This Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course is designed to teach techniques of literary analysis and critical thinking consistent with typical college/university expectations. As well, it is designed to meet the curricular requirements described in the AP English Literature and Composition Course Description. The course is divided into four ten- week quarters, the first two of which include a survey of British literature from Chaucer to T.S. Eliot. The last two quarters survey American literature from Bradstreet to Vonnegut. Students will leave this class with the following understandings: 1. Literature chronicles human reactions to the vicissitudes of the human condition over time. 2. Literature shows us ourselves through others perceptions. 3. Each piece of literature is characterized by man s conflict with himself or a separate facet of the forces that shape his world. 4. In literature a character s learning (or lack thereof) as a result of his conflict is intended to reveal the author s thematic intent. Since this is a college level course, students are expected to meet the intellectual challenges presented by careful reading and in-depth analysis of all assignments. The latter will comprise the following: 1. Students will read three outside novels or plays per ten- week quarter and write a 3-4 page literary analysis for each. By means of their writings students will show their understanding of how an author uses literary techniques to reveal theme. The first half of the year reading selections must be British, chosen and approved from Classic Lists for College Bound Seniors. For the second half selections must be chosen from American literature. Many of the latter reflect the list of those works that have appeared in the AP exams. 2. All writing will be evaluated by use of the following criteria: a. Is there a clear thematic statement? b. Does the student make a strong insightful case for this theme by citing specific examples from the text? c. Does the student identify at least two literary techniques and reveal his/her understanding of how they function to create theme? d. Does the student give examples of the author s use of the aforesaid techniques, and are these examples relevant and appropriate to the theme identified by the student? e. Does the paper exhibit clear, cohesive and unified understanding of the theme, structure and style of the work?
f. Are the student s mechanics, including spelling, grammar and punctuation correct? Is the language sophisticated? g. Is the student in the process of developing a distinct voice by means of appropriate diction and syntax? 3. Texts used and studied in class the first half of the year include the following: a. Adventure in English Literature- the anthology - Canterbury Tales: Prologue, Nun s Priest Tale, Wife of Bath, The Pardoner s Tale - Macbeth - Hamlet - Frankenstein -D&S Marketing Systems Multiple Choice & Free-Response Questions in Preparation for the AP Literature & Composition Examination (editions 3, 4, 5 and 7 are used throughout the year) 4. Students writing will include three critical analyses each quarter (ten weeks) from the novels or plays that they have read outside of class from the list mentioned earlier. Their focus will be on theme and how literary techniques create meaning. As well students will write four additional pieces that will focus on the literature we are studying in class. For example, students will write an essay after reading Beowolf that considers what heroic characteristics Beowolf exhibited and how they reflected the value of Anglo Saxon society. Evaluation will be based on understanding of Anglo Saxon tribal societies as well as characteristics of various hero examples. Another example might be a creative writing exercise after reading Swifts A Modest Proposal, students would be asked to write an emulation using several of Swifts techniques which satirize some elements of our society. Evaluation is based on creativity, techniques, and appropriate tone. 5. Students must meet with me by appointment to go over their individual writing assignments. During these conferences students take notes about their writing on carbonized notepads. Errors are discussed as well as how to avoid them. Students also receive feedback on developing their own voices. Further, at conferences end students take one copy and I take the other, so that we each have records of the types of errors they make. Students understand that they will be doubly penalized should they continue making the same kinds of mechanical errors. 6. Students may choose two papers a quarter to redo and resubmit for grades. Many students choose to rewrite several papers in order to conference again. 7. Students also write as if ten minute exercises where they are given questions about the poetry or prose we are discussing in class. The formats of these
questions are the same as AP essay questions that deal with particular prose or poetry selections. Students must take ten minutes and list how they would focus their ideas if they were given this question and this piece as a test. Thus students explore their understanding of a piece and ready themselves to explain and evaluate in essay form. 8. As well, students will summarize and recommend (or not) the prose they have read outside of class. This will be written in paragraph form on index cards that are posted around the room for peers to peruse so they can determine their next reading. Various other writing vehicles are used intermittently as quick quizzes of a reading and/or as a grade of understanding of a writer s craft. 9. Last, students will choose an author and read three (3) long works or six (6) poems and use these as the basis for a research paper. Students must come up with a unifying idea which creates their thematic statement. Once this has been approved by me, students will write a six to eight page research paper. Students are required to incorporate biographical as well as cultural and historical information pertaining to the author and his works. Since this is near the end of the course, smooth transitions are expected between these topics, the student s theme and his incorporation of specific references to critical analyses and the author s works. 10. In class and individual conferences focus on the following writing instructions: a. Students are shown various organizational strategies (including the use of graphic organizers), and they will show how they utilize each one for different assignments. b. Students are guided in ways to experiment with new vocabulary both in their writing and in their oral responses. Rewritten essays must include fresh vocabulary in place of words such as, tell, show, all forms of the verb to be, very, big, etc. c. Students are taught how to work on their own syntactical patterns in an effort to create smooth flow and clear, appropriate transitions in their own writing. All students are encouraged to read their writings aloud in order to hear awkward syntactical rhythms. d. Students are trained to provide specific references to texts when they are writing about literature. They learn methodologies to SDT (show don t tell) in order to support the position they take. e. Students receive frequent demonstrations of how to effectively present a written position by use of various rhetorical devices. This is accomplished both through teacher modeling as well as through various critics essays on works we are reading. Students are then encouraged to utilize these strategies in their efforts to create distinct tones in various different types of writing.
