AP Literature and Composition
Summer 2016 Activities
All of these activities must be completed. Wuthering Heights and The Poisonwood Bible
activities are due on the first day of school, Sept. 6, 2016. All questions and activities are to be
done individually—no collaborations. The novels will be discussed during class time and a test
and/or essay will be assigned during the first few weeks of school.
Wuthering Heights
Read the novel and complete the questions. All questions must be answered in complete
sentences. When referring to direct quotes, indicate the page number.
Answers may be either typed or handwritten. (Test grade)
The Poisonwood Bible
Character Reflection Journals— This novel traces the lives of the Price family. You are
to keep a reflection journal while you read. For each chapter, you are to focus on the
characters. What do you learn about each of them and, more importantly, how do you
learn it? Each journal entry should be specific enough to indicate a careful and critical
reading and understanding of the novel. Specific details regarding the reflection journal
are attached. In addition to the journal, you must also complete the theme quotation
activity as explained on the attached sheet. (Test grade)
Literary Terms
Attached you will find a rather extensive list of literary terms and definitions that will be
used throughout the AP course. You should already be familiar with many of these
words; some will be completely new to you. You must know these terms and definitions
in September. Sometime during the first two weeks of school you will have a test on
these terms. The poetry terms will be tested separately from the other terms. The poetry
terms will not be tested until the end of September.
All assignments will also be available on Google Classroom. The code is 9lph2l.
If you have any questions, you can email me at [email protected].
AP Literature and Composition
Wuthering Heights
All questions must be answered in paragraph form. Use direct quotes from the novel to support
your answers. Do not give any plot summary.
1. Why do you think Emily Brontë chose to unfold the story through the secondary sources of
Ellen's narrative, Mr. Lockwood's two visits, and Catherine's diary? How would the story have
differed if it had been told chronologically? Do you trust the narrators' versions of the events that
took place? Or are they, from time to time, a bit unreliable?
2. Compare Catherine's love for Heathcliff with her love for Edgar: What are the defining
characteristics of each relationship? Do you think Catherine regrets her choice of husband?
3. When Heathcliff visits Catherine for the last time before she dies, she says to him, "You have
killed me--and thriven on it, I think." Nearly twenty years later, when Heathcliff is approaching
death, he says, "I have to remind myself to breathe--almost to remind my heart to beat!" Did
Heathcliff and Catherine believe the only way they could be together was in death? Did they,
somehow, will themselves to die?
4. The characters in the novel have a great capacity for violence and hatred, and revenge is one
of Heathcliff's greatest motivations. Is Heathcliff justified in the revenge he takes on Hindley?
Do you think Heathcliff's childhood experiences at Wuthering Heights contributed to his
monstrous behavior as an adult?
5. One critic stated that Wuthering Heights is "truly a novel without a hero or heroine." What do
you think of this statement? Is Heathcliff a hero or a villain?
6. Wuthering Heights is considered by many to be one of the greatest romances in literature. Do
you agree with this? What is your definition of a romantic novel? Must a great romance have a
happy ending?
7. Is Hareton a better man (or well on the way to being a better man) than Heathcliff? If you
think he is, spell it out a bit. In what way is he better?
8. Describe the setting of the Yorkshire moors. Describe the houses Wuthering Heights and
Thrushcross Grange. Include descriptions of architecture and the surrounding landscape.
9. How do the houses reflect their inhabitants? Do the houses symbolize their inhabitants?
Give examples. How do the settings influence the novel's characters?
10. Discuss Lockwood’s plan to woo Cathy away from Hareton. Argue whether or not this is
plausible.
11. What elements of Gothic literature and Romantic literature exist in this work?
12. Are the men in Catherine’s life to blame for her destruction? Explain your answer.
13. How does the imagery support Heathcliff’s observation that he is between heaven and
hell?
14. Examine Nelly’s speculations on Heathcliff’s character and his activities. How do these
contribute to the notion that he is possessed? Do the descriptions she offers remind you of
any other personage in literature or folklore?
15. What did you like/dislike about this novel? Explain your answer.
AP Literature and Composition
The Poisonwood Bible
Summer Assignment
This assignment should be completed along with the assignments for Wuthering Heights and
Literary Terms. All assignments will be due on the first day of school, September 6, 2016.
I.
Character Reflection
This novel traces the lives of the Price family. You are to choose one of the following characters:
Orleanna, Rachel, Adah, or Leah and write a reflection journal that focuses on your chosen
character. What do you learn about that character and, more importantly, how do you learn it?
