Ms. Morgan lmorgan@trschools.com HS East W24
I am so happy you are interested in entering the strange and exciting world of AP Literature!
Please realize that the Guidance Department still needs to process all course requests and prerequisite requirements over the summer. Attending this meeting and / or completing the AP Literature Summer Reading Assignment DOES NOT MEAN you are officially in the course yet, nor does it ‘guarantee’ your acceptance, which again is dependent upon your satisfaction of the minimum prerequisites, etc. If you choose to complete the assignment prior to Guidance’s confirmation of your placement in the course – which usually occurs in July – you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. BUT … if you are accepted … which I certainly hope you will be … then yes, we will work hard. Yes, we will learn a lot. Yes, we will have FUN!! (You might have to trust me on that last one…) First, though, we have to get through the summer. And who wants to lie around on the beach or by the pool when you could be reading great literature? The good news is, you don’t have to make that horrible choice—you can kill two birds with one stone!
Your AP Lit assignment for this summer has two parts:
(1) The Dastardly Lit Terms—
Study the attached list of literary terms and definitions. They are one among several tickets to the Mystical Land of 5!
Be prepared for a comprehensive vocabulary test in September. That will be one among several tickets to the Mystical Land of A+!
(2) The Dastardly Lit (naturally)—
Read two (2) works from the reverse list that you have NOT read before. If you took AP Language last year instead of American Lit, then you MUST include at least one (1) American work among your selections.
Complete a Blue Review Sheet for each work you read. (Don’t lose these! They are more tickets to your desired destination…)
Be prepared to write an extensive literary analysis of both works in September, including the author’s use of literary devices such as symbolism, figurative language (metaphors, similes, etc), sensory imagery (visual as well as the other physical senses), character foils, parallel plotlines, and so on to convey plot, character, and theme development.
DO YOUR OWN INTERPRETIVE WORK! “Easy interpretation” sites (SparkNotes, et al) are NOT ACCEPTABLE sources of academic literary analysis, especially at the AP level. Additionally, working from such sites without crediting them is PLAGIARISM. Copying or submitting the same work as one another is also PLAGIARISM and is NOT ALLOWED. Either action, if detected, will result in not only a 0, but also disciplinary action. Besides, these are the ways of the literary coward. I would rather you get it FLAT WRONG all by yourself than STEAL it from somebody else!!
(See reverse for list of Summer Reading selections.)
Read Two! (See front for further instructions.)
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
Beloved (Toni Morrison)
Emma (Jane Austen)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
Inferno (Part III of Divina Commedia) (Dante Alighieri)
Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy)
Les Miserables (The novel, not the musical!) (Victor Hugo)
Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Middlemarch (George Eliot, i.e. Mary Ann Evans)
Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf)
My Antonia (Willa Cather)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw)
Silas Marner (George Eliot, i.e. Mary Ann Evans)
The Stranger (Albert Camus)
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)
Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
The Trial (Franz Kafka)
NOTE: Please secure parental permission before reading any work listed.
