Full name: HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

Date of birth: MID -TERM TEST ON ENGLISH AND

AMERICAN LITERATURE
Group:
FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH (No 1)
Student ID:
Subject Code: EN16

I. Answer the following questions: (50 points )

1. What three languages were spoken in England in the 11th - 13th centuries, and
whom were they spoken by? Mention some reasons.

In the 11th - 13th centuries in England, there were three languages were spoken: Middle
English, Anglo - Norman (or French) and Latin.

• Middle English: In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded
and conquered England. The new conquerors brought with them a kind of French,
which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business
classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower
classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French.
• Anglo-Norman (or French): Anglo-Norman had emerged as a distinct dialect of
French after the Norman Conquest in 1066 established a French-speaking
aristocracy in English. It was spoken in the law courts, schools and universities.
• Latin: Most other types of official documents continued to be written in Latin,
such as the manor court roll (MS 66/1) shown on the previous page of this unit. It
was not until the mid-sixteenth century that English began to appear in manorial
records, and even then it was often only used to record presentments spoken in
that language at the meeting of the manor court. It was a similar situation in the
records of the Nottingham Archdeaconry court In depositions written in 1610, the
words spoken by ordinary people are written in English, as they said them, but the
rest of the document explaining the case is in Latin − Rentals and accounts from
landed estates are rare in English before the beginning of the sixteenth century
Most title deeds were also written in Latin until the sixteenth century and even
later
 2. What is a romance, a fabliaux, a bestiaria? In what language were they
written?

a. Romance:

- In the strictest academic terms, a romance is a narrative genre in literature that involves
a mysterious, adventurous, or spiritual story line where the focus is on a quest that
involves bravery and strong values, not always a love interest. However, modern
definitions of romance also include stories that have a relationship issue as the main focus

- In the academic sense, an example of a romance is a story in which the main character is
a hero who must conquer various challenges as part of a quest. Each challenge could be
its own story and can be taken out of the overall story without harming the plot.

- Types of Romance: Gothic (popular Gothic novels still read by many high school
students today are classics such as: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Wuthering Heights by
Emily Bronte, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley); historical (The Last of the Mohicans by
James Fenimore Cooper, Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott); contemporary/Modern (there can
be: comedy-romance, tragic-romance, satire-romance, serious romance)

- Romance is of course also associated with languages. That use was sealed a bit earlier,
back when the noun referred to Old French; the term Romance language now refers to a
number of languages that developed from Latin, including French, Italian, and Spanish
Fabliaux.

b. Fabliaux:

- Fabliau (the plural form is fabliaux) is a comical fable told in verse They were all the
rage in the 12th and 13th centuries Fabliaux were typically told by jongleurs
(professional storytellers/public entertainers in France).

- The fabliau style was simple and straightforward. The narratives were always situated
in present day and the characters were from the middle or lower classes Fabliaux made
fun of everyday life. The plots were often centered on women with large sexual appetites
and men who were ignorant fools. There was typically some sort of scam or practical
joke in the narrative and trickery was usually successful.

- There are about 150 surviving fabliaux from various jongleurs from the over 200 or so
years that the form was popular in medieval literature. However, one of the most revered
fabliaux writers in the history of storytelling was Geoffrey Chaucer Bestiaria

c. Bestiaria:

- A bestiary (from bestiarum vocabulum) is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the

ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes
that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each
beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson. This reflected the belief that the world
itself was the Word of God and that every living thing had its own special meaning. For
example, the pelican, which was believed to tear open its breast to bring its young to life
with its own blood, was a living representation of Jesus. Thus the bestiary is also a
reference to the symbolic language of animals in Western Christian art and literature.

- Medieval bestiaries contained detailed descriptions and illustrations of species native to

Western Europe, exotic animals and what in modern times are considered to be imaginary
animals. Descriptions of the animals included the physical characteristics associated with
the creature, although these were often physiologically incorrect, along with the Christian
morals that the animal represented. The description was then often accompanied by an
artistic illustration of the animal as described in the bestiary.

II. Comments: (50 points )

Write what you know about the life and works of Geoffrey Chaucer - The founder of
English realism.

Geoffery Chaucer’s birth date is uncertain but historians accepted, he was born in 1340 in
London. His father’s name was John Chaucer and his mother was Agnes Copton. Chaucer
belonged to a prosperous wine merchant family. As a government servant, he was a
legendary person. His first record was found in the household account of Elizabeth de
Burgh ( the wife of the Duke of Clarence) in 1357. He was very close to Elizabeth de
Burgh before her marriage. When She married Lionel, the Duke of the Clarence (the
second surviving son of the king, Edward III), Chaucer’s got an opportunity to enter the
court circle, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. He also worked as a courtier, a
diplomat, and a civil servant, and worked for the king from 1389 to 1391 as Clerk of the
King’s Works.

In 1359, during the early stage of the hundred years’ war, Edward III invaded France.
Thus as a part of the English army, Chaucer got a chance to travel to France with the 1st
duke of Clarence. In 1360, he was captured during the siege of Rheims. Edward paid
£16 in ransom to release Chaucer. It was a big amount on those days. While serving in the
military, he visited different countries like France, Italy, and Spain. He got married to
Philippa Roet in 1366. Chaucer lived during the reign of three kings; Edward III, Richard
II, and Henry IV. He was dead on 25 October 1400. He was the first poet buried in Poets’
Corner in Westminister Abbey. Geoffery Chaucer contributed in both poetry and prose
but he was best known for The Canterbury Tales.

Chaucer’s Poetry: Chaucer’s poetry is divided into three stages; French, Italian, and
Engish.
(i)French Stage: It is the earliest or the French group of Chaucer’s poems which are
closely of French origin. Poem like ‘The Romanunt of the Rose‘ is a lengthy allegorical
poem written in octosyllabic couplets and based on Le Romaunt de la Rose (La Roman
de la Rose) by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. Other poems of this period
include The Book of Duchesse, The Compleynt unto Pite, An A.B.C., and The Complaint
of Mars.

(ii) Italian Stage: It is the second stage of Chaucer’s poetry which shows an advance upon
the first. In this stange, he showed his greatness in metres, originality, and technical
ability. Anelida and Arcite and The Parlement of Foules such poems of this stage show
his fine opening of the poem and true comic spirit. Troilus and Criseyde is a long poem
adapted from Boccaccio but its emphasis on character is original. It is considered
Chaucer’s best narrative work. The rhyme royal stanzas are of much dexterity and beauty.
The pathos of the story is touched upon with deep feelings. The House of Fame is a poem
in octosyllabic couplets. It’s a kind of dream allegory poem. The Legend of Good Women
is another poem of this stage.

(iii) English stage: This stage contains the works of the greatest individual
accomplishment. The achievement of this period is The Canterbury Tales. It is considered
Chaucer’s masterpiece.This poem is a collection of fables. He decided to write more than
a hundred stories but only 20 were completed. Each story was told by different characters
of different classes and societies. His idea of a prologue is great that defines the different
characters of Canterbury Tales, the weather and society of the age, etc. Comic vision and
heroic couplet are notable features of this poem.

Chaucer’s Prose: The prose tales may be apposite but are not among Chaucer’s successful
efforts. Both The Tale of Melibeus and The Parson’s Tale are lifeless in style and full of
tedious moralizings. Compared with the earlier prose works they nevertheless mark an
advance. He had a copious and accurate grasp of sentence construction and vocabulary.