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final study guide for Intro to Brit Traditions including Vocab, multiple choice and important passages...

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final exam study guide key terms term

definition

blazon

literary device that catalogues parts of the body or face (usually a woman’s) & compares them to beautiful, rare, or celestial objects. ex: her eyes were like sapphires and her cheeks were like roses.

anti-blazon

Using traditional blazon technique of comparing a person’s body parts to something else, but changing it so the comparison emphasizes more displeasing features, such as sonnet 130 where Shakespeare describes his lover as unattractive

soliloquy

A long speech by a character when they assume they are alone, sometimes announced by the character, ex: Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy

sonnet

a poem of fourteen lines, with varying rhyme schemes depending on whether it’s Italian or English

paratext

Before the text; anything that precedes the actual story (the author’s introduction, editorial notes, etc.)

dumbshow

A performance where the actors are silent and they must act out scenes, ex: Hamlet’s trap for Claudius was to insert a dumbshow relating to his father’s murder.

conceit

Sonnet tradition where a metaphor is reused repeatedly, a drawn out metaphor, ex: comparing a lover to a deer/ hunting

Closet

A room with one door (early modern term)

Blank Verse

Verse without rhyme, but with iambic pentameter

prose

Anything that isn’t poetry, written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure

epigraph

a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme: in both(?) Paradise Lost and Frankenstein

Foul papers vs. fair copy

Foul - “messy” papers; the rough draft. Fair - nice, neat copy; not the handwritten draft

folio

The material of a page, folding it once

Quarto

a size of book page resulting from folding each printed sheet into four leaves (eight pages).3

ephemeral

lasting for a very short time. Can include Hamlet’s first quarto. (Ex: newspapers, magazines, pamphlets)

metatheatricality

when a play seems to be obsessed with what it means to be a play; Moment in a play that comments on theatrical production/acting and exhibits an awareness, or calls audience’s attention, that it is a play (Ex: Hamlet)

Metatextuality

when a book acknowledges the fact that it’s a story

Aside:

it’s things other characters can’t hear.

Counterpart:

A fair copy written by a scribe or author.

Invocation:

Used in an epic for the poet to reach out for help with writing.

Motif

recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

juxtapose

Opposites, black/white

abhorrence

Hatred, loathing

“Rime sparse”

“Scattered rhymes”

Caesura

Pauses or breaks in between lines of a verse; marked by the sign: -----. May also be caused by commas, lines, metric lines, semi-colons.

Couplet

The last two lines of a poem that has a tendency to change the meaning or perspective of the poem (think of it as a last-minute game-changer); shown often in Shakespeare’s sonnets

Catalan Atlas

Map which marked England as the edge of the world; indicated that England was the last of what was interesting

Gutenberg Press

First printing press (approx. 1475 first books are printed in England)

Translatio Imperii

Translation of empires; concept related to tracing British literary traditions to old great empires

In media res

“In the middle of things” (Ex: Paradise Lost begins in Hell, in the middle of everything that happens)

Oxymoron

Juxtaposition of contradicting terms (Ex: Petrarch uses “I burn and I freeze” to describe desperation of love)

Iambic Pentameter

A line that has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one.

EX: Two Households, In Dignity

sample multiple choice questions Which of the following is not one of the frame narratives in Frankenstein? A. Robert Walton narrates his adventures to his sister Margaret through a series of letters B. Margaret Saville writes to her brother about a popular horror story by Mary Shelley C. Victor Frankenstein tells a sea captain about his misdeeds D. The creature explains his actions to his creator What does Hamlet ask Horatio to do during the play's performance? (from Act 5, Scene 1, Hamlet) A. Watch Polonius and see if he reacts to the play. B. Watch Claudius and see if he reacts to the play. C. Help Hamlet kill Claudius as the play is performed. D. Watch Gertrude and see if she reacts to the play. Why did John Milton write Paradise Lost in English? A. Because it was the language of the aristocracy. B. Because it was the language of the clergy. C. He wanted to make English up to the standard of Latin. D. He thought the English wanted their own epic poem. In Paradise Lost, why does Adam eat the apple? A. He’s tempted by the snake. B. He can’t live without Eve. C. Satan whispers for him to in a dream. D. Eve begs him to. Who is the first character to speak in Paradise Lost? A. Satan B. God C. Eve D. Beelzebub E. A and D (and are the same person) What are the earliest notes we have of Milton’s in which he considers elements of his future epic poem, Paradise Lost? A. 1660 B. 1650 C. 1640 D. 1630 Who wrote the following poem included in Frankenstein? We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep. We rise; one wand’ring thought pollutes the day. We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep, Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away;

It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow, The path of its departure still is free. Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow; Nought may endure but mutability! A. B. C. D.