Course Syllabus: Unit 1: (5 weeks) Introduction to how literary techniques function to create theme. Texts and Materials - Hand-outs from Seyler and Wilan s Introduction to Literature (Prentice Hall) The Language of tone The Language of Style The Extension of Meaning: Symbol The Extension of Meaning: Theme Introductory and Concluding Paragraphs From New York Times book reviews (as examples of critical discussions of novels, plays, etc.) Objectives: - Students and teacher will have established the same definitions for working vocabulary as they relate to figurative language and literary techniques. - Students will understand expectations for their own critical analyses as they relate to their outside readings - Students will again experience with: Close reading of critical analysis The use of graphic organizers Introductions as a means to establish tone Conclusions to create closure At the end of the Introductory 2 weeks, students will answer an in-class, timed AP question as an assignment to test their summer reading comprehension.. (This year they were asked to read The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman. Selections have rotated through these, Othello, Great Expectations, The Life of Pi, and Heart of Darkness.) -After returned, rewrite due, 3 days later Unit 2: (2 weeks) Anglo Saxon and Medieval Literature Selections from Adventures in English Literature: Historical Introductions Beowolf Chaucer s Prologue to The Canterbury Tales The Pardoner s Tale Hand-outs: The Wife of Bath The Nun s Priests Tale The Pardoner s Tale Objectives: Students will gain insight as to the origins of and the influences upon the creation of distinctly British literature
Students will gain awareness of life in English Pre-15 th Century (special emphasis will underscore the hierarchal system inherent in all cultural influences of that period (governmental, religious, societal) Students will recognize the following literary techniques and learn how they create meaning: epic form, framing device, rhythm, alliteration, imagery Writing assignments include: A critical analysis on their outside British novel or play selection An essay discussing the hero-warrior Beowulf as the archetype A character study of one of Chaucer s pilgrims where he/she is placed in a situation common to modern man One of these will be rewritten for an additional grade Unit 3: (5 weeks) The Elizabethan Age Historical Introductions and biographical information from anthology on the following authors: Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare Spenser- Sonnet 26 Marlowe- The Passionate Shepherd to his Lover Shakespeare- Sonnets #18, #29, #116 (at least) Complete Folger s Shakespeare- Macbeth, Hamlet Objectives: Students will gain an understanding of: the precursors and rivals of Shakespeare the social and cultural climate that produced Shakespeare how Shakespeare has influenced both British and American literature how Shakespeare was an historian of the Elizabethan period in the ways he chronicled Elizabethan values, conflicts, culture, family life, royalty, religious influences, etc) why Shakespeare is called the father of modern drama how Shakespeare changed Spenser s English Sonnet form to create the Elizabethan sonnet and how the alteration of form affected the function how Shakespeare laid the foundation for man s journey toward defining his own identity (i.e. is the self static; does it change per situation; is it dependant upon others perceptions; what influences man s quest for meaning; how does identity change if one s spiritual values change? Aristotelian unities, including five requirements for tragedy Shakespeare s use of soliloquies to reveal a character s internal dialogue, and how this demonstrates a character s emotional, psychological, intellectual motivations How internal dialogue often contrasts exterior appearance
Shakespeare s thematic consistency: reality often differs from appearance; appearances are often conscious functions of an individual that result from lack of self-awareness Oedipal complex and how twentieth century uses psychoanalytical theory as literary criticism Writing assignments: Critical analysis of students second outside play or novel After a writing conference with me about their first two analyses, student will choose one to rewrite for another grade Two essays from AP questions pertinent to Shakespeare s Hamlet or Macbeth Unit 4 (3 weeks): 17 th Century British literature Selections from anthology and hand-outs as follows: 17 th Century historical introduction and literary developments John Donne Holy Sonnet X and The Flea Cavalier Poets George Herbert The Collar and Death Be Not Proud John Milton selections from L Allegro and Il Penseroso Paradise Lost John Dryden Essay of Dramatic Poesy Objectives: Students will recognize and understand how the following create meaning: Metaphysical conceit Antithesis and parallelism Allusion (all forms) Invocation to the muse Epic question Homeric simile Elements of tragedy in works other than Shakespeare Writing assignments: Critical analysis of 3 rd British play or novel Writing conference Presenting an argument supported by specific references to the text on a topic relevant to Paradise Lost : Book IX vs. Eve from the book of Genesis: victim or temptress or Satan vs. Jesus- heroic elements? Hellconcrete or mind space? Unit 5 (2 weeks): 18 th Century including historical background and literary developments Selections from anthology and hand-outs
