For each question, please write at least 200 words (so your whole exam should be at least 1000 words total). You must use at least one direct quote from the applicable text, or you will lose points on the evidence section of the rubric. Each response is worth 20 points.
Your responses will be checked for plagiarism. You have no time limit. Please see the rubric to understand how I will be grading your exam.
What was your favorite text you read in this class this semester? Name the text and describe why it was your favorite and what you learned from it. Use at least one direct quote from your selected text that embodies your favorite part and/or what you gained from reading this text.
As you may have observed, the issue of power exists all throughout the literature we read—both in the content of the texts and in/around those who produced them. Choose two characters in positions of power from the texts we’ve read this semester—one from the first half of the semester (before the midterm), one from the second half (readings after the midterm). Compare how these characters are portrayed. Are they revered? Resented? What attitudes exist toward them? Do you see how attitudes toward people in power have shifted over the course of the 1000 years we’ve covered this semester, or have they remained the same? Note that in this context God/supernatural beings do count as “people.”
We’ve read a wide variety of poetry this semester, covering several hundred years of history—from the Old English epic poetry of Beowulf and religious imagery of “The Dream of the Rood” to the carpe diem-themed poetry of Lovelace and Herrick. Choose one Old English poem (“The Dream of the Rood,” “The Wife’s Lament,” or Caedmon’s Hymn”) and one poem from the 17th century (this includes any poem by Done, Lanyer, Wroth, Philips, Lovelace, or Marvell). Compare and contrast these two poems. How has the form changed? How has the content changed? (or not). What do these changes tell you about how the authors of these poems viewed their world? Or if there are similarities, what do those similarities tell you about literature or culture over time?
Women author are noticeably more present beginning around the 17th century. Choose a text by one of these authors (Lanyer, Wroth, or Philips) and discuss the theme of liminality or alterity in the chosen text. How do you see the author’s status as a woman impacting the theme of alterity or liminality? In other words, how is liminality or alterity tied to gender in your chosen text?
Discuss the role of the hero in any two of the texts we discussed this semester. How does the image of the hero change between the two works?
Question 1:
Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Question 2:
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”:
Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare:
OPTIONS FOR TEXT TO CHOOSE FROM 17 CENTURY TEXT FOR QUESTION 3:
Reading assignments: John Donne’s Songs and Sonnets
Amelia Lanyer’s Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum
Mary Wroth and her Pamphilia to Amphilanthus
Question 4:
Aemilia Lanyer Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum
Question 5:
“Ywain and Gawain”
The Second Shepherd’s Play”
