Literature Final Review
Terms
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- italian tragedy
- Intended to "induce wonder, pity, and horror"—often lengthy, bloody, complicated (and boring to modern audiences)
- laura
- The woman idealized by Petrarch and celebrated in his sonnets
- deism
- Belief that God created the world but does little to influence its ongoing natural processes
- montesquieu
- Wrote Spirit of the Laws—USA's founders influenced by his thinking and that of Locke
- 5
- How many metrical feet are in a pentametric line?
- cervantes
- Wrote Don Quixote
- euripedes
- Dramatist—often in trouble with political leaders, skeptical about myths, increased focus on tragic choice, presented men as they are
- aristotle
- Greek philosopher who linked morality with the golden mean
- cato
- Sour, cantankerous conservative who wrote and spoke against Hellenization of Rome
- thespis
- Legendary founder of Greek drama—created first actor (speaker separate from chorus)
- middle english
- The result of the years of mingling the language of the Normans and the language of the Anglo-Saxons
- henry david thoreau
- Wrote books and articles on self-sufficiency and civil disobedience—influenced Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
- sophocles
- Introduced 3rd actor, closely aligned with those in power, conventional religious values, presented men as they should be
- those who abused the power of their positions
- For what group were the lowest reaches of Hell reserved in Dante's great work?
- emily dickens
- Poet—precise, meticulous choice of words—controlled rhyme and meter—delicate, small poems—most published after author's death
- castiglione
- Wrote The Book of the Courtier
- transcendentalism
- Belief that matters of ultimate reality (God, the Cosmos, the self) go beyond human experience
- muses
- They helped inspire artists in nine categories of artistic endeavor
- menander
- Great writer of new comedies; used stock characters; situational comedies concerned with ordinary happenings of contemporary life
- vergil
- Wrote The Aeneid—Rome's epic of the founding of the city
- iamb
- Poetic foot consisting of 2 syllables (the first unstressed, the second stressed)
- terence
- All 6 of his plays (4 based on Menander originals) survive; refined language, subtle humor, complex story lines
- tragicomedy
- This artistic genre was created by Renaissance Italians when they attempted to re-create Greek drama
- mary shelley
- English novelist who wrote a "monster" story which raised questions about the potential negative impact of the rise of science
- the iliad
- It is Achilles' story—the gods intervene in human conflict
- rousseau
- Said, "I felt before I thought"
- 14
- How many lines are required for a poem to be considered a sonnet?
- voltaire
- Said, "I may disagree with what you say , but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
- walt whitman
- Poet—extravagant with words—wrote mostly free verse—seemed to celebrate everything—published some his own works
- hubris
- Exaggerated pride—holding oneself equal to the gods
- rousseau
- Said, "man is born free and everywhere he is in chains"
- visual
- This interest of Roman audiences influenced changes in theatre building
- humanitarianism
- Active desire to raise downtrodden from their low circumstances
- mystery plays
- Dramas, originally under church control, that were based on Bible stories
- works and days
- This literary work complained about the "gift devouring" aristocracy
- miracle plays
- Dramas, originally under church control, that were based on the lives of the saints
- pliny
- Wrote a history into which he threw nearly everything he'd ever read—source of much misinformation
- herman melville
- Novelist—works often set at sea—keenly interested in conflict between good and evil
- relativism
- Belief that good and bad are not universally true—that these qualities may differ from one society to another
- diderot
- Driving force behind assembling, editing, and publishing The Encyclopedia
- vernacular
- In the language of the people rather than in some scholarly language such as Latin
- thomas hobbes
- Viewed the fear of death and the quest for power as primary driving forces in human behavior/motivation
- sappho
- Poet called the 10th Muse by peers
- furies
- Born of bloodshed, they punished those who escaped public justice
- commedia erudita
- A "learned comedy" designed for small courtly audience in Italy—early efforts based on Plautus and Terence
- nathaniel hawthorne
- Novelist and short story writer—works often set in Puritan New England—explored guilt and other dark aspects of humanity
- pendar
- Used his poems to decry the fall of aristocratic values and the rise of democratic values
- commedia dell'arte
- Improvised comedy with stock characters often in half masks and exaggerated costumes—performed by traveling troupes
- middle comedy
- These comedies reflect political changes in Athens after Peloponnesian War—most political commentary gone
- plautus
- Wrote a lot, wrote fast—plays include puns, satire, parody, backchat, and slapstick humor
- morality plays
- Dramas—originally under church control—didactic allegories in which characters had names of virtues, vices, or other qualities
- beatrice
- The woman (representing faith) who guided Dante on the final leg of his 3-stop Holy Week journey through the afterlife
- plutarch
- Wrote a series of biographies of important Greeks and Romans—parallel lives—pleasant anecdotal style
- the church
- That force in Medieval society around which much of the rest (art, architecture, literature, music) seemed to revolve
- descartes
- Said, "Cogito ergo sum"
- iambic tercets
- Name for the 3-line stanzas that were the basic structural unit of The Divine Comedy
- the fates
- These blind sisters controlled the destinies of mankind
- seneca
- Most important tragedy writer of the Empire—wrote for private reading/recitation—gory violence