Download Fall Final Exam Review—College Preparatory LA

I.
EOCT Review—Honors & CP LA
LITERATURE—Study the information in the introduction of each major section, along with the following
writers and their works.
BEGINNINGS (to 1750s)
Author
William Bradford
Title
Of Plymouth Plantation
Olaudah Equiano
The Interesting Narrative of
Olaudah Equiano
Jonathan Edwards
“Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God”
Edward Taylor
“Huswifery”
Anne Bradstreet
“To My Dear and Loving
Husband”
Author
Benjamin Franklin
Ideas
William Bradford was elected governor over thirty times
by his fellow Pilgrims. He kept diaries and journals; he
helped document the experiences of his colony by
writing Of Plymouth Plantation. Faith, hard work, and
perseverance are all demonstrated in his narrative.
Captured the atrocities experienced by the African
slaves during the middle passage in his autobiography.
He wrote persuasively and was the first African writer to
reach a large audience of American readers. He was
instrumental not only in bringing the horrors of slavery to
the forefront of the moral conscience, but in helping put
an end to slavery.
Another tremendous example of persuasive writing and
oratory. If Bradford, Taylor, and Bradstreet are the saints
of the puritanical literary movement, then Edwards is the
voice of retribution for an Angry God. He was considered
“the last Puritan” and America’s greatest theologian. In
this work, we find the power of the wrath of God
explained to us in excruciating detail. Characteristics in
Literature: Heavy use of nature imagery, simile,
metaphor, repetition, anaphora, classical use of
apostrophe, rhetoric, heavy use of emotional appeal
(fear based motivation),
The “Quintessential Puritan,” Taylor was a Harvard
graduate, doctor, and minister for his village. An
extremely tough individual, he walked over a hundred
miles to his first post. His poetry was published
posthumously by his descendents. “Huswifery” is a
metaphysical conceit, and an examination of Taylor’s
relationship to God and Taylor’s role in his community.
The poem begins with the line “Make me, O Lord, thy
spinning wheel complete.” In the three stanzas that
comprise the work, Taylor asks the Lord to make him a
“holy robe of glory” for Christ. The poem is an excellent
example of the use of apostrophe as well as an inspiring
Christian meditation which focuses on the importance of
service to the Lord and to the community.
Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan housewife whose husband
Simon travelled frequently. While Simon was away, Anne
wrote lyric poetry that focused on her devotion to God,
family, and her reaction to adversity in life. “To My Dear
and Loving Husband” is a beautiful love poem that
expresses Anne’s love for Simon and her hope that this
love will be preserved after death through the salvation
promised in Christ.
THE ENLIGHTMENT (1750-1800)
Title
Ideas
The Autobiography & Poor
I was known to keep track of thirteen virtues as an
Richards Almanack
adolescent. This helped me learn to listen and absorb
everything around me. My brother James beat me as a
young man out of jealousy and spite. Because of this
arrogance on the part of my elder brother, I learned to
hide my genius as a teenager by cleverly adopting
pseudonyms like Silence Dogood. My father was a lowly
Thomas Paine
The American Crisis No. 1
Patrick Henry
“Speech in the Virginia
Convention”
Michel-Guillaume Jean
de Crevecoeur
Letters from an American Farmer
Author
Washington Irving
candle and soap maker, but everyone trusted him in our
community. I remember, as a child, politicians and other
community leaders stopping by my house to chat with
my father about local issues. Historians say that I take
after him in terms of my character. I was known for my
absolute brilliance as a scientist, inventor, and writer. I
was the first “self-made” man in the American colonies. I
dispelled the myth of the genetic superiority of both the
monarchy and the aristocracy by shining brightly and
sharing my gifts in the noon-day sun of my time period. I
discovered ocean currents, electricity, invented new
heating methods, and basically improved the lives of
people everywhere I went.
“These are the times that try men’s souls …” A brilliant
rhetorical and, thus, persuasive work by Paine. Do not
confuse The American Crisis No. 1 with Paine’s pamphlet
entitled Common Sense (you read this in US History).
Paine wrote this brilliant masterpiece in order to inspire
our troops, leaders, and fellow colonists to take up arms
against our then British oppressors. George Washington
loved this essay so much that he ordered it to be read to
our troops before the Battle of Trenton. The divine right of
the kings is brilliantly questioned here in this work – Paine
compares the king to a common highway man, a
murderer, and a vile oppressor.
