Mrs. Amanatullah, Ms. Burnside, Ms. Nguyen
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AP ENGLISH LITERATURE
SUMMER ASSIGNMENT 2014
Your summer assignment has several sections, which will help introduce you to the major strands of
study in AP English. The Poetry Wheel and the optional drama assignment (if you choose to complete it)
must be turned in the first day of class. The terms test, allusions test and in-class essays will be
completed within the first three weeks of the school year.
1.
AP Literary Terms Packet: It is vital that you be familiar with and able to correctly use the
terminology of literary analysis and criticism. Please study the attached packet of literary terms. We
would suggest your create vocabulary flash cards from which to study, however, WE WILL NOT BE
CHECKING THESE FLASH CARDS. You will be given a quiz on these terms within the first few weeks of
school.
2.
Poetry Wheel: You will be responsible for creating a poetry wheel around an abstract noun,
using selected terms from the Literary Terms Packet. The specific directions for the poetry wheel,
along with an example, are attached.
3.
Epic literature; Classical and Biblical allusions:
4.
AP-Level Literary Works:
Western literature makes countless
references to Greek mythology and to the Bible. Attached is a list of Classical and Biblical allusions
that a student of literature must be familiar with. (You may already be familiar with many of them).
Again, we suggest you create flashcards to study the allusions, but WE WILL NOT BE CHECKING
THESE CARDS. You will be quizzed on these terms within the first few weeks of school. To that end,
you should read the following:
 The Iliad, Homer: Books 1, 9, 18, 22, 24
 The Odyssey, Homer: Books 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 22, 23
 The Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Psalms 19, 22, 23, 95, 121, 137, Job, Matthew, Mark, and the early
chapters of Revelations.
a. You will read two AP-level literary works over the summer. The first is The Awakening, by Kate
Chopin. You can check out a copy of the novella from Mrs. Boyer. We will be discussing this
work at the beginning of the year, and you will complete an in-class essay on the novel within
the first few weeks of school.
b. You will also read an optional AP-level work from the following list. You will write an in-class, APstyle essay on your optional work within the first two weeks of class.
 All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
 As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
 Atonement, Ian McEwen
 King Lear, William Shakespeare
 The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
 Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
 Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
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5.
Optional Assignment -- Drama Review:
You will undoubtedly find it helpful to attend a
theater production of a Shakespearean play. I recommend the productions of the Los Gatos
Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Play On in Santa Cruz, Shady Shakespeare, the California
Shakespeare Festival in Orinda, or “Free Shakespeare in the Park,” sponsored by the San Francisco
Shakespeare Festival. Among the offerings this year are Julius Caesar, Much Ado about Nothing, A
Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Taming of the Shrew and Othello. Perhaps some of
you can attend the play together so you can enjoy it together and discuss it.
Following the performance, you should write a complete play review, typed and in MLA format, that
will be added to your grade as a non-required assignment.
Facebook Page: We have created a class Facebook page to communicate during the summer.
Please check it periodically for questions and updates. We’re hoping to create some support materials
to help you complete the assignments. The address for the page is
www.facebook.com/BranhamAPLit1314.
Turnitin.com: The optional review (if you choose to complete one) must be submitted to
turnitin.com in order for us to grade it. Use the following information to submit your paper.
Class ID number: 7658097
Password: burnside
Literary Terms Poetry Wheel Assignment
You will be creating a poetry wheel to study for the AP Exam.
Step 1: Pick an abstract noun (i.e. hunger) as your theme.
Step 2: Give an example (preferably an original one) for each of the following figurative
devices that centers on your theme.
