World Literature fall semester exam study guide

World Literature Fall Semester Exam Study Guide - With links to the readings

Literature of the Ancient World

Briefly summarize the following creation myths:
Popol Vuh
Enuma Elish
Genesis: Creation and the Flood

- What does parallelism look like in Hebrew poetry? Give an example of parallelism in Psalm 19 or Psalm 137.
- What are some symbols in the story of the Flood (in Genesis)?
- Who was Tiamat, and what happened to her? Who was Marduk, and why was he important?
- Geographically, were did the Enuma Elish and Epic of Gilgamesh come from?

Gilgamesh

- What are some characteristics of a quest story?
- Identify the following characters: Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Utnapishtim
- What happens to Enkidu?
- What is the end result of Gilgamesh’s quest?
- What are the two main themes of the Epic of Gilgamesh?

Medea

- Who wrote Medea?
- List and describe the main characters
- Vocabulary: tragedy, hamartia, tragic flaw, tragic hero
- What is Medea’s tragic flaw? What are several ways she fails to live up to Greek ideals?
- List the people whose death Medea causes.
- Does Medea suffer a downfall in the end of the play? What happens in the original version?

Julius Caesar

- Describe the author of this play and the time period in which it was written
- Describe the four main characters: Julius Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Antony
- What are some ways in which events in the play are foreshadowed?
- Describe the ways that characters use persuasion. How does Cassius persuade Brutus? How do various characters persuade Caesar to do what they want? How does Antony sway the crowd?
- Compare and contrast Brutus and Antony
- Who is the tragic hero and why?
- Summarize each act.
- terms: blank verse, iambic pentameter, soliloquy


Research Paper

- Terms: MLA, bibliography/works cited, parenthetical reference, introduction, body, conclusion, hook/attention-getter, topic sentence, plagiarism
- Know how to paraphrase and how to give credit to your source if you have paraphrased information
- Know how to use sandwiching for quotes and what information to include in a parenthetical reference

Grammar

Grammar questions will be over the following topics from Language Network: parts of speech, pronouns, and capitalization. Questions will include but not be limited to:
- Choosing the correct pronoun (nominative, objective, or possessive case)
- Pronoun-antecedent agreement
- Making verbs agree with pronoun subjects, particularly indefinite pronoun subjects
- Using correct capitalization
- Identifying parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction)