AP+Lit

AP English Literature and Composition 2014-15


 * Description of Course **

AP English Literature and Composition is designed to emulate the experience of a college-level literature course. As such, the literature studied is both varied (across time, space, genre, and cultural context) and advanced (in terms of style, vocabulary, and content). In addition, students will be asked to respond to literature in varied and advanced ways (described below). Despite the advanced work, a primary goal of the course is developing student interest and engagement with literature. The works have been organized around common themes that help answer the question, “What meaning can I draw from literature for my own life?” The study of literary devices is thus placed in the context of enriching both the study and appreciation of literature.

At the end of the course, students have the opportunity to take the AP English Literature and Composition exam. A score of 4 (and sometimes 3) or above is accepted by many colleges as the equivalent of an introductory literature course.


 * Major Works **

The following works will be read, supplemented with several short stories and frequent poetry from similarly diverse backgrounds. Short stories and poets are listed in the detailed units.

Novels and Novellas Plays
 * Oliver Twist, Dickens (summer)
 * Night, Wiesel (memoir, summer)
 * One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Solzhenitsyn
 * Pride and Prejudice, Austen
 * Wuthering Heights, Brontë
 * As I Lay Dying, Faulkner
 * Arcadia, Stoppard
 * Hamlet, Shakespeare
 * Death of a Salesman, Miller
 * Fences, Wilson


 * Composition **

The primary means of student interaction with the literature will be writing. Writing will take three distinct forms: personal responses, timed writings, and formal analytical essays.

Personal responses are about a page in length. While general rules of grammar and usage are encouraged, rules for tone and organization are intentionally relaxed to encourage honesty and true “response” to the literature. Personal responses are about a page long, typed. Personal responses will be used frequently with poetry to help students develop confidence in trusting their own interpretations based on content and specific poetic and literary devices.

Timed writings based on previous AP prompts are offered within the context of our 50 minute class periods. Allowing time for class business, this will closely approximate timing for the AP test itself. Timed writing will be evaluated holistically using an AP scale, with an initial curve early in the year. Timed writing focuses on effective analysis within limited time constraints. There is at least one timed writing each quarter, with increasing frequency throughout the year.

Analytical essays are given more time and are expected to achieve a polished “collegiate” tone and style. These essays will also be substantially longer, usually 3-4 pages (typed and double-spaced), and even longer in the instance of our research paper on poets. Prompts will allow some student choice, but encourage focused attention on aspects of the literature, particularly literary devices or social contexts.

Student writing will be frequently workshopped, in any of three ways: 1) Teacher-selected passages from student submissions for discussion as a class; 2) Student small-group work with teacher-provided guidance and rubrics; 3) Quarterly one-on-one student-teacher meetings (made possible by the class’s small size). Each paper assignment will be workshopped from a different angle, to allow students to focus on specific aspects of writing and work to improve it. Some writing assignments will be rewritten in full after workshopping.


 * Vocabulary **

In addition to workshops focusing on papers’ diction, students will frequently encounter vocabulary work in the course. About every 2-3 weeks, students will take vocabulary tests on words from the literature. The format of these tests encourage understanding how words are used in different contexts and composing sentences rather than rote definition work.


 * Discussion **

Discussion will generally focus on passages from the literature selected for close reading. Student reactions and observations will be connected to relevant academic concepts and vocabulary (such as syntax and imagery). Our small class size facilitates student-driven exploration of the material with the teacher providing prodding and guidance.

