AP English Literature & Composition

Common Novel Types: Bildungsroman

"Novel of education" or coming-of-age novel. The protagonist is a child whose experiences teach him or her about the realities of the adult world. This transformation is often complex, painful, and filled with disillusionment.

Types of Figurative Language: Metonymy

(see also synecdoche) The use of a closely related detail for the thing actually meant. (Ex. Using The White House to refer to the president)

Foil

A character who possesses traits that emphasize the characteristics/qualities of another character, either by being similar to or opposite from that character.

Types of Figurative Language: Character allegory

A character who represents various generalized qualities. (For example: Vergil in Dante's Inferno represents human reason.)

Anecdote

A clever little story; a short account of an interesting situation.

Types of Figurative Language: Metaphor

A comparison of two dissimilar things in order to see one in a new way.

Types of Figurative Language: Allegory

A description or narrative with a secondary or underlying meaning.

Extended Metaphor

A detailed or complex metaphor that is evident throughout a work.

Irony

A discrepancy between appearance and reality.

Epiphany

A moment of insight, or sudden revelation.

Allegory

A narrative or description with a secondary/symbolic underlying meaning.

Invocation

A prayer or statement that calls for help from a god/goddess.

Anti hero

A protagonist whose attributes are opposite of what is expected of heroes.

Elements of Classical Tragedy: Catharsis

A purging of emotion, experienced by audiences especially through the pity/sympathy/empathy they feel when witnessing the tragic hero's fall from grace.

Motif

A recurring element (such as an image or idea), whose repetition emphasizes some aspect of the work.

Allusion

A reference to something in previous literature, history, or culture that adds to or emphasizes a theme of the work.

Parable

A short tale that teaches a moral lesson through example.

Paradox

A situation/statement containing contradictory elements which nonetheless seem plausible or true.

Basic Elements of Poetry: Apostrophe

A speaker directly addresses something or someone not living.

Eulogy

A speech given at a funeral in remembrance of the person who has passed.

Types of Figurative Language: Paradox

A statement that consists of two contradictory or incompatible elements; paradoxical statements are startling and get readers to think. They are a kind of metaphor that reveals the truth.

Archetype

A symbol that recurs often enough in literature over time to be easily recognizable. (Ex. Water = purity, dove = peace, etc)

Types of Figurative Language: Symbol

A thing, person, or idea that stands for something else.

Elements of Classical Tragedy: Hamartia

A tragic flaw; an unwitting error in judgment

Parody

A work of satire where the author imitates the language/form of another work to ridicule the author or work.

Types of Figurative Language: Apostrophe

Addressing something that is non-living or incapable of response as if it could hear and respond, related to personification. (ex. "Oh, howling wind...")

Specific Types of Figurative Language

Allegory Character allegory Apostrophe Irony (Verbal, Dramatic, Situational) Metaphor Metonymy Overstatement (hyperbole) Understatement Paradox Personification Simile Synecdoche Symbol

Common Novel Types: Picaresque

An episodic novel (string of episodes or adventures_ starring a picaro or rogue (a person of low social status) who wanders or has adventures.

Typical Mood Descriptors

Apprehensive Elegiac Quizzical Rapturous Reproachful Satiric Solemn Suspenseful

Types of Figurative Language: Personification

Attributing human qualities or characteristics to non-living or non-human things in order to create empathy.

Typical Style Descriptors

Authoritative Emotive Didactic Objective Ornate Plain Scholarly Scientific

Typical Tone Descriptors

Candid Caustic Colloquial Cynical Detached Didactic Effusive Erudite Fanciful Formal Forthright Informal Intimate Laconic Lyrical Matter-of-fact Melancholy Nostalgic Objective Pedantic Poignant Ribald Sanctimonious Sardonic Satiric Scholarly Sinister Speculative Terse Trite Whimsical

Common Novel Types: Gothic

Characterized by dark, mysterious setting; supernatural elements. Tend to be highly emotional or melodramatic.