Henry was the author of the most famous instance of
parallel structure in American History “Give me liberty or
give me death!” His “Speech in the Virginia Convention”
is a rhetorical masterpiece implementing multiple
instances of anaphora, parallel structure, assorted uses of
repetition and restatement, and brilliant use of the
device rhetorical question. Henry urged colonial
politicians to fight against British tyranny and gain
independence from the crown. Our country owes a
great debt to Patrick Henry and other brave men who
risked everything, so that we could be free.
I was a Tory sympathizer who later had to re-write my
literary collection to eliminate these sympathies. I wrote
Letters from an American Farmer. I glorified and praised
the opportunities that the new American Colonies
offered the poor immigrants of Europe. Many of these
people were fleeing the tyranny of feudal lords and the
heavy taxation of brutal and unfair monarchies
everywhere. I was a voice that heralded the importance
of land acquisition and tied that acquisition of land to
the beginnings of wealth and prosperity in the lives of an
individual. I described fat and frolicking children on farms
with their parents reaping the benefits of hard work and
land ownership. This ownership allowed these farmers to
keep the profits of their toil or labor. I describe a new
breed of Americans which consists of a multitude of
ancestral roots – people from all over the world marrying
and creating a new race.
AMERICAN ROMANTICISM (1800-1860)
GOTHIC ROMANTICISM
Title
Ideas
“The Devil and Tom Walker”
In this brilliant satire, Irving borrows the concept of the
Faust legend from Germany. Tom Walker, after being rid
of the violent and termagant Mrs. Walker, dooms his
immortal soul by turning usurer for the devil. Irving was the
first world-famous American author. In addition to Tom
Edgar Alan Poe
“The Raven” and “The Fall of
the House of Usher”
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“The Minister’s Black Veil” and
The Scarlet Letter
Author
William Cullen Bryant
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Walker, he created the characters Rip Van Winkle,
Ichabod Crane, and the Headless Horseman.
I was expelled from the University of Virginia for not
paying my gambling debts. People loathed me, and this
made me an extremely creepy person. I was the father
of the detective story and inspired contemporary horror
writers like Stephen King. I wrote “The Raven” and “The
Fall of the House of Usher” – I also married my cousin. I
had a horrific childhood which led to a great deal of
dysfunctional behavior on my part as an adult. My
parents were impoverished travelling actors. My father
walked out on me shortly after I was born, and my
mother died a year later. A man named John Allan took
me in, but never formally adopted me.
This writer was so ashamed of the fact that his ancestor
Judge Hathorne was instrumental in convicting and
hanging everyone’s grandmother in Salem in 1692 that
he added a “w” to his name. Hawthorne was obsessed
with sin and its effects on humanity. Sin, hypocrisy,
shame, guilt, and self-mutilation are all present in his
works. He is the epitome of a gothic writer – his opus
magnus The Scarlet Letter is set in the remote Puritan
wilderness that was Salem, MA in the late 1600s. The
protagonist and heroine, Hester Prynne (whose name
rhymes with sin) is under severe psychological torment.
The young and dashing Arthur Dimmesdale (little lamb) is
also being psychologically tortured by the evil Roger
Chillingworth, the antagonist.
THE HAPPIER SIDE OF ROMANTICISM
Title
Ideas
“Thanatopsis”
Thanatopsis is ancient Greek for a meditation on
death. Bryant began writing “Thanatopsis” when
he was seventeen. Later on in life, he became a
lawyer, a journalist, and was editor for The New
York Evening Post. Bryant was also a fierce
abolitionist.
“A Psalm of Life”
“A Psalm of Life” embodies the optimism and
“The Tide Rises, The
individualistic focus that was so characteristic of
Tide Falls”
American romantic writers during this time period.