Step 3: Create a poetry wheel or grid that has the name of your device, the definition of the
device, and your example using the device to describe your theme word. (A simplified example
of a poetry wheel is attached for your reference. Please note that the wheel has only 8 slots. If
you use this template, you will need to print out three separate wheels to fit all 24 terms.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Alliteration
Allusion
Analogy
Antithesis
Apposition
Assonance
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Chiasmus
Cliché
Consonance
Hyperbole
Litotes
Metaphor
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Metonymy
Onomatopoeia
Oxymoron
Paradox
Personification
Pun
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19. simile
20. Situational irony
21. Symbol
22. Synecdoche
Hunger
23. Understatement
24. Verbal irony
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Biblical/Classical Allusions List
You will be responsible for knowing the following allusions from Classical or Biblical literature. Although
we will not be collecting your flash cards, you will be held accountable for studying through an allusions
test the first week of school.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
Abram/Abraham
Achilles
Adam
Aeneas
Agamemnon
Aiolos
Ararat
Ares
Ark of the Covenant
Aristotle
Barabbas
Bethlehem
Brutus
Cain and Abel
Caiaphas
Capaneus
Cassius
Centaurs
Cerberus
Charon
Circe
Cleopatra
Clytemnestra
Crown of thorns
Cyclops
Dido
Eden
Epicurus
Eve
Fortuna
Furies
Gold, Frankincense,
Myrrh
33. Golgotha
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
Goliath
Guinevere
Hades
Harpies
Harrowing of Hell
Hector
Helen
Helios
Hercules
Herod
Icarus
Isaac
Ithaca
Isolde
Jason and the Argonauts
Job
John the Baptist
Joseph
Judas
King David
Lancelot
Last Supper
Lazarus
Lot
Lot’s Wife
Lucifer
Mary Magdalene
Medusa
Menelaus
Minotaur
Moses
Noah
Nod/East of Eden
Odysseus
68. Paris
69. Penelope
70. Penelope’s Suitors
71. Persephone
72. Peter
73. Phaethon
74. Pharisees and Sadducees
75. Pontius Pilate
76. Priam
77. Samson and Delilah
78. Scylla and Charybdis
79. Semiramis
80. Sermon on the Mount
81. Serpent
82. Simon Magus
83. Sirens
84. Sisyphus
85. Sodom and Gomorrah
86. Solomon
87. Styx
88. Susannah and the Elders
89. Telemachus
90. Thebes
91. Theseus
92. Thetis
93. Tiresias
94. Thirty pieces of silver
95. Three Wisemen
96. Tower of Babel
97. Tristan
98. Troy
99. Twelve Apostles
100.
The Virgin Mary
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AP LITERARY TERMS
You will be responsible for knowing the following literary terms. Many of them should already be
familiar to you. Although we will not be collecting your flash cards, you will be held accountable for
studying through a literary terms test in the first few weeks of school.
1. ACCENT/BEAT: The rhythmically significant stress in the expression of words, giving some syllables
more importance than others. In words of two or more syllables, one syllable is almost always
stressed more strongly than the other syllables. In words of one syllable, the degree of stress
normally depends on the grammatical function; nouns, verbs, and adjectives are usually given more
stress than articles or prepositions. The words in a line of poetry are usually arranged so the accents
occur at regular intervals, with the meter defined by the placement of the accents within the foot.
2. ALLEGORY story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events
or for abstract ideas or qualities. EXAMPLE: Animal Farm; Dante’s Inferno; Lord of the Flies
3. ALLITERATION repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.
EXAMPLE: “When the two youths turned with the flag they saw that much of the regiment had
crumbled away, and the dejected remnant was coming slowly back.” – Stephen Crane (Note how
regiment and remnant are being used; the regiment is gone, a remnant remains…)
4. ALLUSION reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion,
politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something (usually
from literature, etc.).
5. AMBIGUITY deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a
work. An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way-this is done on purpose
by the author, when it is not done on purpose, it is vagueness, and detracts from the work.
6. ANALOGY Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike
7. ANAPHORA Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a
row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer’s point more coherent.
8. ANASTROPHE Inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. Purpose is
rhythm or emphasis or euphony. It is a fancy word for inversion.
9. ANECDOTE Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows
character of an individual
10. ANTAGONIST Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story.
11. ANTICLIMAX: The intentional use of fancy language to describe the trivial or commonplace, or a
sudden transition from a significant thought to a trivial one in order to achieve a humorous or satiric
effect, as in Pope's The Rape of the Lock: “Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost
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sometimes counsel take -- and sometimes tea." An anticlimax also occurs in a series in which the
ideas or events ascend toward a climactic conclusion but terminate instead in a thought of lesser
importance.
12. ANTIHERO Central character who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated with heroes. may
lack courage, grace, intelligence, or moral scruples.
13. ANTITHESIS Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of
grammatical structure.
14. APHORISM brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a
principle or accepted general truth. Also called maxim, epigram.
15. APOSTROPHE calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a
personified abstract idea. If the character is asking a god or goddess for inspiration it is called an
invocation. Josiah Holland ---“Loacöon! Thou great embodiment/ Of human life and human history!”
16. APPOSITION Placing in immediately succeeding order of two or more coordinate elements, the
latter of which is an explanation, qualification, or modification of the first (often set off by a colon).
Paine: “These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in
this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and
thanks of man and woman.”
17. ARCHETYPE: An archetype is an idealized model of a person, object, or concept from which similar
instances are derived, copied, patterned, or emulated. (For example, Hercules is an archetype of
strength and courage.)
18. ASIDE: A comment made by a stage performer that is intended to be heard by the audience but
supposedly not by other characters.
19. ASSONANCE the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds
especially in words that are together.
20. ASYNDETON Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the
parts equally: instead of X, Y, and Z... the writer uses X,Y,Z.... see polysyndeton.
21. AUBADE: A song or poem with a theme of greeting the dawn, often involving the parting of lovers,
or a call for a beloved to arise, as in Shakespeare's "Song," from Cymbeline.
