Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Class is cancelled today.

The midterm exam is on Thursday, October 4.

Notes

If you’ve studied the assigned readings & schedule notes and taken your own notes in class, you can expect to do well on the midterm.

The exam will cover material from Genesis 1.1–3 through Piers Plowman, Passus VI. (You’re welcome to bring Passus XVI–XX into play, if you wish, though I won’t expect you to do so; we’ll finish covering these passus after the mid-semester break.)

You’ll need to be aware of key terms that we’ve discussed in class; those terms include concatenation, hubris, nemesis, allegory, & personification. You’ll also want to pay attention to such things as the function of dreams & prophetic vision and idealization & vilification, since these concepts appear in many of the texts we’ve covered.

You will be asked a series of questions that will require a very brief response. In addition, you will be expected to answer one or two short essay questions; you will have some choice about which essays to write.

If you missed class and are concerned about what you missed, please talk with your classmates; they may have taken notes that they might be willing to share with you. If you have any urgent questions or concerns about the exam, please e-mail me! I’ll try to get back to you no later than noon tomorrow.