The Soul

One Day in the Life (3 weeks) – Question: What is/are Solzhenitsyn’s meaning(s)? – Is life beautiful? Is Shukhov’s life worth living? Why or why not? – Compare to Night – ID passages that contribute to that sense – What about these passages do that? (plot, setting, character, POV/tone, theme) – How does Solzhenitsyn get those passages to do that? (lit devices - informal) – Take-home TW: Open-ended essay about meaning w/ One Day Sonnets (1 week) – Form – Poems and meaning (the speaker and the dramatic situation) – Reading poems: concentrated orange juice, you add the water – Poetic/Lit devices (organized by diction, syntax, figurative language - formal) – Read some from Millay, ---, Shakespeare – Sonnet “project” and performances – Prepped TW: Sonnet analysis Hamlet (4-5 weeks) – Character: How does language create character? How are S characters complex? – Annotation of monologue (practice on “To be or not to be.”) – Performance of monologue – Formal paper on Hamlet monologue – Cold TW: Hamlet

The Society

Pride and Prejudice (4 weeks) – Comedy (of manners) and Satire: Their uses and features – Irony: What it is, what it isn’t – Introduction to Victorian England – Annotations (Devices –> Meaning) – Passage-based TW: PnP Romance and Modernists (w/ Juniors only?) Female Victorian poets “research” paper (2 weeks, bleed into Arcadia) – Victorian poetry TW – Cold victorian passage TW  Arcadia (as time allows)

The Self and Others

Wuthering Heights (3-4 weeks) – ??? Postmodern Poetry (1-2 weeks) As I Lay Dying (3 weeks)

The Ideal and the Actual Quarter 1

The Soul “Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” Seneca

Introduce Course and Expectations Brief Quizzes on Summer Readings

Night, Wiesel and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Solzhenitsyn – 3 Weeks > > Warm Up: “Requiem” and “Lot’s Wife”, Anna Akhmatova AP Work: Revise Essays Students will consider “upper half” AP essays and “lower half” AP essays and discuss the comparative strengths and weaknesses along specific measures including diction, organization, selection of detail, and variety of sentence structure. Then they will rewrite a “lower half” essay and improve it (for example, from a 4 to a 6) in a timed setting. Analytical Paper on contrasting message and tone in two of the three authors > > > Workshop papers, with special emphasis on organization (order, general vs. specific, etc)
 * Topics: Justice/Injustice; Succumbing/Surviving
 * Concepts: Message and Tone
 * Compare the message of two of the three authors (Wiesel, Solzhenitsyn, Akhmatova)
 * Compare the tone these two authors employ in conveying their message
 * Evaluate the effectiveness of that tone in conveying message - which is more effective?

Hamlet, Shakespeare – 4 Weeks > > Warm Up: Sonnets (generally and as an introduction to Shakespearean language) > > > Annotation of monologues to study language and characterization > > > AP Work: Timed Writing (selected monologue) > > Revise Timed Writing into Analytical Essay Workshop papers, with special emphasis on effective and apt vocabulary Unit Closer: “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Gilman
 * Topics: Isolation; Determination/Despair
 * Concepts: How Language Creates Character
 * Features of a sonnet; poetic devices
 * Students write a sonnet and perform it
 * Timed writing on a sonnet
 * Classwork on “To be or not to be”
 * Student work on individual monologues
 * Performance of monologue
 * How does Shakespeare use devices to create character in your monologue?
 * How is your character complex? What shifts occur within your monologue?

Quarter 2

The Society “Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding.” Emerson

Pride and Prejudice, Austen – 5 weeks Warm Up: “The House of Asterion”, Borges Poetry: Introduce Sonnets (types, focus on Shakespearean) > > > AP Work: Revise Essays Begin Research Paper on Life and Work of Poet > > >
 * Personal Responses to two Shakespearean sonnets
 * Compose a Shakespearean or Petrarchan sonnet
 * Incorporate similar meter, rhyme, and figurative language, especially imagery
 * Students will select a poet with a substantial body of work
 * Students will read a substantial biography of the poet and 10+ poems across poet’s life
 * Students will identify one or two common themes/motifs in the poet’s work and select an early, middle, and late poem that demonstrate the author’s changing treatment of these themes or motifs and synthesize them in a 4-6 page research paper

Arcadia, Stoppard – 3 Weeks > >
 * Topics: Scientific vs Societal vs Personal Truth
 * Concepts: Imagery and Symbols

Wuthering Heights, Brontë – 4 Weeks + Close Up Week* > > Warm Up: “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner AP Work: Multiple Choice (prose) AP Work: Timed Writing (prose) Workshop timed writings, with special emphasis on organization and sentence structure Finish Research Paper on Life and Work of Poet Workshop papers, with special emphasis on academic/evaluative tone
 * Topics: Place as Unifier; Revenge and Forgiveness
 * Concepts: Syntax and Narrative Voice

*Special Note: Seniors attend “Close Up” in Washington, DC for a full week in mid-November.