Name: ___________________________________________________ Date: ____________________
Advanced Honors & AP English Literature and Composition Review Form for Major Works (eg Epic Poem, Drama, Novel)
Full Title of Work: ___________________________________ Year of Publication: ____________ Genre: _____________ Historical Era / Cultural Movement: _______________________________ Author: ______________________ Birth–Death Dates / Places: _____________________________ Setting(s) [times and places as well as significant socio-economic and historical aspects] Primary: ___________________________________________________________________________ Secondary: _________________________________________________________________________ Other: _____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ Major Characters Protagonists / Archetypes: ___________________________________________________________ Antagonists / Archetypes: ___________________________________________________________ Primary Foils [to whom?]/ Archetypes: _________________________________________________ Primary Love Interests & Sidekicks / Archetypes: _______________________________________ Minor Characters Of Significant Plot Function / Archetypes: ______________________________________________ Of Symbolic Function / Archetypes: ___________________________________________________ Other: _____________________________________________________________________________ Central Conflicts [identify both sides, eg “X vs. Y”] Primary External: ___________________________________________________________________ Primary Internal: ____________________________________________________________________ Secondary: _________________________________________________________________________ Key Plot Points Exposition / Status Quo: _____________________________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________ Rising Action: ______________________________________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________ Dramatic Climax / Height of Dramatic Tension: ________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________ Falling Action: ______________________________________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________ Resolution / Denouement / Catastrophe: ______________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________
Narrative Style [point of view / perspective, distinctive literary style / devices used, and narrator’s name / character traits]: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Themes [full statements of the lessons or messages of the work, not 1-word “concepts”] Primary: ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Secondary: _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Other: _____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Symbols, Metaphors, and Allegories: _________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ Mythological, Biblical, Literary, Historical, Scientific, and Cultural Allusions: ____________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Other Significant Literary Devices / Notable Aspects: ___________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________
QUOTES!!! [include at least 3, from beginning, middle, and end of work] [SPECIAL NOTE: Many students do not fill this part in—and later express EXTREME REGRET!]
Who? Said What? [“EXACT WORDS & PUNCTUATION!”] To Whom? Why? Chapter / page OR Act / scene / line
Name: ___________________________________________________ Date: ____________________
Advanced Honors & AP English Literature and Composition Review Form for Major Works (eg Epic Poem, Drama, Novel)
Full Title of Work: ___________________________________ Year of Publication: ____________ Genre: _____________ Historical Era / Cultural Movement: _______________________________ Author: ______________________ Birth–Death Dates / Places: _____________________________ Setting(s) [times and places as well as significant socio-economic and historical aspects] Primary: ___________________________________________________________________________ Secondary: _________________________________________________________________________ Other: _____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ Major Characters Protagonists / Archetypes: ___________________________________________________________ Antagonists / Archetypes: ___________________________________________________________ Primary Foils [to whom?]/ Archetypes: _________________________________________________ Primary Love Interests & Sidekicks / Archetypes: _______________________________________ Minor Characters Of Significant Plot Function / Archetypes: ______________________________________________ Of Symbolic Function / Archetypes: ___________________________________________________ Other: _____________________________________________________________________________ Central Conflicts [identify both sides, eg “X vs. Y”] Primary External: ___________________________________________________________________ Primary Internal: ____________________________________________________________________ Secondary: _________________________________________________________________________ Key Plot Points Exposition / Status Quo: _____________________________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________ Rising Action: ______________________________________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________ Dramatic Climax / Height of Dramatic Tension: ________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________ Falling Action: ______________________________________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________ Resolution / Denouement / Catastrophe: ______________________________________________ [Subplots:] ______________________________________________________________________
Narrative Style [point of view / perspective, distinctive literary style / devices used, and narrator’s name / character traits]: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Themes [full statements of the lessons or messages of the work, not 1-word “concepts”] Primary: ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Secondary: _________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Other: _____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Symbols, Metaphors, and Allegories: _________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ Mythological, Biblical, Literary, Historical, Scientific, and Cultural Allusions: ____________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Other Significant Literary Devices / Notable Aspects: ___________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________
QUOTES!!! [include at least 3, from beginning, middle, and end of work] [SPECIAL NOTE: Many students do not fill this part in—and later express EXTREME REGRET!]
Who? Said What? [“EXACT WORDS & PUNCTUATION!”] To Whom? Why? Chapter / page OR Act / scene / line
M cG
raw -H
cG raw
-H iU
C om
ram a
venue o f the
h e M
o part o
r distributed in any form
o r by any m
eans, or stored in a data base or retrieval system , w
ithout the prior w
ritten consent o fT
ited to, in any
ission, or broadcast for distance learning. S
om e ancillaries, including electronic and print com
ponents, m ay no.t be available to custom
ers outside the U
n acid-free paper.
