WorksheetsAnglo-Saxon & Medieval Literature Test
Total questions: 31
Worksheet time: 23mins
Anglo-Saxon means
Old English
Middle English
Early Modern English
Modern English
Which of the following examples does NOT contain alliteration?
Slowly the serpent of hell sank into the sea, a sorrow to see
Early in the evening, e’er everyone slumbered, the enemy emerged
He wrought a ring of rectitude upon his regal arrival
The fearless pheasant let its feelings fester
Which of the following was NOT a valued characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon hero?
strong
brave
humble
stoic
In Anglo-Saxon times, caesura was noted with ____, and in modern times, caesura is noted with _____.
a pause / punctuation
punctuation / a pause
music / speech
a deep breath / a short, quick breath
The Anglo-Saxon Code of Comitatus was the Code of _____.
Brotherhood
Chivalry
Kings
Compassion
Anglo-Saxon literature belongs to all of the following literary traditions EXCEPT _____.
elegiac
oral
written
heroic
Beowulf is a work of literature known as _____.
a tragedy
an epic
a medieval romance
a novel
The traveling poets who told the story of Beowulf and others like it were called _____.
scops
scribes
seraphs
solicitors
The Anglo-Saxon word the traveling poets used to get the audience’s attention was _____!
Hwæt
Hamor
Hrothgar
Healfdane
“Ring-giver” is an example of a _____ used to describe a king in Anglo-Saxon times.
motif
kenning
enigma
conundrum
Kings would build mead-halls to lavishly celebrate victories with their men. The drink they consumed, mead, was made from fermented _____.
barley
potatoes
licorice
honey
Beowulf contains a juxtaposition of religious and secular, or _____, imagery.
papal
pagan
pious
pastoral
The role of women in Anglo-Saxon literature was typically _____.
nonexistent, as women were relegated to performing household tasks and bearing children and were not depicted as having power or personality.
only about their role in a romantic relationship with a man.
one of power and dominance, as they would often defeat men, who were portrayed as weak and feminine.
only supernatural in nature, as human women could not be discussed in stories under rule of law.
If one man broke the Code of Comitatus and killed another man, he had to pay a price called a _____.
wergild
wacken
warlock
wench
The Old English word Wyrd is defined as _____.
weird
witchcraft
fate
supernatural
In medieval times, the Code of Comitatus was replaced with the Code of _____, a set of rules governing the behavior of men toward all people, not only other men.
Chivalry
Compassion
Courage
Camaraderie
In medieval times, kings would extend condescending generosity to their subjects, a gesture known as _____.
hyperbole
gentilesse
benefice
largesse
The literary genre known as medieval romance is characterized by all of the following conventions EXCEPT _____.
idealization of chivalry
features a noble knight and his daring deeds
idealization of women, who are held in high regard by the hero-knight
mysterious, supernatural elements
repetition of the magical numbers 4 and 8
Which of the following is NOT a description or function of the Otherworld?
parallel reality
supernatural
fulfills human needs the real world cannot fulfill
accessible by portals, typically near nature
accessible by chanting a rhyming spell
Courtly love is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT _____.
extramarital
based solely on sex
fulfills emotional needs of partners
involved ladies and gentlemen of the court
Infatuation and romance-based love is known as _____, whereas deeper, divine, platonic love is known as _____.
amor / caritas
caritas / amor
chivalry / adoration
amor / courtly love
Which of the following is NOT a biographical detail of Marie de France?
She lived circa 12th century.
She was a political commentator.
She wrote lais, short rhyming tales of adventure and love.
She was from Norway.
Marie was anachronistically feminist, which means she exhibited feminist qualities and promoted feminist ideals _____.
boldly and unapologetically
uncharacteristic of / outside her time period
even though she did not believe in them herself
artificially
Many of Marie’s stories, like others in medieval times, were based on the legend of King Arthur’s court, located in the fictional _____.
Camelot
Aragon
Comitatus
Chevalier
What is Marie’s surname?
de France
of France
We don’t know who she is, so we don’t know her surname.
In Anglo-Saxon times, if a woman was depicted as stronger or more powerful than a man, her Wyrd was _____.
death
glory
wealth
insults and mistreatment
In medieval times and moving into modern times, if a woman was depicted as stronger or more powerful than a man, she either had to be _____ or overtly _____.
sexualized / stupid
supernatural / sexualized
killed / wounded
stereotyped / sensitive
All of the following elements of the lai reveal anachronistic feminism EXCEPT _____.
Lanval’s hyperbolic emotions
the faerie maiden’s entrance on a palfrey
the faerie maiden’s largesse
Guinevere’s advances toward Lanval
Guinevere’s tearful complaints to Arthur about Lanval
The modern view of the ideal marriage is _____.
amor
caritas
courtly love
a combination of amor and caritas
Gawain and Yvain show us that chivalry cannot be _____; it must be _____.
mandated / innate
learned / forced
genuine / deceitful
extended to women / extended to men only
In a short paragraph, contrast the depiction of two separate characters or situations in Beowulf and Lanval. How are they different? Why are they different? How do they reveal the differences in the time periods?