Longfellow begins this work with the line “Tell me
not in mournful numbers life is but an empty
dream.” He goes on to encourage his readers to
be their own heroes and heroes for others who
may be lost and need a guide. “The Tide Rises,
The Tide Falls” is a bit more serious in tone. The
poem discusses the miniscule effect humanity has
in relation to the awe-inspiring life span of the
planet earth. Longfellow had to watch and was
severely burned as his second wife burned to
death in a household accident. His first wife died
tragically as well of an infection after miscarrying
their child. His life was filled with tragedy, but,
interestingly enough, he motivated himself to get
through it while helping and inspiring countless
others to do the same. He was a college professor
and responsible for translating many European
works into English for his students. He wrote his own
textbook as well as the poems “A Psalm of Life”
and “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”
THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE / TRANSCENDENTALISM (1830-1860)
Author
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Father of
Transcendentalism
Henry David Thoreau
Transcendentalist
Title
From Nature and from “Self
Reliance”
From Walden and “Civil
Disobedience”
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass, “Song of
Myself,” and “I Hear America
Singing”
Emily Dickinson
“Because I could not stop for
Death,” “I heard a Fly buzz –
when I died”
Ideas
Known as the father of Transcendentalism – Emerson left
the Unitarian Church in search of ideas that better
fulfilled his spiritual aspirations. He blended Eastern
mysticism with romantic ideals to create the movement
known as Transcendentalism.
Harvard graduate and most famous disciple of Emerson.
Thoreau isolated himself and lived on Walden Pond for
four years trying out Transcendentalist philosophies. His
writing and ideas on passive resistance later influenced
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Revolutionized American poetry – Whittier hated him so
much he threw his copy of Leaves of Grass into the fire
after reading it. Lucky for us, Emerson loved it. Whitman
challenged traditional forms of poetry and liked to write
in free verse. He intensely captured the ideals of
democracy, diversity, and dignity in his poetry. He was
known as the Good Grey Poet and the Bard of
Democracy. He was a keen observer and lover of
humanity and of the United States.
Emily Dickinson wrote 1775 poems during her lifetime.
Although she had a normal childhood, she became a
recluse in her adulthood. We laughed about her favorite
(uplifting) subjects of death, religion, and nature. She was
at least a hundred years ahead of her time in terms of
her writing style which meant that no one really
understood how brilliant she was. Eccentricities (for the
time period) that were typical of her writing included a
bizarre use of capitalization and punctuation – she was
also fond of using hyphens. She had a penchant for
irregular meter and rhyme schemes as well.
Unit IV Realism and Naturalism & Unit V Modernism & Unit VI Post Modernism
Realism 1850 to 1900
Regionalism
Naturalism
Regionalism and the use of Local Color
Ambrose Bierce I was a particularly bitter person who was known for
his sharp tongue and evil ways. I wrote “An Occurrence at Owl
Creek Bridge” and disappeared while reporting on Pancho Villa
and the Mexican Revolution. You watched a movie about my short
story, and you learned that I pioneered the use of the literary
device known as stream of consciousness. We listened to Suzanne
Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” as well to reinforce your knowledge of this
literary term. My life was very tragic. I grew up in poverty. I attended
a military academy, and then I fought in the Civil War as a
lieutenant for the Union Army. I was shot in the head, but –
miraculously -- I lived. I married and had two sons, but one of my
sons died. My wife later ran away from me, and then divorced me.
Stephen Crane I died at a very young age from tuberculosis or
consumption, but I still managed to leave behind volumes of my
writing. I was a journalist and was fascinated by the American Civil
War. As a matter of fact, I interviewed hundreds of Civil War vets,
studied photographs, and maps of battle plans in order to be able
to write “An Episode of War” and The Red Badge of Courage.
Students often make the mistake of thinking that I lived during the
Civil War, but in reality I was born after the war had ended. I was
the leading naturalist writer of my day.
Stephen Foster I wrote the ballad “Willie has Gone to the War” and
many, many other songs that helped define and shape the
American musical scene. Sadly, I lived most of my life in poverty, but
my music continues to be a tradition and legacy of the United
States. Ballads are a form of lyric poetry, and my song about Willie is
no exception. The lyrics tell of a young woman crying for her loved
one Willie. I used a lot of imagery in the song which depicts nature
as beautiful, but completely indifferent to the plight of human
suffering. For example, you hear about the blue bird singing, and
the water or beautiful springs and meadows all while a woman
laments the fact that her love Willie has, yes folks, Gone to the War.
