Final Exam Study Guide: Engl 212

The purpose of this study guide is not to indicate exactly what will be on the exam. The ideas below (which we've discussed in class) are intended to help you think about the works we've read and studied this semester.  Use these study guide ideas with 1.) your notes and own ideas to think about the poems, prose, fiction, and drama we have read along with 2.) your review of the literature itself. Don't forget that the Intros to the Victorian Age [Queen Victoria's Empire video (available on Canvas under Home)/PowerPt notes] and the Twentieth Century and Twenty-First Centuries (PowerPt notes) discuss many of these ideas, along with the author bios. And the Course Notes page has notes/background material

Focus on the lectures and your notes and the texts. Write out practice responses to questions (no notes and no books--time yourself) you make up, e.g., what are the themes of the selections we read from Hard Times? Your reading journal (ROD) is a good resource. 


Follow the syllabus beginning from "Porphyria's Lover" forward.

**Although the final exam will cover material from "Porphyria's Lover" forward, there will be four carry-over works from before the midterm that may be on the exam:  On Liberty,  Past and Present, "The Negro's Complaint," "The Chimney Sweeper" poem from the Songs of Innocence.  Be sure to review these works as well.

Possible Question types:

  1. Identifications: You will identify a passage (title of the poem, prose piece, novel, or play) and explain its significance. (I will not give you obscure passages.)*
  2. Multiple choice or fill in the blank*
  3. Short Answer*
  4. ***NEW***Longer essay question (1-1/2 pgs) focusing on a single work or on comparing/contrasting works.

*1-3 are like quizzes/midterm questions.

Also, you will have some choices like on the midterm.

Final exam length: about 1 1/2 hrs for thinking, writing, and reviewing.  You will access the exam and upload it when finished using Canvas.  I will give you extra time for copying and pasting the exam into a Word doc and uploading it on Canvas.  You will be on your honor not to use notes, books, or any online materials and not to communicate with others during the exam.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Key Concepts:  Dramatic Monologue (Browning); Separate Spheres Doctrine (The Woman Question, NA, pp 19-20; 654, 2nd full paragraph--A connection to "Porphyria's Lover"); Nature of Work/Labor ("The Cry of the Children"); Facts vs Imagination (Hard Times); Dignity, Democracy, Service (ROD); Newtonian Universe/Entropy/Deterministic Chaos (Arcadia)

The following are some themes/issues we have considered this semester. Expand on these and add works from our reading not listed here. This is not an all-inclusive list. Works below are from the Victorian Age and Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. Also, works might fit in more than one category. And think about works you might compare and contrast.  (A few of our carry-over works are from the Romantic Period.)

  1. Gender - what was the position of women in Victorian England? In the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries?  What qualities, characteristics, and attitudes defined femininity and masculinity? Were these qualities and attitudes innate or culturally constructed?  Separate spheres doctrine? Victorian Age - "Porphyria's Lover." Twentieth Century and Beyond - "Glory of Women" (Sassoon), ROD (Miss Kenton/concept of marriage), Arcadia (e.g., women in the play).  (We've explored this issue from the Romantic period into the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries)
  2. Individual and Society. (There are numerous subquestions in this category.) Begin with Mill's notion of individualism. What defines individualism in the Victorian period? What struggles and conflicts do the individual face? How does one remain an individual AND belong to society? Why is a society necessary? What are a society's responsibilities to its citizens?  To what degree can the individual participate in and have an effect on society (democracy)?  Connected to this idea are concepts of liberty and freedom, defined in numerous ways.  From Arcadia, we get the notion of individualism (free will) in a social life that at least at times seems deterministic (fate).  Instinct/intuition and logic/intellect are not mutually exclusive in individuals.  Romantic Period - "The Chimney Sweeper."  Victorian Age -  Past and Present, On Liberty.  Twentieth Century and Beyond - Sassoon poems, ROD, and Arcadia.
  3. The Use of/Meanings of the Past. Why do some works this semester look to the past?  For solutions to address social troubles in the present? To recapture a sense of what was lost?  What was this past?  Also, what is the "present" referenced in works we've read?  Can the past function as a moral barometer?  Can one recover the past? Does the past help an individual understand the present?  Victorian Age - Past and Present.  Twentieth Century - Arcadia. 
  4. Literature as Action - How can literature promote change/reform?  Why is literature an effective vehicle for protest and reform?  Romantic Period - "The Negro's Complaint," "The Chimney Sweeper."  Victorian Age - "The Cry of the Children."
  5. Education - What is the purpose of education?  (The quest for knowledge?) What should an education focus on?  How should children/students be taught?  Victorian Age - Hard Times.  Twentieth Century and Beyond - Arcadia
  6. Poetry and poetic form/narration and writing style (**I will not ask you the scan lines of poems.**) - Consider how form and meter reinforce themes we have discussed. Consider how narrative and writing style reinforce character and themes.  Victorian Age - "Porphyria's Lover," "The Cry of the Children."  Twentieth Century and Beyond - Sassoon's poems, ROD, Arcadia.
  7. Victorianism and Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries - What is the relationship between Victorianism and Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries?  What differences do you see in terms of specific ideas about individuals and society?  Similarities? What social issues are central to each period? (The NA intros will be helpful here/PowerPoint slides.) Are Modernism and PostModernism a reaction to/against the Victorian Age?  Victorianism - On Liberty, Hard Times. Twentieth Century and Beyond - ROD, Arcadia - Romanticism/Present?)

