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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where does the introduction of "I Saw a Strange Creature..." say riddles similar to the semi-metaphorical riddles of the "Exeter Book" occur?
(a) Writings of the Pearl Poet.
(b) Chaucer's texts.
(c) Beowulf.
(d) The Bible.

2. What is "elf-shot"?
(a) Mange.
(b) Dysentary
(c) Lumbago.
(d) Disambiguation.

3. Who is named in the opening line of "A Grant of Land at Crediton"?
(a) Bede.
(b) Columbia.
(c) God.
(d) King Alfred.

4. What is the answer to the "best known riddle in this genre" (Anglo-Saxon literature)?
(a) Man.
(b) Woman.
(c) Dog.
(d) God.

5. At the time of the meeting between the teacher and the hunter, why had the hunter not hunted "today"?
(a) He has been ill.
(b) The lord of the region forbid hunting.
(c) He broke his arm and can no longer hunt.
(d) It was Sunday.

Short Answer Questions

1. As the author states in the introduction to "I Saw a Creature...," what do some riddles reflect?

2. According to the introduction of Example and Exhortation, what language did King Alfred learn to translate texts into the "vernacular" of?

3. In what year was Boniface born?

4. In the stanza that begins "I saw a creature," what sticks out behind the creature?

5. Whose power does the opening line of "For a Swarm of Bees" recognize?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were some of the things that Boniface did when he worked as a missionary between 722 and 752?

2. According to the author of the introduction to "I Saw A Creature...," what "relief" does the author state is found in Anglo-Saxon riddles?

3. What happened to the letters that survived pre-Conquest England?

4. Why does the fisherman state that he would not wish to fish for whales?

5. Why does the author to the introduction of "I Saw a Strange Creature..." state that Anglo-Saxon riddles "satisfy us both as enigmas and as poems"?

6. In what ways was the runic alphabet used throughout Anglo-Saxon history?

7. Where was the greatest amount of scientific prose found in Anglo-Saxon literature?

8. What are the four things that the shepherd does every day?

9. Describe the appearance of the slaves that Gregory I came across prior to becoming Pope.

10. Why did Pope Gregory I write a letter to Candidus?

(see the answer keys)

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