Common Novel Types: Social

Concerned with the effect of societal institutions and social conditions on humanity.

Common Novel Types: Epistolary

Consists of letters written by one or more characters.

Sentence Type: Parallel

Contains parts of equal grammatical structure or rhetorical value in a variety of combinations.

Sentence Type: Grammatical Sentence Purposes

Declarative sentence: makes a statement. Imperative sentence: makes a command. Interrogative sentence: asks a question. Exclamatory sentence: makes an emphatic or emotion-filled statement.

Six Elements of Style

Diction Imagery Tone Syntax Point of View Figurative Language Style Descriptors

Types of Figurative Language: Irony

Discrepancy between what is perceived and what is real. Three types of Irony: Verbal Irony - when what is said is different from what is meant. Dramatic Irony - when the reader knows something a character does not know. Situational Irony - when some aspect of the situation seems incongruous to either what seems appropriate or to what is expected.

Types of Figurative Language: Simile

Essentially a metaphor that uses "like" or "as". Epic or Homeric simile: an extended simile used in epic poems and Greek dramas.

Main Points of View

First Person Second Person Third person-limited Third person-omniscient Objective

Imagery: Organic

Internal sense of being (well or ill)

Figurative Language

Language not meant to be taken literally. (Ex. metaphors) Writers use figurative language to lead us to a deeper level of understanding, and to see things in a new or even startling way. When confronted with complex metaphors, it is important to ask "what" and "why." WHAT are we to see that we would not have seen without it? WHY is it there in the first place?

Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses, emotionally evocative.

Imagery

Language that engages the senses and evokes emotion. Readers relate to imagery on a gut level, responding with emotions.

Sentence Types

Periodic Loose Parallel Repetition Grammatical Sentence Types Grammatical Sentence Purposes

Common Novel Types: Dystopian

Presents readers with an apparent perfect (Utopian) society where human life is somehow diminished. Dark, prophetic themes: oppression, abuse of power, loss of individuality.

Soliloquy

Primarily found in Shakespeare's plays, a soliloquy is a monologue, one character on stage, or in the spotlight, who relates his/her plight. Soliloquies are not meant to be heard by other characters.

The 3 P's of Syntax

Prominence, Position, Pace

Common Novel Types: Novella

Prose fiction longer than a short story, but shorter than a full novel.

Basic Elements of Poetry: Consonance

Repetition at close intervals of consonant sounds.

Basic Elements of Poetry: Assonance

Repetition at close intervals of vowel sounds. Provides a fluency of sound.

Basic Elements of Poetry: Alliteration

Repetition, at close intervals, of beginning sounds.

Types of Figurative Language: Understatement

Saying less than the situation warrants. The contrast illuminates the truth.

Types of Figurative Language: Overstatement (hyperbole)

Saying more than the situation warrants. The contrast illuminates the truth.

Imagery: Kinesthetic

Sense of movement.

Effects of Imagery

Sensory perceptions created through language are vicarious, through the experience of the character or the narration. The reader does not actually experience them, but the emotions they invoke in us are real - the more vivid the IMAGERY, the more real the emotion. Imagery: - Helps establish tone. - Creates realistic settings. - Creates empathy in readers for characters. - Helps readers imagine themselves as part of a narrative.

Sentence Type: Grammatical Sentence Types

Simple: 1 subject, 1 verb, modifiers, compliments. Short, direct. Compound: 2 independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) Complex: an independent clause and a dependent subordinate clause. Compound-complex: two independent clauses and a dependent subordinate clause.

Sentence Type: Repetition

TYPES OF REPETITION Anaphora: the repetition of the same word(s) at the beginning of a series of phrases, clauses, or sentences. Epistrophe: the repetition of the same word(s) at the end of successive phrases or clauses. Asyndeton: conjunctions are omitted between words, phrases, or clauses. Chiasmus: two corresponding pairs (a, b) ordered like a/b/b/a Polysyndeton: the use of conjunctions between each word, phrase, or clause.

