AP English Lang Final

Frame

A story within a story;

ex: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Canterbury Tales, Beowulf

Paradox

A contradictory statement;

ex: Macbeth… fair is foul, and foul is fair

Symbol

Anything that represents or stands for something else;

ex: night/dark is usually bad

Irony

The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning;

ex: Macbeth…Duncan thanking Lady Macbeth for her hospitality when the audience knows she plans to kill him

Exemplum

A story used to point out a moral or support an argument;

ex: Canterbury Tales…Pardoner's tale… greed is bad (also irony bc he is greedy)

Elegy

A poem of serious reflection, typically for the dead;

ex: Elegy written in a country churchyard (Thomas Gray)

Epitaph

A phrase or form of words written in memory of a person who has died; an inscription on a tombstone;

ex: Elegy written in a country churchyard (Thomas Gray)

Mock Epic

Literary works that parody or mock the stereotypes of Classic epic poems; mock the heroes;

ex. Don Juan (Lord Byron)

Tragic Flaw

Flaw which leads to the hero's downfall;

ex: Macbeth… greed for power

Tragedy

A genre that focuses around a noble character who struggles against strong external challenges;

ex: Macbeth

Motif

An object, image, sound, or phrase that is repeated throughout a story to point toward the story's larger theme;

ex: Macbeth… light and dark/weather (good things=good weather/ bad things= bad weather)

Heroic Couplet

A rhyming couplet, or pair of lines with end rhymes in iambic pentameter; commonly used in epics and narrative poems;

ex: Canterbury Tales

Epic Poem

A long, narrative poem;

ex: Beowulf

Pastoral Poem

A poem with idealized rural life and the countryside;

ex: The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

Theme

A central topic, subject, or message within a narrative;

ex: Macbeth…ambition; dangers of censorship and overrule of govt.

Ballad

A poem that tells a story; can be dramatic, funny, or romantic;

ex: She Walks in Beauty (Lord Byron); The Solitary Reaper (William Wordsworth); The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Sonnet

A poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes; typically ten syllables per line in English;

ex: To a Skylark (Percy Bysshe Shelley) and Ode to a Nightingale (John Keats)

Ode

A form of lyric poetry; expressing emotion, usually paying respect to something or someone;

ex: Ode to a Nightingale (John Keats) and Ode on a Grecian Urn (John Keats)

Rhyme Scheme

The ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse; (ababcdcd)

Meter

The systematic arrangement of words involving stressed and unstressed syllables

Satire

Ridiculing or critiquing a person, situation, or social belief system through storytelling; sarcasm;

ex: 1984, A modest proposal

Personification

A literary device that gives human characteristics to nonhuman things or inanimate objects

Caesura

A pause in the middle of a line of poetry that is formed by the rhythms of natural speech rather than by metrics

Kenning

A word or phrase that is a metaphor for something simpler; it renames something;

ex: Beowulf (Higlac's follower aka Beowulf)

Climax

Turning point of the story; the plot is at its most suspenseful moment; the protagonist directly confronts the main conflict

Conflict

A literary device that presents the struggle between two sides due to a disagreement in values, desires, motivations etc.

Metaphor

A comparison between two things that are otherwise unrelated

Simile

A comparison between two things, usually using the words 'like' and 'as'

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or sequence of words at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences;

ex: When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be (John Keats)… (repetition of) before

Alliteration

A literary device that involves two or more words that have the same initial stressed consonant syllable

Soliloquy

When a character in a dramatic work speaks directly to an audience; expressing their inner thoughts; character is alone on stage

Aside

A speech or short comment that a character delivers directly to an audience; other characters cannot hear this; speaking to the audience but not alone on stage

Parable

A relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life;

ex: The Canterbury Tales… The Pardoner's tale

Dystopia

An imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible;

ex: 1984

Apostrophe

A rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses someone or something that exists outside of the work

Hyperbole

An extreme exaggeration

Hrothgar

Who is the king that Beowulf helps in Denmark?

Herot Hall

What did Hrothgar build as an example of Royal Generosity?

He is given a name. His uncle is king of Geatland and he becomes king by the end of the poem.

How do we know that Beowulf is a nobleman? Why does this matter in an epic poem?

Wiglaf

Name the character that helps Beowulf defeat the dragon.

Loyalty to someone as if they are family.

When he helps Beowulf, this is an example of kinship. What is kinship?

We don't know because it was originally told orally

Who is the author of Beowulf?

It was oral so as people of England changed from Pagan to Christian it adopted both types of religion.

Why are there two religions in the poem Beowulf?

Denmark and Geatland

What are the two countries represented in Beowulf?

Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon.

Who are the three creatures that Beowulf battles?

To make a name for himself; he was Pagan so he thought there was no afterlife so if he died he'd have to be remembered

Why does Beowulf leave his homeland to fight an unknown monster?

Wyrd

What is the word for fate in Beowulf

Paganism

What religion did the Anglo-Saxons practice?

Old English

What language did the people speak who listened to Beowulf?

Middle English

What language did the people speak during the Medieval Period in England?

Geoffery Chacuer

Who is the author of Canterbury Tales?

Using humor to criticize to promote change

What is satire?

The Church

What group is the author most criticizing in the Canterbury Tales?

The Tabard Inn in Southwark.

Where do the pilgrims begin their journey in the Canterbury Tales?

They are going to see the grave of Thomas Beckett, an archbishop who was killed.

Why are they traveling to Canterbury in the Canterbury Tales?

"Get up and bar the door".

Of the four ballads we read: "The Twa Corbies"; "Barbara Allen"; "Sir Patrick Spens"; and "Get up and bar the door"

Which one is meant to be humorous?

Quatrain/four lines.

What stanza length do ballads usually use?

Short story poem meant to be sung.

What is the basic definition of a ballad?

Shakespeare

Which poet wrote about his dark lady?

He preaches against greed but he is very greedy.

Why is the Pardoner a hypocrite in the Canterbury Tales?

Death killed their friend.

Why did the three rioters in the tale want to kill Death? (Canterbury Tales)

Italian/Petrarcan , English, Spencirian

What are three kinds of sonnets?

Francesco Petrarca, in italy

Who invented the sonnet, and in what country?

14

How many lines does a sonnet have?

Only Italian sonnets have this. Octave is the first 8 lines and sestet is the last 6 lines.

What are the octave and sestet?

A pair of rhyming lines

What is a couplet?

Queen Elizabeth

Which monarch had part of the renaissance named after her?

Henry the eighth

Which monarch had six wives and started his own church?

James the first (Jamestown)

Which monarch began the decline of the Renaissance? Hint: a colony in Virginia

10

How many syllables in a line of iambic pentameter?

Spenser

Which poet created his own rhyme scheme and 9 line stanza?

Ambition

What is the hero's tragic flaw in Macbeth?

Tragic flaw leads to character's downfall

Why is Macbeth a tragedy?

Lady Macbeth

Who pushes Macbeth to kill Duncan?

His sons will be kings

What did the witches predict for Banquo? (in Macbeth)

When Fleance gets away

What is the climax of the play? (Macbeth)