1.At this time the island of Britain was called Albion. It was uninhabited excep
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Question
1.At this time the island of Britain was called Albion. It was uninhabited except for a few giants. It was, however, most attractive, because of the delightful situation of its various regions, its forests and the great number of its rivers, which teemed with fish; and it filled with Brutus and his comrades with a great desire to live there . . . . With the approval of their leader they divided the land among themselves. They began to cultivate the fields and to build houses, so that in a short time you would have thought that the land had always been inhabited.
A.) This passage suggests that Brutus is a hero because he fights with his men to win the land that they desire and are rewarded with goods, an example of romancing.
B.) This passage uses great detail to emphasize the sheer bounty and beauty of what they have fought hard to win. The moral is that if you work hard you will get what you want, an example of romancing.
C.) This passage shows that conquest can be made to look better than it is, like mere cultivation of the land, an example of romancing.
D.) This passage suggests that history determines our future, an example of romancing.
E.) None of the Above.
2. Although the window was quite high up, Lancelot passed quickly and easily through it. He found Kay still asleep in his bed. He came next to that of the queen; Lancelot bowed low and adored her, for in no holy relic did he place such faith. The queen stretched out her arms towards him, embraced him, clasped him to her breast, and drew him into the bed beside her, showing him all the love she could, inspired by her heartfelt love.
A.) This passage asks us to consider whether we should take courtly lover seriously or not because it is described both erotically and religiously.
B.) This passage suggests that Lancelot is able to achieve consummation with the Queen because he follows his heart and lets nothing, not even an impassible window or iron bars, stop him.
C.) This passage shows that ultimately the Queen is in charge of the relationship because she is the one who actively “drew” him toward her and showed him, the passive recipient, her love.
D.) Both B and C.
E.) Both A and B.
3. He cut a hazel tree in half, then he squared it. When he had prepared the wood, he wrote his name on it with his knife. If the queen noticed it— and she should be on the watch for it, for it had happened before
and she had noticed it then— she’d know when she saw it, that the piece of wood had come from her love. This was the message of the writing that he had sent to her: he had been there a long time, had waited and remained to find out and to discover how he could see her, for he could not live without her. With the two of them it was just as it is with the honeysuckle that attaches itself to the hazel tree: when it has wound and attached and worked itself around the trunk, the two can survive together; but if someone tries to separate them, the hazel dies quickly and the honeysuckle with it. “Sweet love, so it is with us: you cannot live without me, nor I without you.”
A.) This passage suggests that love transcends language, because the meaning of Tristan’s message is understood not literally but symbolically.
B.) This passage demonstrates the dynamic of Tristan and Isolde’s love; they are inseparable like the honeysuckle.
C.) This passage suggests that love is transient; Tristan’s love for Isolde will one day fade, just like the honeysuckle.
D.) A, B, and C.
E.) None of the above.
4. For the eldest, Herebeald, an unexpected death-bed was laid out, through a brother’s doing, when Haethcyn bent his horn-tipped bow and loosed the arrow that destroyed his life. He shot wide and buried a shaft in the flesh and blood of his own brother. That offense was beyond redress, a wrongfooting of the heart’s affections; for who could avenge the prince’s life or pay his death-price? It was like the misery endured by an old man who has lived to see his son’s body swing on the gallows. He begins to keen and weep for his boy, watching the raven gloat where he hangs: he can be of no help. The wisdom of age is worthless to him.
Morning after morning, he wakes to remember that his child is gone; he has no interest in living on until another heir is born in the hall, now that his first-born has entered death’s dominion forever.
A.) This passage shows the king’s ability to take swift action to find out who murdered his son.
B.) This passage suggests that some acts cannot be avenged, even if the law requires vengeance.
C.) This passage illustrates that the king’s son who was murdered was completely innocent, thereby making his loss even more difficult to bear.
D.) Both B and C.
E.) Both A and C.
5. The peasant in his proverb says that one might find oneself holding in contempt something that is worth much more than one believes; therefore a man does well to make good use of his learning according to whatever understanding he has, for he who neglects his learning may easily keep silent something that would later give much pleasure. And so Chretien de Troyes says that it is reasonable for everyone to think and strive in every way to speak well and to teach well, and from a tale of adventure he draws a beautifully ordered composition that clearly proves that a man does not act intelligently if he does not give free rein to his knowledge for as long as God gives him the grace to do so.
A.) This passage states that we should not judge a book by its cover.
B.) This passage allows Chretien to authorize his work by saying that his knowledge comes from God.
C.) This passage allows Chretien to use fiction to compete with more weighty genres like history and epic.
D.) Both A and B.
E.) A, B, and C.
6. Think how the Heatho-Bards are bound to feel, their lord, Ingeld, and his loyal thanes, when he walks in with that woman to the feast: Danes are at the table, being entertained, honored guests in glittering regalia, burnished ring-mail that was their hosts’ birthright, looted when the Heatho-Bards could no longer wield their weapons in the shield-clash, when they went down with their beloved comrades and forfeited their lives. Then an old spearman [Ash warrior] will speak while they are drinking, having glimpsed some heirloom that brings alive memories of the massacre; his mood will darken and heart-stricken, in the stress of his emotion, he will begin to test a young man’s temper and stir up trouble, startling like this: “Now, my friend, don’t you recognize
your father’s sword, his favorite weapon, the one he wore when he went out in his war-mask to face the Danes on that final day?... Now here’s a son of one or other of those same killers coming through our hall overbearing us, mouthing boasts, and rigged in armor that by right is yours.”
A.) This passage illustrates Ingeld’s competing loyalties to his wife on the one hand and his biological family on the other, a frequent tension in Beowulf.
B.) This passage features an old warrior who reflects on his glorious past to explain why people of his day should act as he has.
C.) This passage suggests that treasure always carries with it a history and can be both good and bad.
D.) A, B, and C.
E.) None of the Above.
7.) The King spent that night with Ygerna and satisfied his desire by making love with her. He had deceived her by the disguise which he had taken. He had deceived her, too, by the lying things that he said to her, things which he planned with great skill. He said that he had come out secretly from his besieged encampment so that he might make sure that all was well with her, whom he loved so dearly, and with his castle, too. She naturally believed all that he said and refused him nothing that he asked. That night she conceived Arthur, the most famous of men, who subsequently won great renown by his outstanding bravery.
A.) This passage illustrates the sordid roots Arthur had to overcome in order to spin his reputation as a great king.
B.) This passage illustrates Ygerna’s cunningness in secretly establishing a line of female warrior-rulers to combat Arthur’s men.
C.) This passage illustrates Geoffrey’s attempt to whitewash sexual aggression so that it becomes unclear whether a rape occurred or not.
D.) Both A and C.
E). None of the Above.
8.) My lady, if you will tell me what sin it was that caused me such distress, I am prepared to atone for it at once.” “What?” the queen replied. “Were you not shamed by the cart, and frightened of it? By delaying for two steps you showed your great unwillingness to climb into it. That, to tell the truth, is why I didn’t wish to see you or speak with you.” “In the future, may God preserve me from such sin,” said Lancelot,” and may He have no mercy upon me if you are not completely right. My lady, for God’s sake, accept my penance at once; and if ever you could pardon me, for God’s sake tell me so!”
A.) This passage illustrates Lancelot’s willingness to shame himself in the public eye if it means enjoying a private life of bliss with the Queen
B.) This passage illustrates how difficult it is for Lancelot to please the Queen and suggests that she may not be worth the trouble needed to do so.
C.) This passage illustrates the fraught relationship between Lancelot and the Queen.
D.) Both A and B.
E.) A, B, and C.
9. There was no knight in the city who really needed a place to stay whom he didn’t invite to join him to be well and richly served. Lanval gave rich gifts. Lanval released prisoners, Lanval dressed jongleurs [performers], Lanval offered great honors. There was no stranger or friend to whom Lanval didn’t give.
A.) This passage illustrates the way in which Lanval’s private life of eroticism with the fairy mistress has made him a better person in the public life.
B.) This passage, by repetition (anaphora) of Lanval’s name, shows that he is the passive recipient of all the goods that the fairy mistress now gives him.
C.) This passage illustrates the homosocial bonding that becomes threatened by the Queen’s accusation of homosexuality.
D.) Both A and B.
E.) A, B, and C.
10. Erec truly had his fill of joy and was well served according to his wishes, but it was far from pleasing to the woman who was sitting upon the silver bed. The joy she saw did not please her a bit—but many people have to look on in silence at what distresses them. Enide behaved most courteously: because she saw the maiden sitting dejectedly alone upon the bed, she decided she would go and speak to her and tell her about her affairs and her situation and ask her whether she might in turn tell her about herself, provided that did not unduly displease her . . . Enide replied at once and recounted the truth to her: “I am the niece of the count who holds Laluth in his domain, the daughter of his own sister; I was born and raised in Laluth.” At this, before she heard any more, the maiden could not keep from laughing. She was so overjoyed that she completely forgot her sorrow. Her heart leapt for happiness and she could not conceal her joy. She went to kiss and embrace Enide, saying: “I am your cousin, be certain that this is the absolute truth: you are my father’s niece.
A.) This passage provides Erec and Enide with a happy ending by demonstrating that Enide and the maiden are cousins.