22. BALLAD: A short poem that tells a simple story and has a repeated refrain. Ballads were originally
intended to be sung. Early ballads, known as folk ballads, were passed down through generations, so
their authors are often unknown. Later ballads composed by known authors are called literary
ballads. An example of an anonymous folk ballad is "Edward," which dates from the Middle Ages.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and John Keats's "La Belle Dame sans
Merci" are examples of literary ballads.
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23. BATHOS: Bathos is unintended humor caused by a mixed up combination of high drama and low
comedy. The method that is most remembered now is the act of combining very serious matters
with very trivial ones. The radical juxtaposition of the serious with the frivolous destroys the serious
meaning of the work and creates humor.
24. BLACK HUMOR: (Also known as Black Comedy.) Writing that places gross elements side by side with
humorous ones in an attempt to shock the reader, forcing him or her to laugh at the horrifying
reality of a disordered world. Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 is considered a superb example of the
use of black humor. Other well-known authors who use black humor include Kurt Vonnegut, Edward
Albee, Eugene Ionesco, and Harold Pinter.
25. BLANK VERSE: Poetry written without rhymes, but which retains a set metrical pattern, usually
iambic pentameter (five iambic feet per line) in English verse. Since it is a very flexible form, the
writer not being hampered in the expression of thought or syntactic structure by the need to rhyme,
it is used extensively in narrative and dramatic poetry. In lyric poetry, blank verse is adaptable to
lengthy descriptive and meditative poems. An example of blank verse is found in the well-known
lines from Act 4, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. (see TRADITIONAL VERSE and
FREE VERSE)
26. CACOPHONY: Unpleasant sounds in the jarring juxtaposition of harsh letters or syllables which are
grating to the ear, usually inadvertent, but sometimes deliberately used in poetry for effect. (see
EUPHONY)
27. CADENCE: The repeated rhythmical pattern in lines of verse; also, the natural tone or modulation of
the voice determined by the alternation of accented or unaccented syllables.
28. CANTO: A major division of a long narrative poem, such as an epic, as distinguished from shorter
divisions like STANZAS.
29. CARICATURE: A portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of an individual’s personality
or appearance.
30. CATHARSIS: A sudden emotional breakdown or climax that consists of overwhelming feelings of
great pity, sorrow, laughter, or any extreme change in emotion. It results in renewal, restoration and
revitalization. Catharsis is a form of emotional cleansing.
31. CHARACTERIZATION the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character.
 INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION the author reveals to the reader what the character is like by
describing how the character looks and dresses, by letting the reader hear what the character
says, by revealing the character’s private thoughts and feelings, by revealing the characters
effect on other people (showing how other characters feel or behave toward the character), or
by showing the character in action. Common in modern literature
 DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION the author tells us directly what the character is like: sneaky,
generous, mean to pets and so on. Romantic style literature relied more heavily on this form.
 STATIC CHARACTER is one who does not change much in the course of a story.
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


DYNAMIC CHARACTER is one who changes in some important way as a result of the story’s
action.
FLAT CHARACTER has only one or two personality traits. They are one dimensional, like a piece
of cardboard. They can be summed up in one phrase.
ROUND CHARACTER has more dimensions to their personalities---they are complex, just a real
people are.
32. CHIASMUS In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced
against the first, but with the parts reversed. Coleridge: “Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike.”
33. CHORUS: In Greek drama, this is the group of citizens who stand outside the main action and
comment on it as the play goes on.
34. CLICHÉ is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse.
Avoid clichés like the plague. (That cliché is intended.)
35. COLLOQUIALISM a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is
inappropriate for formal situations. Example: “He’s out of his head if he thinks I’m gonna go for such
a stupid idea.”
36. COMEDY in general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main
character or characters.
37. CONCEIT an elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Often an
extended metaphor.
38. CONFESSIONAL POETRY a twentieth century term used to describe poetry that uses intimate
material from the poet’s life.
39. CONFLICT the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story.
 EXTERNAL CONFLICT conflicts can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a
machine, or between a person a whole society.
 INTERNAL CONFLICT a conflict can be internal, involving opposing forces within a person’s mind.
40. CONNOTATION the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or
phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition.
41. CONSONANCE: (Also known as Half Rhyme or Slant Rhyme.) Consonance occurs in Poetry when
words appearing at the ends of two or more verses have similar final consonant sounds but have
final vowel sounds that differ, as with "stuff" and "off." Consonance is found in "The curfew tolls the
knells of parting day" from Thomas Grey's "An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard." (Compare
with ASSONANCE.)
42. COUPLET two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry.
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43. DENOTATION: The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, empty of all emotion, attitude or
other influence.
44. DEUS EX MACHINA: A Latin term meaning "god out of a machine." In Greek drama, a god was often
lowered onto the stage by a mechanism of some kind to rescue the hero or untangle the plot. By
extension, the term refers to any artificial device or coincidence used to bring about a convenient
and simple solution to a plot. This is a common device in melodramas and includes such fortunate
circumstances as the sudden receipt of a legacy to save the family farm or a last-minute stay of
execution. The deus ex machina invariably rewards the virtuous and punishes evildoers.