Percy Bysshe Shelley Lord Byron William Godwin Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

timeline of works Hamlet (in a quarto) 1603 -> Hester Pulter wrote from 1640-50, poems rediscovered in 1996 -> Paradise Lost (first version of 10 books) 1667 -> Frankenstein (anonymous version) 1818 (credited version 1823) 2nd quarto of Hamlet discovered in 1823 in someone’s attic. Romanticism: 1797-1830.  Wordsworth & Coldridge issued lyrical ballads - seen as the start of Romanticism, as well as William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and Experience.”  Key aspects: Emotion and the individual. (Note: Milton expressed individuality but didn’t talk about emotions) English Civil War (1622-1642)  English Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians challenging legitimacy of the English monarchy (King Charles I),  Queen Elizabeth I had no children/named no heirs, supposedly named King James I as her successor (to continue Protestantism as religion of the nation as opposed to Catholicism, o religion was important during this time because church and state not yet separated  King Charles I called two parliaments 1640: Short Parliament lasted three weeks to fund war 1640-1660: Long Parliament started same year and lasts 20 years John Milton:  parliamentarian, writes On the Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649), o talks about tyranny and men ruling themselves, justifies beheading kings after Charles I beheaded (because of divine right of kings and the monarchy)  Paradise Regained (1671), book of short poems (1673), second edition of Paradise Lost (1674)

possible passage IDs

text + author

passage

significance

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

“O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.”

Hamlet tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that he feels trapped in Denmark not by its size, but by his own internal suffering. This moment relates to Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy, in which he contemplates suicide as a means of finally getting some rest, but is ultimately too afraid of what nightmares/consequences (e.g. Hell) might follow.

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

“It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils… his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.”

Here Shelley sets out a description of the first moments of the monster’s animation (CH 5)

Paradise Lost, John Milton

“Here we may reign secure, and After the fall, Satan states that he and his comrades in my choice / To reign is worth are better off in control of somewhere vile than ambition though in hell: / Better they are being controlled by God. to reign in hell than serve in Heaven.”

Paradise Lost, John Milton

“O Father, what intends thy hand, she cry'd, Against thy only Son? What fury O Son, Possesses thee to bend that mortal Dart Against thy Fathers head?

When Satan meets Sin and Death and she explains how they were born. Represents the horrible things in Hell and monstrous body and the theme of creation.

Paradise Lost, John Milton

“Me miserable! which way shall I flie Infinite wrauth, and infinite despair? Which way I flie is Hell; my self am Hell; [ 75 ] And in the lowest deep a lower deep Still threatening to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav'n.

Satan is doubtful on whether he should cause the downfall of mankind and realizes that he himself is hell so he is full of anger and envious that he decides to carry on with his mission. It is similar to Frankenstein’s monster causing Victor misery because the monster doesn’t want to be the only one suffering. I

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

“But long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay To muddy death.”

Gertrude announces Ophelia’s death. It is a romantic interpretation of death and her clothes seem to have more agency than she does, in that her garments pull her down.

Poem #51, Hester Pulter

Then why, my soul, art thou so fond to stay Seeing all that’s lovely in me doth decay; For shame pack up thy virtues and away.

Pulter doesn’t see why she should want her soul to stay within the same decaying body, which she describes in detail through an anti-blazon.

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (53)

““I see by your eagerness, and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret… that cannot be… Learn from me… how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge”

Frankenstein warns Walton; Emphasizes theme of pursuit of knowledge (vs. innocence)

Important Sonnets 1. Sonnet 130 Shakespeare 1. Id: first lines for the shakespeare sonnets: a woman’s face/ mistress’ eye/ look in thy glass/ shall i compare thee to summer 2. Basically just roasting this chick 2) Pulter bedridden—spacemind (45) 

45th poem ez id: sad, sick, and lame * basically about her 15th sick child that lived a. Anti-blazon, Hester is old (51) “Made when I was not well” b. Jane is sick, daughter is dying (9)

3) Wyatt 

whoso list to hunt—dude is chasing a hind, hunt



significance: “hunt” represents courtship, “female deer” represents a woman that he has been unsuccessful in courting

4) Richard Barnfield—idealizing the male body sonnets 16 & 17 

Ez id: First line: Cherry lined adonis… strawberry (*tip Barnfield= fruit :)



bARN= blAZoN… its that type of struggle folks

5) Mary Wroth - writes from female perspective 

Ez id: First line: night’s black mantle

6) Spenser - actually gets the girl 

Talks about courtship and eventual marriage to his wife



Ez id: Lots of y’s in his passages “fayre … lyke…lackyng” o If there’s a “y” where you would put an “i” it prob Spenser

7) Review Hamlet and Paradise Lost passages...