Advanced Placement/LEAP English Literature and Composition Course Syllabus

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1 1 Advanced Placement/LEAP English Literature and Composition Course Syllabus Course Description: Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition is a senior-level course designed for those students who display a higher level of interest and competence in the field of English. The course is designed to comply with the curricular requirements described in the AP English Course Description.Students should expect to be challenged in developing their analytical thinking, reading, listening and writing skills. The course encompasses the full sweep of literature, focusing on the great works of each of the major literary periods, including representative samples of English, American and world literature. Students are expected to strike a balance between empirical knowledge of the periods, authors, and works and critical analysis. The course trains students to analyze and interpret both the texts and the impact of cultures on the body of written knowledge. It encourages students to examine the complex relationships of social, political, and economic events to the work produced in any given period. As a result of such examination, students will begin to appreciate the complexity and diversity found in the study of literature. Students will practice writing in a variety of modes, including analytical essay examinations and research projects, allowing for the expression of clarity and precision. The capstone of this course will be the Advanced Placement Examination, administered near the end of the academic year. Because of the intense nature of the course and the need for independent reading and study, students should expect to spend an average of one hour at home in reading and course preparation for each hour spent in class. Textbook: Booth, Alison, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays, eds. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ninth Edition. New York: Norton, Supplemental Textbook: Meyer, Michael, ed, The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Boston: Bedford, Vocabulary Program: Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop Level H (one unit every two weeks) Summer Reading: Pride and Prejudice, Return of the Native, and/or Wuthering Heights (Student Choice of any two ) Required Readings: (not in texts) Beowulf (Chickering translation) Les Miserables The Jungle A Burnt-Out Case Frankenstein Sir Gawain and the Green Knight A Man for All Seasons

2 2 Required Text Readings: (I reserve the right to add to these readings at any time.) From Booth: Drama Hamlet Oedipus the King A Raisin in the Sun Short Fiction Cathedral by Raymond Carver Sonny s Blues by James Baldwin Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne She Unnames Them by Ursula K. LeGuin Poetry From Daniel: Drama Aunt Jennifer s Tigers by Adrienne Rich Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden Alzheimer s by Kelly Cherry Alzheimer s: The Wife by C.K. Williams Death of a Young Son by Drowning by Margaret Atwood One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker Fireflies in the Garden by Robert Frost Mr. Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan In an Artist s Studio by Christina Rossetti On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley Something Like a Sonnet for Phillis Miracle Wheatley by June Jordan Macbeth Medieval Poetry Satire Short Fiction The Canterbury Tales Prologue The Wife of Bath s Tale The Pardoner s Tale excerpts from Gulliver s Travel A Modest Proposal Selections from James Joyce D.H. Lawrence

3 3 Graham Greene Rudyard Kipling Ben Okri Julio Cortázar Poetry Sonnets: Spenser Shakespeare Wordsworth Neruda Romantics: Victorians: Moderns: Blake Wordsworth Coleridge Keats Byron Shelley Tennyson The Brownings Hopkins Arnold Housman Sassoon / Owen Larkin Solzhenitzen Yeats Akhmatova Auden Eliot Heaney Statement of Philosophy: All literary study is rooted in the following premise Literature is an expression of the human condition, transcending time, place, and circumstance to explore and to celebrate commonality of experience. Course Activities: Class activities may include formal lectures, class seminars, small discussion groups, visual media analysis, text analysis, written responses to pertinent text-based questions as well as personal interpretation, and independent research. In addition, students will be given extensive practice in the kind of free-response essay questions and textual analysis essay questions that appear on the Advanced Placement Examination as well as the short answer reading comprehension segments. Evaluation: Course evaluation will be based on short reading quizzes (multiple-choice, true-false, and short answer), unit exams (by novel, drama, or literary period), impromptu

