Final Exam Study Guide

This is a relatively brief, but comprehensive exam covering all the works in class.  You may not bring your books to class or any notes.  The goal of the exam is simply to see how much you read and understood during our collective journey through the class.  Remember, a survey class like this one is designed to help you see how literature is informed by history and culture, and the relationship of one work to another as we move from the earliest ages of English literature to the late 18^th century.  For that reason, I want to see if you were able to make these connections and see the ‘family tree’ of British literature. 

The Exam will have 3 Parts:

PART I: Passages—a short passage from each work in class, which you will have to label by author, work, and the significance of the scene (in other words, what is happening here and why did I choose it?).  I will not give you the names of the authors or the books, so you should keep these in your memory.   

PART II: Art and Literature—I will have a painting on the screen which you will have to connect to a specific work and explain the connection between the two.  For example, what is each one doing, how do they relate to their specific moment in history, and how does the art help read the novel (or the reverse)? 

PART III: A ‘Big Picture’ Question—a question which asks how British literature fits into some aspect of modern culture, the modern high school/college curriculum, or simply into a study of human behavior/society in general.  You will be expected to draw from a few works in your answer. 

FINAL EXAM DATE: Friday, December 13^th @ 9:00

NOTE: All revisions of papers are due on this date as well.  Bring them to the exam at the latest, though I would prefer them even before this if possible.  You cannot turn in any revisions after the exam, nor can you revise a paper you didn’t turn in during the original due date.