Crash Course AP Literature

DENOTATION Denotation refers to the dictionary or precise meaning of a word. Authors’ use of the right word for the passage can ...

B: YOU’VE MISREAD PART OR ALL OF THE TEXT. Problem The writer... Solution/Strategy Relies on paraphrase or summary. This is what ...

STYLE Word choice also impacts overall style. Think of style as the voice of the writer. Many decisions a writer makes—such as t ...

contradictory claims. passage was about and you’re struggling with meaning. I can’t stress enough how important it is to do a ca ...

SOME TYPICAL STYLE DESCRIPTORS: Authoritative: the voice is commanding and knowing Emotive: the voice evokes emotion Didactic: t ...

C: YOU MISREAD THE PROMPT Problem The writer. .. Solution/Strategy Is completely off topic. You perhaps charged too quickly out ...

IMAGERY Imagery is not just one of the most important elements of poetry, it is also important to prose writers. Imagery is lang ...

D: IMPRECISE USE OF LANGUAGE; IMPRECISE UNDERSTANDING OF LITERARY ELEMENTS Problem The writer.. . Solution/Strategy Identifies t ...

TYPES OF IMAGERY Visual Imagery: what we can see Auditory: what we can hear Tactile: what we can touch Olfactory: what we can sm ...

GENERATING YOUR ANALYSIS Step one: Read the prompt carefully. Understand exactly what you are expected to do. This will give you ...

EFFECTS OF IMAGERY Helps establish tone Creates realistic settings Creates empathy in readers for characters Helps readers imagi ...

discovery is important, pay attention to it. Do not be too constrained by your initial outline. ...

TONE Tone is the attitude of the speaker toward another character, a place, an idea or a thing. In thinking of tone in this rega ...

CSE: A FORMULA TO REMEMBER Remember “CSE” and you’ll remember the main elements of a good argumentative essay: C State a claim S ...

MOOD Mood is related to tone. The term “mood” is most often used in association with setting. Think of mood as the emotional qua ...

Chapter 12 So What? Understanding Literary Themes ...

SYNTAX Syntax refers, in general, to the order of words in a sentence. Syntax results in various sentence types used for a varie ...

In This Chapter Overview What Is “So What?” So What? A Visual Guide Common Literary Themes ...

SENTENCE TYPES AND ATTRIBUTES Sentence type Attributes Periodic The most important idea comes at the end of the sentence. Loose ...

OVERVIEW Each summer, my AP students read Jostein Gaarder’s novel of the history of Western philosophy, Sophie’s World. They rea ...