The journal can be typed or handwritten, but it must include a series of reflections from each of
the first six books. Each of your six sets of reflections must include at least five direct quotes
from your chosen character’s chapters and five additional direct quotes from other chapters. In
total you will have six journal reflections and ten quotes per book reflection (total of sixty
quotes). Please indicate your chosen character and identify each journal reflection/quote
collection by the book title. For book seven in the novel, simply write a final reflection (no direct
quotes are necessary).
Example:
Character Name:
Book One: Genesis
Write a reflection of your chosen character as presented in this section.
List five quotes from chapters titled with your character’s name. (Indicate page numbers)
List five quotes from other chapters in this section. (Indicate page numbers)
Book Two: The Revelation
Continue the same as above.
II.
Theme Quotations
In addition to your reflection journal, you are to complete a task on thematic quotations. Choose
one of the themes listed below and find one passage from each of the seven books that
demonstrates your chosen theme. Be sure to identify the chapter and page number of each of
your passages. After you list your seven passages, write a brief exploration of that theme as
presented in the novel and explain how your passages demonstrate that theme.
Theme choices:
Western arrogance, dual nature, bildungsroman (coming of age), religious beliefs, individual
guilt, search for justice, balance of life
Example:
Theme____________________________
Books One-Seven: Write out passage and indicate chapter title and page number
Exploration/Explanation
AP Literature and Composition
Literary Terms
Packet 1
Most of these terms and definitions should already be familiar to you. You must know these
definitions when you come to class in September. You will be tested on these terms and
definitions within the first few days of school.
Fiction Literary Terms
Anecdote—a short and often personal story used to emphasize a point
Anticlimax—an often disappointing, sudden end to an intense situation
Flashback—interruption of a narrative by the introduction of an earlier event or the image of a
past experience
Motivation—reasons and explanations of actions taken
Point of view—perspective of the speaker or narrator in a literary work
First person—a character in the story tells the story using the pronoun “I”
Limited—told through a character’s point of view but by a narrator
Objective—a non-biased viewpoint
Omniscient—infinite knowledge, complete awareness or understanding; ability
to see everything
Third person—the story is told using words such as: “he,” “she,” and “they”
Stream-of-consciousness—a manner of writing in which a character’s perceptions and thoughts
are presented as occurring in random form
Subplot—a secondary or minor plot in a literary work
Theme—the central idea of a literary work
Elements of Style Terms
Atmosphere—the overall effect of a creative; the dominant mood created by setting, description,
and dialogue
Colloquial—slang or regional dialect
Connotation—associations a word calls to mind
Denotation—the dictionary or literal meaning of a word
Diction—the deliberate choice of a style of language for a desired effect or tone
Epigram—a short, clever poem with a witty turn of thought
Invective—abuse, accusation, or curse
Inversion—a switch in normal word order, often used for emphasis (EX: strong he was)
Irony—figure of speech in which the literal meaning of the word or phrase is the opposite of that
intended
Dramatic—where information is made aware to audience but not to the characters
Situation—the opposite of what you would expect happens
Verbal—saying one thing and meaning the other
Mood—the dominant atmosphere or tone
Paradox—a situation that at first seems impossible, but which tends to solve itself
Proverb—a short saying that usually expresses some useful thought or commonplace truth
Pun—a play on words, usually for humor
Satire—the use of humor to ridicule and expose the shortcomings of society, individuals, or
institutions
Tone—refers to the author’s attitude toward a subject; it often sets the mood
Literary Form Terms
Allegory—where a person, abstract idea, or event stands for itself and something else. It is an
extended metaphor. The extended meaning usually stands for moral or spiritual concepts.
Diary—a daily record of the writer’s own attitudes, observations, and experiences
Epistolary—a literary work written in the form of letters
Essay—a short literary composition on a particular theme or topic, usually in prose and
thoughtful and interpretive
Fable—a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth
Genre—a category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content
Novel—a lengthy fictitious prose narrative portraying characters and presenting an organized
series of events and settings
Novella—a short novel
Parable—a story designed to cover some sort of religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth
Prose—the ordinary form of written or spoken language
Verse—one line of poetry. It is also a name given to metrical composition in general.
Drama Literary Terms
Act—one of the principal divisions of a play or opera
Antagonist—one who contends with or opposes another in a fight, conflict, or battle
Aside—a stage convention used by a playwright to indicate words spoken by a character heard
by the audience but not by other characters on stage
Catastrophe—a final event or conclusion, usually an unfortunate one.
A sudden or widespread calamity or disaster. The point at which
circumstances overcome central motives and introduce a conclusion
character—a person represented in a play or work of fiction
dynamic—one that changes and is interesting
flat—someone who is little more than a name or has only one trait
round—a character that has depth and complexity
static—one who changes little or not at all
stock—one who by custom or tradition belongs to certain types of writing
climax—the moment in a play, novel, or short story when a crisis comes to its greatest point of
intensity and is in some manner resolved
comedy—a farcical or amusing event or series of events that produces smiles or laughter. It
could be a play with a happy ending.
