Unit 1
Unit 2
- Allegory: a story with both a literal and symbolic meaning
- In The Minster's Black Veil the veil is a symbol to Mr. Hooper but to the town it is an allegory.
- Almanac: a book published every year that contains facts about the movements of the sun and moon, changes in the tides, and information of general interest
- Poor Richards Almanack is an almanac written by Benjamin Franklin that lasted for 20 years.
- Aphorism: short sayings with a message
- "There are no gains without pains," is an aphorism by Ben Franklin.
- Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses a person who is dead or not physically present, a personified object or non-human thing, or an abstract idea
- The Lord is the apostrophe referenced in the poem "Huswifery."
- Archetypes: symbols that appear in the literature of many different cultures
- In Moby Dick, Starbuck's archetype is the voice of reason.
- Conceit: extended metaphor, consistent throughout text
- The conceit in the poem "Huswifery" compares the household task of making cloth to the gift of God's salvation.
- Diaries/Journals: personal records of daily events, usually written prose
- Mary Chesnut's From Civil War is an excert from her diary during the Civil War.
- Dichotomy: a division or contrast between two things that are represented as being opposed or entry different
- A common dichotomy is good and evil.
- Diction: a writers choice and arrangement of words
- The diction in The Gettysberg Adress is formal.
- Direct characterization: when the author tells you about a character
- An example of direct characterization in The Devil and Tom Walker is, "Tom's wife is as miserable as himself."
- Dramatic poetry: tells story from single character
- "The Dungeon" by William Wordsworth is an example of dramatic poetry.
- Ethos: a rhetorical appeal to credibility
- Since Abraham Linoln was presedient, his ethos was strengthened during The Gettysberg Address
- Exploration Narratives: firsthand accounts of expedition experiences
- Exploration narratives, like "A Journey Through Texas," encouraged others to explore America.
- Free verse: irregular meter and line strength
- Walt Whitman's poem "Leaves of Grass" is a free verse poem.
- Gothic Style: gothic literary tradition came to be in part from the Gothic architecture of the middle ages
- Remote setting, violent or macabre acts, tormented characters, supernatural elements all contribute to gothic style.
- Indirect characterization: the author will show you character traits through actions and dialogue
- An example of indirect characterization in The Devil and Tom Walker is, "His face showed signs of their conflict."
- Juxtaposition: an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast
- The juxtaposition in From Walden is to "Cultivate poverty."
- Limited third person: access of only one characters thoughts and feelings
- There is a shift in point of view to limited third person in part two of "An Occurrence of Owl Creek."
- Logos: a rhetorical appeal to logic or reason
- Oladuh Equine stregthened logos when he made the arguement that the white men were loosing money by mistreating them.
- Lyric poetry: common type of poetry often songlike
- "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickenson is a lyric poem
- Narrative poetry: poems that tell a story
- "The Odyssey" is an example of a narrative poetry.
- Omniscient point of view: third person point of view, all knowing narrator
- The Devil and Tom Walker was told in omniscient point of view.
- Oral Tradition: stories passed down by mouth
- Native Americans are known for their oral tradition.
- Origin Myth: a tradition story that explains how life began
- The Onondaga origin myth, "The Earth on Turtles Back," explains the creation of the world.
- Original Sin: we were born with a sinful nature because of Adam and Eve eating the fruit from the garden of Eden
- Puritans believed that individuals could not achieve perfection due to original sin.
- Parable: a short simple story with a moral message
- The Minster's Black Veil is a parable with the message that we all have a secret sin.
- Parallelism: repeating of grammatical structure
- Jefferson used parallelism in the Declaration of Independence because he follows the same subject, verb, object pattern.
- Pathos: a rhetorical appeal to emotion
- Jonathan Edwards strengthened pathos in his sermon Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God when he referenced fear.
- Personal letter: written without the intent of being published
- Letter to His Son from Robert E Lee to his son was considered a personal letter.
- Persuasion: Writing or speech meant to get readers or listeners to think or act in a certain way
- The Declaration of Independence was a type of persuasion writing.
- Poem of Praise: celebrate the deeds of a hero, the natural world or ordinary objects
- "A Hymn to the Evening" is a poem of praise.
- Predestination: the belief that you have been selected by god
- Puritains worked hard because they believed in the idea of predestination.
- Primary sources: firsthand accounts of specific historical periods or events, written by eyewitnesses or participants
- A civil war soldiers journal is considered a primary source.
- Puritan Plain Style: a type of writing in which uncomplicated sentences and ordinary words are used to make simple, direct statements
- Rhetorical appeals: devices that help you use a form of rhetoric
- Thomas Jefferson used rhetorical appeals to stregthen his arguement in the Declaration of Independence.
- Sermon: a speech that has a definite point of view and is given from a pulpit in a house of worship
- Johnathan Edwards is known for his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
- Single Effect: writing constructed to achieve a particular effect. Every character, incident, and detail contributes to an overall impression
- Everything in the Fall of the House of Usher is used to create a creepy, dark setting.
- Slave narrative: an autobiographical account of life as a slave
- Olaudah Equiano wrote the slave narrative, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano."
- Stream-of-consciousness: technique of narration captures the chaotic nature of the human though process by jumping from one idea to another without transition
- A Stream-of-consciousness is used in part three of "An Occurrence of Owl Creek."
- Style: the manner in which a writer puts his or her thoughts into words
- Ralph Waldo Emerson's style is unique because the sentences build up to the main point.