Review Week and Semester Final

Quarter 3: Jan 7 – Mar 8

The Self and Others “To be in the company of others is to be alone together.” Vera Nazarian

As I Lay Dying, Faulkner – 4 Weeks > > Warm Up: “Good Country People” (O'Connor) and elements of Southern Gothic Poetry of T. S. Eliot and E. E. Cummings > > > > AP Work: Creating Multiple Choice (prose) > Analytical Essay on Style and Structure in As I Lay Dying > > > Workshop papers with special emphasis on variety of sentence structures
 * Topics: Death, Family, Perception vs. Reality
 * Concepts: Genre, Stream of Conscious, and Structure
 * Discussion of free verse poetry: what is gained? what is lost?
 * Personal response to choice of Eliot or Cummings poem
 * Write a poem imitating either Eliot or Cummings to present to class
 * Identify specific literary/poetic devices employed and incorporate into imitation
 * Students will develop AP-style multiple choice questions and answers for a passage
 * How does the style and structure of As I Lay Dying reflect Faulkner’s purpose?
 * How effective is Faulkner’s writing at artfully achieving his purpose?
 * How closely does stream of consciousness mirror psychological realism?

Hamlet, Shakespeare – 4 Weeks > > Warm Up: Wikipedia article: “Phrases from Hamlet in common English” AP Work: Creating Multiple Choice (poetry) Close Reading Exercises with Hamlet > > > > >> >> > > > Unit closer: “In the Penal Colony”, Kafka
 * Topics: Existence, Murder, Suicide
 * Concepts: Meter and Diction
 * Group reading exercises involving close reading of Shakespeare's syntax from various angles (syllables, punctuation, meter, emphasis, etc), discussion of language and syntax
 * Choose Monologue (other than “To Be or Not to Be”)
 * Personal Response (why this monologue?)
 * Timed Writing on literary devices within monologue
 * Esp: imagery, diction, and syntax
 * Connect details of monologue to general themes of play
 * Group discussion on “To Be” and Literary Devices
 * Memorize chosen monologue
 * Analytical paper on Literary Devices in Monologue (dev’d from Timed Writing)

Creativity Week (no regular classes; students participate in week-long projects)

Quarter 4: Mar 18 – May 29

Dreams and Realities “What happens to a dream deferred?” Langston Hughes

Death of a Salesman, Miller – 3 Weeks > > Warm Up: “Story of an Hour”, Chopin AP Work: Multiple Choice (prose) Poetry of Plath and Ginsberg Timed Writing (open-ended question, using Death of a Salesman) College/Graduation Essays > >
 * Topics: Worth and Purpose
 * Concepts: Structure and Characterization
 * Students will compose short personal pieces: either “free-response” college essays (for juniors) or graduation essays (for seniors) which appear in the graduation booklets
 * Workshops will focus on tone, audience, organization, and concision

Fences, Wilson – 3 Weeks > > Warm Up: “I Too” and “Cross”, Hughes Poetry of Hughes and Dunbar AP Work: Timed Writing (both genres) AP Work: Multiple Choice (both genres) Workshop timed writing techniques, especially organization, detail, and vocabulary
 * Topics: Fathers and Sons, Race in America
 * Concepts: Diction (Vernacular), Motifs

AP Review: Works, Terminology, Etc – 1 Week

AP Test - May 9

Naturalism Unit - 2 Weeks “To Build a Fire”, London (1902 and 1908 versions), “The Open Boat”, Crane Timed Writing: London vs Crane as Naturalists

Prepare for Course Final