The Spirituals I was the song and voice of lament and sorrow for my
people. I brought the plight of enslaved African Americans to the
attention of the American public. I brought great comfort to my
people while helping preserve part of Africa’s musical heritage in
the United States. I am one of the foundations to the only uniquely
American musical form – jazz. In Cuba, my people would sing praise
to African gods like Eleggua, Chango, and Yemaya, while hiding
the worship of these deities under the names of Catholic Saints and
the Virgin Mary. Songs like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, “Follow the
Drinking Gourd”, and “Wade in the Water” contained directions to
help runaway slaves make their way to freedom.
Jack London At age eleven, I had to drop out of school and go to
work. The beginning of my life was spent mostly performing manual
labor just so I could get something to eat every day. I became an
activist for worker’s rights. I spent time in Japan and in the Alaskan
Yukon during the gold rush. My experiences in Alaska were the
inspiration for many of my stories. I wrote “To Build a Fire” where I
explained around thirty times to readers how cold it was. My
rejection letters when stacked up measured over five feet high, but
I kept on writing. I eventually became one of the most highly paid
writers in the history of publishing.
Kate Chopin
Edith Wharton I was the daughter of wealthy people, but in the
novel you read by me I represented myself with a very poor man
(Ethan) who has an affair with his wife’s cousin (Mattie). Mattie and
Ethan attempt suicide but fail. The two are trapped with Zeena the
shrew – mangled for life. I wrote Ethan Frome and won a Pulitzer for
my novel The Age of Innocence. My husband (Teddy) cost me my
house Lenox after stealing money from me to pay for his mistress,
and my lover ran off after refusing to give my love letters back. I still
managed to carry on, and became a great writer and a great
humanitarian. I was instrumental in helping war refugees in Belgium.
I was so good at it that the French gave me a medal. I helped
thousands of women and children; I was a fantastic gardener, and I
wrote naturalistic novels that told tales of woe and sorrow.
Regionalists
Willa Cather We read Willa Cather’s “A Wagner’s Matinee”
together. We learned the difference between an efferent reaction
to music and to literature and an aesthetic reaction to music and to
literature. Aunt Georgiana’s reaction to Wagner’s music is definitely
an aesthetic experience. Georgiana married a scandalously young
and handsome Howard Carpenter at 30 and ran off to the
Nebraskan Prairie to start a homestead. Before she married Howard,
she was an accomplished music teacher at the Boston
Conservatory in MA. Georgiana is literally mangled and whittled
down by the forces of nature on the Nebraskan Prairie, taking care
of her six children, the many farmhands that work on the farm,
Uncle Howard, and finally her nephew Clarke. She is reunited with
Clarke when a bachelor uncle leaves her money and she is forced
to travel by train to Boston. Clarke very sweetly takes her to a
matinee and Georgiana is transported. She rides a “shining current”
into the beauty of the music. As an author, Cather drew on her
experiences on the Nebraskan plain as a child. She experienced a
remarkable amount of diversity and has many childhood memories
of visiting towns filled with immigrants from all over the world. She
was one of the first women formally educated to receive a degree
from the University of Nebraska – she studied classical music, history,
foreign language, and opera. She wrote proficiently and won a
Pulitzer for One of Ours in 1923.
Modernism and Imagism
1910 to 1946
During this time period, people believed that
society was pushing an individual toward
isolation. The literature was fragmented and
psychologically oriented. People were
disillusioned with government after witnessing
the brutality of both WWI and WWII and the
suffering brought on by the economic
hardship the US faced during the Great
Depression. Many works described the
corruption of the American dream as
opposed to presenting the American dream
and American society as a whole in a positive
light. There was a feeling of moral bankruptcy
and lawlessness that pervaded the American
psyche. Poets strived to paint mental pictures
in the minds of readers.
Mark Twain We read Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County” together. We raced toy cars for Jolly Ranchers
to see what it was like to have fun in the late 1800s in the United
States. Mark Twain is one of America’s most beloved and famous
writers. As a boy he grew up on the Mississippi River in Hannibal,
Missouri. Here, he could observe the myriad of characters that
would frequent the river boats. He brilliantly captured the regional
dialect used around him as a boy in his characters.
F. Scott Fitzgerald (Novel – The Great Gatsby) -- This person was one
of America’s greatest writers, but he could never let go of the fact
that “poor boys should not try to marry wealthy girls” – he married
the daughter of a judge who eventually went crazy and lost her life
in a fire in a mental hospital. He was all set to fight in World War I,
but the war ended before he ever made it to battle. He himself
succumbed to alcoholism and died young as a result of this. He
documented the sins of the rich and famous with his work The Great
Gatsby – this work is considered the best literary representation that
America has on the roaring twenties. He wrote about the corruption
of the American dream.
