AP Lit & Comp 1/12 16

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1 AP Lit & Comp 1/ Reminders 2. Let s talk about essay #3 (free response essay) 3. Timed essay next Weds 1/20 4. Emily Dickinson I Gave Myself to Him and I Cannot Live With You 5. Gerald Manley Hopkins The Windhover 6. Amy Tan prompt and thesis for tomorrow

2 Keep this on your radar IRP projects due this Friday. Please print, if possible, or send it to me with instructions to print for you. Add your second IRP choice to the Google doc on Classroom by the end of this week. Come talk to me, if you re having difficulty deciding on a title. You should be finished reading A Tale of Two Cities by this Friday. There will be a quiz. The themes preview/essential questions and Dickens s use of figurative language are both due next Weds 1/20, which will be regular gold day due to the four day week.

3 Free response essay REMEMBER: Essay #3 is all about theme. For the AP exam in May, you ll be writing a total of three essays. The first will be in response to a piece of poetry (we will be practicing this prompt many times this semester.) The second is in response to a piece of prose and is almost always pertaining to characterization. (We worked on this prompt quite a bit last semester and will continue to this semester.) The third essay you write allows you to respond to the prompt with the work of YOUR CHOICE. This is why it s called free response.

4 Here an example of # Poem: The Prelude (William Wordsworth) Prompt: In the passage below, which comes from William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem The Prelude, the speaker encounters unfamiliar aspects of the natural world. Write an essay in which you trace the speaker's changing responses to his experiences and explain how they are conveyed by the poem's diction, imagery, and tone.

5 Here are two more examples of # Poem: The Centaur (May Swenson) Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you discuss how such elements as language, imagery, structure, and point of view convey meaning in the poem Poems: A Barred Owl (Richard Wilbur) and The History Teacher (Billy Collins) Prompt: In the following two poems, adults provide explanations for children. Read the poems carefully. Then write an essay in which you compare and contrast the two poems, analyzing how each poet uses literary devices to make his point.

6 Here s are examples of #2 Joy Kogawa s Obasan: Analyze how changes in perspective and style reflect the narrator s complex attitude toward the past. Consider elements such as point of view, structure, selection of detail, and figurative language. Dalton Trumbo s Johnny Got His Gun: Analyze how Trumbo uses such techniques as point of view, selection of detail, and syntax to characterize the relationship between the young man and his father. Joyce Carol Oates s We Were the Mulvaneys (1996): Analyze the literary techniques Oates uses to characterize the speaker, Judd Mulvaney. Support with specific references to the passage

7 Here s are examples of # From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character s villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence. Choose a novel or play of literary merit and write an essay in which you show how such a character functions in the work. You may wish to discuss how the character affects action, theme, or the development of other characters. Avoid plot summary.

8 And two more # Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character s alienation reveals the surrounding society s assumptions or moral values Critic Roland Barthes has said, Literature is the question minus the answer. Choose a novel, or play, and, considering Barthes observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers answers. Explain how the author s treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

9 Essay #3 (Free Response) Is always about theme. It will always be worded as: meaning of the work as a whole. This is code for theme. If your essay does not revolve around theme, your score can be no higher than a 5. This means you MUST mention theme right away in your thesis statement. Then, for each example you provide from the literature in your essay (body paragraphs) you MUST explicitly tie them back to them and discuss HOW the author is using said examples to convey this theme. You do NOT need specific quotes for this essay, but some of the take home practice essays I have you write in class will need quotes.

10 The prompts 1. The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Select a literary work that makes use of such a sustained reference. Then write a wellorganized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the work s meaning. 2. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary. 3. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character s alienation reveals the surrounding society s assumptions or moral values.

11 For the Frankenstein essay If you did not write your essay correctly, you will need to redo it and turn it in to me no later than Weds 1/20. If you did not write it all, you MUST write it and turn it in by the above date. If you don t, you ll receive a zero in a heavily weighted category of your grade. Don t start the semester that way.

12 I Gave Myself to Him by Emily Dickinson I gave myself to Him And took Himself, for Pay, The solemn contract of a Life Was ratified, this way The Wealth might disappoint Myself a poorer prove Than this great Purchaser suspect, The Daily Own of Love Depreciate the Vision But till the Merchant buy Still Fable in the Isles of Spice The subtle Cargoes lie At least 'tis Mutual Risk Some found it Mutual Gain Sweet Debt of Life Each Night to owe Insolvent every Noon

13 Work through the poem. As you re working through this poem, remember the importance of enjambment, end stop, and the important role of punctuation in poetry. Go through the poem in pairs and annotate for literal (FIRST) and then figurative (SECOND) meaning. As a reminder, the steps for doing this are: Circle and define unfamiliar words Bracket and paraphrase each stanza Identify poetic devices and figurative language and decide how their use leads to overall meaning Then read the poem a fourth time and put all the pieces together. Come up with a sentence or two that discusses the poem s overall meaning. How can this poem be thematically compared to A Tale of Two Cities? Let s discuss the poem together, stanza-by-stanza, looking at possible different interpretations.