Beowulf & Canterbury Tales

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What are Kennings? compound nouns, possessive or genitive
Literary Characteristics of Anglo-Saxon Epic poetry? Alliteration, Caesura, Kennings, formal rigid pattern of word stresses
What is a stock epithet? Adjective/phrase expressing some quality or attribute that is characteristic of a person/thing
Father of English history? Bede
Witan a council of elders
Anglo-Saxon word for fate Wyrd
What type of poem is Beowulf? Epic poem
Characteristics of Epic poems long, lots of events, main heroic character, catastrophic events, serious themes
King of Danes? Hrothgar
Who is Grendel descended from? Cain
What are some of the special characters in Anglo-Saxon language? Thorn, Eth & Ash
What is a grapheme? a character in the alphabet
Phoneme a sound in language, simplest element of language
digraph a pair of letters representing a single sound
What is a wergild? man-price
Grendel does not touch Hrothgar's throne b/c it is protected by God
How many set out to Herot? 14
Who is Beowulf's father? Edgethto
How does Beowulf fight Grendel? With bare hands
Who is Hrothgar's queen? Welthow
What is Beowulf's proof of defeating Grendel? he had his arm
What two folklore are told? Siegmund & Nermod
What is the final revenge inflicted on Grendel? they cut off his head
What is stolen from the dragon? A jeweled cup
How does the dragon take revenge on the town? it attacks and burns homes
Who is the only geat that remained with Beowulf? Wiglaf
What month does Canterbury Tales begin in? April
How many people go on the pilgrimage? 29
Where do they begin their pilgrimage? @ The Tabard
How many tales will each pilgrim tell? 4
What is the prize for best story? supper, paid by all
Who is the 1st to tell a tale? The Knight
Who tells the story about the rooster and hen? The Nun's Priest
What is the rooster's name? Chanticleer
How many hens are there? 7
Who is the hen that holds Chanticleer's heart? Lady Pertelote
What style is the Nun's Priest's story told in? Mock-Heroic style
What is an exemplum? a longer anecdote with a sermon
What are some of the allusions Chanticleer makes? Joseph, Lord Pharaoh, The Book of David
What are the four humors? Yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, blood
too much blood sanguine
too much yellow bile choleric
too much phlegm phlegmatic
too much black bile melancholic
characteristics of sanguine courageous, arrogant, loves to entertain, amorous
characteristics of choleric doer, leader, easily tempered, passionate
characteristics of phlegmatic calm, lazy, rational, observant
characteristics of melancholic sleepless, irritable, perfectionist, creative