4 4 essays (timed writes), essays carried through all stages of the writing process, research skills, a formal research paper, oral presentations, and class participation. Composition Program: Since this is college-level English, students should expect little formal study of basic grammar and mechanics for credit. We will review, however, as much of the material from the handbook as seems to be necessary, and at least one objective test of the student s grasp of standard English usage will be given. In addition, we will focus on various modes of exposition, Standard Edited American English, sentence variety, word choice, and style. Composition assignments will include quick writes, paragraphs, timed essays (and essay tests), and formal essays. In addition, students will participate in a library project that culminates in a documented research paper. We will work in all stages of the writing process and engage both in peer revision and editing activities. I will hold at least one individual conference with each student both in the fall and spring semesters and will be available for conferences at the request of a student. Students will complete a minimum of ten formal essays, including the two drafts of the research paper. In general, assessment on formal essays will be based on the following criteria: An A paper is one that is original in approach to some degree, unified in content, coherent in organization, effective in technique, satisfying in development and proportion, mature in style, and nearly perfect in mechanics. The B paper falls short in one or more of the elements: the style is sometimes lacking in maturity, the mechanics are a bit shaky, or there is some other flaw. Even so, the paper excels in some respects. The C paper is undistinguished; it falls short of several requirements for the A paper; the organization is unsure, the content is unoriginal, or the mechanics are weak. Even so, the paper may have some redeeming features; it is adequate, but nothing more. The D paper is slovenly in organization, poor in mechanics or fails to support the generalities on which it is based, yet it is not a complete failure. The F paper is a complete failure. It has no redeeming feature. Fortunately, the F paper is a rarity. Specific details of formal writing assignments are listed with the applicable works. All assignments for formal papers will include a specific grading rubric that we will discuss prior to writing. Students will be required to rewrite formal papers after they have received feedback on their original drafts. One of the first projects of the fall semester will be to write a formal paper based on the summer reading. You will write a comparison essay (either point-by-point or subject-bysubject), and you will utilize the feminist critical approach, exploring the roles of women in culture and society and the constructions of gender-related issues in the readings you have chosen. You will receive a detailed rubric prior to writing, and you will engage in

5 5 peer discussions concerning your writing with students who chose the same works as you. Each class period, you will be expected to respond to the out-of-class reading in a quick write or in a paragraph. The quick writes give you the opportunity to express your reaction to the reading or to the theme that we will address in the reading. The paragraphs give you the opportunity to respond to a specific question or commentary concerning the readings or issues addressed in the readings. You will need to be prepared to share your comments either in small discussion groups or with the class as a whole. In addition, we will conduct mini-sessions dealing with appropriate organization for various modes, use of general and specific detail, use of transitions and variety of sentence structures, including subordination and coordination, and such use of tone, voice, diction, etc. as appropriate to the specific piece of writing. These mini-sessions will be conducted prior to the completion of initial drafts. Students will also be given feedback on their successes in implementing these conventions prior to drafting their revised papers. Course Outline and Objectives: The course will be organized thematically, utilizing works that address the following common themes: 1) The Nature of the Hero 2) The Meaning of Greatness 3) Human Relations 4) The Nature of Justice 5) The Question of Identity 6) Alienation and Isolation The Novel Units: Concurrent with the thematic units. To read and interpret the selections. To increase student knowledge of his / her own culture, the culture of others, and the common elements across culture. To demonstrate understanding of the basic elements of the novel to be able to analyze a novel in terms of plot, character, theme, irony, and symbol. To use context and glosses to determine meanings of words. To express understanding through summative, analytical, and creative writing.

6 6 To analyze a major work by a woman writer employing the feminist critical approach. To develop an understanding of the primary critical approaches and to apply them appropriately to various readings. The Drama Units: Concurrent with the thematic units. To investigate the history of drama. To demonstrate understanding of the classical definition of tragedy and to be able to apply that understanding both to the Greek tragedy and to all literature. To develop an appreciation for drama that has literary merit. To examine the terminology of the Greek theater. To demonstrate understanding of archetypal motifs and to be able to apply that understanding both to the Greek tragedy and to all literature. To understand the cultural, social, religious, and historical background of the Renaissance. To assess the characteristics of a hero. To participate orally in the reading and interpretation of a play that has literary merit. To enrich listening and speaking skills by researching and reporting on a facet of the Elizabethan era. To assess Shakespeare s contributions of words and ideas to the English language. To develop an understanding of the elements of a revenge tragedy. To develop an awareness of Shakespeare s writing techniques and expressions. To enrich speaking, listening, and writing skills by interpretation of the soliloquies. To recognize the comedy of ideas as a literary form. To identify the use of satire as a means for constructive analysis and interpretation of life. To analyze modern drama in terms of classic constructions. Unit 1 approximately six weeks: The Nature of the Hero 1) To introduce major critical approaches to literature 2) To apply critical approaches to a variety of texts 3) To understand Greek tragedy and its components 4) To understand the English epic and its components 5) To discover relevant literary archetypes and motifs

