English 102: Final Review Questions
From UCSB English Department Knowledge Base
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English 102 — The Final Review
1. Go through the list of works and give a date of composition for each.
2. What was the aim of William Hogarth in his "Progresses"? Does it differ from the supposed aim of a text like Moll Flanders? How?
3. Sex and sexuality has been a common theme for many of the works we have read. Many consider sex to be biological and sexuality to be performative. Explore the differences between male and female and masculinity and femininity in the Early Modern era.
4. Imagination and its power has been another powerful trope. In what works is the power of imagination praised? Can this power of fancy ever be a bad thing?
5. Construct a brief summary of "The Rape of the Lock." Who are the major players? What is the course of action? How was the poem received? What genre is it?
6. Discuss the differences between Swift and Donne’s poems about women going to bed.
7. Dissimulation and impersonation occur from start to finish in "The Rover." Make a list of all the characters who don disguises, describe the disguise, and then note the outcome of the dissimulation.
8. Philip Freneau. Why would a well-bred, young white man take up the pen against slavery so vehemently? Others found the practice distasteful, but there is not much evidence in print of white outrage at the enslavement of blacks. What do you think makes this writer different from so many others?
9. Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley were accused of having others ghost write their works. What aspects of voice and tone seem particularly authentic to you?
10. Samuel Johnson’s "Vanity of Human Wishes" speaks to the inability to see and understand anything clearly in this world. What are specific examples that Johnson gives to explore the unique problem of being human?
