Literary Terms & Concepts
Significant American authors and their Works
Literary Periods
Important Historical Events
Writing
100
A theme, motif, or stock character that holds a familiar and fixed place in a culture's consciousness
What is an archetype?
100
Once a pastor who found himself struggling with his faith and with the realization that emphasis upon the individual and upon the human mind was severely downplayed, this man, after visiting with influential European philosophers, returned to America in 1833. He is much credited with the origination of the Transcendentalist movement in America.
Who is Ralph Waldo Emerson?
100
Poetry became popular during the era of
What is Romanticism?
100
This sermon alludes to the Old Testament of the King James Bible that includes stories of fire, floods, and divine retribution
What is 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God'?
100
An essay in which a test-taker will have to utilize a certain number of provided sources to argue a position
What is a synthesis essay?
200
An elaborate parallel between two seemingly dissimilar objects or ideas
What is a conceit?
200
This author's experience on the Mississippi River (which lends itself to the setting of many of his works, including his book "Life on the Mississippi") influenced much of his work. He took his pen name from a river man's call meaning "two fathoms deep."
Who is Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)?
200
Nonconformists can also be known as
What are Transcendentalists?
200
During ______, Thomas Paine wrote "Common Sense"
What is the American Revolution?
200
This type of essay calls for the test-taker to take a position on a very general topic.
What is an argument essay?
300
A wide-ranging technique of detachment that draws awareness to the discrepancy between words and their meanings, between expectation and fulfillment, or, most generally, between what is and what seems to be
What is irony?
300
This feminist author, along with Ralph Waldo Emerson, was a driving force behind the Transcnedentalist journal 'The Dial.'
Who is Margaret Fuller?
300
The beliefs of ______ and ______ are similar in that they emphasize the power of God's omniscient presence
What are Puritanism and Transcendentalism?
300
The ____________ was a brief speech delivered in November 19th, 1863 in honor of the soldiers who fought in a battle that marked a turning point in the Civil War
What is the Gettysburg Address?
300
This essay type calls for the test-taker to be able to identify and analyze the use of rhetorical devices in a passage.
What is an analysis of form and content?
400
Latin for "in the middle of things." This term refers to the technique of starting a narrative in the middle of action
What is "in medias res"?
400
Which American Anti-Transcendentalist, having roots in Salem and shamed by the intolerance of his Puritan ancestors, secluded in hismother's house ina room dubbed "the dismal room," and there wrote one of his earliest novels, "Fanshawe."
Who is Nathaniel Hawthorne?
400
This era was essential due to the use of logos, one of the most effective forms of rhetoric
What is Rationalism?
400
Many literary works by ___________ depict the era of the Great Depression
Who is John Steinbeck?
400
Readers score students' essays on a ____ scale.
What is 0-9?
500
The technique of drawing attention to something by claiming not to mention it
What is praeteritio (paralipsis)?
500
"The Grapes of Wrath," generally regarded as this California-born author's finest work, won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. The novel is a historically authentic story of a family forced to become migrant farmers in California
Who is John Steinbeck?
500
John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" is a work classified under
What is Naturalism?
500
Henry David Thoreau wrote the essay "Civil Disobedience" in response to _________
What is the Mexican War?
500
Students are given _____ minutes to complete three essays following the completion of the multiple-choice section of the test.
What is 135?
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