Alexander Pope Essay on Criticism The Rape of the Lock Jonathan Swift excerpts from Gulliver s Travels A Modest Proposal Oliver Goldsmith She Stoops to Conquer Robert Gray Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard Robert Burns Auld Ang Syne To a Mouse To a Louse William Blake The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Selections from Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience Objectives: Students will understand : The mechanisms used to create satire ( exaggeration, understatement, syntax, specialized diction, dehumanization, cataloguing, citing experts and statistics, etc.) How symbolism creates meaning How much of our literature emanates from man s spiritual quest for his own meaning And gain awareness of literary movements, particularly neoclassic and the foundation for coming Romanticism Of the origin and growth of the British novel as well as periods and sociological functions (reactions to and results of ) Writing: Students will write a satirical emulation of Swift s A Modest Proposal which focuses on a modern day problem Critical analysis of 4 th and 5 th British play or novel (one at the beginning of this unit, one at the end) AP question essay (Shaw s letter about his mother s death) Quizzes in paragraph form of works read for homework Unit 6 (3 weeks) The Romantic Age- historical and biographical background included Selections from anthology and hand-outs William Wordsworth London 1802 Resolution and Independence The World Is Too Much With Us Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood Samuel Taylor Coleridge Kubla Khan The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Percy Bysshe Shelley Ozymandias Ode to the West Wind Mary Shelley Frankenstein (Bedford Series) John Keats On First Looking Into Chapman s Homer Bright Star Ode on a Grecian Urn Objectives: Students will recognize That Romanticism: is a reaction against intellectualism of neo-classical period as well as against materialism brought about by the Industrial Revolution
is an emotional/ spiritual movement to retain the mystery of the universe; recognize the dignity and significance of all individuals (especially children, the poor and those considered savages ) spawns the elevation of an individual s uniqueness in literature lays the foundation for Gothic/ Horror prose and poetry has far-reaching socio-political effects elevates he past and to idealizes women; How and why symbol and allusion are used The use of physical voyage as structure for spiritual exploration How and why paradox, contrast and negative capability are used to create meaning How feminine narrative form and point of view affect meaning. Writing: 5 th critical analysis of British play/novel 1 or 2 timed, in class essays on Frankenstein (for example: discuss the roles of women in this novel; what is the effect of point of view/ narrative shift upon the reader; how do Shelley s use of allusions and feminine narrative form reveal the issues of morality within Frankenstein 1 essay on a facet of The World is Too Much With Us, Ozymandias, or Kubla Khan writing conference and rewrite of one piece for higher grade Unit 7 (2weeks) The Victorian Age: historical and literary background information Selections form anthology and hand-outs: from e Essays Thomas Babington, Thomas Carlyle, john Henry Newman and John Stuart Mill Alfred Lord Tennyson Ulysses In Memoriam (occasionally The Lady of Shalott ) Robert Browning My Last Duchess The Laboratory Matthew Arnold Dover Beach Self Dependence Thomas Hardy Neutral Tones Objectives: Students will discover and gain insight on: The burgeoning confusion about and/or longing for security in a mechanistic, agnostic world The growing contemplation of writers on their own deaths as a metaphor for the death of a way of life The development of dramatic monologue The dichotomy inherent in this era: the confident optimism that man sits upon the highest peak of evolution and can therefore evolve further versus the pessimistic view of man as a being as indifferent to one another as is God/Nature to man.
