Elements of Literary Style, English homework help

                          PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY.

                                    DO NOT SUMMARIZE!!!!

Use these questions below to guide you as you complete yourreading responses for short stories. I suggest that you chooseonly a few questions to answer in your response--but make the response a paragraph--don'tnumber your responses. You will probably notice that some of thequestions are similar and that some of the responses mayoverlap--that's fine. Your response should reflect your ownthoughts and analysis of the story. Your response to each storyshould be at least 200 words (but will probably be longer) andshould show that you have read the story carefully. You shouldmention the names of characters, details from the story thatsupport your response, incidents in the story that affect yourreading of it, etc. (You must use quotations from the stories inyour responses.)

1. What did you like about the story? What did you dislike? Why?

2. Who is your favorite character? Is he or she like you in anyway? Would you make the same decisions (or react in the same ways)in the same situations as this character? Why or why not? Whichcharacters remind you of people you know?

3. What did you learn about American history, society, art,literature, philosophy, science (etc.) from this story? Whatresearch might you do to help you understand the story better?

4. What did you learn about life from the story?

5. In what ways do you identify with the story?

6. How would you describe the writer's style or voice? Styleincludes use of irony, symbolism, figurative language, point ofview, etc.

Here's an interesting checklist of literary style that you mightfind helpful: Checklist:Elements of Literary Style

7. What are your favorite sentences, passages, words, etc. fromthe story? Explain your choice.

8. What would you tell a friend about this story?

9. Who would you recommend this story to and why?

10. What value does this story have for you?

11. What connections do you find between the life of the authorand his or her work?

12. What questions did you have after you finished the story?

13. What words did you look up?

Poetry

Here are questions responding personally to the poetry. Be sure to respond to four poets.

• whatyou liked about the poem
• whatyou disliked
• whetheryou related to the poem personally
• yourfavorite lines (quote these)
• whatyou learned from the poem
• whetheryou would read it to a friend and why
• how thepoem reflects the poet's philosophical beliefs
• how thepoem seems to relate to the poet's life
• whatwords you looked up as you were reading the poem (withdefinitions, of course).