7 7 6) To introduce the history of the English language 7) To introduce the research process 8) To link the past with the present by examining Greek and Anglo-Saxon influences on modern societies 9) To discover the presence of the heroic ideal in literature that spans the ages 10) To generate a text-based analysis of the heroic ideal Formal Essays: (Summer Reading Essay as previously detailed.) 1. Literary critics identify two archetypal motifs in the saga of Oedipus, an archetypal hero: the Quest and the King-as-Sacrificial-Scapegoat. Write an essay in which you explain the story of Oedipus in terms of one of these two archetypal motifs. Since archetypes are universal and humans collectively respond to archetypes with basic and similar reactions, include a discussion of other literary works, films, or current events in which you see the motif you have chosen exemplified and which support your assertions concerning the play s universal and timeless appeal. 2. Scholars and critical readers have come to various conclusions about the themes and meanings of Beowulf. Choose one statement with which you agree or disagree and write an essay supporting your stand with quotes, episodes, and examples from the text of Beowulf. Beowulf is steeped in a pagan tradition that depicts nature as hostile and forces of death as uncontrollable. Blind fate picks random victims; man is never reconciled with the world. Beowulf ends a failure. Beowulf presents an ideal of loyalty to a thane, the retinue bond. The failure to live up to this ideal on the part of some thanes points up to the extraordinary faithfulness of Beowulf. Beowulf is a blending of Christian traditions with a folk story that extols virtues of loyalty, courage, and faith in the face of extreme dangers and even death. It presents a model of man willing to die to deliver his fellow men from terrifying evil forces. Beowulf is the story of a dual ordeal: an external battle with vicious opponents and an internal battle with human tendencies of pride, greed, cowardice, betrayal, and self-concern. Beowulf is the universal story of man s journey from adolescence to adulthood to old age and the growth in wisdom about self and world gained through the pain and triumph of experience. Research: Begin primary note-taking.

8 8 Unit 2 approximately six weeks: The Meaning of Greatness 1) To enhance understanding of major critical approaches to literature 2) To apply critical approaches to a variety of texts 3) To continue study of the epic conventions and the history of the English language 4) To apply principles of literary research 5) To understand the significance of literary works in which myth and history are combined 6) To trace the blending of the Germanic Heroic Tradition, the Feudal Tradition, and the Christian Tradition in medieval literature. 7) To trace the relationship of later literature to the early conventions Formal Essays: 1. Gawain is supposed to be the representative Perfect Knight perfectly Christian, perfectly noble, perfectly heroic. These three aspects / three codes of conduct are supposed to rule his behavior. But, he is going to be severely tried and tested, and when he fails, he fails all three. Write an essay in which you analyze the ways in which Gawain exemplifies the Christian Tradition, the Feudal Tradition, and the Germanic Heroic Tradition, the ways in which he reacts to temptations, and the ramifications of his failure. 2. Choose one of the following topics as the basis for your paper on Bolt s play: a. The Common Man plays an important and effective role in this play. In what various guises does he appear, and why is his presence in the play so meaningful in terms of the play s content? b. Consider the conflict of conscience vs. authority. c. Using Bolt s play as a basis, discuss what is wrong with the average twenty-first century man (emphasize traits of the Common Man, Rich, Cromwell, and Henry that are also traits of modern man). Research: Complete primary note-taking and conduct secondary research and secondary note-taking. Unit 3 approximately six weeks: Human Relations 1) To analyze poetic structures and conventions 2) To understand various poetic forms and the poetic devices employed by poets 3) To introduce Shakespearean drama 4) To compare Greek and Shakespearean drama 5) To analyze the elements of tragedy 6) To critique a stage version of a drama as compared to the written text. 7) To analyze historical influences on the literature and the language 8) To continue study of the evolution of language 9) To apply principles of literary research 10) To conduct an in-depth study of satire. 11) To read and to discuss several satiric works. 12) To analyze effective persuasive writing.

