In the last week or so, we have now started to work on essay writing and the skills with it in preparation for our AP exams in May. So far, I have found it interesting what all goes into a well-written essay. We have now gotten the opportunity to score some essays, just look at others, start the process ourselves (without actually writing a whole essay), and now, finally try writing our own in a limited amount of time. It has definitely been a growing process so far.
What I find interesting is that all of the prompts we have looked at so far have always related to how literary devices and techniques are used by the author to get a certain point across to their audience. Therefore, we have had to learn more literary techniques. Now we know that diction is word choice, syntax is how those words are put together, tone is the feeling of the piece, and imagery uses the senses to put the reader into what the characters are going through. We have also looked at figurative language devices such as similes, metaphors, personification, apostrophes, symbols, allegory, paradox, and irony. All of these help a writer convey their thoughts and feelings to their readers in different ways. I am starting to find out how beneficial knowing what these techniques do really is. Out of curiosity, I got onto the College Board Website (they help with AP testing), and I found a list from them which includes even more techniques, some that I have never heard of before. I am not going to list all of them, but a few of them include “…rhetoric, attitude… atmosphere, voice, speaker, thesis, ideology, persuasion, paradox, allusion, ambivalence… and aphorism” (Study Skills: Writing).
Besides just what we have seen in the prompts, we are also learning how to write effectively and, in addition, in a specified amount of time. It is definitely a skill that, I am sure many of us need work on. Another fact I found out on the College Board site is that the AP English Literature test itself is comprised of 55 multiple choice questions and three essays that we have to write in two hours (Sample Questions…). By the end of this unit, we will all definitely feel very prepared for the AP exam and any other times we will get to write essays.
Works Cited
“Sample Questions and Scoring Guildlines.” College Board. 2009. 27 October 2009. < http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/english_lit/samp.html?englit>
“Study Skills: Writing.” College Board. 2009. 27 October 2009. < http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/english_lit/writing.html?englit>
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4 comments:
While I agree that learning about a myriad of literary devices will be beneficial in the long run, it happens to be horrifically boring right now. At the moment, I'd concur with your analysis of the situation and say that we all need to improve our literary analysis skills. It is a dry subject, however, so I hope we can stay awake for the rest of it. Hopefully our AP tests have get essays that lack some of the more obscure literary devices. I wouldn't want to discuss ideaology and ambivilance and their effect on a story... at all.
I also agree that learning about many different types of literary devices is beneficial to our reading and writing skills. I tend to get confused by all of the devices that are in works, and i am surprised at how much of the story i am missing because i have a hard time pointing them out. I am glad that we work a lot on the subject because i need practice on identifying and applyiing the devices.
Sarah, I too was taken aback by how much more there is to literature than simply reading it and answering questions on it. We have been learning many new terms but along with it what the effects in literature. The AP prompts too are not what I expected. I find this class difficult which is unusual for me. Analyzing the deeper meaning and the effect of one simple word is hard. It isn't there is one answer to the question because there are so many ways to interpret something. This is clearly seen when Decker, who is the teacher himself, learns something new from a student. It is a lot of hard work and we're going to have to learn many new skills but hopefully we will be ready for the AP test at the end of the year.
Techniques are just another "way in" to working with a text. Do I analyze the diction when reading Percy Jackson or Brisinger? Hardly. Nonetheless, it is a key part of academic literary analysis.
Also, to Kristine's comment, I love not knowing and being able to discuss it with a room full of bright, articulate students - I have the best job in the world!
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