Humanities Final Literature
Terms
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- English
- The result of the years of mingling the language of the Normans and the language of the Anglo-Saxons
- Middle Comedy
- These comedies that 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
- Beatrice
- The woman (representing faith) who guided Dante on the final leg of his 3-stop Holy Week journey through the afterlife
- Miracle
- Dramas, originally under church control, that were based on the lives of the saints
- Socrates
- He is said to have said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
- Physical Plants
- This interest of Roman audiences influenced changes in theatre building
- Sappho
- Poet called the 10th Muse by peers
- Deism
- Belief that God created the world but does little to influence its ongoing natural processes
- Mystery
- Dramas, originally under church control, that were based on Bible stories
- Commedia Erudita
- A "learned comedy" designed for small courtly audience in Italy—early efforts based on Plautus and Terence
- Montesquieu
- Wrote Spirit of the Laws—USA's founders influenced by his thinking and that of Locke
- Euripedes
- Dramatist—often in trouble with political leaders, skeptical about myths, increased focus on tragic choice, presented men as they are
- The Fates
- These blind sisters controlled the destinies of mankind
- manander
- Great writer of new comedies; used stock characters; situational comedies concerned with ordinary happenings of contemporary life
- Italian Tragedy
- Intended to "induce wonder, pity, and horror"—often lengthy, bloody, complicated (and boring to modern audiences)
- Hesiod
- This literary work complained about the "gift devouring" aristocracy
- Sophocles
- Introduced 3rd actor, closely aligned with those in power, conventional religious values, presented men as they should be
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Novelist and short story writer—works often set in Puritan New England—explored guilt and other dark aspects of humanity
- Rousseau
- Said, "I felt before I thought"
- Diderot
- Driving force behind assembling, editing, and publishing The Encyclopedia
- Morality
- Dramas—originally under church control—didactic allegories in which characters had names of virtues, vices, or other qualities
- Plutarch
- Wrote a series of biographies of important Greeks and Romans—parallel lives—pleasant anecdotal style
- Emily Dickinson
- Poet—precise, meticulous choice of words—controlled rhyme and meter—delicate, small poems—most published after author's death
- Lora
- The woman idealized by Petrarch and celebrated in his sonnets
- Antiquity
- That force in Medieval society around which much of the rest (art, architecture, literature, music) seemed to revolve
- Herman Melville
- Novelist—works often set at sea—keenly interested in conflict between good and evil
- Rousseau
- Said, "man is born free and everywhere he is in chains"
- Vergil
- Wrote The Aeneid—Rome's epic of the founding of the city
- Relativism
- Belief that good and bad are not universally true
- Martin Heidegger
- Viewed the fear of death and the quest for power as primary driving forces in human behavior/motivation
- Castiglione
- Wrote The Book of the Courtier
- Livy
- Wrote a history into which he threw nearly everything he'd ever read—source of much misinformation
- Descartes
- Said, "Cogito ergo sum"
- Iambic
- Poetic foot consisting of 2 syllables (the first unstressed, the second stressed)
- Thespis-Circa
- Legendary founder of Greek drama—created first actor (speaker separate from chorus)
- Sprezzatura
- A combination of grace and nonchalance
- Seneca
- Most important tragedy writer of the Empire—wrote for private reading/recitation—gory violence
- Giants and Furies
- Born of bloodshed, they punished those who escaped public justice
- Traitor
- For what group were the lowest reaches of Hell reserved in Dante's great work?
- 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
- Mime
- Improvised comedy with stock characters often in half masks and exaggerated costumes—performed by traveling troupes
- Terrence
- All 6 of his plays (4 based on Menander originals) survive; refined language, subtle humor, complex story lines
- Hubris
- Exaggerated pride—holding oneself equal to the gods
- Herman Melville
- English novelist who wrote a "monster" story which raised questions about the potential negative impact of the rise of science
- Cervantes
- Wrote Don Quixote
- The muses
- They helped inspire artists in nine categories of artistic endeavor
- Pastoral Opera
- This artistic genre was created by Renaissance Italians when they attempted to re-create Greek drama
- Aristotle
- Greek philosopher who linked morality with the golden mean