Watership Down

Unit Review Sheet

Facts and Definitions

Lesson 1: Preparing to Read

• Know the definitions of the following vocabulary words: culvert, warren, buoyant, rank, down, copse, envisage, bracken, sentry, and reconnoiter.

Lesson 2: Foreshadowing

• Foreshadowing is a literary device where an author suggests what is to come in the future.
• A symbol is a word or object that stands for another word or object.

Lesson 3: An Epic Journey

• Works of fantasy contain elements that are not realistic, such as talking animals, magical powers, or mythical beings.
• An epic is written about an amazing hero who takes a long and difficult journey.

Lesson 4: Comparing Rabbits

• These Latin roots:
  • dolere: to suffer or give pain
  • ducere: to lead into
  • lassus: tired
  • plaudere: to applaud
  • praecipit: steep
  • prudencia: foresight, practical judgement
  • unda: wave
• These suffixes:
  • -tude: condition, state, or quality
  • -ible: able to be
  • -ous: characterized by
  • -ence: a quality or instance of
  • -ate: having the appearance or characteristic of

Lesson 5: Quotes and Creatures

• A food web connects all the living things in a specific area to each other by displaying which creatures consume or are consumed by one another.
• References to other works of literature are used purposefully by an author to communicate something to the readers.

Lesson 6: Dramatic Irony

• Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows more than the characters in a story.
• The same Latin root (or a root of another origin) can be used in many different words with different meanings.

Lesson 7: Rabbit Societies

• Vocabulary terms with multiple meanings: spoiling, cuffed, spell, simple, frustrated, sultry, punt, thwart.

Lesson 8: Folktales and Fantasy

• Myths often explain a part of a people's history or some naturally occurring phenomenon, and they often involve a supernatural being.
• Legends are stories that often have some basis in history or are believed to be historical but cannot be verified.
• Folktales are cultural stories, like myths and legends, that are passed down through time.

Lesson 9: Characters

• The denotation of a word is its literal meaning.
• The connotation of a word is an idea or suggestion the word makes you think of in addition to its meaning.

Lesson 10: Setting

• Setting, characters, and plot all work together in the creation of a story.

Lesson 11: Conflict and Escape

• There are four common types of conflict in literature: man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. society, and man vs. self.
• A theme is developed through the plot, characters, and even the setting of a story.

Lesson 12: Dramatic Enactment

• Dramatic presentations typically contain some similarities to and differences from original works of literature.

Lesson 13: A Fantasy Story

• Deus ex machina is a Latin phrase that literally means "the god from the machine." It refers to the sudden and improbable resolution of a problem by means of an outside source such as a new event or character or ability. It often brings a happy or surprise ending when all hope has seemingly been lost.