Study Set for Literary Timeline and Rhetorical Analysis/Argument Test

Anglo-Saxon Period (c.450-1066 AD)

Beowulf is an EPIC POEM from this era

Old English was the PRIMARY LANGUAGE

Middle English Period (c.1066-1550 AD)

The BLENDING of Old French/Old Norman and Old English contributed to the development of MIDDLE ENGLISH as the Normans and the Angles.

Geoffrey Chaucer was a key figure (THE CANTERBURY TALES)

Neoclassical Period (1660-1798)

Emphasized REASON, ORDER, and DECORUM

CHARLES II rules during this time, embodying the contrast between PUBLIC IMAGE and PRIVATE REALITY

Romantic Period (1789-1837)

Focused on nature, imagination, and INDIVIDUAL EMOTION rather than just ROMANTIC LOVE.

Key writers: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron.

Victorian Period (1837-1901)

Industrialization, social reform, and MORAL RIGIDITY

Key writers: Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, and Charlotte Bronte

Modern Period (1901-1945)

Experimentation in literature; disillusionment post-WWI.

Key authors: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot.

The Modern period often embraced INDIVIDUALISM AND ISOLATION

Postmodern Period (1945-Present)

Celebrates fragmentation and questions the idea of a coherent, central truth.

Texts feature unreliable narrators, irony, skepticism towards grand narratives, playful use of language, and an EMPHASIS ON CONSTRUCTED NATURE OF REALITY, often exploring multiple interpretations and questioning the idea of a single, definitive meaning.

Appeal

persuasive technique to engage the audience

(Pathos, Ethos, Logos)

Logos (appeal)

Logic, reasoning, facts (e.g., using statistics and data)

Ethos (appeal)

Credibility of the speaker

Pathos (appeal)

Emotional appeal

Repetition

Reinforces key points by repeating words or phrases.

Analogy

A comparison to clarify ideas

Claim

The main argument or stance.

Counterargument

Opposing viewpoint.

Rebuttal

Response that refutes the counterargument.

Concession

Acknowledging part of the counterargument as valid.

Tone

Word Choice, Syntax, Imagery, Light, Color, Music, connections to appeal

Speaker

Who is speaking

Audience

Who is the audience (who is the speaker speaking to)

Message

What is the Central Claim

Context

Circumstances surrounding the argument

Purpose

Why is the speaker sending this message to the intended audience?

Exigence

immediate need to deliver the message

Rhetorical Analysis

S.M.A.C.E.P.T.A.C.