5 Steps To A 5: Writing the AP English Essay 2017 (2016)
Appendixes
APPENDIX I
Bibliography of Recommended Authors and Texts
The following is a very selected listing of authors, both past and present. Each of these writers presents ideas in original, thought-provoking, and enlightening ways. Our recommendation is that you read as many and as much of them as you can. The more you read and examine these writers and their works, the better prepared you will be for informed thinking, discussing, and writing the AP English essay. And, there is another mind-expanding benefit. You will become much more aware of the challenging and compelling world of ideas that surround you. We invite you to accept our invitation to this complex universe.
Writers don’t choose their craft; they need to write in order to face the world.
—Alice Hoffman
Suggested Classical Works and Authors
Suggested Realistic Works and Authors
Suggested Romantic Works and Authors
Suggested Romantic Poets
Suggested Impressionistic Works and Authors
Suggested Naturalistic Works and Authors
Recommended Poets
Recommended Authors
Personal Writing: Journals, Autobiographies, Diaries
Biographies and Histories
Journalists and Essayists
Political Writing and Satire
Naturalists, Scientists, Adventurers
Writers Known for Their Fiction and Nonfiction
APPENDIX II
Glossary of Terms
Allegory A work that functions on a symbolic level.
Alliteration The repetition of initial consonant sounds, such as “Peter Piper picked a peck of picked peppers.”
Allusion A reference contained in a work.
Assertion Your thesis, the point you wish to make in your essay.
Cacophony Harsh and discordant sounds in a line or passage in a literary work.
Character Those who carry out the action of the plot in literature. Major, minor, static, and dynamic are types of characters.
Comic relief The inclusion of a humorous character or scene to contrast with the tragic elements of a work, thereby intensifying the next tragic event.
Conflict A clash between opposing forces in a literary work, such as man versus man; man versus nature; man versus God; man versus self.
Connotation The interpretive level of a word based on its associated images rather than its literal meaning.
Deconstruct To break something into its parts, to identify the components of a text and to decipher each of their meanings within a given context.
Denotation The literal or dictionary meaning of a word.
Diction The author’s choice of words.
Euphony The pleasant, mellifluous presentation of sounds in a literary work.
Exposition Background information presented in a literary work.
Figurative language That body of devices that enables the writer to operate on levels other than the literal one. It includes metaphor, simile, symbol, motif, hyperbole, and others.
Flashback A device that enables a writer to refer to past thoughts, events, and episodes.
Form The shape or structure of a literary work.
Hyperbole Extreme exaggeration. In “My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose,” Burns speaks of loving “until all the seas run dry.”
Image A verbal approximation of a sensory impression, concept or emotion.
Imagery The total effect of related sensory images in a work of literature.
Irony An unexpected twist or contrast between what happens and what was intended or expected to happen. It involves dialogue and situation, and can be intentional or unplanned. Dramatic irony centers around the ignorance of those involved while the audience is aware of the circumstance.
Metaphor A direct comparison between dissimilar things. “Your eyes are stars” is an example.
Metonymy A figure of speech in which a representative term is used for a larger idea (The pen is mightier than the sword.)
Monologue A speech given by one character (Hamlet’s “To be or not to be . . .”).
Motif The repetition or variations of an image or idea in a work that is used to develop theme or characters.
Narrator The speaker of a literary work.
Onomatopoeia Words that sound like the sound they represent (hiss, gurgle, bang).
Oxymoron An image of contradictory term (bittersweet, pretty ugly, giant economy size).
Parable A story that operates on more than one level and usually teaches a moral lesson. (The Pearl by John Steinbeck is a fine example. See Allegory.)
Parody A comic imitation of a work that ridicules the original.
Pathos The aspects of a literary work that elicit pity from the audience.
Personification The assigning of human qualities to inanimate objects or concepts (Wordsworth personifies “the sea that bares her bosom to the moon” in the poem “London 1802.”)
Plot A sequence of events in a literary work.
Point of view The method of narration in a work.
Rhetorical question One that does not expect an explicit answer. It is used to pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience. (Ernest Dowson asks, “Where are they now the days of wine and roses?”)
Satire A mode of writing based on ridicule, which criticizes the foibles and follies of society without necessarily offering a solution (Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a great satire, which exposes mankind’s condition.)
Setting The time and place of a literary work.
Simile An indirect comparison that uses the words like or as to link the differing items in the comparison. (“Your eyes are like stars.”)
Stage directions The specific instructions a playwright includes concerning sets, characterization, delivery, etc. (See Hedda Gabler by Ibsen.)
Stanza A unit of a poem, similar in rhyme, meter, and length to other units in the poem.
Structure The organization and form of a work.
Style The unique way an author presents his ideas. Diction, syntax, imagery, structure, and content all contribute to a particular style.
Symbol Something in a literary work that stands for something else. (Plato has the light of the sun symbolize truth in “The Allegory of the Cave.”)
Synecdoche A figure of speech that utilizes a part as representative of the whole. (“All hands on deck” is an example.)
Syntax The grammatical structure of prose and poetry.
Synthesis The integration of a number of sources into the development and support of the writer’s thesis.
Theme The underlying ideas the author illustrates through characterization, motifs, language, plot, etc.
Tone The author’s attitude toward his or her subject.
Understatement The opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended.
Voice The author’s distinct, unique, recognizable style. Voice can also refer to active or passive when referring to whether the subject of the sentence is doing the acting or is being acted upon.
