AP English Literature and Composition › Contexts of British Poetry to 1660
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages...
Who is the author of this work?
Chaucer
Boethius
Unknown/anonymous
Bede
Langland
These are the famous opening lines of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (1475). The Middle English work takes the form of more than 20 narratives (most written in verse) told by the main characters as they complete a pilgrimage to the Canterbury Cathedral. Some of these main characters include the Wife of Bath, the Miller, the Knight, the Pardoner, and the Reeve.
Passage adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (1475)
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages…
What important event was occurring at the time of this work’s publication?
the Hundred Years’ War
the Italian Renaissance
the peak of the Black Death
the invention of the printing press
Henry I becomes King of England
The poem was written during the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) between the kingdoms of England (specifically, the House of Plantagenet) and France (specifically, the House of Valois). The Black Death peaked earlier in the century (1340s and 1350s), Henry I was crowned at the very beginning of the century (1300), and the Italian Renaissance and the invention of the printing press began later (1500s and 1440, respectively).
Passage adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1475)
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages…
When was this poem written?
1300s
1400s
1200s
1500s
1100s
Chaucer lived from approximately 1340 to 1400, and The Canterbury Tales (1475)is thought to have been written in the late 1300s.
Passage adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1475)
A gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruel markes of many'a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.
Which of the following was the closest contemporary of this author?
Christopher Marlowe
Ben Jonson
Samuel Pepys
John Dryden
John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester
Christopher Marlowe (c. 1564-1593) is a closer contemporary to Spenser (c. 1552-1599) than Jonson (1572-1637), Pepys (1633-1703), Dryden (1631-1700), or John Wilmot (1647-1680).
Passage adapted from Book I of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590)
A gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruel markes of many'a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.
When was this poem published?
1590s
1690s
1640s
1540s
1490s
This poem was published in two installments in 1590 and in 1596. Even if you didn’t know this, Edmund Spenser only lived from the early 1550s to 1599, so there is only one tenable answer choice.
Passage adapted from Book I of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590)
In a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
On Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly,
Of fairye me thoghte.
Which of the following is not a feature of this poem?
rhymed verse
alliteration
allegory
Middle English
passus
Piers Plowman is written in unrhymed alliterative verse, and the whole work functions as an elaborate allegory about medieval Christianity and virtuous living. Much like other poems are separated into stanzas, the verse of Piers Plowman is separated into sections called "passus."
Passage adapted from William Langland's Piers Plowman (1370-90?)
In a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
On Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly,
Of fairye me thoghte.
Which of the following is not a character in this poem?
Gawain
Dobet
Dobest
Will the Dreamer
Dowel
Gawain is a character in another famous Middle English work: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. All the rest are figures in Langland’s Piers Plowman.
Passage adapted from William Langland's Piers Plowman (1370-90?)
In a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
On Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly,
Of fairye me thoghte.
When was this poem written?
late 1300s
early 1300s
late 1400s
early 1400s
late 1200s
This poem is believed to have been written between 1370 and 1390, and William Langland is believed to have lived from around the early 1330s to the late 1380s. Obviously, the 1300s were a very long time ago, and it is hard to say exactly when works were published and circulated.
Passage adapted from William Langland's Piers Plowman (1370-90?)
A gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruel markes of many'a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.
Who is the author of this poem?
Edmund Spenser
John Dryden
Caedmon of Whitby
William Shakespeare
Geoffrey Chaucer
This is English poet Edward Spenser’s unfinished epic The Faerie Queene (1590). It retells the Arthurian legend of the Redcrosse Knight and examines Christian virtues through allegory and conceit. The poem is distinguishable by its nine-line Spenserian stanzas, which follow an ABABBCBCC rhyme scheme, and by its incredible length – more than 2,000 stanzas.
Passage adapted from Book I of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590)
In a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
On Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly,
Of fairye me thoghte.
Who is the author of this poem?
William Langland
Geoffrey Chaucer
John Donne
the Pearl Poet
Piers Plowman
These are the first lines of William Langland’s Middle English classic Piers Plowman.
Passage adapted from William Langland's Piers Plowman (1370-90?)