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124 Unit 2 ■ Analyzing Comparisons and Representations UNIT 2

That dunghill mists away may fly. STRUCTURE WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
Thou hast a house on high erect
Fram’d by that mighty Architect, Shifts and Contrasts STRUCTURE This workshop is foundational for many other
45 With glory richly furnished workshops in Ideas in Literature, as students are
Stands permanent, though this be fled. introduced to the concepts of shift and contrast.
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It’s purchased and paid for too AP Enduring Understanding (STR-1) As structural elements, shifts and contrasts
By him who hath enough to do. The arrangement of the parts and sections of a text, the relationship of the parts to highlight tensions between values or ideas.
A price so vast as is unknown, each other, and the sequence in which the text reveals information are all structural These conflicts are crucial to developing an
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs were used with this sample chapter.
50 Yet by his gift is made thine own. choices made by a writer that contribute to the reader’s interpretation of a text. interpretation of a literary text. Students will also
examine structural indicators of shifts and
There’s wealth enough; I need no more. contrasts.
Farewell, my pelf; farewell, my store.
The world no longer let me love; Authors use literature as a way to explore or to relate ideas and issues that are part
My hope and Treasure lies above. of the human experience. As you’ve already learned, characters represent values, COMMON MISCONCEPTION
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
perspectives, and expectations. For example, a character chooses to do (or not to KEY POINT
do) something; a character navigates a moment of crisis; a character learns some- While many strong readers can make inferences
thing after overcoming an obstacle. In the process, the character reveals familiar Shifts and contrasts about tensions in literary works, others—often
CHARACTER human struggles. within a text often more literal readers—will benefit by looking for
illustrate a tension physical markers of shifts. One strategy you may
1. How is the speaker described in the first few lines? What does her reaction to of values that helps want to point out early on: ask students to read a
the fire reveal about her values? A Text’s Structure May Reveal Meaning readers interpret a short portion of the introduction or beginning of a
2. As she reconciles the events of the poem, what does the speaker reveal about literary work. text and identify any abstract nouns or ideas.
her beliefs? To communicate their insights, authors set up the plot or the structure of a literary Next, have students do the same for the
3. How do the speaker’s values and beliefs contribute to her perspective? work to help readers uncover meaning. Good readers often discover meaning and conclusion or ending of that same text. In doing
make interpretations by looking for changes within the work, such as shifts in so, students begin to read like detectives and
4. The speaker experiences a new understanding of material possessions and their make thoughtful predictions about the ideas that
value. What does this insight reveal about her perspective? • the dramatic situation, especially a conflict;
• a character’s or a speaker’s perspective; will be represented in the literary work.
• the attitude or tone of the work;
• point of view; LITERARY CONCEPTS
• setting or time; and Structure Shift
• images. Poem Contrast
These changes are important because they indicate new understandings or a con- Line Juxtaposition
flict of values that help us get at meaning as we interpret a text. Good readers look Stanza Tension
for shifts and contrasts in the structure of literary works to help them find these
changes. In prose, for example, the shifts and contrasts may occur as part of the
plot; characters in conflict may even signal these shifts explicitly.
As you read poetry, you should consider the text’s structure as well. Poems
are made up of lines and stanzas. A stanza is a group of lines in a poem. The
arrangement of the lines and stanzas make up a poem’s structure, which also
depends on the poetic form the writer has chosen. For example, sonnets are
traditionally structured to have contrasts in their final lines, with rhymes to
reinforce the shift.

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AP Big Idea: Structure AP Key Questions
Enduring Understanding: STR-1 How does a text’s organization and arrangement
of ideas and details in lines, stanzas, sentences,
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AP Skills: 3.C, 3.D Essential Knowledge: paragraphs, chapters, or other sections of text
STR-1.D, STR-1.E, contribute to a text’s structure?
STR-1.F, STR-1.G, What is the relationship of a section of a text to
STR-1.H, STR-1.I, other sections of the text?
STR-1.J
What is the relationship of a section of a text to
the text as a whole?
What are some striking contrasts in a text?
How do you identify contrasts, shifts, and
juxtapositions in a text?
What ideas, traits, or values are emphasized in a
contrast?
How does a contrast contribute to meaning in a text?

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