A lexis W
o G irls R
n g
ress C a ~ o g i n g - i n - P u b l i c a t i o nD
ata
a 1 R o
B N
oard's A
fE nglish and
H um
anities for nearly thirty years, including serving as V isiting Professor at
N Y
.A . in E
nglish from R
P h.D
students o fliterature and the hum
anities. H is
raw ­
anities, The Scribner H
od­ em
A m
erican Poets: Their liOices and Visions (a text to accom pany the popular PB
S television series). H
f S trunk and W
hite's classic E
rts and C ulture: A
n Introduction to the
lium anities, the basis for a lecture series at the M
etropolitan M useum
""m Y
ig h
"B a
elin, There W as
ol (1
9 4
hich the surface details im ply a secondary m
eaning. A lle­
f a story in w hich the characters represent m
oral qualities. T he
nglish is John B unyan's Pilgrim
's Progress, in w hich the nam
e o fthe
ay B oyle's story ','A
s­ tronom
hristina R ossetti's poem
A lliteratio
T h
e repetition o f consonant sounds, especially at the beginning o
f w ords. E
fthe E
lw y."
A n
ap est
T w
o unaccented syllables follow ed by an accented one, as in com
prehend o r intervene.
A n anapestic m
eter rises to the accented beat as in B yron's lines from
"T h
n the sea, I W
h en
A n
tag o
n ist
iresias is the antagonist o f O
edipus in S
ing. A
sid e
W ords spoken by an actor directly to the audience w
hich are not "heard" by the other characters on stage during a play. In Shakespeare's O
thello, lago voices his inner thoughts a num
ber o f tim
sso n
an ce
T h
e r e p e ~ i t i o n
o fsim
r a line o fpoetry o
r prose, as in "I rose and told him
o fm
earn'd A stronom
ing lines: "H o
e tired
u t I w
hich the speaker com plains about the arrival o
f the daw n, w
hen he m
onne's "T h
B allad
narrative poem w
ritten in four-line stanzas, characterized by sw i'ft action and nar­
rated in a direct style.T h
e anonym ous m
B lan
k v
erse A
ed iam bic pentam
eter. Shakespeare's sonnets, M
o b
2 1
6 1
include m any lines o
f blank verse. H ere are the opening blank verse lines o
f "B irches"·,
"W h
en I see birches bend .to the left and right / A
cross the lines o fstraighter darker tre
I like to think som e boy's been sw
ingng them ."
fverse. T h
HardY's'''Th~ MJ.,j 1
H e K
f tw o lines:
O ff-h
an d
-lik e-ju
N o
f a tragedy that initiates thl1. denouem ent o
r faIl!Eg~,a..t~'· tion o
f a play. O n
e exam ple is the dueling scene in A
ct V o
f H am
am let.dies,
e purging o f the feelings o
f pity and fear that, according to A ristotle, occurs in
the audience o f tragic dram
a. T h
e audience experiences catharsis at the end o fthe play, fol­
low ing the catastrophe.
ork. L iterary characters m
ay be m a­
r dynam ic (capable o
f change). In Shakespeare's q~h.~lI..A
D esdem
u t one w
ho is static, like the m inor character B,~~nca.
O thello is a m
ajor character w ho is dynam
ic, exhibiting an ability to change. :
<>.;,
eans by w hich w
riters present and reveal c h a r a c t e r . A l t h o u g h , : ~ e c h ~
niques o f characterization are com
plex, w riters typically reveal characters through,!their
speech, dress, m anner, and actions. R
eaders com e to understand the character M
iss EmifX~~' Faulkner's story"A
R ose for E
m ily" through w
hat s h ~ f floes'.
C h
o ru
s A
reek tragedy (and in later form s o
fdram a) w
f a play w ithout participation in it. T
heir leader is the choragos. SO Phocles'
A ntigone and O
edipus the K ing both contain an explicit chorus w
ith a choragos. T eppessee
W illiam
enagerie contains a character w ho functions like a chorus.
