Dr. Prinsky

Humn. 2001

Test on Marie De France's Eliduc

1. According to NAWM, Marie de France holds the distinction of being: (a) Chaucer's French tutor (b) first female author of French poetry (c) a monarch and author combined (d) one of the earliest translators of Plato

2. According to NAWM, Marie de France's Eliduc was written in: (a) 1100-1133 C.E. (b) 1134-1166 C.E. (c) 1167-1199 C.E. (d) 1200-1233 C.E.

3. As pointed out in NAWM, Eliduc is an example of the literary form the: (a) vision of purgatory (b) fable (c) lai (d) villanelle

4. As pointed out in NAWM, the literary genre of Eliduc, referred to in the immediately preceding question, usually has as its main components all of the following except which one: (a) a climactic joust (b) moderate length (c) a magical event (d) romantic love

5. The literary genre of Eliduc in the original language is: (a) prose fiction (b) poetry (c) drama (d) essay

6. The literary genre of Eliduc in the translation, by John Fowles in NAWM, is: (a) prose fiction (b) poetry (c) drama (d) essay

7. Elaborate codes of conduct, actually recorded, to be found not only in Eliduc but also the Tristan-Isolde/Yseult and the Arthur-Lancelot-Guinevere stories, fall under the heading of: (a) knavery (b) prelacy (c) revelry (d) chivalry

8. Part of the codes of conduct referred to in the immediately preceding question often required as an ingredient of romantic love: (a) a menage a trois (b) a bower of shade trees and flowers (c) a triangle of three lovers (d) a quest for the Holy Grail

9. Although John Fowles translates with the word “Celtic” for the opening of Eliduc (“the full story of a very old Celtic tale” [par. 1]), Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante translate “Breton” (“the truth of it . . . / a very old Breton [story]” [lines 2-3] as do Glyn Burgess and Keith Busby (“the whole substance of a very old Breton [story]” [par. 1]); these various terms suggest that the national origin of the story was from: (a) England (b) France (c) Germany (d) Italy (e) Spain

10. As indicated in the second paragraph of Eliduc (and noted by the NAWM editor), the reputed author of the work, Marie de France, thought that the main emphasis of the work should be on: (a) Eliduc (b) Guildeluec (c) Guilliadun (d) Guildeluec and Guilliladun (e) the King of Brittany

11. The unsettled social conditions of the Middle Ages are suggested in the work by its references, when Eliduc goes into exile, to: (a) widespread famine and failing crops (b) many kings in the same country (c) peasants' rebellions (d) internal church conflicts

12. One theme in the work is the quality of royal courts and rulers, shown in not only Eliduc’s home court but also the court where he stays in exile, as: (a) inflexible (b) religious (c) fickle (d) spendthrift (e) lustful

13. Support for the idea about rulers in the immediately preceding question could have been found by Medieval writers in which one of the following in the book of Proverbs in the Bible (by implication as well as imagery): (a) 16:10 (b) 16:14-15 (c) 20:8 (d) 24:21

14. The work stresses the concept of fidelity in all the following except which one: (a) law (b) vassalage (c) marriage (d) promises (e) religion

15. One odd feature of narratives in French literature, to be found from Marie de France’s Eliduc all the way through Francois Voltaire’s Candide (a very short novel read in Humn. 2001/World Humanities II), is: (a) personal intrusions by the narrator (b) absence of female characters (c) use of at least two national languages in the text (d) unexpected shifts from past tense to present tense

16. The acceptance of Eliduc in the British king’s service shows that knights could sometimes be mercenaries, best understood as: (a) those described in Soldier of Fortune magazine in the twentieth century (b) the characters portrayed in the feature film Jurassic Park III (c) the Samurai in feudal Japan (d) the Muslim Assassins during the Crusades

17. Early in the work, a noted component of the lodging where Eliduc is housed when first accepted into the British king’s service emphasizes which one of the main components of Humanities 2001: (a) sculpture (b) pictures (c) music (d) literature (e) architecture

18. The component referred to in the immediately preceding question also had the function in the Middle Ages of all the following except which one: (a) storytelling (b) instruction (c) privacy (d) health maintenance (e) climate control

19. The lodging where Eliduc is housed when first accepted into the British king’s service shows — like the descriptions of the Woman (or Wife) of Bath, the Five Guildsmen, and some others in the General Prologue of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (in NAWM; read in the third unit on the Middle Ages in Humn. 2001/World Humanities I) — that in the central and high Middle Ages an important development was: (a) the rise or development of the middle class (b) the secularism of the clergy (c) an emphasis on the contemplative life rather than the active life (d) the intermingling of Knights and the lower class

20. One inheritance of contemporary America from the Middle Ages (or perhaps a reversion) as echoed in a detail from the first report of the enemy’s arrival on Eliduc’s third day at Exeter (par. 8) is: (a) burglar alarms (b) a federal police force (c) walled and gated subdivisions (d) bars on household windows and doors

21. In the episode dealing with Eliduc’s defense of his new host (pars. 10-16), Eliduc displays qualities of all of the following except which one: (a) disregard of plunder (b) intelligence (c) strategy (c) risk-taking (d) sense of honor

