English IV AP Literature and Composition
Literary Terms for AP Literature Exam in May 2015
Define, use, and discuss literary merit of a story (not to be defined in isolation).
Short Story Bootcamp (Q1)
Differences between literary and commercial fiction
Plot & Structure (chapter 2)
plot
structure
conflict
protagonist
antagonist
suspense
artistic unity
plot manipulation
deus ex machina
rising action
climax
falling action
Characterization (chapter 3)
characterization
direct presentation
indirect presentation
motivations
flat characters
round characters
stock character
static character
developing/dynamic character
epiphany
Point of View (chapter five)
point of view
omniscient
third-person limited (through perspective of major character)
third-person limited (through perspective of minor character)
stream of consciousness
first person (major character)
first person (minor character)
objective (dramatic point of view)
Theme (chapter four)
As stated in Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense
1. “Theme should be expressive in the form of a statement with a subject and a
predicate.”
2. “The theme should be stated as a generalization about life.”
3. That generalization should not be larger than is justified by the story, “terms
like every, all, always, should be used very cautiously.”
4. “Theme is the central and unifying concept of a story.”
5. “There is no one way of stating the theme of a story.”
6. We should avoid cliches, platitudes, or other generalizations about life when
discussing theme statements.
Symbol, Allegory, and Fantasy (chapter six)
literary symbol (add to after we finish) Read this carefully, please.
allegory
fantasy/fairy tale
Humor and Irony (chapter seven)
irony
verbal irony
dramatic irony
irony of situation
Short Stories/Authors
1. “The Most Dangerous Game” Richard Connell
2. “Hunters in the Snow” Tobias Wolff
3. “The Story of an Hour” Kate Chopin
4. “The Destructors” G. Greene
5. “How I Met My Husband” Alice Munro
6. “Interpreter of Maladies” Jhumpa Lahiri
7. “Miss Brill” Katherine Mansfield
8. “A&P” John Updike
9. “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” Richard Wright
10. “Everyday Use” Alice Walker
11. “Paul’s Case” Willa Cather
12. “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson
13. “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” Katherine Anne Porter
14. “Hills Like White Elephants” Ernest Hemingway
15. “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner
16. “A Worn Path” Eudora Welty
17. “Once upon a Time” Nadine Gordimer
18. “Eveline” by James Joyce
19. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates
20. “Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence
21. “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
22. “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver
23. “Araby” James Joyce
24. “The Drunkard” Frank O’Connor
25. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor
26. “Everything that Rises Must Converge” Flannery O’Connor
27. “Revelation” Flannery O’Connor
28. “Greenleaf” Flannery O’Connor
29. “Good Country People” Flannery O’Connor
Putting it all together in preparation for the AP Exam (December & May).
Notes from CliffsNotes AP English Literature and Composition, 3rd Edition (Casson &
Eggenschwiler).
Analyzing Prose (pages 31-32)
Similar to analysis of a poem but there are some differences: prose selections are longer
(450-850 words).
Covers literary period over 500 years (from 16th century to 21st century).
Can be any piece of prose from fiction to nonfiction including, novels, short stories, plays,
history, philosophical writing, sermons, journals, letters, essays, biographies,
autobiographies, or literary criticism. More than likely, the prose pieces will be fictional.
1. genre--from what kind of a work is the selection taken? is it fiction or nonfiction? Will
most likely be fiction so you’ll be able to concentrate on characters.
2. narrator--figure out who is speaking and what his or her attitude toward the characters
is (the tone question--get used to it, you’ll see it again, and again, and again).
3. subject--what is the purpose of the passage? To present an argument or to introduce a
character?
4. structure--normal unit of prose is the paragraph and can run from a single long
paragraph to multiple shorter paragraphs. Try to determine how each part advances the
progress of the whole.
5. style is determined by diction, imagery, figurative language and syntax--as in poetry or
the rhetoric of a piece.