Dr. Norman Prinsky
Engl. 3002 - English Renaissance Literature - Augusta State University
Test on Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Canto 1
Introductory Stanzas (Preceding Canto 1)
1. Stanza 1 alludes to Vergil’s shift, as with Spenser’s, from: (a) prose to poetry (b) pastoral to epic (c) satire to epigram (d) comedy to tragedy
2. In stanza 2, the phrasing in the term of address in “O holy Virgin chiefe of nine” (2.1) probably is meant to recall not only Clio or Calliope (as per the NAEL footnote) but also: (a) the Virgin Mary (b) Queen Elizabeth I (c) the Virgin Mary and Queen Elizabeth I (d) Mary Stuart and Mary Tudor
3. Stanza 3 indicates an emphasis in the work on: (a) romantic love (b) religious purity (c) Renaissance natural science (d) Catholic Counter Reformation
4. Stanza 4 gathers the imagery from Stanzas 2-3 of all the following except which one: (a) goddesses of Greco-Roman mythology (b) British history (c) light (d) flowing water
5. Stanzas 1-4 as a unit constitute the required component in the epic of: (a) epic invocation (b) epic simile (c) mock epic (d) epic entropy
Canto 1
6. The paradox in time or age referred to in stanza 1 allegorically suggests or refers to the contrast between: (a) male and female (b) France and England (c) religion and practitioner (d) aristocracy and middle class
7. The Knight’s behavior in the fight with Error (stanzas 12-27) shows that the Knight has the defect of his horse hinted in stanza 1 (lines 6-7), which is: (a) lethargy (b) impetuousness (c) overcharged sexuality (d) skittishness
8. In stanza 2, multiple meanings can be found in: (a) bloudie (b) scored (c) right (d) cheere (e) all of the foregoing
9. In stanza 3, alliteration is used, more than once, to help convey: (a) mental agility (b) physical force (c) spiritual torpor (d) historical catastrophe
10. In stanza 4, the clearest typological symbolism (reference to the Bible; in this case, the New Testament) occurs in: (a) the ass (b) the black stole (c) the white lamb (d) the ass and the lamb
11. Stanza 5 contains allegorical references to: (a) British monarchy (b) conception of the true Church (c) sixteenth-century European religious conflict (d) all the foregoing
12. Clearly the ass in stanza 4, the lamb in stanza 4, and the dwarf in stanza 6 would be laughable in a modern novel because of the narrative, realistic difficulty posed in: (a) feeding (b) sleeping arrangements (c) transportation (d) sexual adventure
13. In stanza 6, the formulation of the storm’s description has about it the overtones of: (a) immorality (b) scientific accuracy (c) Petrarchan unrequited love (d) nautical navigation
14. As described in stanza 7, the trees (line 59) hint the danger of which one of the seven deadly sins: (a) sloth (b) pride (c) wrath (d) lust
15. The reference to the stars or starlight in 7.60 suggests that the forest represents: (a) enlightenment (b) astronomical study (c) benightedness (d) English royalty
16. In 7.61-62, the allusion to Matthew 7:13-14 and Luke 13:23-24 suggests that overall the forest represents: (a) sheltering salvation (b) Nature’s innate innocence (c) easy sinfulness (d) Tudor royalty
17. In 8.4, the birds in their song have hints of which one of the seven deadly sins: (a) sloth (b) pride (c) wrath (d) lust
18. The trees described in stanza 8 suggest: (a) a mixture of virtue and vice (b) mainly virtues (c) mainly vices (d) Renaissance botanical interest
19. The trees described in stanza 9 suggest: (a) a mixture of virtue and vice (b) mainly virtues (c) mainly vices (d) Renaissance botanical interest
20. A key repeated word with regard to the forest, as well as throughout Canto 1, is the word (or a form of the word): (a) broad (b) forth (c) ride (d) seem
21. As with Canto 1 of Dante’s Inferno, an underlying allusion in stanza 10 can be found to Psalm: (a) 1 (b) 23 (c) 46 (d) 55
22. The main Biblical allusion in 11.1-4 is to: (a) Exodus 15:1-3 and Leviticus 12:14-15 (b) Isaiah 22:17-19 and Ezekiel 30:22-23 (c) Matthew 7:13-14 and Luke 13:23-24 (d) Acts 16:19-20 and Philippians 3:10-11
23. In 11.8, , 3.7, 3.27, 4.7, 7.7, 8.2, 9.2, etc., Spenser uses, and John Milton picks up, the stylistic device of: (a) postpositional adjective (b) attributive noun (c) factitive verb (d) idiomatic preposition
