World Literature Assignment:

Before your reading:

Create a visual representation of the author’s life & the novel’s historical reception—a timeline is fine; make it look neat,
aesthetically pleasing, and easy to follow. Please include events in the writer’s life, and include historical events of the time period
the author lived… you make work with partners. Obviously your “events” could start with birth, death, publication of book you’re
reading… Make sure you include the author’s name and the title of the book you’re reading on this timeline.

During your reading:

1. 6 word summaries (who, what, when, where…have fun with this and be very selective about your words: use concrete and
abstract); if you prefer, you can use visuals by chapter, or Act, or.. Do this at least 10 times…
2. Mark rhetorically powerful passages (at least 10)

Find an example of as many rhetorical strategies as you can and categorize using the chart…put in page numbers…

Literary Term Syntax Figurative Language Diction Detail

*metaphor

*simile

personification

synecdoche

hyperbole

apostrophe

*imagery

*irony

*allusion

*juxtaposition

*parallelism

*anaphora

*polysyndeton

asyndeton

*repetition

paradox

oxymoron

jargon

antithesis

anadiplosis

alliteration

consonance

assonance
rhyme

foreshadowing

pun

*symbol

balanced phrases

Project Goal: What captures a writer’s style? What techniques does the writer rely on most? What does a writer want us to
understand? Find the patterns in your rhetorical chart. Then, explore the meaning the author’s style helps to create.

Action: Creatively transform ___ passages from the major work you’ve read into representational trademarks of the work’s style
and meaning. Make sure you pick passages that are evenly scattered throughout the novel. For each passage, transcribe, present a
visual, annotate rhetorically; and then explain the passages meaning, i.e., its overall effect, purpose, theme, or tone… Put together
into an interesting “package.”

Evaluation will be based on the rhetorical quality of passages, accuracy/completeness of rhetorical annotations, explanation of
passage’s meaning, the method of organization, aesthetics, creativity, and, of course, editing for Standard English.