Writing: 6 th critical analysis of outside reading (British novel/play) essay discussing how Victorian poetry compared and contrasted with Romantic poetry that came before. (Students will choose 2 poems by 2 different authors) students will write their own dramatic monologues chronicling one side of a conversation where enough information is packed in that the whole situation may be guessed by the reader. However, not enough information should be available to actually describe it two (2) as if paragraphs where students will be given AP questions about particular poetry or a prose excerpt. Students will have 15 minutes to make notes and/or create a graphic organizer and organize into a direction for an essay. These will be corrected and discussed in group. Unit 8 (3weeks): 20 th Century literature with historical and literary background Selections taken from anthology and handouts William Butler Yeats An Irish Airman Foresees His Death Sailing to Byzantium Wilfred Owen Dulce Et Decorum Est Siegfried Sassoon Disabled Base Details James Joyce Araby T.S. Eliot The Hollow Men Virginia Woolf The New Dress Objectives: Students will learn about The effects of science, technology, industry, and the world wars on literature of the 20 th century The narrowing base of literature that evolved after 1920 s due in part to the modern writers complexity and the burgeoning market for popular fiction British literature will close at the end of the first half of the year with a discussion revolving around how differing views of man s immortality are portrayed through literature. This will proceed from a discussion of Dylan Thomas s Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night. Students will be given Plato s The Cave as an outside reading which will lay the foundation for discussions and writings about perceptions and reality that have been revealed in British literature and will be revealed in American literature. Writing: Students will have chosen an American novel or play (from lists of American classics gleaned from AP exams and other sources) and they will write a literary analysis where they show how two literary devices function to create meaning.
After a one on one conference about their graded papers, students may rewrite for a higher grade Choose two literary techniques in The Hollow Men and discuss how they unify the poem and create meaning. AMERICAN LITERATURE- 2 ND HALF YEAR Unit 1 (1 week) Colonial America s historical background as well as biographical roots of authors. In depth discussion of how Renaissance and Reformation affect Christianity, and as a result, affected American colonists All reading will come from hand-outs plus two American novels (this year All the King s Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God) Poetry / essays (sermons) come form Anne Bradstreet Edward Taylor Jonathan Edwards Objectives: students will be introduced (and reintroduced where applicable) to The Edenic Myth and how it under rides so much of American literature The Machine in the Garden motif Extended metaphor and rhetorical devices used to establish one s position How the self consciousness of the American character has been fueled by emphasis on personal journals Writing: Following Plato s cave, in essay form, students will discuss why Plato s central character would choose the bondage of the cave over the freedom to which he had been exposed; relate this choice to today s world where one would or would not make a similar choice and why. AP essay on Bradstreet s Author to Her Book - conference after essay is corrected Unit 2 (1 week) Leading up to the Revolution historical and biographical information to Romanticism s roots Handouts from Ben Franklin Poor Richard s Almanac Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address William Cullen Bryant Thanatopsis To a Waterfowl Objectives: Students will Become aware of the metamorphosis of our scattered colonies into one nation while emphasis concurrently exists to retain one s freedom through individuality See the persuasive power of words to prepare a country for way and the sacrifice it will require Learn how ripe for Romanticism America was both physically and idealistically
Learn how Romanticism s emphasis on simplicity and living at one with nature grew into the fibers of America s identity Recognize how emphasis on elementary diction aided in the growth of broad based reading audience View how simple diction emphasized the elevation of the common man Writing: 8 th literary analysis due for an American novel or play choose one of the journalists of this period and read one of his works, In essay format explain what you can deduce about our culture at that time (approx. 1800-1860) Unit 3 (2weeks) Romantics and the Transcendentalists in America Handouts will include: Ralph Waldo Emerson The American Scholar Self Reliance Xenophanes The Rhodora Transparent Eye Henry David Thoreau Introduction and Conclusion to Walden Jim Ralston Leaving Walden Pond Kurt Vonnegut The Age of the Planet Gobblers Objectives: Students will Recognize and appreciate the American impetus to break free from traditional hierarchal ideologies such as those formerly imposed by Britain and Christianity Learn that the break from traditional religion (as evinced by Emerson and Thoreau) does not negate the deep concern for man s spiritual journey How authors drew on reality of experience in America s pristine natural setting to create a tone of authenticity Recognize the paradox inherent in works that emphasize emotion over reason yet couch ideas in complicated syntactical structure Writing: 9 th literary analysis of American novel Students will read Emerson s Blight and discuss literary techniques that create distinctly Romantic theme Students will choose one of these Emerson quotes: To be great is to be misunderstood, Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, or imitation is suicide, and show how Emerson meant this as it related to his understanding of Self Reliance Jim Ralston writes 100 years after Thoreau, yet Ralston makes connections between these authors. Discuss the relationship between Ralston s quote Having repressed Nature, we have become wild in a strangely distorted way behind the mask for civilized respectability and Thoreau s philosophy. One of the essays for this unit may be rewritten for a higher grade