45. DIALECT a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a
certain geographical area.
46. DICTION The choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language in a literary
work; the manner or mode of verbal expression, particularly with regard to clarity and accuracy. The
diction of a poem can range from colloquial to formal, from literal to figurative, or from concrete or
abstract.
47. DIDACTIC form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of
correct behavior or thinking.
48. DIRGE: A poem of grief or lamentation, especially one intended to accompany funeral or memorial
rites.
49. DISSONANCE: Harsh, incompatible sounds. Dissonance in poetry is the deliberate avoidance of
assonance, i.e. patterns of repeated vowel sounds. Dissonance in poetry is similar to CACOPHONY
and the opposite of EUPHONY.
50. ELEGY: A poem of sorrow, praise, and consolation, usually formal and sustained, over the death of a
particular person; also, a thoughtful poem in mournful or sorrowful mood, such as, " Elegy Written
in a Country Churchyard," by Thomas Gray.
51. ENJAMBMENT: The continuation of the sense and, therefore, the grammatical construction of a
sentence beyond the end of a line of poetry.
52. EPIC a long narrative poem, written in heightened language , which recounts the deeds of a heroic
character who embodies the values of a particular society.
53. EPIGRAPH a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme.
54. EPISTROPHE Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated
at the end of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences (it is the opposite of anaphora).
55. EPITHET an adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to
emphasize a characteristic quality. “Father of our country” and “the great Emancipator” are
examples. A Homeric epithet is a compound adjective used with a person or thing: “swift-footed
Achilles”; “rosy-fingered dawn.”
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56. ESSAY a short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writer discusses some aspect of a subject.
ESSAY TYPES TO KNOW:
 ARGUMENTATION one of the four forms of discourse which uses logic, ethics, and emotional
appeals (logos, ethos, pathos) to develop an effective means to convince the reader to think or
act in a certain way.
 PERSUASION relies more on emotional appeals than on facts
 ARGUMENT form of persuasion that appeals to reason instead of emotion to convince an
audience to think or act in a certain way.
 CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP Form of argumentation in which the writer claims that one thing results
from another, often used as part of a logical argument.
 DESCRIPTION a form of discourse that uses language to create a mood or emotion.
 EXPOSITION one of the four major forms of discourse, in which something is explained or “set
forth.”
 NARRATIVE the form of discourse that tells about a series of events.
57. EUPHEMISM: The substitution of an comfortable or inoffensive expression to replace one that might
offend or suggest something unpleasant, for example, "He is at rest." is a euphemism for "He is
dead."
58. EUPHONY: Harmony or beauty of sound which provides a pleasing effect to the ear, usually soughtfor in poetry for effect. It is achieved not only by the selection of individual word-sounds, but also by
their arrangement in the repetition, proximity, and flow of sound patterns. (see CACOPHONY)
59. EXPLICATION act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading
and special attention to figurative language.
60. EXPOSITION: In drama, the presentation of essential information regarding what has occurred prior
to the beginning of the play. In the exposition to William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, two
servants of the house of Capulet discuss the feud between their master and the house of Montague,
thereby letting the audience know that such a feud exists and that it will play an important role in
influencing the plot. In the exposition to the film Star Wars, Luke Skywalker sees a 3D holograph
projection of the Princess Lea warning that she is a prisoner of Darth Vader and begging for help.
61. FABLE a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed
in life.
62. FARCE a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly,
far-fetched situations.
63. FEMININE RHYME: A rhyme occurring on an unaccented final syllable, as in dining and shining or
motion and ocean. Feminine rhymes are double or disyllabic rhymes and are common in the heroic
couplet, as in the opening lines of Goldsmith's "Retaliation: A Poem": Of old, when Scarron his
companions invited Each guest brought his dish, and the feast was united. (see MASCULINE RHYME)
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64. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to
describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms.
65. FLASHBACK a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict
something that happened at an earlier time.
66. FOIL A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing
hero, or a villain contrasting the hero.
67. FOOT: A unit of rhythm or meter; the division in poetry of a group of syllables, one of which is long
or accented. For example, the line, "The boy | stood on | the burn | ing deck," has four iambic
metrical feet. The most common poetic feet used in English verse are the IAMB, ANAPEST,
TROCHEE, DACTYL, and SPONDEE.
68. FORESHADOWING the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot.
69. FREE VERSE poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme.
70. GENRE: A category of literary work which may refer to both the content of a given work — tragedy,
comedy, pastoral — and to its form, such as poetry, novel, or drama. This term also refers to types
of popular literature, as in the genres of science fiction or the detective story.
