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ANNUAL AMERICAN LITERATURE STUDY GUIDE

ENGLISH COORDINATION I PERIOD -5TH GRADE

Miss Grace Martínez Celis G.

Name_______________________________Date_____________Group_______LN____ Postmodern Literature Give five characteristics of Postmodern Literature

1.________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________ 2.________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

4._____________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

5.________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________ From Adam by Kurt Vonnegut Answer the following questions based on your knowledge of the story.

1. What does Heinz mean when he calls his son a “treasure house” ?

2. Use one of Avchen’s comments to explain how she regards the birth of the child.

3. How is Sousa’s attitude toward the birth of his child different than Heinz’s attitude? Use three details from the story to support your response.

4. What is one reason that the birth of Heinz and Avchen’s child is a miracle for them?

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5. Which methods of characterization does Vonnegut use to present Heinz as an anonymous man? Support your opinion with details from the story.

6. How do the different reactions of Sousa and Heinz toward the birth of their children reveal characteristics about each man’s background and values? Use details from the story to support your response.

From Adolescence III by Rita Dove

1. Based on the images reflecting the speaker´s “two worlds” in Adolescence III,

how would you describe the contrast between them (the two worlds)? The one the speaker lives in (the real world)? And that of her dreams?

2. Memories and nostalgia are recurrent themes in Rita Dove´s poetry. After reading Adolescence III, what conclusions can you draw about the speaker? Think about:

Her comparison of herself to the tomatoes Her feelings about her absent father How she dresses up in her room The figures in her dreams

3. Imagery refers to the words and phrases that re-create sensory experiences for the

reader. Fill in the chart below listing two or more images that you find especially vivid in this poem. The first image is done for you.

Image Appeals to Suggests

“…swelling out/Starched cotton lips.”

Senses of sight and touch

Growth and maturity

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4. Making inferences.

What inferences can you make about the speaker´s age from the first 6 lines and the

poem’s title? Do you get a sense of her family´s situation in life? Explain.

From Testimonial by Rita Dove

1. In Testimonial, Dove writes “How could I count my blessings/when I didn´t know their names? “ What statement is she making about how her perspective has changed? Explain.

2. Making inferences. Who is the speaker in the poem? Rita Dove presents Testimonial in the voice of a goddess archetype, a powerful female figure from Greek myths and dramas. What words or phrases suggest the mythic character of the speaker? How does the language of this poem

strengthen the power of the speaker´s voice? Cite evidence to support your response.

3. Sound Devices.

Reexamine Rita Dove´s two poems, looking for examples of each sound device listed in the chart. Use your completed chart to explain what tone is established by the sound devices in each poem.

Sound Device “Adolescence III” Tone “Testimonial” Tone

alliteration

“texture/twilight”

Dreamy,

melancholy time of day

“flourish…filigree and flame”

Openness,

energy and enthusiasm

assonance

consonance

alliteration

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AMERICAN LITERATURE STUDY GUIDE

ENGLISH COORDINATION II PERIOD -5TH GRADE

Miss Grace Martínez Celis G.

Name_______________________________Date_____________Group_______LN____ Please answer the questions with clear and concise statements, all of them supported with evidence from the text.

Recitatif by Toni Morrison

1. Look for the following information and write a summary of what you researched: a. Race Relations in the 1950s (Segregation) b. Race Relations in the 1960s (Civil Rights Activism)

c. Definition of recitatif.

2. As Maggie is mute, write a letter addressed to Twyla and Roberta signed by her. In it Maggie explains and describes everything she experienced in the orphanage. She decides to write this letter before leaving St. Bonaventure as an explanation and evidence of her prevailing attitude and personality. The letter must include:

a. Maggie´s direct observations and cruel episodes: gar girls bullying her; falling down in the orchard; feeling as an outsider; her race ambiguity, etc.

b. Definition of her character´s nature through her narrative. c. The answer to the question that has been haunting the girls for the last years:

“…What the hell happened to Maggie?"

3. Later on in the story Twyla says: “Maggie was my dancing mother.” What does she mean by this? At the very end of this act, Twyla says that she knew Maggie “couldn’t scream—just like me—and I was glad about that.” Why do you think she identifies with Maggie?

5. In the final act, the characters resolve their conflicts and come to an agreement about what happened to Maggie. Why is it important for the characters to know what happened in the orchard that day?

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THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT

1. What makes of Amiri Baraka´s “Black Art” a controversial poem? Include concrete images, word choice, style, etc. from the poems to support your answer. 20 POINTS

2. Which do you consider to be Sonia Sánchez and Nikki Giovanni connective interests

besides participating and /or being close to the “Black Arts Movement”? Explain and support. In your answer include similarities and differences between them in terms of

content, style, themes, language, symbols, dialect and imagery in their poems. 20 POINTS

THE BEAT GENERATION

1. Write a brief summary of the Beat Generation cultural group; in it include its

interests, targets, origins, influences and the name of the most important and known

representatives.

