View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Alfrida react to the insistence that Ethelred go to the coronation?

2. Who is Breaca?

3. Who does Edward wed?

4. What does Alfrida do to surprise Edward shortly after Yuletide passes?

5. To whom does King Edgar give the thrown?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Alfrida consent to marry Rumon when he asked her again the day after Christmas?

2. Describe Rumon's appearance when he first meets Merewyn.

3. How does Edward describe his love, Elgifu?

4. On the feast of the Assumption, how does Merewyn describe the Abbey's gardens as she sat in them beside Elfled on the well curb?

5. What does King Edgar look like when Rumon and Merewyn first encounter him?

6. What did Rumon say to Merewyn in his letter that he sent to her at the Abbey?

7. Describe Brother Finian.

8. What happened when Edward's body thane, Gunnar, is sent to Alfrida on Coronation Eve?

9. How did Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, look when Rumon first sees him?

10. How does Dunstan describe the scene that he came upon that led him to take Rumon to Glastonbury Abbey two weeks after the coronation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Alfrida could be considered a villainness. Analyze the nature of her villainy and show how it enhances the meaning of the novel and is crucial to plot development.

Essay Topic 2

What is the role of the Catholic Church in "Avalon?" How does the Church influence decisions made by the characters? How would the characters decisions be different if the Church didn't have such pervasive effect in Medieval society?

Essay Topic 3

Think about how the characters, setting, and themes in "Avalon" relate to the period in which it was written. (The early to mid 1960s.) How is it a reflection, and how is it a criticism of that time period? How does Seton make her opinions about that world clear to the reader?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,272 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample