Exam II Study Guide
English 226 Sections 7-12

 

Exam II will cover all materials assigned since Exam I through Nov. 2. Review the assigned works by the following authors: Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), Tennyson, Darwin, Robert Browning, D. G. and Christina Rossetti, Coventry Patmore, and Oscar Wilde.

 

The exam will consist of 15 short-answer questions that can be answered with a few sentences each. You will have 50 minutes to complete the exam. Please bring a pen or pencil; paper will be provided.

 

Study Suggestions:

It would be wise to review the dominant concepts of the Romantic movement (Shelley's Frankenstein is a Romantic text) and the Victorian Age, as well as the central artistic concepts associated with each author, by looking back over the appropriate sections in the PowerPoint presentations discussed in lectures (copies of all PowerPoint presentations are available on our course website on Blackboard in the COURSE DOCUMENTS section. Instructions for accessing the website are on the last page of the course syllabus). You should also be able to discuss how these artistic concepts are reflected in the particular poems/plays/novels covered in lecture and discussion sections. Pay particular attention to the following:

• Mary Shelley's use Gothic conventions, such as the frame narrative and the doppelganger, in Frankenstein
• Tennyson's concept of the Poet as Prophet and his use of Arthurian legend to explore his private and public concerns as an artist
• Tennyson's concept of spiritual evolution (In Memoriam) compared to Darwin's concept of biological evolution
• Characteristics of the dramatic monologue as used by Tennyson ("Ulysses") and Robert Browning ("Porphyria's Lover," "My Last Duchess," "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister")
• Robert Browning's approach to the theme of love (the "Critical Moment" and the doctrine of "Elective Affinities"), especially as reflected in poems such as "Porphyria's Lover" and "Love among the Ruins"
• The principles of the Aesthetic Movement associated with Oscar Wilde
• The nineteenth-century female stereotypes of the "Angel in the House" and the "Fallen Woman" (particularly as reflected in Christina Rossetti's "In An Artist's Studio" and "Goblin Market" and Coventry Patmore's "The Angel in the House")
• The spiritual glorification of physical beauty in the works of the Rossettis (C. Rossetti's "Goblin Market" and D. G. Rossetti's "The Blessed Damozel" and "Nuptial Sleep")
• The conflict between sensuous imagery and aesthetic self-denial in Christina Rossetti's works ("Goblin Market," "A Birthday," "Promises Like Pie-Crust," "'No, Thank You, John'")

 

Also know the significance of important objects or settings and (if the work is a narrative) the plot and characters for each work we've read. Some examples:

• Symbols and setting in Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott"
• The characters of Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and how they satirize aspects of Victorian culture
• The plot and characters of Frankenstein
• The speakers, audiences, and dramatic situations of Tennyson's "Ulysses" and Browning's "My Last Duchess"
• The significance of the three Christmas holidays in Tennyson's In Memoriam

 

As in Exam I, some questions in Exam II will require you to discuss significant passages from specific poems/plays/novels. The author and source of each passage will be identified for you, but you should be able to explain what the passage's thematic significance is and how it exemplifies central themes or artistic concepts associated with that author's work. Therefore, you should review passages that were specifically discussed in lectures and discussion sections.