor, troth (integrity/truth), chronicle, exemplary biography, mesure (self-control or self-governance), etc. Assume that if I wrote them on the board and we talked about them in class, you should have some idea what they're about.

  • There will be a few IDs that will mark depth of reading and the care with which you’ve taken notes—for instance, I might ask one or two questions about manuscripts, or who was Walter Oakeshott, or to whom was Eleanor of Aquitaine married—there would be no more than three or four of these. The rest will just be the big stuff.

  • If you see a passage with an obviously recognizable image—for instance Lancelot swooning over Guenevere’s comb and hair—I will expect you to be able to identify it. The passages will be clearly recognizable ones and they will have clues in them (such as first mention of someone or something) that ought to give them away.
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