AP Lit Terms Quiz #9 (copy)

Spondee

A poetic foot consisting of two accented syllables, (//).

Ex.

• "Break, break, break / On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson: The repetition of "Break, break" and "cold gray" emphasizes the heavy, unrelenting impact of waves and grief.

• "O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon," by John Milton (Samson Agonistes): The stresses on "dark, dark, dark" create a slow, somber, and emphatic tone.

• "Shut up," "Top notch," or "Bus stop": Examples of two-syllable phrases used to create a "chopped" rhythm.

• "BATter my HEART, three-PERson'd GOD..." by John Donne: The initial "BATter" or "HEART" can act as spondaic substitutions to emphasize spiritual anguish.

Stage Directions

The specific instructions a playwright includes concerning sets, characterization, delivery, etc. (See Hedda Gabler by Ibsen.)

ex.

Examples in Literature:

• Emotional/Tonal Direction: From Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman: "WILLY. Oh, Biff! [Staring wildly.] He cried! Cried to me. [He is choking with his love and now cried out his promise.]" These indicate intense emotional distress and subtext not spoken.

• Characterization & Action: From Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun: "RUTH [mocking; as she thinks he would say it]: Oh, Mama makes me so mad...!" This directs the actor’s tone and reveals Ruth's sarcastic attitude.

• Setting & Atmosphere: Often used by Tennessee Williams to create mood, such as "The room is dimly lit, and John sits alone, staring at the floor," which implies isolation and sadness.

• Physical Movement & Symbolism: From Ibsen's A Doll's House, "[She and the children laugh and shout and romp in and out of the room...]" shows Nora’s childish, playful behavior before the play's tension rises.

• Conflict & Dramatic Action: From Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: "[Proctor handing Danforth paper] Will you read this first, sir? It's a sort of testament" (Act 2, Scene 2). This shows direct action and conflict, as Proctor forces a confrontation with authority

Stanza

A unit of a poem, similar in rhyme, meter, and length to other units in the poem.

Ex.

• Example 1: Tercet (Three-Line Stanza) - >Digging by Seamus Heaney

  Under my window, a clean rasping sound
  When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
  My father, digging.

Couplets have 2 lines, tercets have 3, and quatrains have 4

Structure

The organization and form of a work.

Ex.

1. Examples of Structure in Prose (Narrative & Organization)

Prose structure often deals with the order in which a story is told or how a text is broken into parts.

• Chronological/Linear Structure: Events unfold in order (exposition, rising action, climax, resolution).

  • Example: A straightforward plot tracking a character's journey from childhood to adulthood.

• In Media Res ("In the middle of things"): The story starts in the middle of a high-tension scene rather than the beginning.

  • Example: The Odyssey opens near the end of Odysseus's journey, with flashbacks to his previous adventures. This creates immediate suspense.

• Non-Linear/Fragmented Structure: Events are reordered through flashbacks or alternating timelines to suggest trauma, memory, or fragmented perspective.

  • Example: Toni Morrison’s Beloved uses fragmented flashbacks to show how the past constantly disrupts the present.

• Epistolary Structure: The novel is told through documents like letters, diary entries, or newspaper clippings.

  • Example: Frankenstein uses letters from Walton to his sister, framing the narrative to suggest multiple, layered perspectives and isolation.

• Circular Structure: The story ends where it began, often emphasizing fate or the inability to change.

• 2. Examples of Structure in Poetry (Form & Pattern)

Poetic structure refers to the physical arrangement of lines and stanzas on the page, including rhyme, meter, and lineation.

• Closed Structure (Traditional Form): Adheres to strict rules of meter and rhyme, suggesting control, order, or tension.

  • Example: Shakespearean Sonnet (14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG). The 12-line "problem" is resolved by the final couplet, which highlights the theme.

• Open Structure (Free Verse): Lacks a set pattern, mirroring natural speech or emotional chaos.

  • Example: Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass uses free verse to signify democratic freedom and non-conformity.

• Stanzaic Organization: How stanzas are grouped to organize ideas.

  • Example: A poem using alternating couplets might be contrasting two opposing ideas (e.g., love vs. hate) in each pair of lines.

• Enjambment: Moving from one line to the next without a pause (punctuation).

  • Effect: Creates momentum, anxiety, or speed, as seen in many modern poems to mimic chaotic thoughts.

• Caesura: A strong pause within a line (usually punctuation).

Effect: Forces the reader to stop, emphasizing the preceding words.

Style

The unique way an author presents his ideas. Diction, syntax, imagery, structure, and content all contribute to a particular style.

Ex.

1. Diction (Word Choice)

• Definition: The specific words an author selects for connotation (emotional association) and denotation (literal meaning).

• Examples: Formal (academic), informal (colloquial), ornate, plain, concrete, or abstract.

• Effect: A writer choosing "slender" instead of "skinny" implies a more positive, refined tone.

2. Syntax (Sentence Structure)

• Definition: The arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence.

• Examples: Short/choppy (urgent), long/complex (reflective), parallel (balanced), or inverted (uncommon).

• Effect: Ernest Hemingway often uses simple, direct syntax to create a detached, objective style, whereas Virginia Woolf uses complex, flowing sentences to mimic consciousness.

3. Imagery (Sensory Details)

• Definition: Descriptive language that appeals to the five senses (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory).

• Examples: "The scarlet rose," "the screeching metal," "the bitter cold".

