Terms 2 – Flashcards

An epic simile can be defined as simply what the title infers - a detailed comparison in the form of a simile that is many, many lines long. The epic simile came to be after Homer wrote the Illiad and the Odyssey. It can be referred to as the "Homeric Simile" because he's its father. John Milton's poem, Paradise Lost, reflected this writing style in particular. One can say the use of the epic simile is prominent in Book I when Milton describes what size Satan takes after his fall from heaven...Here Milton is implying that Satan is big, long, and serpentine, along with comparing him to mythological creatures like Typhon and Leviathan.

Carpe Diem, Latin for "Seize the day". Poems appearing in the 1640s from Thomas Carew, John Denham, Richard Lovelace and Robert Herrick had this theme, and "some dating from the 1620s or 1630s celebrate the ideal 'of the good life: good food, plenty of wine, good verse, hospitality, and high-spirited loyalty, especially to the king" (660 NA). It is an idea of free love, living life to the fullest and taking every advantage you can throughout life. For some, it's not just a phrase, it's more of a way of life and it is with the characters involved in the poems of this theme. The poems with this theme would celebrate sleeping in rather than going to church, making love to their beautiful lovers, and simply having fun however they celebrate it. Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" is one carpe diem poem we read this term.

Blazon; A literary term cataloguing the physical beauty of a woman. It is a conventional praise that deals with the most beautiful features of a woman's body by comparing it to physical objects. Spenser, in his Amoretti, made this device popular in the 16th century by applauding the women in his sonnets. Shakespeare also used this literary device in sonnet 130, but his sonnet is used more as a parody. In sonnet 18 he uses this device in a more conventional way.

"The Fortunate Fall" The two latin words felix ("happy" or "blessed") and culpa ("fault" or "fall") are generally used to reference the fall of man from Paradise. It suggests that the original sin of mankind and the events that led to the banishment of Adam and Eve were for a necessary cause, and paradoxically may have led to an even better outcome, that is, the coming of Christ. In John Milton's "Paradise Lost", his representation of Adam recognizes the felix culpa of their sin. He isn't sure if he should feel good or bad for his sin: "Full of doubt I stand, / whether I should repent me now of sin / By me done and occasioned, or rejoice / Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring" (12.473-76). It is through Archangel Michael that Adam is able to see the future of mankind to better understand that his and Eve's actions may have dropped their kind to a lower state but good does come from it.

a form used in English poetry, made up of two rhyming iambic pentameter lines. Geoffrey Chaucer is known as one of the first poets to use the form, in the Canterbury Tales. Critics claim Alexander Pope and John Dryden managed to perfect the form. The Rape of the Lock, by Pope is another example of a poem in heroic couplets.

"In medias res means "in the middle of". This is how many epic poems begin their tales. This means that the reader is thrown into the middle of the plot with the opening scenes of the epic. For example, in Book 1 of Paradise Lost, we see Satan and his rebellious angel army in Hell after some large war has been lost. It is not until far later in the epic that John Milton supplies the reader with the story preceding "the fall" which explains the reasons for, and the actual battles of the war in Heaven." This can also be seen in the epic The Illiad. Instead of starting the classic epic at the beginning of the Trojan War, it begins in the middle of it.

The "mock epic", also known and commonly referred to as the "mock-heroic." is a style of writing that draws prominently on satire. Where classical epic poems are composed with a sense of earnestness to an important subject, the mock-epic does what the name might imply, and mocks the hero and the subject. Mock Epic poetry depends on irony, exaggeration, satirical aggrandizing of the hero's characteristics and sarcasm to mock the original subject. In class, an example of a mock epic can be seen in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock. In this work, Pope satisfies all the general requirements of classical epic poetry; however, the elements are so elaborately exaggerated that they become absurd and can hardly be taken seriously. There are several scenes of passion and fits of bravery like in an epic, but rather than between heroes, they're between "spirits of air". Unlike classical epics such as Paradise Lost whose premise of The Creation is serious, Pope creates a "serious" atmosphere using the trivial subject of cutting off a piece of a woman's hair. While the classical epic uses a supernatural force in the narrative, like the Gods and Goddesses in The Iliad, the mock-epic uses sylphs and gnomes as supernatural elements.

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) was a Puritan military leader on the "Roundhead" or parliamentary side of the English civil war in the 1640s, a member of parliament and army leader during the Commonwealth period (1649-53) after the execution of King Charles, and from 1653 until his death the "Lord Protector" of England, essentially the country's military dictator. Generally admired by Milton, who made him the subject of one of his sonnets.

Francis Petrarch was an Italian born poet and scholar of the 14th century. He is widely hailed as the, "Father of Humanism," and later became the ember igniting the fire of the Renaissance. His sonnets—which became a model for lyrical poetry generally and love poetry in particular—would later be imitated throughout Europe during the renaissance period by many poets, including Shakespeare. The Petrachan sonnet (or Italian sonnet) contains fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, which are split into two groups: the octave (first 8 lines) and the sestet (final 6 lines). The octave follows the rhyme scheme of abba abba, whereas the sestet follows a cde cde pattern. This style of sonnet contains specific devices, including: rhyme scheme, conceit, metaphor, blason, & personification.

When Milton says of Adam and Eve at the beginning of PL 10 that "Thus they in lowliest plight repentant stood / Praying, for from the mercy-seat above / Prevenient Grace descending had removed / The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh / Regenerate grow instead, that sighs now breathed / Unutterable, which the spirit of prayer / Inspired, and winged for heav'n with speedier flight / Than loudest oratorie," he refers directly to the theologically thorny issue of prevenient grace, which is technically grace that God gives you before you know to ask for it, so that you will able to ask for the additional grace necessary for salvation. In other words, the free will problem continues to arise, even at the end of Milton's poem.

The Restoration (1660-1785) was a period of English history in which Great Britain unified as a single nation; society as a whole advanced in the fields of the humanities, the sciences, religion, and social justice. The start of this era was marked by the return of Charles Stuart, aka King Charles II, to the British throne, restoring the English monarchy and ending years of civil war which had divided the populace. During the restoration, philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes rejected the old dogmas and introduced new thought on the nature of man and its rulers. Writers, including Samuel Johnson and Jonathan Swift, put away poetry for the most part and revolutionized prose with new genres and an entirely new format of writing: the novel. Alexander Pope is a noted Restoration era writer; his poem The Rape of the Lock was published in its most well-known form in 1717.

Latin - excessive or irrational attachment for or submissiveness to one's wife. The behavior is displayed by Adam, before the fall, when he speaks of Eve in 8:546 - 559. Adam speaks to the Angel Raphael about Eve. Adam talks of how wonderful Eve is, beautiful she is, wise she is, and he's amazed how fantastic she is. It's all a bit much and unrealistic, and Raphael later in this same conversation tries to bring Adam back to reality concerning Eve.