Irish Lit Midterm Questions

General

• Yeats is often considered responsible for the development of a revival in Irish literature; What name was given to this movement and when did it occur? (JW)
• Discuss an important event in Irish history and the effect on Irish literature. (LB)
• Other than being Irish, discuss some similarites in two or more writers we have studied. (LB)
• What are the three Irish Liberation groups? (JL)

Drama

• Who are the important figures in the establishment of the Abbey Theatre and what are some of their contributions?(MK)
• Discuss Lady Gregory's and W.B. Yeats' role in the development of the Irish Theatre. (MH)
• Discuss the importance of the Fay brothers to Irish theatre. (MH)

  Lady Gregory:

  What importance did Lady Gregory's plays have to the Irish theatre?(MH)

  What was one of Lady Gregory's great plays that showed her knowledge of Irish folkore? (MK)

  In Gregory's "Spreading the News", is she making a statement about the populace of Ireland, or is she writing about people in general? (CL) Consider the last line of "The Rising of the Moon." Concerning what might he think himself a fool? (DW)

  Kathleen ni Houlihan:

  Who does the poor old woman represent in Kathleen ni Houlihan? (JL)

  Is Yeats's Kathleen ni Houlihan mere propaganda or does it stand on its own as art? Does it represent a departure from his determination not to use his art for the nationalist cause? (DW)

  Yeats's Kathleen ni Houlihan has a strong nationalistic statement. Does Yeats seem to give the impression that in order to be a true patriotic Irish person you must give up all to Ireland? How does he get this message across? (CL)

  Synge:

  Is Christy remorseful about killing his father? (JL)

  What is the controversy of Synge's The Playboy of the Western World, and why were riots started because of it? (MH)

  Does it seem more likely that the rioting over Playboy of the Western World was caused by its "coarse" language (MID 455) or by a building revulsion brought on by the shift from comedy to violence (469)? (DW)

Fiction

• Pick one of the short stories assigned earlier in the semester, and write briefly about what it tells the reader about Irish culture. (LB)
• How does "Philippa's Fox Hunt" by Somerville and Ross deal with the class barriers in Ireland? (CL)
• Who is Martin Ross? (JL)
• Is there any similarity between Philippa's disappointment about the fox (ISS 171) and Pegeen's idealization of Christy in Playboy? (DW)

  "Albert Nobbs"

  "Albert Nobbs" says in reference to Albert that there " must be something of the fairy in her". How important is the role of folklore in Irish literature and why? (CL)

  Is the theme of homosexual love important in George Moore's "Albert Nobbs?" Why or why not? (MH)

  The story "Albert Nobbs" makes a strange statement about women. Is the statement totally about the treatment of women and the problems with their social position or is lesbianism the issue that is dealt with? Is the statement a mixture of both? Is it something entirely different? (CL)

• What is the Priest's problem in "The Priest"? Is the Priest disappointed in himself for not leading the people in the proper direction or just in the way his people think and behave? (CL)

Poetry

• Given a stanza of a poem, name the rhyme scheme and the meter. (LB)
• Define the 6 types of rhythm dicussed in this class. Identfy the four that are used most fequently in English poetry. Why is one rhyme form more recognizable than the other? (JW)
• Throughout this class, we have discussed a large amount of Yeats's poetry. Is there any one certain use of rhythm and meter that shapes these works? If not, discuss his diffrent methods, giving examples to back your arguments. (JW)
• What are some of the different meters and rhyme patterns Yeats uses and how do they differ from the norm; i.e, iambic pentameter? (MK)
• What is sprezzatura, and which of Yeats's poems is an example of it? (MH)
• Define sprezzatura. (JW)
• Does Yeats write traditional Irish poetry? (JL)
• Did the background of Yeats highly emphasize his poetry and, if so, in what manner? (JW)
• How are Yeats's feelings of nationalism reflected in his writings? (LB)
• How does Yeats use the rose as a symbol in many of his poems? For example, how does he us the rose to symbolize a specific person? (MK)
• Notice the repeated use of "grey" in Yeats's poetry (as in poems 1, 18, 19, 47, 113, 188, 193, 202). Is this significant in terms of symbolism or is it merely a color? (DW)
• What central image from the Tower does Yeats use in his poetry? (JL)
• Did Yeats's interest in the occult have a great affect on his poetry or would his poetry naturally have progressed to the level it reached without the occult influence? (CL)
• In "A Prayer For My Daughter"(poem 201), is Yeats saying that he wants his daughter to be ignorant and mentally vacant? If so, does he really mean that?(DW)
• In Yeats' poetry, what group of poems shows a great deal of straight-forwardness and regrets concerning his love of the unattainable Maud Gonne?(MK)
• In publishing his works, what did Yeats do that was quite uncommon among writers? What made this feat even more surprising? (JW)
• Where exactly is that illustrious pot of gold???? (LB)