Comic relief—a humorous scene or incident occurring in the midst of a serious or tragic literary
piece. It is designed to relieve the intensity of the situation or highlight the seriousness of the
tragedy of the action.
Conflict—the opposition of persons or forces upon which the action depends in drama or fiction
Crisis—a turning point for better or worse; it occurs when opposing forces creating conflict
interlock in a decisive action on which the plot turns
Denouement—the outcome or result of any complex situation or sequence of events. It is the
final outcome or unraveling of the main dramatic complications in a play or novel. This is
mainly used in comedies.
Double entendre—a word or phrase having a double meaning, especially when the second
meaning is risqué
Deus ex machine—“god from the machine”—resolving the plot complication using outside or
supernatural forces
Dramatis personae—the characters in a play
Epilogue—the concluding part added to a literary work or a speech given at the conclusion of a
dramatic work
Exposition—beginning portion of a play or novel where the background information is set forth
Falling action—the part of the play that follows the climax. It is equivalent to the resolution or
denouement in a drama
Farce—a light humorous play in which the plot depends on a carefully exploited situation rather
than character development
Foil—a person that by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent
Hamartia—an error in judgment; the fatal weakness that causes the downfall of a protagonist in a
tragedy
Hero—a man of superior physical or moral courage, admired for bravery or noble deeds
Hubris—arrogance, excessive self-pride or self-confidence. Hubris is a form of hamartia or
tragic flaw
Monologue—an extended speech by an actor. A device used to show the flow of thoughts
through a character’s mind is called an “interior monologue.”
Prologue—the opening section of a longer work; preface or introductory part of a novel or play
Protagonist—the leading character of a drama, novel, or other literary work
Rising action—the part of the plot involving complication and conflict leading up to a climax or
turning point
Scene—the place where some act or event occurs; also, a division of an act of a play
Soliloquy—a speech delivered in a play while a character is alone. He is basically talking to
himself and reveals his innermost thoughts
Tragedy—a calamity or disaster; it traces the life of a noble person whose character is flawed by
some defect and whose actions cause him to break some moral precept or divine law, thereby
ensuring his downfall and destruction
Tragic flaw—the principal defect which leads to destruction
Villain—a character who constitutes an evil. He is in opposition to the hero.
AP Literature and Composition
Literary Terms
Packet 2
Some of these terms may be familiar to you and some of them will be completely new to you.
Eventually, you will have to know these terms for when we discuss poetry. I would like you to
read them over and become familiar with them. You will not have a test on these terms until the
end of September.
Poetry Terms
Alliteration—the repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or more words in a phrase, a line
of poetry, or a sentence.
Anacrusis—an extra unaccented syllable at the beginning of a line before the regular meter
begins
Anaphora—intentional repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines,
stanzas, sentences, or paragraphs
Aphorism—a terse statement that expresses a general truth or moral principle; sometimes
considered a folk proverb
Apostrophe—a rhetorical figure of direct address to a person, object, or abstract entity
Assonance—closely recurring vowel sounds
Aubade—a poem or song about lovers who must leave one another in the early hours of the
morning
Blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter or unrhymed lines of ten syllables each
Caesura—a pause, metrical or rhetorical, occurring somewhere in a line of poetry. The pause
may or may not be typographically indicated.
Carpe diem—“seize the day”—frequent in 16th and 17th century court poetry. Expresses the idea
that you only go around once.
Catalexis—an extra unaccented syllable at the ending of a line after the regular meter ends
(opposite of anacrusis).
Chiasmus—the opposite of parallel construction; inverting the second of two phrases that would
otherwise be in parallel form. EX: I like the idea; its execution, I don’t.
Conceit—an elaborate, usually intellectually ingenious poetic comparison or image, such as an
analogy or metaphor. The comparison may be brief or extended
Consonance—repetition of consonant sounds
Controlling image—a metaphor or image which persists throughout an entire work and
determines its form and nature
Couplet—a pair of successive lines of verse, especially a pair that rhyme and are of the same
metrical length
Diction—the deliberate choice of style of language for a desired effect or tone. Words are chosen
to achieve a particular effect that is formal, informal, or colloquial.
Dissonance—a harsh or inharmonious sound
Dramatic monologue—a poetic form in which a single character, speaking to a silent auditor at a
critical moment, reveals both a dramatic situation and himself
Elegy—a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead
End-stopped line—a line of poetry in which grammatical pause (such as the end of a phrase or
clause) coincides with the end of the line
Enjambment—the running over of a sentence or thought into the next couplet or line without a
pause at the end of the line; a run-on line
Epic—a lengthy narrative poem in which action, character, and language are on a heroic level
and style is exalted and even majestic
Epigram—a short, clever poem with a witty turn of thought
Epigraph—a brief quotation found at the beginning of a literary work, reflective of theme
Euphemism—substitution of an inoffensive word or phrase for another that would be harsh,
offensive, or embarrassing. A euphemism makes something sound better than it is but is usually
more wordy than the original.
