Lit Terms 31-56

Denouement (pronounced day-new-mahn): loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion

 

Dialect: the language of a particular district, class or group of persons; the sounds, grammar, and diction employed by people distinguished from others.

 

Dialectics: formal debates usually over the nature of truth.

 

Dichotomy: split or break between two opposing things.

 

Diction: the style of speaking or writing as reflected in the choice and use of words.

 

Didactic: having to do with the transmission of information; education.

 

Dogmatic: rigid in beliefs and principles.

 

Elegy: a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead, sometimes contains general reflections on death, often with a rural or pastoral setting.

 

Epic: a long narrative poem unified by a hero who reflects the customs, mores, and aspirations of his nation of race as he makes his way through legendary and historic exploits, usually over a long period of time (definition bordering on circumlocution).

 

Epigram: witty aphorism.

 

Epitaph: any brief inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone; a short formal poem of commemoration often a credo written by the person who wishes it to be on his tombstone.

 

Epithet: a short, descriptive name or phrase that  may insult someone’s character, characteristics

 

Euphemism: the use of an indirect, mild or vague word or expression for one thought to be coarse, offensive, or blunt.

 

Evocative (evocation): a calling forth of memories and sensations; the suggestion or production through artistry and imagination of a sense of reality.

 

Exposition: beginning of a story that sets forth facts, ideas, and/or characters, in a detailed explanation.

 

Expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic   representation of an inner idea or feeling(s).

 

Fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth.

 

Fallacy: from Latin word “to deceive”, a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument; any kind of erroneous reasoning that makes arguments unsound.

 

Falling Action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax.

 

Farce: a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue.

 

Figurative Language: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech (such as metaphor and simile).

 

Flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.

 

Foil: a person or thing that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent.

 

Folk Tale: story passed on by word of mouth.

 

Foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action; “planning” to make the outcome convincing, though not to give it away.

 

Free Verse: verse without conventional metrical pattern, with irregular pattern or no rhyme.

 

Literary Analysis #1

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1. Lord of the Flies is about a group of young boys are stuck on a deserted island after their evacuation plane crashed. After they all come together, they decide to be a unit with Ralph as their leader and Jack as the alternative. They like their time of freedom from adults for a few days, but when one of their signal fires goes awry and burns a portion of the forest down, they realize that their main objective should be saving. The younger boys in the group start to become scared of the beasts within the island, claiming the most dangerous one lives in the sea during the day. Their fear ensues when the twins on watch find a parachute and believe it to be the beast. When they go on a search to see where this creature lies, Ralph and Jack disagree on what to do with the situation. Jack takes the majority off to his new "tribe", while Ralph is stuck with a smaller group. In spite of Jack's new leadership, his tribe kills a pig and puts its head on top of a stick as a symbol. One of the boys, Simon, has an unusual encounter with it, claiming it as the "lord of the flies". This also makes him realize that there is an evil spirit inside each of them. As Simon comes to tell the others about this epiphany, Ralph and his friend, Piggy, beat Simon to his death. Jack comes to fight them for committing such a horrible crime; during the fight, a boy named Roger rolls a huge boulder that ends up killing Piggy. The hunt to kill Ralph ensues as he hides away from his attackers in the jungle. Jack and his followers burn the forest down to make Ralph evacuate to the beach. Soon as he does, Ralph faints, figuring that he will be killed soon. As he awakes, he finds a naval officer has come due to the sight of fire. The other boys soon arrive to kill Ralph, but instead, find the officer and begin to break down. They all start to cry because they know, now, they can return home.

2. One of the biggest themes in this novel about a civilization of young boys is losing their youth and sense of innocence. At the beginning of the story, they enjoy their time away from their parents by doing careless activities. They play games and have fun because they don't have any parents to tell them what to do or how to live. As the days drag on, they become weary and start developing a savage lifestyle. They begin to plot and kill each other due to the insanity they feel from their distance of reality. The symbol that plainly shows their loss of innocence is when they put the pig head on a stick and use it as an idol. It displays their change in attitude and their significant loss of purity.

3. The tone of Golding's narration worsens as the story goes on. He has a twisted view on the plot and it makes for a dark and savage tone. He is also very deceptive in his voice and violent when it comes to describing the actions between the boys.

- “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!
- "Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!"
- "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

4.
Symbolism
- "The conch glimmered … a white blob against the place where the sun would rise. He pushed back his mop."
- "The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going?"
- "My specs!...One sides broken"

Foreshadowing
- "There was no light left save that of the stars."
- "Ralph was aware of the heat for the first time that day…an unusual heat."
- "There isn't a tribe for you any more! The conch is gone."

Diction
- "The crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words … but the tearing of teeth and claws."
- "The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering."
- "He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling."

