Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Dickens Map


1) My reading schedule: As I please on my free time basically but also keeping the deadline in my mind. Also      I ride the bus every day to school and back home which gives me about 30 to 45 minutes daily to read a part of my book. At home I try to balance that with my smart goal practice hours.

2)1. In The Writing of Fiction (1925), novelist Edith Wharton states the following:

At every stage in the progress of his tale the novelist must rely on what may be called the illuminating incident to reveal and emphasize     the inner meaning of each situation. Illuminating incidents are the magic casements of fiction, its vistas on infinity.


Choose a novel or play that you have studied and write a well-organized essay in which you describe an "illuminating" episode or moment and explain how it functions as a "casement," a window that opens onto the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

2.The opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities are some of the most famous in British literature. They introduce the contradictions in the world of the novel, between positive and negative forces: “light and darkness, wisdom and foolishness, hope and despair,” and so on.  In an essay analyze whether positive or negative forces triumph at the end of the novel.  Make sure you consider the fates of all the major characters in your analysis.
3)In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose scene in A Tale of Two Cities that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary.
4) The French Revolution was of great interest to Americans in the early days of their own republic. Given today's polarities of extreme wealth and poverty and strongly expressed patriotism, as well as the interest in early America, what parallels might we draw between our own time and what happens in A Tale of Two Cities? What lessons?
5) Dickens seems to have great sympathy for the poor, the sick and the powerless, but not all such characters are portrayed sympathetically. What does that say about his sympathies? Where does he intend our sympathies as readers to lie?

Testing: I think that I would personally like to work on essay question responses. I know most questions on the AP test are very broad and in order to be successful on the test I think to know how to narrow id down.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Lit Terms: 31-56

31. DICHOTOMY: Split or break between two opposing things.


32. DICTION: The choice of words use of words and phrases in speech or writing.


33. DIDACTIC: Intended to teach

34. Dogmatic: Rigid in beliefs and principles.


35. ELEGY: A poem or song of serious reflection, typically a mourning for the dead.


36. EPIC: Long narrative poem of a hero and his epic journey through history exploits.


37. EPIGRAM: Witty aphorism


38. EPITAPH: A phrase or statement written in memory of a person, esp. on a tombstone.


39. EPITHET: An adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned


40.EUPHEMISM: A mild or indirect word or expression for one too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.


41. EVOCATIVE: Bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.
 makes you think of what used to be,

42. EXPOSITION: A comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory.


43. EXPRESSIONISM: A style of painting, music, or drama in which the artist or writer seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions



44. FABLE:
A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.

45. FALLACY: A mistaken belief, esp. one based on unsound argument.

46. FARCE: A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations.

47. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech. (such as metaphor and simile)

48. FLASHBACK: A sudden and disturbing vivid memory of an event in the past, typically as the result of psychological trauma or taking LSD.

49. FOIL: A person or thing, that by contrast makes another seem better or more prominent

50. FOLK TALE: Story passed on by word of mouth.

51. FORESHADOWING: A DEICE TO PREPARE THE READER FOR THE OUTCOME OF AN ACTION.

52. FREE VERSE: Poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter.

53. GENRE: A category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.


54. GOTHIC TALE: A style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence.

55. HYPERBOLE: An exaggerated statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point.

56. IMAGERY: Figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.

Monday, January 21, 2013

AP Lit Terms 6-30

6.ANALYSIS: Detailed examination of the elements or structure of something, typically as a basis for discussion or interpretation.


7.ANAPHORA: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.


8.ANECDOTEA short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.


9.ANTAGONIST:A person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary


10.ANTITHESIScontrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence. It is the juxtaposition of two words, phrases, clauses, or sentences contrasted or opposed in meaning in such a way as to give emphasis to their contrasting ideas and give the effect of balance. This is a device often used in rhetoric.


11.APHORISMA pithy observation that contains a general truth.


12.APOLOGIA:
A formal written defense of one's opinions or conduct.

13.APOSTROPHEAn exclamatory passage in a speech or poem addressed to a person (typically one who is dead or absent) 

14.ARGUMENT(ATION):
A reason or set of reasons given with the aim of persuading others that an action or idea is right or wrong.

15.ASSUMPTIONA thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof: "they made certain assumptions about the market".

16.AUDIENCE: The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event, such as a play, movie, concert, etc.

17.CHARACTERIZATION: The means by which an author reveals their character

18.CHIASMUS: 
  1. A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.


    19.CIRCUMLOCUTION: 
    The use of many words where fewer would do, esp. in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive.
  2. 20.CLASSICISM: The following of ancient Greek or Roman principles and style in art and literature
  3. 21.CLICHE: a phrase or situation overused within society.
  4. 22.CLIMAX:
    The most intense, exciting, or important point of something; a culmination or apex.
23. COLLOQUIALISM: Slang words or informal way of speech 

24.COMEDY:

A movie, play, or broadcast program intended to make an audience laugh.
25.CONFLICT: Struggle or problem in a story causing tension

26.CONNOTATIONAn idea or feeling that a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning

27.CONTRAST: where one item is thrown at another to prove clarity 

28.DENOTATION: Plain dictionary definition

29. DENOUEMENT:The final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are resolved.

30. DIALECT:language or certain people distinguishing them from others.