Tone

The attitude of the speaker toward a character, a place, an idea, or a thing. A passage or paragraph has a specific TONE, which refers to its emotional quality. This quality comes from details like imagery, diction, and even syntax.

Common Novel Types: Novel of Manners

The author details the social customs of an era and/or the social behaviors of a particular social group.

Diction

The author's choice of words. There are 2 ways to think of diction: connotation and denotation.

Denotation

The dictionary or precise meaning of a word.

Mood

The dominant tone, typically the emotional quality of the scene or setting.

Atmosphere

The emotional quality of the setting.

Mood

The emotional quality of the setting.

Connotation

The emotional sense of a word or the cultural meaning associated with a word. Connotations evoke associations.

Prominence

The importance given to an idea in a sentence. Can be achieved by placement, repetition, etc.

More aspects of syntax: Climax

The main idea of the most important point of a sentence.

Sentence Type: Periodic

The most important idea comes at the end of the sentence.

Sentence Type: Loose

The most important idea is revealed early and the sentence unfolds loosely after that.

Point of View: Third person-omniscient

The narrator is god-like, seeing and knowing without constraints of time or space. Third person narrators often digress into contemplative or philosophical forays.

Point of View: Objective

The narrator tells a story like a camcorder would, simply revealing what it perceives. You can recognize an objective narrator by that person's lack of emotion or personal interest in the subject.

Point of View: First Person

The narrator tells his/her own story using first person pronouns (I, me, we, us). The point of view is limited by what the narrator can know, see, or understand.

Point of View: Third person-limited

The narrator tells the story from one character's point of view using third person pronouns (she, her, he, him, it, they, them). Limited by the same constraints as first person narrators.

Point of View: Second Person

The narrator uses second person pronouns (you) to make immediate connections with readers.

Syntax

The order of words in a sentence. Syntax results in various sentence types, used for a variety of rhetorical effects. Syntax can also be thought of as the rhythm of prose. Aspects of syntax, such as repetition and placement of ideas, are used for emphasis.

Vernacular

The ordinary, everyday speech of a region.

More aspects of syntax: Narrative pace

The pace or speed of a passage, that comes through the following elements: Length of words/sentences Omission of words Punctuation Number of dependent/subordinate clauses Repetition of sounds

Verisimilitude

The quality in literature of being true to life; details seem realistic and believable, even if the setting is supernatural.

More aspects of syntax: Cadence

The rhythm of a sentence that comes through parallel elements and repetition.

Tone

The speaker/narrator's attitude towards something or the emotional quality of a passage.

Pace

The speed of the text. Generally complements the author's purpose.

Types of Figurative Language: Synecdoche

The use of a part for the whole. (Ex. "all hands on deck")

Style: Emotive

The voice evokes emotion.

Style: Authoritative

The voice is commanding and knowing.

Style: Scholarly

The voice is learned and authoritative, erudite.

Style: Ornate

The voice is perhaps pretentious, flowery, or ostentatious.

Style: Didactic

The voice is preachy, insistent.

Style: Scientific

The voice is precise and relies on the language of science.

Style: Plain

The voice is simple, straightforward, to the point.

Style: Objective

The voice is uncommitted, without judgment.

Style

The voice of the writer. Many decisions a writer makes - such as types and lengths of sentences (syntax), types of words used (diction), imagery, and figurative language - all contribute to what is recognized as his or her STYLE. Style can also refer to TONE (ex. Casual vs. Formal)

Types of Imagery

Visual Auditory Tactile Olfactory Gustatory Kinesthetic Organic

Imagery: Auditory

What we can hear.

Imagery: Visual

What we can see.

Imagery: Olfactory

What we can smell.

Imagery: Gustatory

What we can taste.

Imagery: Tactile

What we can touch.

Position

Where the key idea is located.