C lim
T h
e turning point o f the action in the plot o
f a play o r story. T
h e c
l i m a x r e p r ~ s . ~ 9 . ~
the point o fgreatest tension in the w
ork.T h
b as a cashier.
A type o
f form o
r structure in poetry characterized by regularity and cq~~s-:­ tency in sllch elem
ents as rhym e, line length, and m
etrical pattern. Frost's " S t o p p ~ n g
by W
f m any exam
som e o
:' ... "
H is house is in the village though.
H e w
ill n o
T o w
ith snow .
C o
m ed
hich the characters experience reversals o f fortune, usually
for the better. In com edy, things w
ork out happily in the end. C om
ic dram a m
ay b e e
iality -o
f hum an nature, one that ridicules hum
an folly. Shaw 's A
rm s
antic com edy; C
G lossary
2 1
e use o f a com
ic scene to interrupt a succession. o f intensely tragic dra­
m atic m
om ic reliefis lacking in G
reek tragedy, but occurs.reg.:. ularly in Shakespeare's tragedies. O
n e exam
ctV o
am let.
C o
m p
licatio n
om plication builds up,
ary OF central conflict'in a literary w
ork. F rank
f the N ation" provides a striking exam
ple, as does R alph E
l­ lison's "B
attle R oyal."
A struggle betw
een opposing forces in a story o r play, usually resolved'by the end
o f the w
ithin a character as w ell as betw
een characters.
C o
n n
o tatio
T h
e associations called up by a w ord that go beyond its dictionary m
eaning. Poets, especially, tend to use w
ords rich in connotation, D ylan T
hom as's "D
o not go gen­
tle into that good night" includes intensely connotative language, as in these lines: "G ood
m en, the last w
ave by, crying how bright / T
heir frail deeds m ight have danced in a green
bay, I R age, rage against the dying o
f the light." .
ary feature o f a literary w
ork, such as the use o f a chorus in G
reek tragedy, the inclusion o
f an explicit m oral in a fable, o
r the use o f a pailicular rhym
e schem
iterary conventions are defining features o f particular literary
genres, such as novel, short story, ballad, sonnet, and play.
C o
u p
let A
o r m
Shakespeare's sonnets end in rhym
ed couplets, as in "F o
r thy sw eet lQ
ve rem em
bered such w
ealth brings / T h
at then I scorn to change niy state w ith kings."
D acty
l A
o unstressed ones, as injIut-ter-lng o r blue-bir-fy.
T h
o dactyls per line:
riters typically p lay
o ff a w
ord's denota­ tive m
plied associational im plications.
P eter M
y S
and fruit, bread and w ine denote specific things, b
u t also suggest som
ething beyond the literal, dictionary m
eanings o f the w
ords:
een the peony and rose .J.::'
P lant squash and spinach, turnips and tom
atoes; B
e s-
, 'I· ·il..
ith your w ine.
let .bk~s place after the catastrophe, w
ith the stage littered w ith corpses. D
uring. the d e n o ~ e m e n t
,j!'1
F ortinbras m
akes an ~ n t r a n c e and a speech, and H
oratio speaks his sw eet lines in praise o
f H
am let.
tion. T h
eans, literally, "a god from the m
achine."T he phrase refers to
the use o
fa play. D
ork. In fiction and poetry dialogue:is typically enclosed w
ithin quotation m arks. S
ee Frost's "H o
plays, characters' speech is preceded by their nam es.
~
w ork's diction form
portant literary elem ents, as w
riters use w ords to convey action, reveal character;'im
ply attitudes, identify them
es, and suggest values. W e can speak o
f the diction particular to a character, as in Iago's and D
esdem ona's very different w
ays o fspeaking in O
thello:· W e'crn.
also refer to a poet's diction as represented over the body o f h i ~ o
r her w ork, as in'D
onne's or H
onologue. R o
b ert B
row ning's "'M
·· ....,v·I> iJ
a play. Included am ong the':dram
atis' personae o
illy L om
ife ,L intla': arid
appy.