71. HEROIC COUPLET: Two successive lines of rhymed poetry in iambic pentameter, so called for its use
in the composition of epic poetry in the 17th and 18th centuries. In neo-classical usage the two lines
were required to express a complete thought, thus a closed couplet, with a pause at the end of the
first line. Heroic couplets, which are well suited to antithesis and parallelism, are also often used for
epigrams, such as Pope's: “You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come. Knock as you please--there's
nobody at home.”
72. HUBRIS: Excessive pride or ambition that leads to a character’s downfall. Macbeth is a CLASSIC
example.
73. HYPERBOLE a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. “If I
told you once, I’ve told you a million times….”
74. IMAGERY the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a
place, or an experience.
75. IN MEDIAS RES: “In the midst of things” – standard of epic poetry where the action begins in the
middle instead of at the beginning
76. INTERIOR MONOLOGUE: Writing that records the thinking that goes on inside a character’s head; it
is coherent as if character were talking.
77. INTERNAL RHYME: Rhyme within a line of poetry instead of at the end.
78. INVERSION the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.
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79. IRONY: A figure of speech in which there is a gap or difference between what is said or done and
what is understood. There are four basic types:
 VERBAL IRONY refers to spoken words only. For example, in Julius Caesar, Mark Antony repeats
the words "and Brutus is an honorable man" in the famous “Friends, Romans, countrymen”
speech. Mark Antony’s meaning, however, is that Brutus is completely dishonorable because
Brutus, Caesar’s best friend, joined the other conspirators and plunged a knife into Caesar’s
chest.
 DRAMATIC IRONY involves more than just spoken words. Dramatic irony occurs when the
meaning intended by a character's words or actions is opposite of the true situation. The
contrast is between what the character says, thinks, or does and the true situation. Further, the
character cannot see or understand the contrast, but the audience or reader can. For example,
in Othello, dramatic irony occurs when Othello refers to Iago as “honest Iago.” Unknown to
Othello, Iago is a villain who deceives him into thinking that Desdemona (Othello’s wife) has
been unfaithful. For this, Othello unjustly kills his wife, believing the whole time in Iago’s
honesty. Note the difference in examples for verbal and dramatic irony: Antony calls Brutus
“honorable” and knows he is not honorable, while Othello calls Iago “honest” and does not
know of Iago’s deceit.
 SITUATIONAL IRONY defies logical cause/effect relationships and justifiable expectations. For
example, if a greedy millionaire were to buy a lottery ticket and win additional millions, the
irony would be situational because such a circumstance cannot be explained logically. Such a
circumstance seems “unfair.” This sense of being “unfair” or “unfortunate” is a trademark of
situational irony. Because people cannot explain the unfairness, it causes them to question
whether or not the world makes sense.
 COSMIC IRONY goes beyond being unfair and is morally tragic. Such irony is often so severe that
it causes people to question God and see the universe as hostile. For example, if an honest,
hardworking, and generous person buys a lottery ticket and wins ten million dollars, only to die
in an auto crash two days later, the irony would reach tragic proportions. When situational irony
reaches this scale, it is often called cosmic irony or irony of fate. Such irony typically suggests
that people are pawns to cruel forces.
80. JUXTAPOSITION poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or
phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit. Ezra Pound: “The
apparition of these faces in the crowd;/ Petals on a wet, black bough.” Juxtaposition is also a form of
contrast by which writers call attention to dissimilar ideas or images or metaphors. Martin Luther
King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
81. KENNING: A compound poetic phrase substituted for the usual name of a person or thing. For
example the sea in Old English could be called 'sail-road', 'swan-road', 'bath-way' or 'whale-way'. In
line 10 of the epic Beowulf the sea is called the 'whale-road'.
82. LITOTES is a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation
of a negative form: Hawthorne--- “…the wearers of petticoat and farthingale…stepping forth into the
public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if occasion were, into the throng…”
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83. LOCAL COLOR a term applied to fiction or poetry which tends to place special emphasis on a
particular setting, including its customs, clothing, dialect and landscape.
84. LOOSE SENTENCE one in which the main clause comes first, followed by further dependent
grammatical units. See periodic sentence. Hawthorne: “Hester gazed after him a little while, looking
with a half-fantastic curiosity to see whether the tender grass of early spring would not be blighted
beneath him, and show the wavering track of this footsteps, sere and brown, across its cheerful
verdure.”
85. LYRIC POEM a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the
speaker. A ballad tells a story.
86. MASCULINE RHYME: A rhyme occurring in words of one syllable or in an accented final syllable, such
as "light" and "sight" or "arise" and "surprise." (see FEMININE RHYME)
87. METAPHOR a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use
of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles.
 IMPLIED METAPHOR does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison: “I like to see it
lap the miles” is an implied metaphor in which the verb lap implies a comparison between “it”
and some animal that “laps” up water.