9 9 13) To write an analysis focusing on the use of satire. Formal Essays: 1. Sinclair s novel develops a scathing expose of society s indifference to the working poor. Analyze the ways in which the issues / concerns of the novel mirror the issues / concerns of Swift s A Modest Proposal. Consider the impact both of Sinclair and of Swift as social reformers. In what ways do both works mirror the social concerns of modern man? 2. In a causal analysis, examine both the events / motivations that led to Duncan s murder and the unexpected ramifications of the murder. Research: Complete initial draft of research paper; submit for evaluation. Semester Exam Unit 4 approx. six weeks: The Nature of Justice 1) To introduce the Romantic period and aspects of Romanticism 2) To demonstrate an understanding of the term Romanticism as a way of thinking and as an approach to literature. 3) To analyze poetic structures and conventions with special emphasis on the sonnet 4) To demonstrate an understanding of the various poems as reflections of the belief or philosophy of the author and to analyze the various poems in this light. 5) To recognize the poetic devices used by the romantic poets and to identify various figures of speech, sensory appeal, and imagery. 6) To distinguish a poem as romantic in tone, style, and theme. 7) To generate a written analysis of the attributes of Romanticism in a given work or works. 8) To analyze effective persuasive writing. 9) To introduce the conventions of Gothic literature 10) To continue study of the evolution of language 11) To introduce modern drama Research: Revise initial draft based on teacher recommendations made on initial draft. Resubmit for evaluation. (Throughout the unit, you will be asked to respond to the poems, analyzing content in terms of Romantic principles. In addition, you must identify the poets use of figurative language, the poets style and presentation, and the poets recurring themes.) Formal Essays: 1. Respond to one of the following topics:

10 10 a. Discuss the ways in which Mary Shelley s creature embodies and expresses the fears of modern man and his relationship with technology and scientific advancement. b. Discuss the ways in which Dr. Frankenstein represents man s struggle to find identity in an impersonal world. 2. Explore one of the following themes from Les Misérables: a. Man redeems himself through the acceptance of suffering. b. Man redeems himself through self-sacrifice. Unit 5 approx. six weeks: The Question of Identity 1) To demonstrate an understanding of style as distinguishing the work of one writer from another 2) To demonstrate an understanding of the wide range of ideas prevalent in lyric poetry. 3) To demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of the dramatic monologue 4) To analyze a selected short story. 5) To understand the historical and cultural background of the Victorian period 6) To identify rhyme schemes and rhyming devices. 7) To recognize metaphors, assonance, setting, point of view, imagery, etc. 8) To classify, generalize, synthesize, and evaluate a variety of works. 9) To make inferences. 10)To recognize narrative point of view. 11)To understand the distinctive features of Victorian literature and the distinctive features of the works of individual Victorian writers. 12) To write a literary analysis. 13)To demonstrate listening, speaking, and critical listening skills Formal Essays: 1. Explore the means that various members of the Younger family use in their quest for identity. Include a discussion of the role of assimilation. 2. Fully analyze the development of the theme of the question of identity in one of the following short stories: a. Sonny s Blues b. Bartleby the Scrivener c. The Night Face Up. Unit 6 approx. six weeks: Alienation and Isolation 1) To read and interpret the selections 2) To listen to and interpret audio interpretations of the selections. 3) To demonstrate an understanding of the basic elements of the twentieth century short story be able to analyze it in terms of plot, character, theme, irony, and symbol.

11 11 4) To demonstrate an understanding of the general trends of modern poetry be able to point out elements cha4racteristic of twentieth-century poetry in a particular selection. 5) To use context and glosses to determine meanings of words. 6) To express understanding through summative, analytical, and creative writing. 7) To express understanding with a mixed-media collage. Formal Essays: 1. Construct a close-reading annotation of any one of the following soliloquies from Hamlet: a. I.ii O, that this too too solid flesh would melt b. II.ii O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! c. III.i To be, or not to be that is the question d. IV.iv How all occasions do inform against me 2. Using one of the following quotes as a basis for your discussion, analyze Greene s development of the theme of alienation and isolation: a. He had been cured of all but his success; but you can t cure success, any more than I can give my mutilés back their fingers and toes. I return them to the town, and people look at them in the stores and watch them in the street and draw the attention of others to them as they pass. Success is like that too a mutilation of the natural man. b. A vocation is an act of love: it is not a professional career. When desire is dead one cannot continue to make love. I ve come to the end of desire and to the end of a vocation. Don t try to bind me in a loveless marriage and to make me imitate what I used to perform with passion. Semester Exam

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