.. ' : .~ I.
b ert H
ayden's "T hose W
inter S u n d a ~ s " i i s ele­
giac in tone. A
H . A
lues." •
el o r syllable to preserve the m
eter o fa Iin~'ljf'~o~
etry.A 1exander uses elision in "S
ound and S ense": "Flies o
'erth ' unbending corn.'.·!""
m atical sense carrieseYG~t,..
II from
the gram m
R o
ple, the first line is end-stop~~.1;;~j~{*;
II = ~ ~ ~
n the w
T h
...
the origins o
irgil's A eneid, and M
ilton's Paradise Lost. .
ope's "E pigram
o g
;· P
hose dog are you?
f a fictional o r dram
atic plot, in w h
ich necessary backgrtiuitd :
D oll H
ouse, for instance, begins W ith a conversati0nib-e~
the tw o central characters, a dialogue that fills the audience in on events that oc~~n-:;d:b{,i6'
the action o fthe play begins, but w
hich are im portant in the developm
ent o fits p
oral provided by the author. Fables typically include an­ im
als as characters. T heir m
ost fam ous practitioner in the W
est is the ancient G reek w
riter A
" and "T h
astiff" are included in this book. C
om pare Parable.
fa story or play, the action follow ing the clim
ax o fthe w
ent o r resolution. T
h e falling action o
f O thello begins after
O thello realizes that Iago is responsible for plotting against him
by spurring him o
oetic m eters such as trochaic and dactylic that m
ove or fall from a stre~sed to
an unstressed. syllable. T he nonsense line, "H
iggledy, piggledy," is dactylic, w ith' the accent
on the first syllable and the tw o syllables follow
ing falling offfrom that accent in each w
otd'. T
ip-hop, be-bop, treeto p
r dram a, or an im
agined ch aracter-a
ake-believe" character in a play, as are H am
let and O
o b
uchess from his poem
D uchess" are fictional as w
ell, though they m ay be based on actual historical individuals.
A nd, o
fcourse, characters in stories and novels are fictional, t110ugh they, too,.m ay be based,
in som e w
e im portant thing to rem
em ber is that w
riters em bellish and
em broider and alter actual life w
hen they use real life as the basis for their w ork; T
hey fic­ tionalize facts, deviate from
real life situations as they "m ake things up." .
F ig
u rativ
riters and speakers convey som e­
thing other than the literal ineaning o ftheir w
ords. E xam
ation, litotes o r understatem
ent, sim ile and m
etaphor, w hich em
and m etonym
f a thing stands for the w hole.
F lash
b ack
n interruption o fa w
ork's chronology to describe or present an incident that oc­ curred prior to the m
ain tim e fram
ork's action. W riters use flashbacks to com
pli­ cate the sense o
f chronology in the plot o f their w
orks and to convey the richness o f the
experience o f hum
R ose for E
m ily" includes flashbacks.
ain character in a play o r story. L
aertes, in H
ain character; in O ihello, E
m ilia and B
ona. F
o o
t A
or exam ple, an iam
b or iam
bic foot is represented by "' that is, an unaccented syllable follow ed by an accented one.
Frost's line "W hose w
oods these are I think I know " contains four iam
bs, and is thus an
iam bic foot.
D oll
H ouse includes foreshadow
ing as does Synge's R iders to the Sea. So, too, do Poe's "C
ask o f
our." F
o u
rth w
all T
f the box theater setting, supposedly rem oved to allow
the audience to see the action. T
h e fourth w
on in m odern and contem
­ porary plays, such as H
ansberry's A R
ffer, and W ilson's
s to adhere to an explicit and iden­ tifiable m
eter and rhym e schem
e in a form such as the sonnet o
r ballad. M odern and
contem porary poets o
enty-first centuries often em ploy free verse:
W illiam
s's "T his Is Just to Say" is one o
f m any exam
ovem ent o
f a character during a play. G esture is used to reve'al char­
acter, and m ay include facial expressions as w
ell as m ovem
f an actor's body. S
om etim
es a playw right w
ill be very explicit about both bodily and facial gestures, providing detailed instructions in the play's stage directions. Shaw
's A rm
cludes such stage directions. See Stage direction.