 EXTENDED METAPHOR is a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants
to take it. (conceit if it is quite elaborate).
 DEAD METAPHOR is a metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer
vivid: “The head of the house”, “the seat of the government”, “a knotty problem” are all dead
metaphors.
 MIXED METAPHOR is a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they
are visually or imaginatively incompatible. “The President is a lame duck who is running out of
gas.”
88. Meter: The repetition of sound patterns that creates a rhythm in poetry. The patterns are based on
the number of syllables and the presence and absence of accents. The unit of rhythm in a line is
called a foot. Types of meter are classified according to the number of feet in a line. These are the
standard English lines: MONOMETER, one foot; DIMETER, two feet; TRIMETER, three feet;
TETRAMETER, four feet; PENTAMETER, five feet; HEXAMETER, six feet (also called the
ALEXANDRINE); HEPTAMETER, seven feet. The most common English meter is the iambic
pentameter, in which each line contains ten syllables, or five iambic feet, which individually are
composed of an unstressed syllable followed by an accented syllable.
 ANAPESTIC METER: A metrical foot with two short or unaccented syllables followed by a long or
accented syllable, as in inter-VENE or for a WHILE. William Cowper's "Verses Supposed to be
Written by Alexander Selkirk," is a poem in which anapestic feet are predominately used, as in
the opening line: I am MON | -arch of ALL | I sur-VEY
 DACTYLIC METER: A metrical foot of three syllables, the first of which is long or accented and
the next two short or unaccented, as in MER-rily or LOV-er boy, or from Byron's "The Bride of
Abydos": KNOW ye the | LAND where the | CY-press and | MYR-tle
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IAMBIC METER: The most common metrical foot; it consists of two syllables, a short or
unaccented syllable followed by a long or accented syllable, as in a-VOID or the RUSH, or from
the opening line of John Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale".
SPONDAIC METER: In poetry meter, a foot consisting of two long or stressed syllables occurring
together. This form is quite rare in English Verse, and is usually composed of two monosyllabic
words. It is impossible to construct a whole, serious poem with spondees. Consequently,
spondees mainly occur as variants within, say, an anapestic structure. For example (from G. K.
Chesterton, Lepanto): White founts falling in the courts of the sun And the Soldan of Byzantium
is smiling as they run;
TROCHAIC METER: A metrical foot with a long or accented syllable followed by a short or
unaccented syllable, as in ON-ly or TO-tal, or the opening line of Poe's "The Raven:" ONCE up- |
ON a | MID-night | DREAR-y, | WHILE I | PON-dered, | WEAK and | WEAR-y
89. METONYMY a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely
associated with it. “We requested from the crown support for our petition.” The crown is used to
represent the monarch.
90. MOOD The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene. This feeling is created in a literary
work, partly by the description of the setting and partly by the description of objects. The style of
the descriptions of either creates atmosphere too. A work may contain an atmosphere of horror,
mystery, holiness, or childlike simplicity, to name a few, depending on the author's treatment of the
work.
91. MOTIF a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or
in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or
new ideas to the theme. Kurt Vonnegut uses “So it goes” throughout Slaughterhouse-Five to remind
the reader of the senselessness of death.
92. MOTIVATION the reasons for a character’s behavior.
93. NARRATION/ NARRATIVE VERSE: A collection of events that tells a story, which may be true or not,
placed in a particular order and recounted through either telling or writing. One example is Edgar
Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." In this story a madman resolves to kill his landlord because he
fears the man's horrible eye. (see LYRIC and DRAMATIC VERSE)
94. FRAME NARRATIVE: A story within a story, within sometimes yet another story, as in, for example,
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Heart of Darkness. Often a different individual narrates the events of
a story in each frame. This structure of course also leads us to question the reasons behind each of
the narrations since, unlike an omniscient narrative perspective, the teller of the story becomes an
actual character with shortcomings, limitations, prejudices, and motives.
95. NEMESIS: The term has several possible meanings: (1) the principle of "poetic justice" by which
good characters are rewarded and bad characters are appropriately punished; (2) the cause or
deliverer of such justice, who exacts vengeance and meets out rewards, as, for example the Duke in
Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. In classical mythology, Nemesis was the patron goddess of
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vengeance; the expression often denotes a character in a drama who brings about another's
downfall, so that Hamlet may be said to be Claudius's nemesis in Shakespeare's tragedy.
96. OBJECTIVITY: An impersonal, or outside, factual view of events. Objectivity may be considered as a
synonym of a neutral, unbiased point of view. (see SUBJECTIVITY)
97. ONOMATOPOEIA the use of words whose sounds echo their sense. “Pop.” “Zap.”
98. OXYMORON a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.
“Jumbo shrimp.” “Pretty ugly.” “Bitter-sweet”
99. PARABLE a relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life.
100.
