Week 1? (11/15-11/26)

 AP Lit Multiple Choice Questions!

Strategies:

• Read SLOWLY, SLOWLY, SLOWLY! (very important.)
• Read the passage quickly, then go over the passage again, but much slower

Types:

• Rhetorical Function: explain the purpose of a sentence, group of sentences, whole paragraph, or line/stanza of poetry in relation to the rest of the piece; Ex: “Between lines 24 and 25 and between lines 32 and 33, there is a shift from…”
• Context: identify meaning of a word used in the context of a passage; Ex: “In line 10, ‘known to’ is best interpreted as…”
• Antecedent: often discusses elaborate syntax (complex grammar); asks which antecedent the quoted word is referring to; Ex: “All of the following appear to shed tears or be filled with tears EXCEPT the…”
• Style: choices author has made; (#1 place to find 2 correct answers…but only 1 is MORE correct!); make sure both descriptors fit!; Ex: “The grandmother and the child in the poem are portrayed primarily through descriptions of their…” ß Portrayed primarily= amount (countable) in entire passage
• Tone: identify tone of passage; if pairs of words, use style strategy; Ex: “The mood of the poem is best described as…”

Hamlet*

• Based on a Norse legend composed by Saxo Grammaticus in Latin around 1200 AD
• King Rorik of the Danes
• Amleth (Saxo’s Hamlet)
• Beautiful daughter (Geruth)
• Story first printed in Paris in 1514
• Shakespeare used earlier play (Norse Legend by Thomas Kyd)
• Ur-Hamlet
• Amleth marries Gertrude, while in Hamlet, his mom (queen/Gertrude) kills herself

Aristotle Tragedy: imitation of unified action TRAGIC ERROR!

Seneca: TRAGIC FLAW, less fate, more free will

• Hero’s hesitation
• Hero’s insanity
• Hero’s contemplation of suicide
• Multiple levels of intrigue
• Able, scheming villains
• Philosophic soliloquies
• Sensational onstage murder

*Ongoing discussion!