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.