Figurative language—deliberate and intentional departure form normal word meaning or word
order to gain freshness and strength of expression. The author uses figures of speech such as
metaphors and similes. It creates sound and images using these comparisons.
Foot—a group of syllables constituting a metrical unit of verse, a set pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables
Iambic (iamb) foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one
Trochaic foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable
Anapestic foot consists of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable
Dactylic foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables
Spondee foot consists of two stressed syllables
Pyrrhic foot consists of two unstressed syllables
Free Verse—verse that lacks regular meter and line length but relies upon natural rhythms
Hyperbole—an extreme exaggeration for literary effect that is not to be interpreted literally
Image—in poetry, the mental impression or visualization summoned up by a word, phrase, or
sentence. The use of figurative language can create vivid images
Imagery—the forming of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things; the use of language to
represent actions, persons, objects, or ideas descriptively
In medias res—“in the middle of things”—a literary device that starts the poem or story well
along in the sequence of events
Inversion—a switch in the normal word order, often used for emphasis or for rhyme scheme
Litotes—Affirmation of an idea by using a negative understatement (the opposite of hyperbole)
Measure—a term for metrical unit and specifically for the short rhythmical movement and
arrangement known as a foot
Meter—a poetic measure that refers to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of
verse or poem
Metaphor—a figure of speech applied to a person, object, or idea to which it is not literally
applicable. It is an implied analogy which imaginatively identifies one with the other
Metonymy—a figure of speech that replaces the name of something with a word or phrase
closely associated with it. Similar to synecdoche.
Octave—refers to a stanza of eight lines. In most Italian sonnets, the octave asks a question
which is then answered in the sestet (the following six lines)
Ode—a lyric poem with a dignified theme that is phrased in a formal, elevated style. Originally,
an ode was a poem meant to be sung
Onomatopoeia—words that imitate sounds
Oxymoron—a figure of speech that combines two contradictory words, placed side by side
Paradox—a statement or situation that at first seems impossible or oxymoronic, but which solves
itself and reveals meaning
Parallelism—the repeated use of the same grammatical structure in a sentence or a series of
sentences. This device tends to emphasize what is said and thus underscores the meaning
Pentameter—a line of five metrical feet. It is the most widely used line length in English poetry,
more than any other length of line
Quatrain—a stanza or poem of four lines. This is the most common stanzaic form of poetry in
English
Rhetorical question—a question with an obvious answer, so no response is expected; used for
emphasis or to make a point
Rhyme—similarity of identity of sound in words
End—rhyme that occurs at the end of a verse of poetry
Feminine—a rhyme extending over two or more syllables
Internal—correspondence in sound created by two or more words in the same line
of verse
Masculine—a line of verse in which the final syllable is stressed
Scansion—the metrical analysis of poetry; the division of a line of poetry into feet indicating
accents and counting syllables. It is a means of studying the mechanical elements of foot, length
of line (meter), and rhyme scheme
Sestet—a stanza of six lines (often the last six lines of an Italian sonnet)
Sestina—a type of fixed form poetry consisting of thirty-six lines of any length divided into six
sestets and a three-line concluding stanza called an envoy. The six words at the end of the first
sestet’s lines must also appear at the ends of the other five sestets, in a pattern. These six words
must also appear in the envoy, where they often resonate important themes
Simile—two entirely different things are compared usually using “like,” “as,” or “as if”
Sonnet—a poem of fourteen lines usually in iambic pentameter with rhymes according to a
definite rhyme scheme
English—(Shakespearean) fourteen lines with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef
gg
Italian—(Petrarchan) fourteen lines divide into an octave and a sestet. The rhyme
scheme is usually abbaabba cdecde
Stress—accent or emphasis on syllable in a metrical pattern
Style—the way a writer uses language. Takes into account word choice, diction, figures of
speech, etc.
Syntax—the way in which words, phrases, and sentences are ordered and connected
Villanelle—a French verse form, strictly calculated to appear simple and spontaneous: five
tercets and a final quatrain, rhyming aba aba aba aba aba abaa. Lines 1, 6, 12, 18 and 3, 9, 15
19 are refrain
Volta—an Italian word used to describe the change in thought and feeling which divides the
octave from the sestet in some sonnets. The first eight lines state a premise, ask a question, or
suggest a theme; the last six lines provide a conclusion or give some kind of an answer