H y
p erb
o le
n n
atch a Falling Star."
A
n ullStressed syllable follow ed by a stressed one, as in today. See Foot.
Iam b
h en
m el'i's eyes.
pression, a feeling, or an idea. Im agery refers to
the pattern o f related details in a w
ork. In som e w
orks one im age predom
inates either by recurring throughout the w
ork or by appearing at a critical point in the plot. O ften w
rit­ ers use m
ork to suggest states o ffeeling and to convey im
pli­ cations o
e m odern poets, such as E
zra P ound and W
illiam C
arlos W
illiam s, w
rite poem s that lack discursive explanation entirely and include only im
ages. A
o em
etro":
d; Petals o
n a w
et, black bough.
parative aspects o f language, particularly o
f im ages, in a
literary w ork. Im
es Joyce's stories "A raby:' "T
h e
agery. Iro
n y
een w hat is said and w
hat is m eant o
r betw een w
hat happens and w
hat is expected to happen in life and in literature. In verbal irony, characters say the opposite o
f w hat they m
ean. In irony o f circum
stance o r situation, the opposite o
f w
hat is expected occurs. In dran1<1tic irony, a character speaks in ignorance o fa situation o
r event know
n to the audience o r to the other characters. F
lannery O 'C
onnor's short stories
s o f irony, as does Poe's "C
ask o fA
riters and speakers m ean exactly w
hat their w
onnotation. L
f feeling. M
s in this book are lyrics. T h
e anonym ous "W
n can rain? C
ere in m y arm
s A
M etap
h o
r A
parative w
ple is "M y
urns's "A R
etaphors. M etaphor
w ide range
o f m
etaphor in his sonnets and his plays, often in such density and profusion that readers are kept busy analyzip.g and interpreting and unraveling them
. C om
f rhythm ic accents in poem
s. S ee Foot and Iam
b. M
eto n
y m
is substituted for an object or idea. A
n exam ple: "W
ained loyal to the crown.~' C om
pare Synecdoche. M
o n
o lo
g u
e A
speech by a single character w ithout another character:s response. See D
ram atic
ee Ballad.
N arrato
r T
plied speaker o fa fictional w
ork, to be distinguished from the ac­
tualliving author. F or exam
ple, the narrator o fJoyce's "A
raby" is n o
self b
u t a literary fictional character created expressly to tell the story. F
aulkner's"A R
m unal narrator, identified only as "w
e." See P oint of view
. N
ple, K afka's "T
eter, and form . U
sually a serious poem
heu fugaces," b u
y Socks."
O n
o m
ato p
o eia
T h
ords to im itate the sounds they describe. W
ords such as buzz and crack are onom
atopoetic.T h
ense" onom atopoet­
hat it describes:
eight to throw ,
ove slow .
ords and groups o fw
ords, such as T ennyson's
description o
fthe "m
u rm
q r
o finnum
erable bees,"
fa Sw
.Irm o
r form in
e, line length, m etrical pattern, and overall
poetic structure. E . E
P arab
le A
r spiritual. E xam
ples include "T h
e S ilent."
ork, som etim
its playful im itation. E
xam ples include B
fW illiam
Say." P
ath o
s A
ulates the audience to feel. pity for a character. P
athos is alW olys an aspect o
f tragedy, and m ay b
e present in com edy as v:.ell.
