The Final Examination
British Literature Final (Use this outline as your template.)
For each of the seven eras, write in full sentences.
Answers that give more relevant detail receive better grades.
(1) one thing true about the beliefs of the era,
(2) one thing true about the meaning of a work produced during the era, and
(3) one thing (using a different work) true about the style, form, or manner of a work.
1. Medieval: Anglo-Saxon (450-1066); Middle English (1066-1485)
(1) Shared a heroic ideal; set of traditional heroes. They admired men of outstanding courage,
demonstrated fierce loyalty to the leader and the tribe. Possessed a sense of personal valor,
believed in an impersonal, irresistible force that determined most of life, believed in the heroic
human will & believed courage allowed individuals to control their own response to fate.
(2) “Caedmon’s Hymn” gives praise to God, he calls him a few different names throughout the poem.
[“heaven–kingdom’s Guardian” & “The Measurer”]
(3) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight end each stanza with a short half-line of only two syllables,
followed by a mini-stanza of longer lines which rhyme. This poem highlights a lot of contradictions
and failings.
2. Renaissance: Sixteenth Century (1485-1611); Seventeenth Century (1611-1660)
(1) This is the era people started to really inquire about their own beliefs. In the early part of the