B.) This passage solves the problem of chivalry that has perplexed Erec by showing what the results of doing social good for others can be.
C.) This passage complicates ideas of chivalry by showing that women often lose out when men do battle, a problem not easily solved.
D.) Both A and B.
E. None of the Above.
For Questions 11-20, Select the best answer.
11. All of the following are true of Beowulf except:
A.) The poem ends ambiguously, suggesting that glory and fame have both positive and negative outcomes.
B.) Wealhtheow acquiesces too easily to Hrothgar’s implicit suggestion that Beowulf become one of his own kin for saving his people from Grendel.
C.) Beowulf’s life and honor as king is implicitly compared to those same qualities in Shield as presented in the opening of the poem.
D.) The poem often explores the limits of its own cultural values and customs.
E.) All are true.
12.) All of the following are true of Geoffrey of Monmouth and his History of the Kings of Britain except:
A.) Geoffrey was deeply familiar with Biblical, Roman, and English models of history and models his work closely on all of them.
B.) Geoffrey is the first English writer to give women at least as much agency as men in his narrative.
C.) Geoffrey’s work engages with the history of the Norman Conquest by providing the AngloNormans with a model of history in which only men of a certain class can rule well.
D.) The brutalities of conquest, authorized by Diana, are emphasized above all else in Brutus’s founding of England.
E.) All are false.
13.) All of the following are true of Chretien de Troye’s Erec and Enide except:
A.) Erec changes throughout the narrative and grows as a person on account of key insights into his relationship with Enide.
B.) The Joy of the Court scene finally resolves the tension between love and adventure, which is at play throughout the work.
C.) The poem often proceeds by exploring trivialities that lead to more complex episodes or character development.
D.) Enide’s name is withheld for several thousand lines to make her more mysterious and difficult to interpret.
E.) All are true.
14.) All of the following are true of Chretien de Troye’s Lancelot except:
A.) Courtly love is treated as both a sacred ritual and an object of ridicule in the poem.
B.) Though Lancelot initially gets in the cart and brings such shame to himself, the poem keeps recuperating his character by showing his great deeds.
C.) Lancelot’s love for Guinevere seems noble especially when compared to Gawain and King Arthur’s love for women.
D.) In Lancelot, there is usually a healthy balance between private love and public adventure, the two components of romance.
E.) All are true.
15.) All of the following are true of Marie de France’s Lanval except:
A.) Lanval unambiguously lives happily ever after and gets everything that he wanted at the end of the poem.
B.) Lanval initially lets his horse go to symbolize his lack of interest in the courtly world.
C.) Arthur and his men unfairly exclude Lanval from their society at the beginning of the poem.
D.) It is never clear to us why the fairy mistress comes back to save Lanval, even though she swore she would disappear forever if he mentioned her name.
E.) All are true.
16.) In her Prologue, Marie de France uses all of the following to authorize her except:
A.) God.
B.) A famous Latin grammarian.
C.) The technique of translating ancient authors faithfully.
D.) Her own ingenuity.
E.) She uses all of these.
17.) All of the following can without question be considered romances in their entirety except:
A.) Lanval
B.) Erec and Enide
C.) The History of the Kings of Britain
D.) Lancelot
E.) All can without question be considered romances in their entirety.
18.) Which of the following best describes the fall of Arthur’s kingdom in The History of the Kings of Britain?
A.) It is a momentous event, and Geoffrey suggests that Arthur can never be replaced.
B.) Women, who for so long have remained silent in the text, make the best of a bad situation and prevent any further damage to the kingdom by convincing the knights of an appropriate strategy.
C.) It is handled nonchalantly, like a blip on the radar screen; Arthur is just one more king who will be replaced by another. No big deal.
D.) It happens just the way it was predicted in the Aeneid, Geoffrey’s source text.
E.) None of the above.
19.) All of the following are qualities of epic and can be found in Beowulf:
A.) A slow and expansive pace of action.
B.) Allusions.
C.) Concrete noun-based vocabulary.
D.) Concern for memory and oral composition.
E.) All of the Above.
20.) Which of the following statements is false?
A.) Chretien stopped composing Lancelot at some point, and another writer finished it.
B.) Though Marie calls herself “Marie de France,” her writing survives in an Anglo-Norman dialect and she dedicates her work to an English king, so it is assumed that she lived in England when she wrote her Lais.
C.) Beowulf was written somewhere between the 8th and 10th centuries.
D.) The History of the Kings of Britain was originally written in Latin.
E.) All are true.
Explanation / Answer
Ans:
Choose the correct answer:
1. c
2. e
3. a
4. b
5. b
6. c
7. e
8. d
9. d
10. a
11. c
12. e
13. d
14. b
15. d
16. b
17. d
18. e
19. e
20. d
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