Modernist and Imagist Poetry Read:
T. S. Eliot This author was raised in Saint Luis and came from a
wealthy family. He married a very troubled girl named Vivian HaighWood. He wrote “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “The
Wasteland” which you will have to read once you are in college”
. He is known for his use of classical allusions in his work. He knew
Ezra Pound, and Pound helped him get his career started.
Ezra Pound This writer was the founding member of the Imagist
poetic movement. He knew everyone, and he was instrumental in
the careers of many, many poets in the modernist movement.
Unfortunately, he was a fascist. For this reason, he was deemed
mentally unfit and institutionalized for thirteen years. All of the
people he helped get started in terms of their writing career
eventually got him released. He wrote “The River Merchant’s Wife: A
Letter” which opens with “While my hair was still cut straight across
my forehead.”
William Carlos Williams This is just to say that red wheel barrows,
great big fire trucks, and plums in the refrigerator were topics of this
great American poet. This poet was a pediatrician and college
roommate to Ezra Pound. So much depended upon this poet’s
great love for our country. He was a patriot, and he documented
the beauty that exists all around us in the simple, the complex, but
always concrete in our lives. He wrote “Red Wheel Barrow”, “The
Great Figure” and “This is Just to Say” – he was also known to write
poems on his prescription pads in between patients.
Ee Cummings This poet wrote that no one loved anybody, they
were buried, and then all the people of anyhow town forgot these
two ever existed. This poet is known for his extremely eccentric use
of punctuation and grammar in his poetry. He wrote “Old Age
Sticks” and “anyone lived in a pretty how town” – these two works
are excellent examples of satire. He was a great writer of love
poetry as well.
Carl Sandburg I wrote the poems “Chicago” and “Grass” – we
learned about apostrophe and the city with the big hulking
shoulders. I was a beloved poet who wrote about middle and lower
class Americans struggling and triumphing over life’s challenges
and heart aches. Although I wrote during one of the most difficult
times in American history, I inspired people to overcome adversity
and live the best lives they possibly could.
Robert Frost I wrote “Birches” and “Stopping by the Woods on a
Snowy Evening.” I also wrote “The Road Not Taken” which you
might have read in ninth grade. I spoke at President Kennedy’s
inauguration. People said that I was a very mean person. My dad
died when I was only eleven, and I failed at all manner of jobs
before my writing career took off. I was mocked because I once
wrote that chickens roosted in trees. People credit my massive
inferiority complex to this.
Harlem Renaissance:
Langston Hughes (poet) I wrote “Ardella”, “DreamVariations”, “The
Negro Speaks of Rivers”, and “Refugee in American”. I was a poet
during the Harlem Renaissance. I wrote to mimic the rhythm and
style of the jazz that was popular during this time period.
Claude McKay (poet) I was a poet in the Harlem Renaissance, but
my writing was highly stylized and formal. I wrote “The Tropics in
New York” which was about the West Indies or Jamaica. I told you
about blue hills that looked like nuns, and beautiful fruits that made
me homesick.
Short Stories Read:
John Steinbeck I wrote Grapes of Wrath and “The Turtle.” I was
raised in California by a school teacher and a county official. I
wrote about the harsh social injustices that existed during my time
period. My writing was meant to be uplifting. In 1962, I was awarded
the Nobel Prize for literature. Upon receiving the award I stated,
“(the human capacity) for greatness of heart and spirit – for
gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion, and love. In the
endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally
flags of hope and emulation.” You read my chapter (an allegory)
“The Turtle” which symbolized the Nobel struggle that all human
beings encounter in their lives. There are some drivers on the road of
life that will go out of their way not to run you over, and others that
will swerve to purposely hit you and to hurt you. Our job as people is
to be like the turtle – to keep on going.
Ernest Hemingway I wrote “In Another Country”, Farewell to Arms,
For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, and other
instrumental works in American Literature. I volunteered for the Red
Cross during World War I and got my heart broken by an older
woman. I liked to box, to hunt, to fish, and was an athlete and an
outdoorsman. I lived in Cuba for part of my life, and then I moved
to the Florida Keys. I wrote the story you read about the wounded
war heroes and the machines. The story was set in Italy; there was
an officer, a champion fencer, who lost his very young wife.