APPENDIX III
Web Sites Related to AP English
There are literally thousands of sites on the Web that are in some way related to the study of college-level English. We are not attempting to give you a comprehensive list of all of these sites. But, we are going to provide you with a list that is relevant to your preparation and review for constructing an AP English essay. It is up to you go to the sites to see for yourself just what it can offer and whether or not it will be of specific benefit to you. Each of these Web sites can lead you to many more. Perhaps, you might even decide to set up your own AP English Web site or chat room!
Note: These sites were up and running at the time this book was published. If you find a site is no longer available, we would appreciate your letting us know. We would also love to hear from you if you have found a site that you believe other students of AP English could utilize.
Since this is an Advanced Placement exam which you are preparing for, why not go to the organization that is the source of the exam as your first choice?
• http://www.collegeboard.org/ap
• http:www.collegeboard.org/ap/english
For AP exam links:
• http://maxpages.com/aptest
For an interesting AP test club and chat room:
• http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/aptest?s
For practice with essay questions:
• http://cbweb6.collegeboard.org/writewellCB/student/ap/html/apintro.html
A Web site focused on preparation for AP English Literature:
• http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listaplitma.html
A Web site focused on preparation for AP English Language:
• http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listaplanguma.html
Two sites useful for grammar help:
• Purdue University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
• Grammar Bytes (terms, exercises, tips, rules from a primate with attitude!): http://chompchomp.com/menu.htm
For rhetorical and literary terms:
• http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html
• http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Terms/index.html
• http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Silva.htm
Free thousands of free e-books in over 50 languages that they can download:
• www.bartleby.com
Also try E-Books Directory, an online resource containing links to free downloadable e-books, technical papers, and documents, as well as user-contributed content, articles, reviews, and comments:
• http://www.e-booksdirectory.com
Some claim this is the ultimate Shakespeare site
• www.PlayShakespeare.com
You can view today’s front pages and compare coverage of major events in newspapers around the world:
• http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/
For access to the world of arts and letters, the following Web site offers access to newspapers, literary magazines, columnists, blogs, etc.:
• http://artsandlettersdaily.com
Web notes, a highlighting and “sticky note” tool that allows users to compile information from multiple web pages and then organize and share their findings:
• http://www.webnotes.net
APPENDIX IV
Answers for Practice Activities
Chapter 3
Warm-Up 3
The answers (in order) are: Description, exposition/description, argument, narration, argument, description, narration, argument, exposition, description
Chapter 5
Self-Test (following Warm-up 17)
1. metonymy, metaphor, personification
2. simile
3. parallelism
4. allusion (the film, Gone with the Wind)
5. parallelism, antithesis
6. onomatopoeia, apostrophe
7. metaphor, personification, hyperbole
8. onomatopoeia, apostrophe, metaphor, personification
9. metonymy
10. onomatopoeia, alliteration
11. metaphor, personification, synecdoche
12. rhetorical question, litotes
13. understatement
14. epithet, simile
15. metaphor, epithet
16. alliteration
17. metaphor, alliteration
18. hyperbole
19. parallelism
20. oxymoron
Warm-up 18
Compound sentence: After a long flight, the pilot landed the plane at O’Hare airport, and the passengers were quite happy for the safe and smooth landing.
Complex sentence: After a long trip, the passengers were quite happy that the pilot landed the plane safely and smoothly at O’Hare Airport.
Compound–complex sentence: The pilot landed the plane at O’Hare airport, and after a long trip, the passengers were quite happy that the landing was a safe and smooth one.
Periodic sentence: After a long trip, and after a safe and smooth landing by the pilot at O’Hare Airport, the passengers were quite happy.
Warm-up 19
There are five sentences.
Sentences 1 and 4 begin with prepositional phrases.
Sentence 3 begins with a participial phrase.
Sentences 2 and 5 begin with the subject.
The two compound sentences are 2 and 5.
Sentences 1 and 4 are simple.
Sentence 3 is the only complex sentence.
The excerpt’s subject is the Kaatskill Mountains.
The purpose is to describe.
The sentences do contain many descriptive phrases set off by commas.
The mountains and the Hudson River are the two items given the most coverage.
Personification is found in sentence 5.
The diction can be described as poetic, complex, graceful, and artful.
The overall effect of the passage is lyrical.
Warm-up 20
Tone is informal.
Words that characterize the tone of the review: critical and sarcastic.
Words/phrases that help develop the tone: perfunctory, harrowing and confusing, toyed with, not acted, problem, lurid teasers, light on character development, frightens away.
Total Workout (at the end of Chapter 5)
1. A man tells the reader his plans for killing an old man.
2. To entertain
3. 1st
4. Dash and exclamation point
5. Make parentheticals stand out and for explanatory information
6. Strong emotions
7. “Gentle” and followed by an indication of strong or sudden emotion do not go together; they in opposition
8. To go from cautiously moving to a hearing situation is unexpected and not grammatically connected to the rest of the sentence.
9. Sight and sound
10. Metaphor, rhetorical question, analogy, parallelism, onomatopoeia, litote, personification
11. Yes
12. Yes
13. Varied
14. Does not
15. Mad, you, madman, cautiously, very, eye, old man
16. Ironic, complex, conversational
17. Chilling, suspenseful
18. Hyperbolic, dramatic, compelling, complex
19. The second and third choices would be correct.
Chapter 6
Workout 2, Prompt A
1. A passage from the introduction to Martin Luther King’s Why We Can’t Wait.
2. Describes, analyzes
3. Rhetorical purpose of the passage, the stylistic, narrative, and persuasive devices
4. Social conditions and attitudes of black Americans in the 1960s
5. Rhetorical purpose
6. Describes and analyzes
7. Stylistic, narrative and persuasive devices
8. No
Workout 2, Prompt B
1. Two poems
2. Discuss
3. Similarities, differences
4. Contrast/comparison
5. Allusion
6. No