AP English 2

Genres

100

a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, typically someone who has just died

eulogy

200

a speech given at a high school or college graduation ceremony

commencement address

300

a drama in which a protagonist's flaw or mistake leads to their death or disgrace

tragedy

400

long, Greek poems in dactylic hexameter that recount stories of heroes and deities

epic

500

fantastic or incongruous imagery or effects in art, literature, film, or theater by means of unnatural or irrational juxtapositions and combinations

surrealism

Early Modern & Enlightenment

100

to think, process, and understand judgments using logic

reason

200

English philosopher who claimed that before civilization, "the life of man [was] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

Thomas Hobbes

300

This German philosopher advocated the "public" use of reason as a means to enlightenment

property

400

Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that this concept was the root of all corruption of humankind

property

500

This English "metaphysical" poet was born Catholic, but later became a cleric in the Church of England

John Donne

The 19th Century

100

the author of Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman

200

a philosophy that emphasized a return to a state of nature, rural living, and the value of solitude and introspection

transcendentalism

300

Inspired by the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, this German economist, historian, and philosopher wrote his most famous works while living in London.

Karl Marx

400

a philosophy which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will

existentialism

500

This philosopher wrote in aphorisms due to poor health, criticized ideals in any form, and declared in a parable that "God is dead, and we have killed him."

Friedrich Nietzsche

The 20th Century

100

the two largest wars fought in this century

WWI and WWII

200

early 20th-century author, member of "the lost generation" famous for writing in stripped-down, direct tone

Ernest Hemingway

300

a broad term used to describe art, literature and other ideas after WWII; associated with a departure from modernism and a general distrust of absolute theories and ideologies

postmodern

400

This movement of arts, literature, and music centered in Harlem, NY, emphasized the experience of black Americans

Harlem Renaissance

500

This "beat poet" was heavily influenced by Walt Whitman and William Carlos Williams and was close friends with Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs

Allen Ginsberg

Potent Potables

100

a word that means "to break down"; the opposite of synthesis

analyze

200

a word for literature that means "living or occurring at the same time"

contemporary

300

A central rhetorical principle requiring one's words and subject matter be aptly fit to each other, to the circumstances and occasion (kairos), the audience, and the speaker.

decorum

400

A word whose prefix and root mean "out of" and "stability, norm, inactivity", respectively

ecstasy

500

the English word derived from two Greek words that mean "divine, god" and "to see", respectively

theory