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2. Reread “Song” by Allen Ginsberg; do and write an analysis of the poem regarding

the poet´s style, the poem´s content and its beat focus. Include as many poetic devices as you can find.

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AMERICAN LITERATURE STUDY GUIDE

ENGLISH COORDINATION

III PERIOD -5TH GRADE

Miss Grace Martínez Celis G.

Name_______________________________Date_____________Group_______LN____

Answer the following questions with clear and concise statement. From Lady Lazarus by Sylvia PLath

1. What makes of Sylvia Plath´s poem a dramatic monologue? Explain with supportive evidence.

2. What might be the symbolic meaning of Plath´s comparison to elements and things such as a Nazi lampshade and a paperweight? What might be her “art”? What does she expect from her audience?

3. In what way is the speaker´s “death” a performance? Support with clear evidence.

Who is her audience?

4. Where in the poem is revealed a concept of rebirth? Where can readers perceive a new found strength? Explain and support.

5. Tone is seen in the characterization of the speaker and the progression of the poem as a whole. How would you describe the tone in the poem and the speaker´s

nature? Explain and support with evidence from the poem. 10 points

From Starry Night by Anne Sexton 1. What paradoxical surrender can you identify in the poem? Explain with clear evidence from

the poem.

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2. Why do you think that Sexton highlights the themes of mystical powers such as “rushing

beast of the night,” and “sucked up by that great dragon”? What might they symbolize? Support with clear evidence from the poem.

3. What might be the symbolic meaning of the word “split” and the words “no belly”? How does

she approach to death? Support with clear evidence from the poem.

4. Describe the two realms the speaker deals with in the poem and what each of them represents to her. What does she reject and enjoy about them? Why? Explain and support with clear evidence from the text. 10 points

From The Crucible by Arthur Miller

1. How is the communist paranoia of the 1950s part of The Crucible´s historical

context?

2. Describe how events in Salem have spiraled out of control as the play develops.

3. How does John Proctor´s behavior compare with that of his wife regarding her accusation? Which character do you think behaves more wisely? Explain.

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4. How does Reverend Hale seem to feel about his own judgement and the court´s

regarding the afflicted girls behavior and attitude?

5. What might Proctor´s ultimate decision mean for him? For Salem?

From In Another country by Ernest Hemingway

1. Investigate and describe Hemingway´s Iceberg Theory, then explain the way it

applies to his short story (choose any passage to exemplify your answer).

2. What is known as the stream of consciousness technique? How does this technique apply to Modern American short stories and Modern literature in general?

3. Mention the characteristics of Modern American Short Story and the way it connects

to In Another Country.

4. What is the symbolic meaning of the following quotes from the text? Explain.

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“In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it anymore.” “ We only knew then that there was always the war, but that we were not going to it any more”.

The Harlem Renaissance Read “I, Too” and “Harlem” (A Dream Deferred) by Langston Hughes in your e book and answer the following questions from each poem:

a. What might be the power of the title? What might it mean? b. What might sing a country signify in “I, Too?”

c. How does the poet´s word choice contribute to give the poem a strong voice? A happy tone? A sad tone? A voice of inclusion?

d. Who might be the speaker in each poem? e. Find as many possible symbols in the poems and explain what they might signify.

From “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot

1. What makes of the poem a dramatic monologue? Explain and support with evidence from the poem.

2. Identify and explain some themes seen in the poem. 3. Who´s the speaker in the poem? How would you describe him? Explain and support. 4. Why is “The Love Song…” a perfect example of a modern poem? Mention and explain

at least five characteristics of modern poetry included in it. 5. What is an epigraph? Why do you think that Eliot chose to place it at the beginning of

the poem? Explain.

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AMERICAN LITERATURE STUDY GUIDE ENGLISH COORDINATION

IV PERIOD -5TH GRADE

Miss Grace Martínez Celis G.

Name_______________________________Date_____________Group_______LN_____

IMAGISM The following are poems written by William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound and E.E. Cummings. Review the characteristics of the Imagist poetry and explain why these poems are a good example of it.

The Red Wheelbarrow By William Carlos

so much depends upon

a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens.

EXPERIMENTAL POETRY

“anyone lived in a pretty how town”, “I carry your heart with me” and “I thank you God for this most amazing say” by E.E. Cummings

1. Go back to Cummings poems seen in class and explain why they are often labeled experimental poetry. Support your explanation with examples from the poems. In your answer include examples of:

Comic situations

Conversational speech Playful use of words Descriptions of ordinary objects Punctuation

A Girl

by Ezra Pound

The tree has entered my hands,

The sap has ascended my arms, The tree has grown in my breast- Downward,

The branches grow out of me, like arms. Tree you are, Moss you are, You are violets with wind above them. A child - so high - you are,

And all this is folly to the world

This Is Just to Say

By William Carlos Williams

I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which

you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious

so sweet and so cold

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Capitalization

AMERICAN LITERATURE STUDY GUIDE

ENGLISH COORDINATION V PERIOD -5TH GRADE

Miss Grace Martínez Celis G.

