Song of Roland Quizzes

1. The <i>chansons de geste</i> are

• long poems in alexandrine verse celebrating French kings
• Renaissance-era celebrations of Charlemagne's reign
• medieval epic poems in French
• bawdy tales mixing stories of war with outrageous sexual antics

2. <i>The Song of Roland</i> is

• originally in Latin
• considered the greatest <i>chanson de geste</i>
• both the oldest surviving poem in French and considered the greatest <i>chanson de geste</i>
• the oldest surviving poem in French

3. Most scholars place <i>The Song of Roland</i>'s composition around the time of

• the First Crusade
• the crowning of Charlemagne
• the fall of Constantinople to Islam
• the early Renaissance

4. A <i>chanson de geste</i> is made up of poetic units called

• <i>laisses</i>
• sonnets
• thrusts
• <i>gestes</i>

5. Charlemagne was

• a Frankish king of the fifteenth century
• a Roman emperor of the fourth century
• a Frankish ruler of the eighth and ninth century
• a Saxon king of the seventh century

6. <i>The Song of Roland</i> is

• a legendary account with some basis in history
• a faithful historical account
• full of fanciful predictions of the future, some of which have come true
• complete fiction

7. During Charlemagne's time, Islam

• was a besieged and battered faith, attacked on all sides by valiant Christian kings
• was the faith of some of the most advanced and sophisticated kingdoms in the world
• spreading rapidly
• both spreading rapidly and was the faith of some of the most advanced and sophisticated kingdoms in the world

8. Among the poem's most striking features is/are

• extraordinary empathy for the Moslems
• the use of "parallel <i>laisses</i>"
• both the use of "parallel <i>laisses</i>" and elegant, lengthy, developed metaphors
• elegant, lengthy, developed metaphors

9. The <i>chansons de gestes</i> were

• considered heretical by most French
• written to be performed
• elegant, refined, literary creations meant for study in an academic setting
• delivered in latin

10. Parataxis is

• the historian who wrote Charlemagne's chronicles
• juxtaposition of religious imagery and political symbols
• placing clauses one after another without conjunctions
• the oldest form of theatre