- Symbol: something has meaning in snd of itself and also stands for something else
- A dove symbolizes peace like Reverend Hooper's black veil is a symbol of humans original sin.
- Tabula Rasa: you are born with a blank slate everyone has the opportunity to achieve perfection
- John Locke's idea, tabula rasa, differed with Puritan beliefs
- Themes: a central message or insight revealed by a literary work
- The theme of Moby Dick is nature always wins.
Unit 2
- Allusion: reference to well-known people, historical events, and literary works
- The allusion in "The Lovesong of Alfred J Prufrock" is when he references Michelangelo.
- Bildungsroman: the coming of age story
- F. Scott's Fitzgerald's story "Winter Dreams" is considered a Bildungsroman.
- Characterization: the variety of techniques a writer uses to reveal a character's personality
- Authors use characterization to make readers familiar with a character's personality.
- Climax: the high point of interest/tension in a story
- The climax in "Story of an Hour" is when Mrs. Mallard is joyful about the freedom from her husband.
- Conflict: the struggle between two opposing forces
- The conflict in the story "To Build a Fire" is man vs power greater than self.
- Direct Characterization: shows us detail about the character, leaves the reader making inferences and analysis
- An example of direct characterization in The Great Gatsby is when Nick says that Tom is "tall with a cruel body."
- Dramatic Monologue: a poem or speech in which a character addresses a silent listener
- "The Lovesong of Alfred J Prufrock" is a dramatic monologue.
- Dramatic irony: occurs when the reader knows more than the character does. Contradiction between what the character thinks and what the reader knows
- The dog's instincts in "To Build a Fire" is an example of dramatic irony because the dog knows they should not be outside.
- End rhyme: occurs at the end of two or more poetic lines
- An example of end rhyme is when words at the end of lines at poems rhyme.
- Epiphany: sudden revelation of flash of insight
- Readers have an epiphany in the story "The First Seven Years" when we find out Sobel loves Miriam.
- Exact rhyme: repetition of the same stressed vowel sound as well as any consonant sounds that follow the vowel
- An example of exact rhyme is "cake" and "bake."
- External conflict: occurs between a character and society, nature, another person, God or fate
- The external conflict in "To Build a Fire" is the man's struggle to overcome nature in order to get to the camp.
- Grotesque character: someone who has become bizarre or twisted through their obsession with an idea, an assumption, or a value
- Mr. Shiftlet is considered a grotesque character.
- Humor: writing meant to evoke laughter
- Mark Twain's "The Boy's Ambition" is considered humorous because of the exaggeration and the oblivious narrator.
- Images: words or phrases that appeal to the senses
- The images in "In a Station of the Metro" is a busy metro station.
- Imagism: focuses on evoking emotion and sparking the imagination through the vivid presentation of a limited number of images
- "In a Station of the Metro" is a perfect example of imagism
- Indirect Characterization: author tells directly what character is like
- An example of indirect characterization is when Myrtle keeps repeating Daisy's name like a child.
- Informal essay: brief nonfiction pieces characterized by a relaxed, conversational style and structure
- "Ghost Got In" is an example of an informal essay.
- Internal conflict: occurs within the mind of a character
- The internal conflict the man faces in "To Build a Fire" is when he realizes that he is going to die.
- Internal rhyme: appear within a single line
- An example of internal rhyme is in line 1 of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.”
- Irony: a discrepancy between what is stated and what is meant, or between what is expected
- The irony in the story "To Build a Fire" is that the man put himself in his situation of freezing to death because he thought he would get to the camp quicker.
- Metanarrative: story that transcends time and place and brings cohesion to a community
- Many metanarrative were written during postmodernism to hep return to normalcy.
- Modernism: the artistic rendering of the experience of modernity
- Modernism is a period in American Literature.
- Mood (atmosphere): feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage
- The mood of "I Will Fight No More Forever" is sad.
- Refrain: a word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at regular intervals throughout the works
- The refrain in the poem "Go Down, Moses" is, "Let my people go."
- Rhyme: Repetition of sounding in the accented syllables of two or more words appearing close together
- Rhyme is commonly used in poetry using words like "sun" and "gun."
- Satire: writing that ridicules the flaws of people or society
- "Old Age Sticks" is considered a satire.
- Situational irony: occurs when something happens that contradicts our expectations
- The situational irony in "Story of an Hour" is when Mrs. Mallard's husband is actually alive and comes walking through the door.
- Slant rhyme: occurs when words sound alike but don't rhyme exactly
- An example of slant rhyme is "shape" and "keep."
- Spirituals: Folk songs developed by enslaved Africans that often feature biblical references and a call-and-response format
- "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is an example of an African American Spiritual.
- Solecism: incorrect use of a word
- When the officer says the woman is "This woman is historical" instead of "hysterical" is an example of solecism.
- Symbol: people, places, or things that represent ideas or qualities larger than their literal meaning
- A common symbol is a dove represents peace.
- Theme: insight into life
- The theme of "The Turtle" is that perseverance will get you through life.
- Tone : reflects the authors attitude towards the subject, characters, or audience
- The tone of "My Bondage and My Freedom" by Fredrick Augustus Bailey Douglas is pity towards the white people who they are enslaved by.
- Verbal irony: occurs when someone says something that deliberately contradicts what the person actually means
- An example of verbal irony is when Jordan Baker says, "I hate careless people."