22. In the episode dealing with Eliduc’s defense of his new host (pars. 10-16), Eliduc displays qualities of all of the following except which one: (a) sense of reputation (b) feudal loyalty (c) Christian penance for killing (d) generosity to some enemy combatants

23. As suggested by the description of the daughter of the second king in her first thinking about Eliduc, women (in ancient times or literature, but not . . . ) valued about a prospective romantic partner all of the following except which one: (a) liberality (b) sophistication (c) physical attractiveness (d) bravery (e) sensitivity

24. One aspect of an incipient feminism in the work is its portrayal of a woman's: (a) saying no (b) making the first move (c) keeping several lovers (d) initiating Sapphic romance

25. A motif in the work that might indicate the work's female authorship has to do with: (a) riding a horse (b) playing a complicated board game (c) changing one’s mind (d) entering a room

26. Guilliadun's gifts to Eliduc seem mainly to symbolize all the following except which one: (a) vows (b) sexuality (c) binding (in several senses) (d) generosity

27. As suggested by the role of pages in the tale, an important element of life at the royal court or aristocratic love was: (a) openness (b) scholarship (c) secrecy (d) camaraderie between two males

28. The board or recreational game Guilliadun is helping out with in her father's court suggests all the following except which one: (a) the strategy or maneuvering which may take place in romantic love (only in literature, of course) (b) the volatility and excitability of the lovers (c) the woman’s intelligence (d) the aristocratic sophistication of the lovers and the court

29. Marie de France's humorous irony shows perhaps most vividly in: (a) Guilliadun's feelings for Eliduc (b) Guilliadun's father's estimate of Eliduc's military prowess (c) Eliduc's references to vows (d) Guildeluec's decision after discovering the affair (e) the hermit's advice to Eliduc about Guilliadun

30. A figure of speech prominent in the language of Eliduc and Guilliadun when speaking to or thinking about each other, and common in the lyrics to love songs of various kinds of popular music, is: (a) antonomasia (b) hyperbole (c) paradox (d) simile

31. The frequency of the figure of speech referred to in the immediately preceding question probably stems from emotions and physiology that are all of the following except which one: (a) ungovernable (b) exaggerated (c) excessive (d) intense (e) ungoverned

32. Of the material things offered by the second King to Eliduc just prior to the first return of Eliduc to his homeland (pars. 50-53), an item that connects with a special mark of favor given to Eliduc by Eliduc’s first King (par. 3), with implications about an important value in the aristocracy of the Middle Ages, is: (a) a third of the treasury (b) gold and silver (c) hounds and horses (d) beautiful silk

33. The suspicion of Guildeluec of what might be causing her husband’s moody behavior after his first return to his homeland suggests all of the following except which one: (a) a sense of inferiority (b) women’s oppressed role in society and marriage (c) dramatic irony (d) female distrust of male infidelity

34. With regard to the treaty that Eliduc arranges when fighting the enemies of his first King when Eliduc makes his first return to his homeland, romantic love is shown to have what effect on his actions: (a) good (b) none (c) bad (d) religious

35. When Guilliadun arranges to return with Eliduc to Eliduc’s homeland, she could be understood to be in some degree of violation of which one of the Ten Commandments: (a) the Fifth (“Honor . . . “) (b) the Sixth (“You shall not . . . “ (c) the Eighth (“You shall not . . . (d) the Ninth (“You shall not . . . “)

36. The most vivid event on Eliduc’s and Guilliadun's journey back to Eliduc's homeland, Brittany, exemplifies which kind of symbolism, common in medieval literature (including Dante’s Inferno): (a) typological (b) national (c) esoteric (d) secular

37. The most vivid event on Eliduc's and Guilliadun's journey back to Eliduc's homeland, Brittany, alludes to the Biblical book: (a) Exodus (b) Kings (c) Jonah (d) Acts

38. Eliduc’s striking behavior toward one particular sailor on the journey back to Brittany seems to evoke which evaluation by the text: (a) positive (b) none (c) negative (d) both positive and negative

39. The weasel episode at the end of the work has the symbolism of all of the following except which one: (a) nonviolence (b) Resurrection (c) romantic love (d) sacrifice

40. The symbolism of the rose or red flower in the work is all the following except which one: (a) thorny injuriousness (b) Virgin Mary (c) secular love or romance (d) sacredness

41. The symbolism of the rose occurs most notably in which one of the visual arts in the Middle Ages: (a) sculpture (b) painting (c) pottery or ceramics (d) architecture

42. The emphasis on religion in Eliduc occurs mainly: (a) in the beginning (b) in the middle (c) in the end (d) nowhere

43. A motif in Eliduc continually recalling the importance of religion is: (a) expletive symbolism (b) reference to rivers (c) allusion to the Mass (d)

44. The repeated references to constructing buildings in Eliduc helps most strongly to convey: (a) the era’s reverence for art (b) recent developments in science and technology (c) nostalgia for the Roman empire and its works (d) the aristocracy’s need for financial patronage of the church

45. A modern feature film set in the Middle Ages, which deals, for the second half of the film, with the transition from magic and the supernatural to Christianity is: (a) Dragonslayer (b) El Cid (c) If I Were King (d) The Name of the Rose (d) The Seventh Seal