Name_______________________________Date_____________Group_______LN____ Answer the following questions with clear and concise statement.

1. Mention five characteristics of Realism in Literature.

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

From “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

1. How does knowing that Kate Chopin is a feminist writer, influence your interpretation of

Mrs. Mallard´s reaction to her husband´s death?

2. What does Louise Mallard´s epiphany(feeling free) tell us about her? About what sort of woman she is? How does the open window contribute to our understanding of her

character?

3. Interpret what the following structures in Chopin´s short story might symbolize.

Support with clear evidence from the text.

Open window____________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Closed door to Louise´s bedroom________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Front door to the house_______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

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4. Why would the following pronouncement be totally patriarchal? Explain with concrete

evidence from the text. “ She died of joy that kills”

__________________________________________________________________

From “The Yellow Wall Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

5. Analyze the effectiveness of Gilman’s use of the first-person point of view in “The Yellow Wall Paper”. Support with evidence from the text.

6. Explain how the setting plays a crucial role in the story.

7. Cite examples of irony within the story and categorize them as situational, verbal, or dramatic.

8. Discuss the time, place, and circumstance in which Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” and explain how it affects the story.

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AMERICAN LITERATURE STUDY GUIDE

ENGLISH COORDINATION

VI PERIOD -5TH GRADE

Miss Grace Martínez Celis G.

Name_______________________________Date_____________Group_______LN____

Answer the following questions with clear and concise statement. From The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving

1. What impression of the swamp is suggested by the descriptive details Irving includes

in the passage before meeting the devil?

2. Identify the sounds and their sources in the passage where Tom is looking after his wife. What effec are these sounds intended to create?

3. Notice the humorous attitude the author takes toward Tom´s reaction to meeting the

devil face-to-face. According to the narrator, why does Tom not fear the devil?

4. What attitude does the author take toward Tom in the brief passage when he grew

uneasy for “her safety?”

5. How does Tom final capture make it more dramatic? Write down the words and

phrases that help to visualize the image.

6. How does Irving portray the dark side of both religion and wealth in his story?

7. Describe the swamp and the Indian fort as examples of exotic settings in the story.

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8. Explain the following themes included in the story: jelousy, moral corruption, hypocrisy

and greed.

Fill the chart below with literary characteristics that correspond to each column.

ROMANTICISM DARK ROMANTICISM

From The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

1. Describe the speaker´s reaction to the bird´s entrance.

2. The words grim, ungainly, ghastly, and gaunt describe the raven. How do these

words contribute to the meaning ( narrator´s feelings, perceptions, fears) of the

poem?

3. The music of Poe´s verses derives from his use of sound devices. Find alliteration,

repetition, onomatopoeia and internal rhyme in the following two stanzas from

The Raven and explain the effect they have in creating the tone in this passage.

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And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating `'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -

Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -

This it is, and nothing more,'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -

Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore - Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore?'

Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

From I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman

1. This poem is a celebration for workers and his occupations in the mid-1800s. Analyze

the use of the following literary elements in the poem.

free verse

catalog

repetition

parallelism

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe

and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off

work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deck-

hand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing

as he stands,

The woodcutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morn-

ing, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work,

or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young

fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

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2. Why do you think that the poem is seen as an anthem to ordinary workers? Explain.

Emily Dickinson

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Hope Is the Thing With Feathers

'Hope' is the thing with feathers—

That perches in the soul— And sings the tune without the words—

And never stops—at all— And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard— And sore must be the storm— That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm— I've heard it in the chillest land— And on the strangest Sea— Yet, never, in Extremity, It asked a crumb—of Me.

Because I could not stop for Death

Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess – in the Ring –

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us – The Dews drew quivering and Chill – For only Gossamer, my Gown – My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground – The Roof was scarcely visible – The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity –

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This Is My Letter To The World

This is my letter to the world,

That never wrote to me,-

The simple news that Nature told,

With tender majesty

Her message is committed

To hands I cannot see;

For love of her, sweet countrymen,

Judge tenderly of me!

Exhilaration is the Breeze

Exhilaration is the Breeze

That lifts us from the Ground And leaves us in another place Whose statement is not found - Returns us not, but after time We soberly descend

A little newer for the term Upon Enchanted Ground –

Read the four poems written by Dickinson and answer the following questions:

1. What can you tell about Dickinson´s observations regarding nature, hope success, death and life?

2. Which do you consider to be relevant symbols in her poems and why? 3. What do the poems reveal about her personality?

Write a brief analysis of Dickinson´s poetic style: identify figurative language (similes, metaphors, and personification), slant rhyme, quatrains, unconventional capitalization, etc.