PARADOX: A statement which contains seemingly contradictory elements or appears contrary
to common sense, yet can be seen as perhaps, or indeed, true when viewed from another angle,
such as Alexander Pope's statement, in An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, that a literary critic could "damn
with faint praise."
101.
PARALLEL STRUCTURE (parallelism) the repetition of words or phrases that have similar
grammatical structures.
102.
PARENTHETICAL PHRASE: A phrase set off by commas that interrupts the flow of a sentence
with some commentary. A parenthetical phrase provides additional information for the reader, but
it could be left out of the sentence without altering its basic message. e.g.: The police, although
understaffed, manage to maintain the peace.
103.
PARODY a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer’s style.
104.
PASTORAL POETRY: Poetry idealizing the lives of shepherds and country folk, although the term
is often used loosely to include any poem featuring a rural aspect.
105.
PATHOS: When a work appeals to the audience's emotions causing feelings of dignified pity and
sympathy.
106.
PERIODIC SENTENCE: A sentence in which the main thought is not grammatically complete until
it has reached its final phrase; for example, "Despite heavy winds and nearly impenetrable ground
fog, the plane landed safely." The plane landing safely is the key piece of information.
107.
PERSONA: The narrator in a non first-person novel. The persona is not the author, but the
author’s creation--the voice “through which the author speaks.”
108.
PERSONIFICATION a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings,
thoughts, or attitudes.
109.
PLOT the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline.
Characteristics of PLOT:
 EXPOSITION introduces characters, situation, and setting
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RISING ACTION complications in conflict and situations (may introduce new ones as well)
CLIMAX that point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. Also called
“turning point”
FALLING ACTION series of events which take place after the CLIMAX of a story. The falling action
of a drama leads to the conclusion. In the climax of Ibsen's, An Enemy of the People, Dr. Thomas
Stockmann has been declared an enemy of the people. In the falling action, he and his family
and supporters are harassed by the townspeople.
RESOLUTION the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled; often
called the denouement.
POINT OF VIEW the vantage point from which the writer tells the story.
FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW one of the characters tells the story.
THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW an unknown narrator, tells the story, but this narrator zooms in
to focus on the thoughts and feelings of only one character.
OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW an omniscient or all knowing narrator tells the story, also using the
third person pronouns. This narrator, instead of focusing on one character only, often tells us
everything about many characters.
OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story,
with no comment on any characters or events.
SECOND PERSON is much less common than omniscient, third person, and first person. In it, the
author tells the story as if it is happening to the reader using the pronoun "you." James Thurber
employs the omniscient point of view in his short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."
111.
POLYSYNDETON sentence which uses a conjunction with NO commas to separate the items in a
series. Instead of X, Y, and Z... Polysyndeton results in X and Y and Z... Kurt Vonnegut uses this
device.
112.
PROTAGONIST the central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action.
Usually the hero or anti-hero; in a tragic hero, like John Proctor of The Crucible, there is always a
hamartia, or tragic flaw in his character which will lead to his downfall.
113.
PUN a “play on words” based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound
alike but mean different things.
114.
PYRRHIC METER: Common in classic Greek poetry, a metrical foot consisting of two short or
unaccented syllables, as in the third foot of: The SLINGS | and AR | -rows of | out-RA | -geous FOR |
-tune
115.
QUATRAIN a poem consisting of four lines, or four lines of a poem that can be considered as a
unit.
116.
REFRAIN a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a
poem.
117.
REQUIEM: A song or prayer for the dead.
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118.
RHYTHM a rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed
syllables in language.
119.
RHETORIC Art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse.
120.
RHETORICAL QUESTION a question asked for an effect, and not actually requiring an answer.
121.
ROMANCE in general, a story in which an idealized hero or heroine undertakes a quest and is
successful.
122.
SATIRE: A work that uses mockery, humor, and wit to criticize and cause change in human
nature and institutions. There are two major types of satire:
 "FORMAL" or "DIRECT" satire speaks directly to the reader or to a character in the work;
 "INDIRECT" satire relies upon the ridiculous behavior of its characters to make its point. Formal
satire is further divided into two types:
a. the "Horatian," which ridicules gently,
b. the "Juvenalian," which mocks its subjects harshly and bitterly.
Voltaire's novella Candide is an indirect satire. Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal" is a
Juvenalian satire.
123.
SETTING: The time and place in which a story unfolds. The setting in Act 1, scene 1 of
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, for example, is a public square in Verona, Italy. A drama may
contain a single setting, or the setting may change from scene to scene.
124.
SIMILE a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using
words such as like, as , than, or resembles.
125.
SOLILOQUY a long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage.
126.
STANZA: A division of a poem made by arranging the lines into units separated by a space. Each
stanza is usually of a corresponding number of lines and a recurrent pattern of meter and rhyme. A
poem with such divisions is described as having a stanzaic form, but not all verse is divided in
stanzas.