Thomas Wolfe I was born in North Carolina; my mother was a real
estate agent and my father was lackadaisical and self-indulgent. I
wrote “The Far and the Near” which is a story that focused on the
life of a train conductor that went to visit a woman and her
daughter that waved at him every day for nearly thirty years. The
story gets flipped in its head when the woman and her daughter fall
incredibly short of anything that resembles friendly. I was a person of
immense size and energy. I taught at NYU and wrote plays as well.
Sherwood Anderson I wrote “The Corn Planting” which your class
read just before this exam. In 1917, I left my wife and three kids and
decided to become a writer. The story you read was about two
elderly people who have a deep connection to the land. Tragically,
they lose their very young and talented son Will in a drunk-driving
accident.
Eudora Welty I lived in Mississippi and took photographs of poor
people for the government during the Great Depression. I wrote the
short story you read about Phoenix Jackson entitled “The Worn
Path”. I used imagery and symbolism to capture the unbelievable
lengths a person will go to in order to help a loved one. This story is a
tribute to grandmothers everywhere, the archetype of Jesus Christ
as saviour in literature, and to the human spirit.
Katherine Anne Porter -- I survived World War I, the Great
Depression, and World War II. I weathered it all, and I wrote “The
Jilting of Granny Weatherall.” Ellen Weatherall was a bit like me; she
was amazingly tough. Ellen lost her husband John at a young age
and had to raise four children on her own. She fenced in one
hundred acres, delivered babies in the middle of the night, cooked,
and sewed her children clothes. This author represented the
toughness of life and the cruelty of death. This author compared
death to being jilted at the altar.
II.
LITERATURE—Define the following terms. List the major characteristics of each group and know the writers
associated with each group.
Term
Puritanism
Beginnings to 1750
Deism
Definition/Characteristics
Believed in Predestination and the Inherent
Sinfulness of Man. Focus on hard work, selfdiscipline, and perseverance. Literature
included diaries, sermons, hymns, journals,
histories, and poetry – mostly lyric poetry.
Used inverted syntax and wrote in language
common to seventeenth century
conversation. Believed the theater and
ornate and flowery writing to be vain and
sinful. Believed that theirs was a divine
mission to establish a city upon a hill by
creating a theocracy.
Believed that God created the universe and
then set it up to run itself like a giant clock.
Did not believe in divine intervention or
angels or miracles – the divine did not
interfere with the running of the universe.
Deists believe that we are equipped to
solve the problems that face humanity
because we as a species are inherently
Writers
William Bradford, Edward Taylor, Anne Bradstreet,
Jonathan Edwards, and many others.
Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry,
Thomas Paine.
Rationalism
Romanticism
Transcendentalism
III.
good.
Believed the universe was orderly and good.
There was no deity associated with the
Rationalists. Emphasized reason over
intuition, religion, past ideologies, or any
type of “invisible world.”
Believed in the beauty found in the strange
and unique – imagination and individuality
were a must for the romantic artist and
writer. Used intuition to unlock the secrets of
the supernatural and natural world.
Gothic Romanticism: works set in bleak and
isolated places; the protagonist is always
under some form of psychological torment;
there is always evidence of violence or
death present in the work; the supernatural
is also present in the work.
Believed in the divine over-soul or the divine
power that all of the earth was connected
to. People were equal to the divine and a
reflection of the divine over-soul. Valued
nonconformity and self-reliance over
traditional values. The mind was the most
powerful tool an individual could use in life.
William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, sometimes Emily Dickinson, and Walt
Whitman.
Gothic writers: Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Washington
Irving.
Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, Whitman (heavily
influenced), and Fuller
LITERARY/POETIC DEVICES—Define and give an example for the following terms.
Term
Metaphor
Allegory
Parable
Satire
Stereotype
Allusion
Internal Rhyme
Definition
An unlikely comparison between two
objects using the conjugated form of
the verb "to be." The tenor, the thing
being described, which may be either
abstract or concrete, and the vehicle,
which is almost always a concrete
image.
tenor = vehicle
A story or visual image with a second
distinct meaning partially hidden behind
its literal or visible meaning. These are
long works as opposed to parables
which are short works.