P erso
n ificatio
ith anim ate o
r living qualities. A
e yellow leaves flaunted their color gaily in the breeze.','
W ordsw
plifies personification. " r '
f incidents in a literary w ork. See C
onflict, C lim
ax, D enouem
ork's point o f view
can be first person, in w
hich the narrator is a character o r an observer; objective, in w
hich the narrator know
n o
niscient, in w hich th~ .
narrator know s everything about the characters; and lim
ited om niscient, w
hich allow s the
narrator to know som
t n o
arrator. . .-1,.
P ro
p s
n stage during a play. T
h e C
D o'll
enagerie are exam ples.
rk -H
ed after them , G
afka's M etam
aw rence's "R
f the").
Q u
A four-line stanza in a poem
, the first four lines and the second four lines in a Pe~ trarchan sonnet. A
S hakespearean sonnet contains three quatrain's follow
ed by a couplet.
h e point at w
hich a character understands his o r her situation as it really is.
S ophocles' O
edipus com es to this point near the end o
f O edipus the K
ing; O thello com
o f O
u t or unraveling o
f a plot at the end o f a play, novel, o
r story. See
e point at w hich the action o
f the plot turns in an unexpected direction (or the protagonist. O
edipus' and O thello's recognitions are also reversals. T
h ey
ecognition and also Irony. R
h y
m e
T h
r consonant sounds in tw o o
r m ore w
ic/lard C ory em
ith. the third line rhym ing w
ith
W henever R
ichard C o
; H
n, C
.
r stress in lines o f verse. In the follow
ing lines from
ords and syllables are underlined:
I m rl to illy baby,
~ b y
ond ~
A set o
f conflicts and crises that constitute that part o f a play's or story's plot
leading up to the clim ax. See C
lim ax, D
bic and anapestic that m ove or ascend from
an u n ~
b, and Falling M eter.
S atire
isconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies. Sw
ift's Gr<lIiver~< Travels is a fam
ous exam ple. C
ents.
A six-line unit o
f verse constituting a stanza or section o f a poem
; the last six lines of an Italian sonnet. E
xam ples: Petrarch's "Ifit is not love, then w
hat is it that I feel" and Frost's "D
esign." S
estin a
A poem
ritten in iam
bic pentam eter. Its six-line stanzas repeat
in an intricate and prescribed order the final w ord in each o
f the first six lines. A fter the
sixth stanza, there is a three-line envoi, w hich uses the six repeating w
ords, tw o w
erican S outhw
to late tw entieth century, those o
f Jam
es Joyce in D ublin, Ireland, in the early tw
entieth century.
S im
ile A
parison betw een unlike things using like, as, or as
though. A n exam
pare M etaphor.
A
speech in a play that is m eant to be heard by the audience but not by other char­
acters o n
the stage. If there are no other characters present, the soliloquy represents the character thinking aloud. H
am let's "T
o be or not to b e" speech is an exam
ple. C om
arranged as d u
ee quatrains and a final couplet, rhym ing abab cdcd efefgg. The./letrarchan or
Italian sonnet divides into tw o parts: an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet, rhym
ing abba abba cde cde or abba abba cd cd cd.
S p
o n
d ee
A m
etrical foot represented by tw o stressed syllables, such as kn{ck~knack.
S tag
m ents that provide readers
(and actors) w iili inform
ation about the dialogue, setting, and action o f a play. M
odern playw
iller, and W illiam
hile earlier playw rights typically used them
m ore sparsely, im
all. S ee G
T h
e spectacle a play presents in perform ance, including the position o
factors on stage, the scenic background, the props and costum
es, and ilie lighting and sound effects.T ennessee
W illiam
s describes these in his detailed stage directions for The G lass M
enagerie and also in his
P roduction N
tan za
( a poem that is repeated in ilie sam
e fo rm
-eith er w
eter, o r w
he stanzas o
f R ita D
ove's "C anary" are
ayan author chooses w ords, and arranges them
in sentences or in lines o f dialogue
or verse, and develops ideas and actions w ith description, im
agery, and other literary tech­ niques. See
also C
onnotation, D
enotation, D
iction, Figurative
language, Im
age, Im
agery, Irony,
S u
b ject
W h
at a story o r play is about; to be distinguished from
plot and them e. Faulkner's "A
R o
ily" is about the decline o f a particular w
ay o f life endem
ic to the A m
erican S
ar.T h
w F
aulkner organizes the actions o
f the story's characters. Its iliem e is the overall m
eaning F aulkner conveys.)