24. The device referred to in the immediately preceding question emphasizes: (a) spatial relations of objects (b) the object more than the quality of the object (c) temporal relations of objects (d) the quality of an object more than the object
25. In stanzas 12-14, the Knight exemplifies the main quality given so far of: (a) his horse (b) Gloriana (c) the Dwarf (d) the Lady
26. So far, the Dwarf -- an assistant to the Lady (what group would be the common assistant, though dwarfed, of the English monarch?) -- exemplifies, via stanzas 6, 11, and 13, all of the following except which one: (a) laziness (b) incompetence (c) timidity (d) acquisitiveness
27. Besides what the NAEL footnote states, the typological symbolism in the description of Error in stanza 14 would suggest which chapters in the Bible: (a) Genesis 2-3 (b) Exodus 2-3 (c) Leviticus 2-3 (d) Deuteronomy 2-3
28. The allegorical symbolism in the initial description of Error’s anatomy (15.3) implies what about wrong or wicked thinking: (a) straightforward greediness (b) twisted convolution (c) back-and-forth oscillation (d) ambitious climbing
29. The tail end of the initial description of Error’s anatomy (15.4) alludes to which Biblical passages: (a) John 13:10 and Acts 22:1 (b) Ephesians 4:17 and Galatians 5:1 (c) 1 Timothy 4:2 and Hebrews 13:24 (d) Romans 6:23 and 1 Corinthians 15:56
30. Error’s progeny in 15.5-9 suggest allegorically all the following about Error except which one: (a) rapid multiplication (b) hypocritical piety (c) ugliness (d) antipathy to enlightenment
31. Error’s progeny in 15.5-9 suggest allegorically about Error: (a) linguistic origin (b) idiosyncracy (c) linguistic origin and idiosyncracy (d) scientific curiosity
32. In stanza 16, the symbolic or allegorical suggestions associated with Error’s “taile” seem to include all of the following except which one: (a) misleading sexuality (b) allusion to Genesis 2-3 (c) financial entailing (d) pun on tale-telling
33. In stanza 17, the animal imagery in the epic simile applied to the Knight may suggest all the following except which one: (a) African exoticism (b) heraldic emblem of Henry VIII (c) Christ (d) Britain
34. In stanza 18, the punning repetition on “traine” helps to convey about error its: (a) the powerful motion of a modern machine (b) choking clouds of white smoke (c) wild animals being tamed through trickery (d) closed self-feeding system, not open to the outside
35. In stanzas 19-20, where the Knight needs to grip Error suggests symbolically or allegorically the relation of error to: (a) sexuality (b) language (c) science (d) greed
36. In stanza 21, the epic simile has the typological symbolism or allegory of referring to all of the following except which one: (a) godlessness (b) Eastern paganism (c) grandiose architecture (d) oppressive political empire
37. In stanza 21, given the repeated references throughout the description of Error, a pun on “reed” (= “see,” as per the NAEL annotation) ) in 21.9 may suggest: (a) musical compositions (b) printed materials (c) political weakness (d) paintings
38. In 22.7, the simile describing Error’s color, as well as in 24.9, relates to the connection between Error/error and: (a) sexuality (b) language (c) science (d) greed
39. In stanza 23, the epic simile applied to the Knight has faint overtones of not only Vergil and the pastoral genre but also: (a) the Bible (b) Ovid’s Metamorphoses (c) Chaucer (d) Plato’s dialogues
40. Stanza 25 conveys symbolically or allegorically: (a) Renaissance treatises on child-rearing (b) perversion of the Eucharist (c) the process of how error is perpetuated (d) b & c
41. Stanza 26 conveys symbolically or allegorically the eventual end of error from: (a) deriving from untruth (b) departing from Nature and the natural (c) b & c (d) the Second Coming
42. Throughout the encounter with Error, a repeated pun on “plaine” has been on the meaning of: (a) level space (b) in clarity (c) not beautiful (d) b & c
43. In stanza 29, in the encounter with the “aged Sire,” the words “seemde” (29.5), “in shew” (29.7), and “as” (29.9) all suggest: (a) deception (b) piety (c) agedness (d) humility
44. In the second main episode (from Error’s den to the “aged Sire”) is represented an escalation of evil from: (a) verbal to physical (b) science to theology (c) overt to covert (d) trivium to quadrivium