English 115: Death, Desire and Devotion (Fall 2009)
Guidelines for Examination #1:
The Middle Ages to 1485
This is a closed-book, open-notes exam. Please write legibly and don’t skip lines except perhaps to separate paragraphs. You may use your class notes, any of the handouts distributed during class, and your own Short Response Papers. *note: I have allotted approx. 5 minutes at the beginning of the class for reading over the exam and outlining ideas. Throughout you should aim to demonstrate the broadest possible range of knowledge about the texts you discuss. If your handwriting is very difficult to read, I will ask you to make an office hours appointment with me to type up your exam responses. Bring this sheet with you to the examination.
Part I. Short essays and identification: identification, paraphrase and analysis (15 min. each / 25 points each) Choose three of the passages provided and identify the text, the speaker, any character names (e.g., Name #1, Name #2), and the plot episode it is drawn from. Make sure you choose passages from three different texts. Briefly paraphrase the passage in 3–4 sentences, and then compose a short interpretive essay (about 1½ pages of standard looseleaf paper) that addresses most of the following:
some detailed interpretation of the poetic language
central course themes
concepts from lecture, discussion, and Bedford glossary about genre, history and culture
biographical information about the writer
how this episode reflects other important aspects of the character or dramatic action
brief interpretive comparison to another literary work we have studied so far this semester (optional)
*note: I have included partial translations of some unfamiliar or archaic words and phrases in italics or brackets below; however, you may still develop additional interpretations of those words beyond that simple gloss.
Part II. Chaucer identification and paraphrase: (15 min. / 15 points) Choose one of the passages from Chaucer and identify the text, the speaker, any character names (e.g., Name #1, Name #2), and the plot episode it is drawn from. Then paraphrase the entire passage, line by line, translating the language into modern idiom and normal phrasing (phrasing we would use in everyday spoken English). Paraphrasing thus requires you to use your own language in explaining the meaning of each line; in many cases this process requires more words than the original Middle English in order to explain important references and to clarify complicated meanings. Some unfamiliar words have already been glossed in the margins; you can use that translation of the word or provide something similar in your own words. Note that the passages you use for Parts I and II must be different.
Part III. Basic identification: (approx 10 min. for all IDs / 10 points for all IDs) Choose five of the remaining passages and simply identify the text, the speaker, any character names (e.g., Name #1, Name #2), and the plot episode it is drawn from. This is the only section of the exam for which you do not need to use full sentences.
Indicate clearly which number passages you have chosen for each part of the exam.
Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Miller’s Tale
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
There are two sample passages on the second page of this document that you may wish to use to time yourself and write some practice exam essays with other students in class.
Any student who brings an on-line or published summary of any of these texts to the exam will receive a 0% on the exam (i.e., a failing grade) with no option to take Exam #3. Using such summaries during the exam will constitute a violation of the University’s Academic Dishonesty Guidelines in this class. Please note that I will randomly check a few students’ exam notes during the exam.
Sample passages: (note that some Exam passages will be a bit longer than these):
1Thou liknest eek wommanes love to helle,
To bareine* land ther water may not dwelle;barren
Thou liknest it also to wilde fir––
The more it brenneth,* the more it hath desirburns
5To consumen every thing that brent* wol be;burned
Thou saist right* as wormes shende* a tree,just/destroy
Right so a wife destroyeth hir housbonde––
......
For al swich wit is yiven us in oure birthe:
10Deceite, weeping, spinning God hath yive
To women kindely* while they may live.naturally
And thus of oo thing I avaunte me:*boast
At ende I hadde of the bet* in eech degree . . .better
1Great Queen [Name #1]
perpetrated terrible wrongs.
If any retainer ever made bold
to look her in the face, if an eye not her lord’s*her father’s
5stared at her directly during daylight,
the outcome was sealed: he was kept bound,
in hand-tightened shackles, racked, tortured
until doom was pronounced––death by the sword,
slash of blade, blood-gush, and death-qualms
10in an evil display. Even a queen
outstanding in beauty must not overstep like that.
A queen should weave peace, not punish the innocent
with loss of life for imagined insults.