Exam Review

NOTE THAT THE EXAM IS OPEN TEXTBOOK. MAKE SURE YOU BRING YOUR TEXTS TO THE EXAM. I WILL NOT BE PROVIDING TEXTS IF YOU FORGET. YOU MAY MAKE MARGINAL NOTES AND USE STICKY TABS TO MARK SIGNIFICANT POINTS IN YOUR TEXTS. YOU MAY NOT CONSULT YOUR NOTEBOOKS / COURSE NOTES DURING THE EXAM.


Tonight we brainstormed major issues to do with each section of the course, and then we worked on the first two sample questions I handed out. The sample questions are very closely related to the format of the exam. The brainstorming notes and notes that we made as we discussed sample essay questions are below. Note that the sample answers we worked out are point form notes that suggest several of the many directions you could take when formulating your answer. You would choose one or two of these points to expand on the exam itself, and should follow the exam instructions re: how to format your answers.

Click here to access the sample exam questions.

Note that the exam format is as follows:

Three exam questions worth 30%. The first three questions on the exam will follow exam sample questions 1 and 2 in terms of format.

One exam question worth 10%. The third sample question strongly resembles the question on the exam worth 10%.

*microcosm / macrocosm
*Great Chain of Being
*humanism

Government and Politics
*Queen E a unique role as a monarch; mixed gender role
*political turmoil and instability
*religious turmoil Catholicism vs. Protestantism
*vacillation between Catholicism and Protestantism

Public life
*Elizabeth I's self-presentation
*Mary Queen of Scots, published sonnets
*syphilis

*More's Utopia - Utopia vs dystopia; England / Europe as dystopian
*problem with private property
*satire; (gold e.g.) away from sermonizing toward more persuasive forms
*social order and discipline more important than liberty
*clear division of labour

*economy: move to urban centres; increased mercantile activy
*travel and colonization
*gender

Religion and Devotional Life
*religious turmoil Catholicism vs. Protestantism
*vacillation between Catholicism and Protestantism
*governed by Parliament and the monarch rather than the Pope
*antitransubstantiationism
*increasing focus on predestination
*emphasis on good works, direct relationship with God
*Protestantism positions Catholicism negatively, including:
idea that Catholics practice idolatry
corruption in clergy and the church
indulgence=bad idea
*antisemitism (The Unfortunate Traveller)
*Protestant translation of the Bible into English
*microcosm / macrocosm
*Great Chain of Being
*concept of the seven deadly sins
*personification of sins (Pierce Penniless, Faerie Queene)
*allegory (FQ Bk 1)
*gendering of the soul; soul as eventually married to Christ
*husband as head of the wife / family, as Christ is head of the church
*developing interest in philosophy, emergence of rational thought; division between church and rationality

Culture and Entertainment
Sidney
*emergence of English criticism / theories of English literature (Sidney)
*purpose of poetry to teach and delight
*poet as vates (prophet); maker
*poet as creating second nature

*national sentiment: new ideas that English was okay for poetry
*publication / print culture
*poetry often distributed in manuscript
*pamphlets, small treatises, accessibly short works become popular

*emergence of the theatre as separate from church activities
*(entertainment as a way of exploring) roles of marriage and patrimony
*problem play; form of a comedy without the satisfaction of a comedy
*experiment in form
*gendering on the stage ("all-male" stage)
*cure of the king: medicine, sexuality??, witchcraft

Skelton
*skeltonic verse: choppy, short lines
*not looking a beauty
*voyeuristic look at women's alehouse shenanigans
*standard of living
*celebration of drunkeness; catalogue of worldly goods
*community

Nashe
The Terrors of the Night
*warning people against imbalance
*mix of superstition and rational approaches to the problem of nightmares

Pierce Penniless
*seven deadly sins (modern forms)
*satire
*appeal to the devil

Bacon's essay
*rise of rationalism / humanist

Poetry / poetic terms
*blazon: list of characteristics, usually describing a woman's beauty

Sonnet and Lyric
*fourteen lines
*Petrarchan vs. English / Shakespearean sonnet
*Pet: octave + sestet (8+6); English: 3 quatrains (3 sections, 4 lines each) + couplet

Sonnet sequences
*sequence of sonnets involving the same(ish) love object and the same narrator
*Spenser innovates by adding the marriage song to the end of Amoretti
*Shakespeare's sequence includes discontent; parody??