S u
b p
lo t
A subsidiary or subordinate or parallel plot in a play o
r story iliat coexists w iili the
m ain plot.T
s a subplot w it!J.in ilie overall plot
o f H
ork that m eans m
ore than itself, that stands for som e­
thing beyond itself.T he glass unicorn in The G
lass M enagerie, the rocking horse in "T
he R o c ~ ­
e R o
hich a part is substituted for the w hole.A
n exam
ple:"L end
om pare M
fw ords in a sentence o
r line o f verse o
r dialogue. T h
e organi­ z.1tion o
fprose, verse, and dialogue. In the fol­
low ing exam
ple, norm al syntax (subject, verb, object order) is inverted: "W
hose w oods these
."
A story that narrates strange happenings in a direct m
anner, w ithout detailed descriptions o
f character. P
etronius' "T h
e W id
-
plified by Shelley's "O de to the W
est W ind."T
he three-line stan­ zas or sections that together constitute the sestet o
f a Petrarchan or Italian sonnet. T
erza rim a
A three-line stanz:lic pattern w
ith interlocking tercet rhym es: aba bcb, and so on, as in
Frost's "A cquainted w
ith the N ight."
e idea o fa Iiternry w
ork abstracted from its details o
f l a n g u a ~ e , character, and action, and
cast in the form o
f a generalization. See the discussion o f D
ickinson's "C rum
ct." T
o n
e T
ard the subject and characters o f a w
ork, as, for exam ple,
Flannery O 'C
ountry People." C om
f dram a in w
hich the characters experience reversals o f fortune, usually for the
w orse. In tragedy, cat.1strophe and suffering aw
ait m any o
am ples include Shakespeare's O
thello and H am
let; S ophocles' A
ing; A
and Tragic H ero.
eakness or lim itation o
f character, resulting in the fall o f the tragic hero. O
thello's
Tra<~;c hero. T
glory into suffering. S ophocles' O
edipus is an exam ple. See Tragedy and Tragic
.flaw. T
rag ico
m ed
com ic elem
easure. lonesco's The G ap is one exam
ple. T
ro ch
ee A
n accented syllable follow ed by an unaccented one, as inf6otbiH
i.
f speech in w hich a w
riter or speaker says less than w hat he or she
m eans; the opposite o
f exaggeration. T he last line o
f i"rost's "B irches" illustrates this literary de­
vice:"O ne could do w
orse than be a sw inger o
f birches." U
T he idea that a play should be lim
ited to a specific tim e, place, and story line. T
h e events
ithin a tw enty-four hour period, should occur w
ithin a given geo­ graphic locale, and should tell a single stoty. A
ristotle argued that Sophocles' O edipus the K
ing w as
V illanelle
A nineteen-line lyric poem
that relies heavily on repetition.T he first and third lines alternate
throughout the poem , w
hich is structured in six stanzas-five tercets and a concluding quatrain.
E xam
\ Acknowledgm en
ther Stories by C
hinua A chebe. C
fD o
an d
an d
o m
ternberg, by p e
tep­ anchev. C
ax H ay­
eaven S
h erm
an A
ove S ongs I &
anc­ ing ©
ission o f H
. C opyright ©
lum e, an
lgonquin B ooks o
f C hapel H
ill. eprinted ·by per­
nglish and H ebrew
by Y ehuda A
ssia G utm
ann, 1993~ . "Y
ou C an
HS East AP Literature Summer Reading Terms