question 1; In the reading British Literature & History: The English Renaissance (1485-1650), which of the following best explains the conditions which led to the beginning of the English Renaissance?

a)
A unified Britain and the partial disintegration of the Catholic Church freed up scholarship and inquiry into the human condition.
b)
The Protestant nations of northern Europe united to present a strong alternative to the strictures of Catholicism.
c)
Elizabeth I’s defeat of the Spanish armada began a long celebration of English folkways and culture.
d)
The brilliance of William Shakespeare ended the Wars of the Roses and gave England a new cultural identity.

Question 2 (10 points)
What is most likely the poet’s reason for choosing the rhyme scheme, which established throughout the poem, Sonnet 29, suddenly changes just before the end?

a)
It establishes three stanzas as the verse, and the last two lines as the chorus, of a song.
b)
To reinforce at the end the grim mood established in the beginning.
c)
It reflects his own change from negativity to positivity.
d)
To contrast and emphasize the statement in the last two lines.

Question 3 (10 points)
How does the following excerpt add to the development of the theme of the essay Literary History: The Development of the Sonnet?

Traditional sonnets have fourteen lines, each of which is written in iambic pentameter. That is, each line has five metric units, or feet, and each foot consists of an unstressed syllable (marked ? ) followed by a stressed syllable (marked ? ). The rhythm of a line of iambic pentameter is shown in this example from Spenser’s Sonnet 30:

My love is like to ice, and I to fire

Sonnets also have set rhyme schemes, determined by the final sounds in the lines. To identify the rhyme scheme of a poem, begin with the first line and assign letters, in alphabetical order, to the sounds at the end of the lines. Lines that end with the same sound should be assigned the same letter. In Sidney’s Sonnet 39, for example, the rhyme scheme for the first four lines would be abab.

Come sleep! O sleep, the certain knot of peace, a
The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe, b
The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release, a
The indifferent judge between the high and low b

a)
It explains the mechanics of the sonnet form.
b)
It praises sleep.
c)
It implies that iambic pentameter as a superior use of meter.
d)
It intimidates the reader with the arcane complexity of formal poetics.


Question 4 (10 points)
What do the following lines reveal about the structure of the Italian (or ´Petrarchan´) sonnet?

The Italian sonnet is often called the Petrarchan sonnet after Francesco Petrarch, the poet who made it famous. Many of Petrarch’s sonnets are about unrequited love, a common topic for sonnets that follow this form.

In an Italian sonnet, the first eight lines (called an octave) present a problem or situation. The last six lines (called a sestet) provide an answer or resolution to the problem. The switch from problem to resolution is called the turn. The octave of a typical Italian sonnet has the rhyme scheme abbaabba, and the sestet follows either cdecde or cdcdcd.

a)
That the Italian sonnet has two distinct parts with different purposes and rhyme schemes, and a designated switch between the two.
b)
That every one of the fourteen lines in an Italian sonnet must rhyme.
c)
That the sonnet form was used in the songs of the Swedish musical group ABBA.
d)
That the rhyme scheme of an Italian sonnet is entirely reset when it is translated into English.

question 5:Which of the following best explains the narrator’s outlook on his own life in Sonnet 29?

a)
He wants to be rich like his friends.
b)
Religion is his only refuge in a world of sorrows.
c)
His life is drained of meaning by his unwilling atheism.
d)
His love redeems all other dissatisfactions.