Michael Delahoyde
Washington State University
MEDIEVAL EXAM 1:
LE NEF
I.IDENTIFICATIONS. [Total 26 points.]
Maybe match Column A with Column B; or identify the character who says, “I woke to find myself in a dark wood”; or identify the author of The Art of Courtly Love — that kind of question, only a bit harder. These questions will be inflicted individually and intracerebrally during the scheduled class period. Put on your thinking tonsures and hope you find favor with Beatrice, abject sinners!
II.QUOTATIONS. [Total 50 points; 5 points each.]
A combination of identification and significance questions will follow quotations from the literature, musical excerpts, and images from the other relevant materials selected for their representativeness of our discussions on key points during these first many weeks. This is not trivial pursuit, and I derive no glee from stumping you; but you do need to recognize key ideas and moments from the works and from our class interactions. If you have spent time with the material and paid attention in class, only a close review of notes is necessary for preparation. Otherwise, comparatively, Inferno will seem like an Alaskan cruise.
III.TAKE-HOME ESSAY. [Total 24 points.]
Do this first! Answer the following thoroughly and precisely, and shoot for about three (3) pages, double-spaced. The essay should be a virtuoso piece of brilliance manifested in impressive eloquence, with facile reference to specifics from the medieval materials, properly documented.
What the heck good are the medieval arts and humanities to someone living in the United States in 2017?
[Beware inauthentic fake answers. Don’t make me remind you that this is not a history class. And if you assert that we get a better sense of the times and its people, then the new question is simply, and in turn, so what good is that?]
The essay is due at in class on exam day to accompany the other in-class components of the exam.
BIG DAY:WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4th, 2017; 1:10 PM