Praxis II English 5038 ETS Study Guide

Maya Angelou

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (1969); transforms from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self-possessed, dignified young woman capable of responding to prejudice

Jane Austen

"Pride and Prejudice" (1813); follows main character, Elizabeth Bennet, as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in a society of the landed gentry of the British Regency

Ray Bradbury

"Fahrenheit 451" (1953); presents a future American society where books are outlawed and firemen burn any house that contains them; a firefighter (Guy Montag) decides to buck society, stop burning books, and start seeking knowledge

Willa Carter

"O Pioneers! (1913), The Song Lark! (1915), "My Antonia (1918),"; all part of Great Plains Trilogy

Stephen Crane

"The Red Badge of Courage (1895); takes place during the American Civil War; about a young private of the Union Army (Henry Fleming) who flees from the field of battle

Emily Dickinison

POET; "I taste liquor never brewed", "Success is counted sweetest!", "Wild Nights - Wild nights!"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Nature (1836)", "Self Reliance (1841)"; transcendalism

F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Great Gatsby (1925); takes place in the Roaring 20's; self made man who woos and loses a married aristocratic woman he loves

Anne Frank

"The Diary of a Young Girl (1947)"; chronicles her life

Robert Frost

POET; "The Road Not Taken"; Mending Wall; Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening; Christmas Trees; Design ("in white")

Zora Neale Hurston

"Their Eyes were Watching God (1937)"; written during the Harlem Renaissance; the novel narrates main character Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny."

John Keats

POET; "Ode on a Grecian UrN (1819); Ode on to a Nightingale (1819)"

Harper Lee

"To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)"; primarily a novel about growing up under extraordinary circumstances in the 1930s in the Southern United States. The story covers a span of three years, during which the main characters undergo significant changes.

C.S. Lewis

"The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950)"; Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie are four siblings sent to live in the country with the eccentric Professor Kirke during World War II. The children explore the house on a rainy day and Lucy, the youngest, finds an enormous wardrobe. Lucy steps inside and finds herself in a strange, snowy wood

Harlem Renaissance

- Between end of World War I and middle of 1930s

- Involved African American writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars

* Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen

British Romantics

- End of 18th Century

- Peaked between 1800 and 1850

- Characterized by emphasis on emotion and individualism

* John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelly, and Lord Byron

Metaphysical Poets

- Term coined by poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of English lyric poets whose work was characterized by inventive use of conceits, and by speculation about topics such as love or religion

- 17th Century

* JohnDonne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert

Transcendentalism

- started in New England around 1836

- Focused on teaching that divinity pervades all nature and humanity

* Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau

Ballads

a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas. Traditional ballads are typically of unknown authorship, having been passed on orally from one generation to the next as part of the folk culture.

Biography

an account of someone's life written by someone else.

Drama

a composition in prose or verse presenting in dialogue or pantomime a story involving conflict or contrast of character, especially one intended to be acted on the stage; a play. the branch of literature having such compositions as its subject; dramatic art or representation.

Essay

a short piece of writing on a particular subject.

Fable

a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.

Fairy Tale

a children's story about magical and imaginary beings and lands.

Folk Tale

a story originating in popular culture, typically passed on by word of mouth.

Haiku

a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world.

Historical Fiction

is defined as movies and novels in which a story is made up but is set in the past and sometimes borrows true characteristics of the time period in which it is set. A novel that makes up a story about a Civil War battle that really happened is an example of historical fiction.

Legend

a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated.

Mystery

a novel, play, or movie dealing with a puzzling crime, especially a murder.

Myth

a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.

Realism

in contrast to idealism, attempts to represent familiar things as they are.

Satire

the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

Science Fiction

fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets.

Sonnets

a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line.

Alliteration

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Allusion

an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.

Analogy

a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

Characterization

is the concept of creating characters for a narrative. It is a literary element and may be employed in dramatic works of art or everyday conversation. Characters may be presented by means of description, through their actions, speech, thoughts and interactions with other characters.

Cliche

a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.

Dialect or slang

A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists

Diction

the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

Foreshadowing

a warning or indication of (a future event)

Hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Imagery

visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.

Irony

the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

Metaphor

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Mood

is a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions. Usually, mood is referred to as the atmosphere of a literary piece, as it creates an emotional situation that surrounds the readers.

Personification

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

Point of View

the way the author allows you to "see" and "hear" what's going on; different types include: first person, second person, third person, and third person omniscient.

Setting

the place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place.

Simile

a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox ).

Style

the literary element that describes the ways that the author uses words — the author's word choice, sentence structure, figurative language, and sentence arrangement all work together to establish mood, images, and meaning in the text.

Symbolism

the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

Tone

is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.

Voice

is the individual writing style of an author, a combination of idiotypical usage of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works). Voice can be thought of in terms of the uniqueness of a vocal voice machine.