 

Key Concepts:  Dramatic Monologue (Browning); Function/Theory of the Sketch (Dickens); Separate Spheres Doctrine (The Woman Question); Imperialism/Colonialism (Rhys); Newtonian worldview/Entropy/Deterministic Chaos (Arcadia)

 

The following are some themes/issues we have considered this semester. Expand on these and add works from our reading not listed here. This is not an all-inclusive list. Works below are from the Victorian Age and Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. Also, works might fit in more than one category. And think about works you might compare and contrast.  (A few of our carry-over works are from the Romantic Period.)

  1. Gender - what was the position of women in Victorian England? In the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries?  What qualities, characteristics, and attitudes defined femininity and masculinity? Were these qualities and attitudes innate or culturally constructed?  What is/should be the role of women in society? Of men?  Separate spheres doctrine? Victorian Age - "Porphyria's Lover," "The Lotos-Eaters." Twentieth Century and Beyond - "Glory of Women" (Sassoon), ROD (Miss Kenton/concept of marriage), Arcadia (e.g., women in the play).  (We've explored this issue from the Romantic period into the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries)  Victorian Period:  Separate Spheres Doctrine (See NA, Vol E, pgs 19-20.)
  2. Individual and Society. (There are numerous subquestions in this category.) Begin with Mill's notion of individualism. What defines individualism in the Victorian period? What struggles and conflicts do individuals face? How does one remain an individual AND belong to society? Why is a society necessary? What are a society's responsibilities to its citizens?  To what degree can the individual participate in and have an effect on society (democracy)?  Connected to this idea are concepts of liberty, freedom, and rules.  From Arcadia, we get the notion of individualism (free will) in a social life that seems in conflict with the notion of determinism (fate).  Are instinct/intuition/humanities and logic/intellect/sciences mutually exclusive in individuals. Victorian Age -  On Liberty, "The Speckled Band."  Twentieth Century and Beyond - Sassoon poems, ROD, and Arcadia.
  3. The Use of/Meanings of the Past. Why do some works this semester look to the past?  For solutions to address social troubles in the present? To recapture a sense of what was lost?  What was this past?  Also, what is the "present" referenced in works we've read?  Can the past function as a moral barometer?  Can one recover the past? Does the past help an individual understand the present?  Victorian Age - "The Lotos-Eaters."  Twentieth Century - ROD, Arcadia. 
  4. Literature as Action - How can literature promote change/reform?  Why is literature an effective vehicle for protest and reform?  Victorian Age - "The Cry of the Children."  More generally, "Ode to the West Wind" (Romantic Period.)
  5. Education - What is the purpose of education?  (The quest for knowledge?) What should an education focus on?  How should children/students be taught?  Victorian Age - Hard Times.  Twentieth Century and Beyond - Arcadia
  6. Poetry and poetic form/narration and writing style (**I will not ask you the scan lines of poems.**) - Consider how form and meter reinforce themes we have discussed. Consider how narrative and writing style reinforce character and themes.  Romantic Period - "Ode to the West Wind," "Ode to a Nightingale.  Victorian Age - "Porphyria's Lover," "The Cry of the Children."  Twentieth Century and Beyond - Sassoon's poems, Arcadia. ROD - Narrative style?
  7. Colonialism and Empire - What defines Englishness? What are English values?  How does being part of the empire but not being considered "English" affect identity or threatened the values of Englishness?  Victorian - "The Lotos-Eaters" (a vision of the colonial dream?), On Liberty (the final page where Mill compares England/Europe with China?), "The Speckled Band."
  8. Victorianism and Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries - What is the relationship between Victorianism and Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries?  What differences do you see in terms of specific ideas about individuals and society?  Similarities? What social issues are central to each period? (The NA intros will be helpful here/PowerPoint slides.) Is the 20th century a reaction to/against the Victorian Period?  The 21st century a reaction to/against the 20th century?