• Effect: Creates vivid mental pictures and evokes emotional responses that enhance the theme.

4. Structure (Organization)

• Definition: The functional arrangement of the text, including plot structure, paragraphing, or stanza breaks.

• Examples: In medias res (beginning in the middle of action), chronological, non-linear, or stream-of-consciousness.

• Effect: Shapes how the reader experiences the narrative flow and pacing.

  5. Content (Treatment of Subject)

• Definition: The specific focus, themes, or details the author consistently chooses to emphasize.

Examples: Focus on social injustices, internal psychological states, or intense regional descriptions (e.g., Southern Gothic).

Subplot

A secondary plot that explores ideas different from the main storyline. (In Hamlet, the main storyline has Hamlet avenging the death of his father. The subplot has Hamlet dealing with his love for Ophelia.)

ex.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Foil Subplot). Charlotte Lucas’s pragmatic, loveless marriage to Mr. Collins.

2. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Mirror Subplot). Subplot: Laertes’s pursuit of revenge against Hamlet for the death of his own father, Polonius.

3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Thematic Subplot). The escalating feud between the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons.

4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Thematic/Contextual Subplot)

• Main Plot: Gatsby’s obsessive pursuit of Daisy Buchanan.

• Subplot: The constant rumors and revelations surrounding Gatsby's illegal bootlegging, specifically involving Tom Buchanan’s investigations.

5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Parallel Subplot)

• Main Plot: Atticus Finch defending Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of hurting a white woman.

• Subplot: The children's (Scout, Jem, Dill) fascination and interactions with their reclusive neighbor, Boo Radley.

Symbol

Something in a literary work that stands for something else. (Plato has the light of the sun symbolize truth in "The Allegory of the Cave.")

ex.

• The Green Light in the Great Gatsby representing Gatsby’s unattainable dreams

• Objects: Winston’s paperweight in 1984 symbolizes a fragile, "eye-opening" glimpse into a past and beauty.

• Colors/Elements: The color red in The Handmaid’s Tale symbolizes fertility, danger, and subjugation.

• Settings: The valley of ashes in The Great Gatsby represents moral/social decay.

• Weather: Rain often symbolizes sadness, despair, or sometimes spiritual rebirth/cleansing.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech that utilizes a part as representative of the whole. (" All hands on deck" is an example.)

ex.

• "lend me your ears" (ears for attention) or "wheels" for a car

• T.S. Eliot’s "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock": "I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas". Prufrock uses "claws" (part) to represent a crab (whole), highlighting his feelings of insignificance and non-human dehumanization.

• Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner: "The western wave was all a-flame". The "wave" (part) represents the entire sea (whole), concentrating the visual imagery on the movement of water.

• Melville's Moby Dick: "They counted thirty sails on the horizon". "Sails" (part) is used to represent the entire ships (whole), focusing on the imagery of sailing vessels.

• Emily Dickinson's "I heard a Fly buzz—when I died": "The Eyes around—had wrung them dry". The "Eyes" (part) refers to the observers/mourners (whole), accentuating the detached, sensory focus of the speaker.

Syntax

The grammatical structure of prose and poetry.

ex.

• Parallelism (Parallel Structure): Using the same grammatical structure for similar ideas to add rhythm or emphasis.

  • Example: "Mothers with babies, fathers holding up young children, couples arm in arm, boys toting roller skates..." (E.B. White) creates a detailed, panoramic image.

• Periodic Sentence:

A sentence where the main clause or predicate is held until the end, creating suspense.

• Example: "Bumping across the car tracks, easing the car over a rutted intersection, feeling the built-up springs sink heavily, clear down, on a show hump, he swung left to avoid the main street" (Wallace Stegner).

• Cumulative/Loose Sentence: A sentence that starts with the main idea and adds details afterwards, creating a conversational or trailing tone.

  • Example: "His father left, trailing the faint, unfamiliar, prosperous aroma of his cigar" (John Knowles).

• Inverted Syntax (Inversion): Reversing the natural order of words (Subject-Verb-Object) for emphasis or poetic effect.

  • Example: "Powerful indeed was her argument" rather than "Her argument was powerful".

Juxtaposition/Contrast in Syntax: Placing a very long sentence next to a very short one to create a jarring, impactful effect.

Analyzing Syntax on the AP Exam

When analyzing a passage (especially for Q2 - Prose), consider:

1. Sentence Length: Are they short and choppy (fast-paced, chaotic) or long and complex (reflective, detailed)?

2. Sentence Type: Simple (straightforward), Compound (balanced), Complex (subordinating ideas), or Compound-Complex.

3. Repetition (Anaphora): Repeating words at the start of clauses (e.g., "We shall fight...") to build intensity.

4. Rhetorical Questions: Used to engage the reader or emphasize doubt

Tercet

A three-line stanza.

ex.

• Key AP Lit Tercet Examples:

  • Terza Rima (ABA): Percy Shelley’s "Ode to the West Wind" uses ABA, CDC, EDE rhyme patterns.

    "O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, (A)
    Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead (B)
    Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing," (A)

  • Villanelle (ABA): Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night" is composed of five tercets, utilizing the 1st and 3rd lines as alternating refrains.

  • Triplet (AAA): Tennyson's "The Eagle" or Robert Herrick's "Upon Julia's Clothes," where all three lines rhyme.

  • Non-Rhyming: A Haiku is a 3-line, 17-syllable, non-rhyming stanza (usually 5, 7, 5)