The mid-term quiz will consist of identification and definition/short answer questions; the final exam will consist of identification, definition/short answer, and essay questions.

ID questions provide you with a short passage and ask you to identify the author and title of the work, then to discuss briefly the significance of the passage. I always choose important passages that we have discussed in class, so you don't have to worry about me delving into obscure nooks and crannies for passages you've never seen before. If there is a time limit for the exam, begin by setting yourself a time limit on the IDs that's proportional to how much the IDs count. Don't, for example, use up 75% of the exam time answering the ID questions if they only count for 40% of the points. Answer those questions you can identify immediately; come back to ones you can't. If you have trouble, look for context clues. Save time by simply naming the author and work (i.e. Homer, Iliad) rather than putting them into a sentence (i.e. "This is from Homer's The Iliad").

Then, in complete sentences, discuss the significance of the passage. This is where students kill themselves. People who have done the reading and come to class generally don't have much trouble identifying the work, but they too often don't get the significance because they don't think about the passage's relationship to larger issues. Explaining significance may require some explanation of the content and situation of the passage, but simply re-stating the passage in your own words is not the point. Rather, significance means relating the passage to key points about the author, the work, and especially to the characteristics of classical literature. Say as much as you can about the passage within your time limit but be sure to hit the most important points.

For example, if I gave you:

 Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,
 murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
 hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls

This response merely summarizes the passage and the plot events that follow. A good response would be: Homer, Iliad. These are the opening lines of the poem. Epics begin with an invocation of the muse and the announcement of the epic theme. Here, Homer calls upon the muse to speak through him the story of Achilles’s wrath near the end of the Trojan War.

It would be appropriate to follow this with a brief explanation of what causes Achilles’s wrath and what results from it, but what I’m looking for is not your knowledge of plot but of concepts and themes. So, similarly, if I gave you a passage from the Cyclops episode in The Odyssey, I’d be looking in your answer primarily for a reference to the guest-host relationship, perhaps (depending on the passage) to the issue of Odysseus’s identity or of humans taking responsibility for their actions or of cannibalism as a perversion of feasting and a reference to the suitors, rather than plot summary or even plot significance. That Odysseus’s blinding of Polyphemus—and his gloating about it—increases Poseidon’s wrath and thus contributes to Odysseus’s suffering and delays his return home is worth mentioning, but it won’t get you full credit.

Definitions and short answers are straightforward, but again, don’t spend more time on these than is proportional to how much they count. Terms you should be able to define for the mid-term are: epic, epic simile, invocation, in medias res, epithet, aristeia, hubris, suppliant, xenia, and tyrant; for the final you should also know orchestra, ampitheater, skene, trilogy, prologue, parados, chorus, choragos, episode, ode, exodos, classical irony, tragedy, mimesis, peripety, catharsis, hamartia, tragic hero, deus ex machina. Short-answer questions call for a paragraph or two of factual information. You should be able to explain for the mid-term the history of the Homeric epics and the characteristics of oral tradition in the Homeric epics; for the final you should also know the history of Greek drama; the design of the Greek theater; the differences between Aeschylean, Sophoclean, and Euripidean drama; the social, religious, and political role of Greek drama; the social and political context of The Aeneid; the relationship of The Aeneid to the Homeric epics.

Essay questions of course require more sustained and integrated thought. If you're given a choice of questions, take a little time to read and think about each one before choosing which to write about. Then take the time to think about what you want to say: brainstorm, jot down notes, construct a scratch outline, write down a thesis statement. Whatever you do, don't start writing immediately. If you're not sure of exactly what your thesis will be, leave a blank space for the introductory paragraph and write it last. A good exam essay has the same characteristics as a good paper: a clear, specific, non-trivial thesis that responds to the question; a carefully developed argument with unified paragraphs and supporting evidence; and an introduction and conclusion. An exam essay, obviously, simply goes into less depth and detail and is not as highly polished as a paper.

The essay questions will fall into the same two areas that the course has emphasized and that appeared on the mid-term: close readings of the works and analyses of the use of classical works by later writers. Essay questions will emphasize Greek drama and The Aeneid, but Homer may appear as well.