Hero and Leander
* epic poetry style; borrowing from mythology
*tone?
*Leander as object of desire

Travel and Colonization
* positioning of new world peoples as associated with the European past (Adam and Eve; historical past)
*Eurocentric viewpoint
*xenophobia? reported native fascination with "trifles"
* spread of religion; promotion of Christianity; devaluation of native religious concepts
*flora and fauna; laundry list of what could be used for colonization / immediate consumption or commodification
*fantasy of riches

Faerie Queene
* religious focus; protestant allegory
*personification of religious concepts
*gender transgression
*light and dark; complex association to good and evil
*appearance vs. reality
*citing medieval romance / England's national mythology
*union of Arthur and Queen E. as "the faerie queene"
*monsters and monstrousness


Exam sample question #1
1. The passage describes how Sifara is an amazing general, and can't be defeated, but one woman manages to defeat him. Deborah prophesizes that Barack will defeat Sifara that day. Sifara flees to Jael's house where she gives him milk to drink. When he falls asleep, she drives a "great nail" (or "great nayle") into his head and kills him.

2. Possible techniques or themes used in the passage:
*gender: woman as not totally feeble all the time = Elizabeth, Britomart
*deceptive nature of women = Hellenore; Duessa / Fidessa
*misogyny?
*"don't trust women because they'll put nails in your head"??!?
*title of the pamphlet is the deceit of women
*apparent misogyny in the title, but pro-woman sentiment on the inside
*women's deceit as a tool against (bad) men

3.
*deceit as a trait commonly attributed to women; in some representation, viewed as a necessary coping mechanism (Helen, All's Well)
*Judeo Christian religious zeal (Protestant flavour)
*mixed gendering of the woman in the story; Elizabeth's strategic gendering as sometimes masculine

Sample Question #2
1. Stubbe Peter is a werewolf who is caught and threatened with torture. Before he is put to the rack, he confesses that he's been murdering women, men and children for 25 years. He murders by wearing a girdle he received from the devil that lets him turn into a wolf. The magistrates go to look for the girdle in the valley where Stubbe Peter says he left it, but they can't find it. He's imprisoned, and meanwhile his daughter Stubbe Beell and his "gossip" Katherine Trompkin are found to be accessories to many of the murders. All three are condemned to die - Stubbe Peter by being broken on the wheel, beheaded and burned; his daughter and Katherine Trompkin are condemned to be burned.

2 / 3
*monsters, monstrosity (error)
*personification of evil (FQ; Nashe's seven deadly sins)
*magic girdle (Florimell's girdle that binds the hyena of slander?)
*crime and punishment (Mary Queen of Scots)
*impacts of torture and the threat of torture (Parolles)
*16th century attitudes toward difference (Unfortunate Traveller's execution scenes, portrayal of Jews)

Lecture Notes, Thursday, July 24: Faerie Queene Book 3 Cantos 10-12

24 July 2008

English 3I06 / The Age of Elizabeth

Faerie Queene Book 3 Cantos 10-12

Canto 10
*The transformation of Malbecco into “Gealousie”
*Paridell seduces Hellenore, runs away with her
*Thanks to Malbecco’s “halfen eye” (5)
*Hellenore sets fire to Malbecco’s wealth, 12-13
*Malbecco’s conflict, 14-15
*Malbecco offers money to Braggadoccio and Trompart, 28-9
*they find Paridell, 35
*Hellenore’s fate, 36
*Malbecco witnesses Hellenore’s new activities, 44-50
*his resemblance to a goat, 47
*his final transformation, 57-60

Canto 11
*Britomart chases Ollyphant, to no avail, finds Scudamore
*Scudamore’s description of his problem, 11
*Only Britomart can get past the flames blocking entry to Busirane’s castle, 21-26
*Scudamore’s impatience, 27
*the portraits of love, ending at 46
*51-52 the next room, relics of love
*the riddle of “be bold”, 50, 54

Canto 12
*the masque of Cupid
*the entrance of the chorus, 3, 4
*Amoret arrives, 19-21
*Cupid as ???, 22-24
*next day: Britomart infiltrates the inner chamber, 30
*she defeats Busirane, taking his knife
*Amoret’s curse is lifted, 36-38
*38 “a perfect hole”
*alternate endings??? – the 1596 negative ending; original 1590 ending: why?

Lecture Notes, Tuesday, July 22: Faerie Queene Book 3 Cantos 6-9

22 July 2008
English 3I06 / The Age of Elizabeth

Faerie Queene Book 3 Cantos 6-9

Canto 6
*Belphoebe and Amoret’s birth
* without sin (i.e., sex), 3, 5-7
*a philosophical story of the sun’s powers 8-9
*the intervention of Venus and Diana (aka Phoebe), 27-28
*Venus takes Amoretta back to the garden of Adonis
*Garden of Adonis as neo-Platonic metaphor, 32-38
*Venus and Adonis as form and matter, 43-48
*Amoretta released into the world, 52
*beloved of Scudamore, 53

Canto 7
*Florimell comes to the witch’s hut, 11
*the witch’s son’s reaction, 13; his reaction to her, 15-17
*the hyena of slander, 22
*Florimell escapes in the boat, 27
*her horse is eaten, 28
*Satyrane finds the horse, fights it, and binds it, 30-36
*Encounters the Giant Argante with the Squire of Dames, 37-38
*she rings his bell and captures him, 42
*throws him away, 44 (line 2)
*he talks to the Squire of Dames
*the story of Argante, 47-50
*the Squire of Dames’s challenge, 54-60

Canto 8
*the witch wants to heal her son, who is obsessed with Florimell, 4
*she makes a Florimell of snow, 5-10
*Braggadocchio steals her, 13
*Sir Ferraugh challenges, 16-18
*meanwhile, back on the boat…24-27
*Proteus to the rescue, 30
*he also woos her, 39-41
*Florimell resists, 42
*Satyrane, the Squire of Dames, and Paridell go to Malbecco’s castle

Canto 9
*1-7 intro to Malbecco and Hellenore. Spenser says he’s going to talk about an unworthy woman, but does he Malbecco a share of the blame?
*Britomart fights Paridell for a place in the pig shed, 15-16
*they say they’ll burn down the castle, 17
*Malbecco lets them in, 18
*Britomart gets undressed, 20, 23-25
*Malbecco tries to hide Hellenore, 25-26
*Paridell flirts, 28-29
spilling wine, 30-31
*the history of Troy and the founding of “Troynovant” (London)

Lecture Notes, Thursday, July 17: Faerie Queene Book 3 Cantos 2-5

FQ Book 3 Cantos 2-5

Canto 2
*Spenser blames men, 1-2
*Britomart sees Arthegall, 22-26
*Britomart’s green sickness, 28-39, esp. 36-39
*Glauce’s response, 40, 42
*They try to fight it, 46-51
*It does not work, 51-52

Canto 3
*they go to Merlin
*explanation of the future

Canto 4
*Britomart’s complaint to the sea, 8-10
*Marinell confronts Britomart, 14-15
*Britomart’s spear, 16
*Marinell’s wealth, 22-24
*Proteus’s prophecy, 25-27
*Marinell’s mom, 30-44
*Arthur’s lament that he can’t find Florimell, 54-60
*concepts of Night
*Arthur’s error??


Canto 5
*info about Florimell, by her dwarf, 8-11
*error in the narrative, 9-10
*Timias wastes away, 42-48
*Belphoebe’s invincible (or at least, pretty awesome) chastity, 51-55

Lecture Notes, Tuesday, July 15: Faerie Queene Book 1 Cantos 11 and 12 and Book 3 Canto 1

15 July 2008
English 3I06 / The Age of Elizabeth
FQ Book 1 Cantos 11 & 12 and Book 3 Canto 1
(Cantos 2-5 for next time)

End Book 1
Canto 11
*Spenser calls upon his Muse in a particular way (5-7)
*the symbolism of the dragon, stanzas 12-14 and 49
*the Well of Life, 29 & 30; 33-34
*trial by fire, 44-45
*the Tree of Life, 46 (with river of balm)

Canto 12
* celebration of the kingdom, 7-11
*six years, 19 and 20
*Una’s veil gone, 22 and 23
*the messenger, 25
*Redcrosse’s response, 31-32
*Una backing him up, 33 and 34
*Archimago in prison

