Unit 1
denotation
the objective meaning of a word
assuage
(verb) to make less intense; reduce the severity of
prodigious
impressive in size
proboscis
long, thin nose of an animal, or tubular mouth of an insect
waylay
to trap or approach by surprise; intercept
central idea
an overarching message or truth that is specific to a story
archetypes
familiar, commonly used character types and situations in stories
narrative elements
plot, characterization, setting, and tone—all develop and interact to create meaning in a text
perspective
the author’s or a character’s attitudes, values, or opinions that influence the representation of a topic
pacing
the rhythm of the story—how slowly or quickly the actions and events develop and unfold
3 questions to determine and analyze central ideas and themes
1)What is a central message or universal truth the author is conveying?
2)How do the central ideas interact to help me arrive at an overall theme of a text?
3)What are the central ideas, and how do they interact to produce a deeper textual meaning?
Example of the Gothic Romance genre
Frankenstein
exposition
what introduces the plot
(from Unit 3) flashback
In Gothic Romance, this may happen for a character during a time of confusion that contributes to a mystery he or she is trying to solve.
Identifying Task, Purpose, and Audience
Task: What is the assignment asking me to do?
Purpose: What is the reason I am writing this?
Audience: Who will be reading my work?
In the “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” the old woman reminds the knight that he promised to grant any request she made. Read the excerpt in which the knight replies.
“My love?” he said. “No, rather my damnation!
Alas! that there is any of my nation
Who ever could so foully be disgraced.”
But all for naught, the end was that he faced
Constrainment, for he now would have to wed
And take his gray old wife with him to bed.
Based on this excerpt, what most effectively explains how the knight’s character influences the decision he must make?
The knight is a man of honor, and thus must fulfill the oath he made to the old woman.
Read the lines from Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29,” which contain figurative language.
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate.
What most accurately explains the meaning of the simile and then my state / Like to the lark at break of day arising / From sullen earth?
The speaker refers to the rise in his spirits as he thinks of his lover, his mood elevating like the ascent of a bird from the earth.
Which lines from John Keats’s poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” suggest that the knight may have had more power over the lady than he claims?
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone
In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” Dr. Roylott is portrayed as a loner with an affinity for oddities.
Which passages from the text effectively support the idea that Dr. Roylott is an eccentric character?
He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate. …
He has a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon. …
Read the excerpt from The War of the Worlds, in which the narrator describes the first sighting of one of the Martians.
Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance. The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedgelike lower lip, the incessant quivering of this mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles, the tumultuous breathing of the lungs in a strange atmosphere, the evident heaviness and painfulness of movement due to the greater gravitational energy of the earth—above all, the extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes—were at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous. There was something fungoid in the oily brown skin, something in the clumsy deliberation of the tedious movements unspeakably nasty. Even at this first encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with disgust and dread.
Which options accurately analyze the purpose of this lengthy description?
The detailed description justifies the horror the narrator feels from this experience.
The detailed description increases suspense because the narrator’s dread implies something bad is going to happen.
What lines from the “General Prologue” of The Canterbury Tales most effectively outline the Wife of Bath’s character traits that become most relevant to her story?
She was a worthy woman all her life:
At church door with five men she’d been a wife,
Not counting all the company of her youth.
Read the lines from John Donne’s poem “The Sunne Rising.”
Busie old foole, unruly Sunne,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtaines call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers seasons run?
Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide
Late schoole boyes, and sowre prentices…
What most accurately describes the literary device used in these lines?
apostrophe
Read the lines from John Keats’s poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci.”
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
What most accurately depicts the symbolic meaning of the flowers in this passage?
The lily symbolizes death and the rose symbolizes life; this means that the knight appears ill and seems close to dying.
Throughout “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” Sherlock Holmes emphasizes the importance of integrity and fairness in all matters.
What most accurately supports this inference about Holmes’s sense of justice?
“In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Grimesby Roylott’s death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience.”
Read the excerpt from The War of the Worlds, in which the narrator reflects for the first time on the effects of the Martian attack.
It came to me that I was upon this dark common, helpless, unprotected, and alone. Suddenly, like a thing falling upon me from without, came—fear.
Which options most accurately analyze how the author structures this part of the text to develop elements of the narrative?
By placing this revelation after instead of during the first attack by the Martians, the author indicates that further complications in the plot are in store.
By placing this revelation after instead of during the first attack by the Martians, the author shows that the narrator’s fear is new to him, which provides insight into the narrator’s character.
By placing this revelation after instead of during the first attack by the Martians, the author shows that the people were unprepared for what happened.