English 220 – Exam 1 Study Guide |
Literary Works, Authors, Themes, and
Key Quotes Review (2026–2027)
Poem 7 - Answer✔️Continues the kiss-counting metaphor; compares love to the
countless sands of Egypt.
Poem 8 - Answer✔️The speaker tells himself to move on from Lesbia, even
though he's clearly still heartbroken.
Poem 51 - Answer✔️Adaptation of Sappho 31. Catullus describes watching
Lesbia and feeling physically overwhelmed.
Poem 83 - Answer✔️Lesbia insults Catullus in front of her husband. He interprets
it as a sign she still loves him.
Poem 85 - Answer✔️"I hate and I love"—very short, capturing the emotional
contradiction of love.
Poem 101 - Answer✔️A funeral poem for his brother. Deeply emotional reflection
on love, loss, and grief.
Tiresias - Answer✔️A mortal who experiences life as both man and woman.
Reflects on gender and desire.
Echo and Narcissus - Answer✔️Echo loves Narcissus, but he loves only himself.
Echo fades into a voice; Narcissus becomes a flower. Themes: unrequited love,
vanity.
Iphis and Ianthe - Answer✔️A girl raised as a boy falls in love with another girl.
The gods transform Iphis into a man so the marriage can happen. Explores gender
identity and divine intervention.
Orpheus and Eurydice - Answer✔️Orpheus tries to rescue his wife from the
underworld but looks back too soon. A tragic tale of love, loss, and artistic failure.
, Pygmalion - Answer✔️A sculptor falls in love with his own statue; the gods bring
it to life. Themes: idealization, male desire, and creation.
Laüstic - Answer✔️A married woman and her lover communicate through their
windows. When her husband kills the nightingale (her excuse to stay up), she sends
it to her lover as a symbol of their love and its silencing.
Chevrefoil - Answer✔️Tristram and Iseult's love is like the honeysuckle and
hazel—they can't live apart. A short lai about longing and coded messages.
Sir Thomas Wyatt - Answer✔️Translates Petrarch's inner conflict and passionate
love into English sonnet form. Often focuses on frustration and emotional tension
in love.
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey - Answer✔️Refines the English sonnet and captures
Petrarch's melancholy tone—idealizes the beloved, laments love's pain.
The Sun Rising - Answer✔️The speaker scolds the sun for interrupting him and
his lover—declares that their love is more powerful than time or nature.
The Canonization - Answer✔️Defends love against criticism—claims their love is
so sacred it could make them saints.
The Relic - Answer✔️Imagines someone discovering a love token (a lock of hair)
after his death and mistaking it as a holy relic—reflects on how love outlasts life.
The Flea - Answer✔️Uses a flea that has bitten both lovers to argue they are
already united and should have sex. Clever and seductive.
The Ecstasy - Answer✔️Two lovers sit silently, and their souls commune. The
poem argues that love is both physical and spiritual.
Holy Sonnet 14 - "Batter my heart" - Answer✔️The speaker begs God to violently
remake him—uses erotic and violent metaphors to express religious longing.
Holy Sonnet 17 - "Since she whom I loved" - Answer✔️Mourning a woman's
death, the speaker reflects on how earthly love can lead to divine love.
Literary Works, Authors, Themes, and
Key Quotes Review (2026–2027)
Poem 7 - Answer✔️Continues the kiss-counting metaphor; compares love to the
countless sands of Egypt.
Poem 8 - Answer✔️The speaker tells himself to move on from Lesbia, even
though he's clearly still heartbroken.
Poem 51 - Answer✔️Adaptation of Sappho 31. Catullus describes watching
Lesbia and feeling physically overwhelmed.
Poem 83 - Answer✔️Lesbia insults Catullus in front of her husband. He interprets
it as a sign she still loves him.
Poem 85 - Answer✔️"I hate and I love"—very short, capturing the emotional
contradiction of love.
Poem 101 - Answer✔️A funeral poem for his brother. Deeply emotional reflection
on love, loss, and grief.
Tiresias - Answer✔️A mortal who experiences life as both man and woman.
Reflects on gender and desire.
Echo and Narcissus - Answer✔️Echo loves Narcissus, but he loves only himself.
Echo fades into a voice; Narcissus becomes a flower. Themes: unrequited love,
vanity.
Iphis and Ianthe - Answer✔️A girl raised as a boy falls in love with another girl.
The gods transform Iphis into a man so the marriage can happen. Explores gender
identity and divine intervention.
Orpheus and Eurydice - Answer✔️Orpheus tries to rescue his wife from the
underworld but looks back too soon. A tragic tale of love, loss, and artistic failure.
, Pygmalion - Answer✔️A sculptor falls in love with his own statue; the gods bring
it to life. Themes: idealization, male desire, and creation.
Laüstic - Answer✔️A married woman and her lover communicate through their
windows. When her husband kills the nightingale (her excuse to stay up), she sends
it to her lover as a symbol of their love and its silencing.
Chevrefoil - Answer✔️Tristram and Iseult's love is like the honeysuckle and
hazel—they can't live apart. A short lai about longing and coded messages.
Sir Thomas Wyatt - Answer✔️Translates Petrarch's inner conflict and passionate
love into English sonnet form. Often focuses on frustration and emotional tension
in love.
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey - Answer✔️Refines the English sonnet and captures
Petrarch's melancholy tone—idealizes the beloved, laments love's pain.
The Sun Rising - Answer✔️The speaker scolds the sun for interrupting him and
his lover—declares that their love is more powerful than time or nature.
The Canonization - Answer✔️Defends love against criticism—claims their love is
so sacred it could make them saints.
The Relic - Answer✔️Imagines someone discovering a love token (a lock of hair)
after his death and mistaking it as a holy relic—reflects on how love outlasts life.
The Flea - Answer✔️Uses a flea that has bitten both lovers to argue they are
already united and should have sex. Clever and seductive.
The Ecstasy - Answer✔️Two lovers sit silently, and their souls commune. The
poem argues that love is both physical and spiritual.
Holy Sonnet 14 - "Batter my heart" - Answer✔️The speaker begs God to violently
remake him—uses erotic and violent metaphors to express religious longing.
Holy Sonnet 17 - "Since she whom I loved" - Answer✔️Mourning a woman's
death, the speaker reflects on how earthly love can lead to divine love.
