Medieval Literature Test 1Review

Know the following ballads—you need to know the summary of each along with which ballad subject matter each one deals with. Also study the ballad worksheet given in class.

  • “Barbara Allan”
  • Summary
  • Subject matter
  • Know the relationship between John Graeme and Barbara Allan
  • “Robin Hood and the Three Squires”
  • Summary
  • Subject matter
  • Know the ending of the ballad and the moral of the story
  • “Get Up and Bar the Door”
  • Summary
  • Subject matter
  • Understand how the dialogue and rhyme affect the meaning
  • Know what the paction is and how it affects the story

Grammar

Know the rules about run-on sentences. Be able to distinguish between a comma splice and a fused sentence. Also, know when to use a semi-colon or comma in a sentence.

  • Here is a link to a website for grammar practice:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Know and identify the traits of medieval romance.

Know the summary of the story.

Know the reason why the Green Knight goes to Arthur’s court along with the purpose.

Understand how chivalry plays into the overall theme of the story.

Know what the causes the downfall of Gawain.

Know the role that the lady and the lord play into the story.

Know what the “strikes” from the Green Knight symbolize.

Know the following passages. Make you know the summary of each and how the passage plays into the overall theme of the story.

Passage #1

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12 / And so all I ask of this court is a Christmas game.
For the Yule is here, and New Year’s, and here sit young men;
If any man holds himself, here in this house, so hardy,
So bold in his blood—and so brainless in his head—
That he dares to stoutly exchange one stroke for another,
I shall let him have as my present this lovely gisarme,
This ax, as heavy as he’ll need, to handle as he likes,
And I will abide the first blow, bare-necked as I sit.
If anyone here has the daring to try what I’ve offered,
Leap to me lightly, lad; lift up this weapon;
I give you the thing forever—you may think it your own;
And I will stand still for your stroke, steady on the floor”

Passage #2

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9 / She held toward him a ring of the yellowest gold
And, standing aloft on the band, a stone like a star
From which flew splendid beams like the light of the sun;
And mark you well, it was worth a rich king’s ransom.
But right away he refused it, replying in haste,
“My lady gay, I can hardly take gifts at the moment;
Having nothing to give, I’d be wrong to take gifts in turn.”
She imploredhim again, still more earnestly, but again
He refused it and swore on his knighthood that he could take nothing.

Passage #3

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13 / Sir Gawain stood in a study a long, long while,
So miserable with disgrace that he wept within,
And all the blood of his chest went up to his face
And he shrank away in shame from the man’s gentle words.
The first words Gawain could find to say were these:
“Cursed be cowardice and covetousness both,
Villainy and vice that destroy all virtue!”
He caught at the knots of the girdle and loosened them
And fiercely flung the sash at the Green Knight.
“There, there’s my fault! The foul fiend vex it!
Foolish cowardice taught me, from fear of your stroke,
To bargain, covetous, and abandon my kind,
The selflessness and loyalty suitable in knights”