Book 3 Canto 1
*Arthur and Guyon meet Britomart, Guyon falls to her, 6 & 7
*12 they make friends
*idea of knighthood, 13
*Arthur and Guyon distracted by Florimell, 15-19
*Britomart fights the 6 knights (named in 45), defending Redcrosse – he explains why, 24
*31 they enter the Castle Joyous
*its decoration, 34+
*Britomart raises her visor, 42-47
*Malecasta’s response, 47+
*Britomart’s attitude, 53-54*Malecasta’s plot, 60+

Lecture Notes, Thursday, July 10: Faerie Queene Book 1 Cantos 7-10

10 July 2008
English 3I06 / The Age of Elizabeth

Faerie Queene Book 1 Cantos 7-10

The story of the Christian soul
*encounters with pride and despair
*cleansing and renewal in the house of Caelia (holiness), the house of earthly mercy (good works), and the home of Contemplation

Pride continued
Canto 7
*even though they’ve left the house of Pride, pride still influences Redcrosse’s behaviour
*removes his armour, 2-4; Duessa is still his companion
*drinking from the fountain of weakness, 5-6
*the arrival of the giant Orgoglio, 7
*Duessa’s bargaining, 14
*Redcrosse in the dungeon, 15
*Duessa’s beast, 16-18
*the Dwarf leaves and encounters Una

Perfect Knight
Canto 8
*Una meets Arthur, 29-36 (detailed description of the shield, and of Arthur’s end)
*Una’s backstory, esp. 43-46; her perspective on Redcrosse, 47
*Arthur’s fight with Orgoglio, 7-24
*note Duessa’s golden cup, stanza 14, dropped stanza 24 (contrast to the cup of Fidelia, 10.13)
*Orgoglio’s arm (10); Arthur’s shield unveiled, 19; Orgoglio’s leg, 22; head, 24
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjEcj8KpuJw

Rescuing Redcrosse
*Ignaro, 31-34
*Redcrosse moving into the realm of despair, 38 –40
*undressing Duessa, 45-50

Despair
Canto 9
*Arthur’s parting gift, 19
*Trevisan fleeing from cave of Despair, 21-22 – the core of his story, 28 and 30
*meeting Despair, 35
*The arguments of Despair, 38-47, esp. 42
*Una’s rescue, 52

The house of Holiness
Canto 10
*narrow passage, 5
*Una gets Fidelia (13) and Speranza (14) to greet Redcrosse
*Redcrosse’s redemption
*Fidelia’s schoolhouse, 18-23
*Patience the “leech”, 23-29 (note Penance’s “yron whip, 27)
*the visit of Charissa, 29-34
*the holy Hospitall, guided by Mercy, 36-45
*the hermitage of Contemplation, 46-68
*the comparison of the New Jerusalem to Cleopolis (home of the Faerie Queene, esp. Panthea), 58; Redcrosse’s desire to stay, 63
*the story of Redcrosse’s origin, 65-66

Lecture Notes, Tuesday, July 8: Faerie Queene Book 1 Cantos 4-6

8 July 2008
English 3I06 / The Age of Elizabeth


Faerie Queene Book 1 cantos 4-6

Lecture Outline
*the house of Pride
*light imagery and evil
*the seven deadly sins
*journey into hell
*Una and Satyrane


The house of Pride
*bright 4.4
*construction, 4.5
*sucking people in, 4.3
* “spitting” them out, 5.46-end, esp. 49 and 52, 53.

Light imagery and evil
*obvious that deception is a strong part of FQ’s narrative strategy
*Lucifera, stanzas 4.8-4.12, and the image of light
*note Redcrosse’s sense of pride, stanza 15
*Duessa and “griesly Night”, canto 5.20-21

The seven deadly sins
*stanzas 18-35
*followed by Satan

Journey into hell
*5.32-34 - Night’s power over heaven and hell, Cerberus encounter 34
*hell in parallel to Pride’s castle: why this doubling?
*story of Aesculapius and Hippoytus, 5.37-40

Una and Satyrane
*Sansloy’s attempted rape, 6.3-6
*rescue by fauns and satyrs, 6.7-11
*story of Satyrane, 6.20-30
*why can’t Satyrane have Una’s love? (allegorical reason?): 6.31, 32
*ends on a cliffhanger – Satyrane fighting Sansloy; Archimago pursuing Una.