HANOI OPEN MID -TERM TEST ON ENGLISH AND AMERICAN
UNIVERSITY LITERATURE
FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH (No 2)
Subject Code: EN16
I. Answer the following questions: (50 points )
1. What three languages were spoken in England in the 11th - 13th centuries, and
whom were they spoken by? Mention some reasons.
2. What is a romance, a fabliaux, a bestiaria? In what language were they written?
(The file sent will be named after each student’s name. Plagiarism will lead to
failure)
Answer:
1. Three languages which were spoken in England in the 11th – 13th centuries
were French, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon. French was spoken by the nobility;
Latin was spoken by the churchmen and Anglo-Saxon was spoken by the
common English people. Some reasons:
- In the year 1066, the Anglo-Saxon king’s army was defeated by William,
Duke of Normandy, the Normans came from the north-west of France, so
they brought with them the culture of France and the French language.
The Frech language became the nobility’s language.
- The power of the Catholic Church had become very grate, they used
Latin
- Most of the English people became serfs, they used the Anglo-Saxon
language.
2. A romance is a story that told of love, adventure and expressed the ideal of
nighthood in feudal society. It was writen by the French language
A fabliaux is a funny stories about the town people.
A bestiaria is a story in which the characters were animals
Both fabliaux and bestiaria were written by the Ango-Saxon language.
II. Comments (50 points )
Write what you know about the life and works of Geoffrey Chaucer - The
founder of English realism
Answer:
Geoffrey Chaucer was the greatest writer of the 14th century. He has been
called the "father of English literature", or “the father of English poetry".
Chaucer was born in London in the family of a wine merchant most likely in
the early 1340s. His grandfather worked as a retailer of wines, and his father, John
Chaucer was an important wine merchant with a royal appointment. In 1357,
Chaucer became the noblewoman's page in the household accounts of Elizabeth de
Burgh. After this, he travelled to many places such as France, Spain, and Flanders.
Around 1366, Chaucer married Philippa (de) Roet. He became a member of the
royal court of Edward III in 1367 and was responsible for a wide variety of tasks.
He also worked as a courtier, a diplomat, and a civil servant, as well as working for
the king from 1389 to 1391 as Clerk of the King's Works. Chaucer died of
unknown causes on 25 October 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey in
London. In 1556, his remains were transferred to a more ornate tomb, making him
the first writer interred in the area now known as Poets' Corner.
Chaucer's first major work was The Book of the Duchess but The
Canterbury Tales is the great work of Chaucer’s maturity. Chaucer wrote in
continental accentual-syllabic metre, a style which had developed in English
literature since around the 12th century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-
Saxon metre. Chaucer also worked out a newform off versification which was
called metrical form. It was based on rhythmic arrangement of the accents, of the
length of the verse, of stanzas. His works were writen by English, the spoken
language of the majority of the people. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of
twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines. It was a panoramic picture of
Englist society at that time, including both the aristocracy’s life and the common
people’s life.
Chaucer showed life as it was, he gave an equally masterly description of
Good and Evil. He also believed in man and was optimistics for the future.
Although Chancer died many years ago, his works had a profound impact on
English literature.
(References: wikipedia, The online video of EHOU)
