English 46B: British Literature II
Midterm Exam Study Guide

Part 1: Terminology
Be prepared to identify the meanings of the following terms (in your own words) and to cite an example from a work that we have studied this semester.  Be prepared to explain or analyze how the work exemplifies the term; do not just give a title of the work without an explanation.
 

Part 2: Identifications
If I quote a line or two from one of the works that we studied, can you identify who said it and what the words reveal to us about either the author or the era?

Part 3: Essay Questions
One big comprehensive question: We studied several issues that influenced the ideas and the works of the writers that we have studied so far this semester.  In a coherent, well-organized essay, discuss how the following issues are revealed in some of the works that we studied.  For each issue, give at least two examples of related prose or poems, at least from the Romantic Period and at least one from the Victorian Period.  For each work identified, you must name the author and title, but more importantly, you must explain what the work reveals about the issue under discussion and how the work gives an insight into the complexities of life in England in the 19th Century.  Also, if relevant, show how the two works for each issue reveal shifting ideas or attitudes on the issue.

The issues: 

• the French Revolution (and revolutions in politics and in the arts)
• industrialization (and related issues of urbanization and labor practices) 
• evolution and the sciences (and their effects on religious thinking) 
• the woman question