127.
STEREOTYPE a fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea which does not allow for any
individuality, often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices.
128.
STOCK CHARACTER: Character types of a genre, e.g., the heroine disguised as a man in
Elizabethan drama, the confidant, the hardboiled detective, the tightlipped sheriff, the girl next
door, the evil hunters in a Tarzan movie, ethnic or racial stereotypes, the cruel stepmother and
Prince Charming in fairy tales.
129.
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS a style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings
of a character’s mind.
130.
STYLE the distinctive way in which a writer uses language: a writer’s distinctive use of diction,
tone, and syntax.
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131.
SUSPENSE a feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story.
132.
SUBJECTIVITY: Uses the interior point of view from a single observer. (see OBJECTIVITY)
133.
SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF: A willingness of a reader or viewer to ignore minor inconsistencies
or unbelievable behavior so as to enjoy a work of fiction.
134.
SYMBOL a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for
something more than itself.
135.
SYNECDOCHE a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. “If you don’t drive
properly, you will lose your wheels.” The wheels represent the entire car.
136.
TALL TALE an outrageously exaggerated, humorous story that is obviously unbelievable.
137.
THEME: An ingredient of a literary work which gives the work unity. The theme provides an
answer to the question - What is the work about? There are too many possible themes to recite
them all. Each literary work carries its own theme(s). The theme of Robert Frost's "Acquainted with
the Night" is loneliness. Shakespeare's King Lear contains many themes, among which are blindness
and madness. Unlike PLOT which deals with the action of a work, theme concerns itself with a
work's message or contains the general idea of a work.
138.
THESIS: The main position of an argument.
139.
TONE the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the
audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization.
140.
TRAGEDY in general, a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other
unhappy end.
141.
TRAGIC FLAW: In a tragedy, the quality within the hero or heroine which leads to his or her
downfall. Examples of the tragic flaw include Othello's jealousy and Hamlet's indecisiveness,
although most great tragedies defy such simple interpretation.
142.
TRAGIC IRONY: When a character’s good intentions produce the opposite effect of what is
expected (For example, Oedipus tries to avoid the prophesy that he will kill his father and marry his
mother, and his avoidance causes these things to occur.) (see IRONY)
143.
UNDERSTATEMENT a statement that says less than what is meant. Example: During the second
war with Iraq, American troops complained of a fierce sand storm that made even the night-vision
equipment useless. A British commando commented about the storm: “It’s a bit breezy.”
144.
UTOPIA: An idealized place. An imaginary community where people live in happiness and peace.
145.
VERNACULAR the language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality.
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WRITING MOVEMENTS AND STYLES TO KNOW:
IMPRESSIONISM a nineteenth-century movement in literature and art which advocated a recording of
the artist’s personal impressions of the world, rather than a strict representation of reality.
MODERNISM a term for the bold new experimental styles and forms that swept the arts during the first
third of the twentieth century.
NATURALISM a nineteenth century literary movement that was an extension of realism and that
claimed to portray life exactly as it was.
PLAIN STYLE Writing style that stresses simplicity and clarity of expression (but will still utilize allusions
and metaphors), and was the main form of the Puritan writers.
PURITANISM Writing style of America’s early English-speaking colonists. emphasizes obedience to God
and consists mainly of journals, sermons, and poems.
RATIONALISM a movement that began in Europe in the seventeenth century, which held that we can
arrive at truth by using our reason rather than relying on the authority of the past, on the authority of
the Church, or an institution. ALSO CALLED NEOCLASSICISM AND AGE OF REASON
REALISM a style of writing, developed in the nineteenth century, that attempts to depict life accurately
without idealizing or romanticizing it.
REGIONALISM literature that emphasizes a specific geographic setting and that reproduces the speech,
behavior, and attitudes of the people who live in that region.
ROMANTICISM a revolt against Rationalism that affected literature and the other arts, beginning in the
late eighteenth century and remaining strong throughout most of the nineteenth century.
SURREALISM in movement in art and literature that started in Europe during the 1920s. Surrealists
wanted to replace conventional realism with the full expression of the unconscious mind, which they
considered to be more real than the “real” world of appearances.
SYMBOLISM a literary movement that originated in late nineteenth century France, in which writers
rearranged the world of appearances in order to reveal a more truthful version of reality.
TRANSCENDENTALISM a nineteenth century movement in the Romantic tradition , which held that
every individual can reach ultimate truths through spiritual intuition, which transcends reasons and
sensory experience.
TIME LINE:
Puritanism 1620 - 1770s
Neoclassic 1770s - early 1800s
Romanticism early 1800s - 1870s
Realism 1850s -early 1900s
Regionalism 1884 - early 1900s
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Naturalism - late 1800s - mid 1900s
Modernism - 1920s - [1945]
[Post-Modernism - 1945 - ]
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