A brief tale intended to be understood
as an allegory illustrating some lesson or
moral.
A mode of writing that exposes the
failings of individuals, institutions, or
societies to ridicule or to scorn.
When a fixed idea or conception of a
character or an idea is assigned to a
person or group of people without
allowing for any individuality and is often
based on religious, social, or racial
prejudices.
An indirect or passing reference to some
event, person, place, or artistic work –
not explained by the writer – but relies
on the reader’s familiarity with what is
mentioned.
When a rhyme is contained within a line
Example
Your eyes are stars
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Some of Edgar Allan Poe’s works
“The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Gospels by Jesus as edited by Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John
Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”
Mrs. Walker from Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”
The Devil from Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” references Pallas or
the goddess Athena and the night’s Plutonian shore
are both allusions to mythology.
“The Raven”
of prose or verse.
Aphorism
Sonnet
A general truth or observation about life
contained in a short, witty, and
instructive phrase that often uses
parallel structure.
A fourteen line lyric poem focused on a
single theme. Shakespearean Sonnet
has three quatrains and a romantic
couplet. A Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian)
has an eight line octave and a six line
sestet.
The simple poem in the next column is
an example of a Shakespearean
sonnet. It is written in iambic
pentameter, has a regular rhyme
scheme, and uses simple language
characteristic of the literature we
studied at the beginning of the year in
Unit One. It is puritanical in nature as well
in that it is a prayer to God.
Rhymed
Couplets
One of the simplest rhyme schemes is
the rhymed couplet. Basically, two
sentences (a couplet), the ends of
which rhyme (rhymed couplet).
Although usually there's some sort of
meter involved as well, it's not always
the case.
Figure of Speech
Once upon a midnight dreary, how I pondered weak
and weary”
Franklin:
Three can keep a secret if two are dead.
Or
Genius unschooled is like silver in the mine.
A High School Teacher’s Prayer
To love a fool is no mere, idle play
Be brave young souls, or fight to ease your pain
Instead of lofty aspirations pray
Pure love, strong heart, first faith be what you gain
Our Savior be your strength and plenitude
To guide and keep you safe and strong and true
Another’s heart as pure, Love’s light guides you
A safer match will not beguile your virtue
The stars shine bright, your hearts’ path safely lit
Love’s target, future solace, won’t be missed
Your love, your light, your grace, your future’s kiss
Wrap’d in a body to cure your ails, your kit
The balm, love soothes all burns from life’s mad scorn
Don’t rush, just wait, love’s binding won’t be torn
Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”
That's my last duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
An expression or a word used imaginatively rather than literally.
Slant Rhyme The words look as though they would rhyme, but they do not. EX: prove and love Emily Dickinson
Other terms you need to know:
1. hyperbole- a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration. It may be used for either serious or
comic effect. Macbeth is using hyperbole in the following lines:
. . . .No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
2. imagery- the images of a literary work; the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work. Imagery
has several definitions, but the two that are paramount are the visual auditory, or tactile images evoked by the
words of a literary work or the images that figurative language evokes.
3. Stream of consciousness:
 phrase used by William James in 1890 to describe the unbroken flow of thought and awareness of the waking
mind

a special mode of narration that undertakes to capture the full spectrum and the continuous flow of a
character's mental process

sense perceptions mingle with conscious and half-conscious thoughts and memories, experiences, feelings and
random associations

in a literary context used to describe the narrative method where novelists describe the unspoken thoughts and
feelings of their characters without resorting to objective description or conventional dialogue
Modes of Writing
Type of Source
Type of Information
Research Writing
Persuasive Writing
Expository Writing
Business Writing
Narrative Writing
This type of writing is documented with sources, and the writer has the opportunity to
become an expert in a certain area. There are formats that are required such as MLA .
The type of writing intends to sway the reader’s or audience’s opinion. This writing has the
potential to change peoples’ lives. It takes the form of speeches, pamphlets, and
advertisements.
Writing that informs or explains. This type of writing is well organized, factual in nature, and
normally has a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
This type of writing is concise and tries to anticipate potential questions that the reader
may have. It is strictly factual and perfunctory in nature. Types of this writing are resumes,
memos, forms, and manuals.
This type of writing tells a story. The types of writing that are involved autobiographies,
historical accounts, short stories, and poems.