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Literature

Free Literature study guide: 6 units with summaries, key ideas, flashcards and 30 practice questions with step-by-step solutions.

Lines up with: AP English Literature and Composition; CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature.

Units

1. UNIT 01

   Elements of fiction

   Stories are built from plot, character, setting and conflict. Noticing how they work together is the start of literary analysis.
2. UNIT 02

   Narration and point of view

   Who tells a story, and how much they know, changes what readers learn and how they feel about events.
3. UNIT 03

   Figurative language and imagery

   Figurative language says one thing in terms of another. It creates images, emotions and layers of meaning.
4. UNIT 04

   Poetry

   Poems use form, sound and compression to create meaning. Structure choices like line breaks and rhyme are part of what a poem says.
5. UNIT 05

   Drama

   Plays are written to be performed. Dialogue and stage directions do the work that narration does in fiction.
6. UNIT 06

   Theme and literary argument

   Theme is the insight a work offers about life. A literary argument defends an interpretation of how the work builds that meaning.