Imagery
- "The water rose farther and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble."
- "Surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out toward the open sea."
- "The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist."

Characterization
- "He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat…looked up through thick spectacles."
- "He was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness."
- "You could see now that he might make a boxer…but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil."

Dickens Map

1.) I plan to complete my reading by reading during 2nd period because I am a TA and reading before I go to sleep.

2.)Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil to a main character. Then write an essayin which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work.

In the two poems below, Keats and Longfellow reflect on similar concerns. Read the poems carefully. Then write an essay in which you compare and contrast the two poems, analyzing the poetic techniques each writer uses to explore his particular situation.

 

Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

 

Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey considers his sudden downfall from his position as advisor to the king.Spokesmen for the king have just left Wolsey alone on stage. Read the speech carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how Shakespeare uses elements such as allusion, figurative language, and tone to convey Wolsey’s complex response to his dismissal from court.

 

Choose a novel or play in which cultural, physical, or geographical surroundings shape psychological or moral traits in a character. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how surroundings affect this character and illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole.

 

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/2002.html

 

 

3.) I think the only way to be tested on these ideas would be when taking the AP test, because the score will really show how prepared we were for it. I plan on demonstrating these expertise on my blog by doing all my assignments on the blog.

Smart Goal

My smart goal for this semester is to write and essay every week to improve my writing skills.

Lit Terms 28-30

Connotation/ Denotation

Contrast

Lit Terms 24-27

Climax

Colloquialism


Comedy


Conflict

Lit Terms 14-23

Chiasmus

Circumlocution



Classicism


Cliche

Lit Terms 6-13

Analogy

 Analysis

Anaphora


Anecdote

Antagonist


Antithesis

Aphorism


Apostrophe


Argument


Assumption

Audience

 
Characterization

Poetry Analysis

She Walks in Beauty
by Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meets in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress
Or softly lightens o'er her face,
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek and o'er that brow
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,—
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent

Ode to Autumn
by John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease;
For Summer has o'erbrimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river-sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

If
by Rudyard kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Sonnet 18
by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

How Do I Love Thee?
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.


http://classicpoetryaloud.podomatic.com/entry/2007-08-23T11_59_55-07_00

Lit Terms 1-5

Allegory



Alliteration


Allusion


Ambiguity



Anachronism

Spring Semester Plan 1

This semester I plan to focus a lot more time on passing the AP Exam than last semester. My goal for this semester is to write at least one essay every week from past AP Exams. I plan to have my cousin grade it using the AP rubric. This is going to take some time out of my day but I am going to try to do it.

AP Prep Post 1: Siddhartha

A)
 1.Siddhartha features substantial activity and narrative action. At the same time, it is about one man’s largely internal spiritual quest. What is the relationship between the internal and exterior worlds of Siddhartha? How does Siddhartha negotiate these worlds?
2.  Discuss the ways Siddhartha attempts to attain spiritual enlightenment. Which approaches are successful? Which ones are not successful, and which ones have limited effectiveness? How does Siddhartha progress from one?
3.Consider Siddhartha’s relationship with Govinda. How are they similar, and how are they different? What are the narrative functions of Govinda’s reappearance throughout the novel? How does their relationship impact the novel’s ending?

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/siddhartha/study.html

4. How does his father show both patience and wisdom in dealing with his son?
5.Describe the Samanas that Govinda and Siddhartha meet close to the end of Chapter 1.

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Siddhartha-Reading-Questions-641015.html

B)
1.Siddhartha is driven to extremes by his desire for spiritual enlightenment and understanding. While he embraces the extremes of physicality in this novel, the initial spark of desire comes from within him. Siddhartha’s initial project is to negate the Self.
2.When Siddhartha leaves his boyhood village, he is armed only with the desire to understand himself and reach enlightenment. He has no concrete, long-term plan for himself other than to seek spiritual fulfillment, and he follows many different paths to reach his goal.
3.Govinda is Siddhartha’s childhood friend and becomes his partner as a spiritual pilgrim. He serves a variety of functions in the novel, both to further the plot and to reveal aspects of Siddhartha we might not otherwise see. Govinda often provides a sounding board for Siddhartha’s ideas
4.At first, Siddhartha’s father shows dissatisfaction and displeasure with his son’s desire to become a Samana. Despite his objection, Siddhartha waits in his room for his father’s approval. His father, although disagreeing, allows his son to leave. His patience and wisdom is tested by his son but even the father understands that his son is a grown man, capable of making wise decisions.
5.The Samanas are warriors who practice self-denial, the loss of need and desire, in order to live a perfect life. They teach Siddhartha about their exercises to extinguish thyself and give birth a new self, one who is connected to everything, nature and animals.

C)
The questions tell me that I have to understand the reading beyond just the text.