Unit 4 (1 week) Poe as the representative of Gothic segment of Romanticism and the anti-transcendentalists through Hawthorne and Melville Hand-outs include: Poe- The Raven Annabel Lee (one short story from The Black Cat The Tell-tale Heart or The Pit and the Pendulum Hawthorne- Goodman Brown Melville first chapter Moby Dick Objectives: Students will Become aware of origins of Gothic literature from Shelley s Frankenstein to Poe s writing focus on techniques that work together in a piece to create tone (particularly horror) discern elements of writing that are consciously and intentionally as the antithesis of a movement prevalent at the time Writing: Students will write an essay using one of Poe s poems and one of his short stories where they will discuss elements that are indicative of his style read one of Hawthorne s short stories, summarize it and show at least two techniques that create anti-transcendental meaning a critical analysis is due for an American novel TWO WEEK SPRING BREAK Unit 5: (3 weeks including break) The American novel historical influences that create them; how they fulfill a need; how they reflect American society and cultural values, etc. Students will have read All the Kings Men over break Students have one week to read Their Eyes Were Watching God Objectives: Students will learn the characteristics of a bildungsroman in novel form recognize the psychological directions some American novels evince will see how feminine narrative form shapes a reader s view through the perspective through its retrospective narrator learn how direct and indirect characterization are different as a result of the intent of the author learn how the choice of the narrative view creates or dispels distance according to the narrator s intent will become aware of the characteristics of local color realism, particularly how it is reflected through regional dialect and why an author would choose to use it once again recognize and discern man s quest for identity
Writing: Students will will trace a topic through AKM and come up with an essay and oral discussion making clear the author s position on this topic write an essay connecting the theme of the perversion of the American dream through their summer reading of Death of a Salesman, The Great Gatsby and All the King s Men in essay form compare the function of Phoebe of Their Eyes Were Watching God to Horatio in Hamlet. Students will discuss how each affect characterization write the 1996 AP test essay on how Hurston s diction and manipulating of point of view create meaning as if sessions related to passages from Their Eyes Were Watching God write an essay discussing how the different settings reflect and symbolize Janie s growth Unit 6: (2weeks) Post Civil War Voices with historical and biographical backgrounds Hand-outs from: Walt Whitman s excerpts from Leaves of Grass I Hear America Singing excerpts from Song of Myself # 6 and #16 Emily Dickinson- Success Is Counted Sweetest Arcturus Because I Could Not Stop for Death I Heard a Fly Buzz Objectives: Students will understand the effects on literature of the Civil War become acutely aware of how a poet s life can be reflected in his/her work learn how a writer s lifelong body of work will chronicle the struggles to define and refine one s values, beliefs, faith (etc.) how blank And free verse function to create meaning in poetry Writing: In essay form students will discuss how Dickinson s Chariot and A Fly Buzzed reveal her beliefs about death Choose a Whitman poem and discuss how his narrator s point of view reflects his democratic world view. Critical analysis of an American novel due at the end of the week Approximately here is where the AP edam is scheduled. In addition to the above curriculum, students have also done many AP multiple choice tests from the 3 rd, 4 th and 5 th editions of D & S Marketing s Multiple Choice Questions. As well students have been given the Princeton Review for English AP Exams and 5 Steps for A few minutes at the beginning of each class are devoted to students questions concerning multiple choice questions. Unit 7: (1 week in the library, paper due 3 weeks from introduction).
After the AP exam students choose one author with whom they are familiar to research for their senior term papers. Objectives: Requirements include the reading of at least three long works or six poems as well as biographical information and literary criticisms of chosen works. Students must devise their own thematic ideas and show how they are made clear throughout the works they have read. Students must find support for or disagree with a critic s opinion about their theme. Students must use MLA documentation and format for their 8-10 page papers During the time students are working on their papers (reading novels, plays, poetry, biography or critical essays) in class students will be reading and discussing poetry by the following American authors: Edgar Lee Masters, from Spoon River Anthology The Hill Lucinda Matlock Fiddler Jones Edwin Arlington Robinson- Luke Havergal How Annandale Went Out Richard Cory Carl Sandburg Chicago Robinson Jeffers Shine Perishing Republic Robert Frost Directive Home Burial The Armful Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening Marianne Moore Poetry Marge Piercy Barbie Doll Maya Angelou- Phenomenal Woman The River The Rock The Tree Objectives: Students will Gain an appreciation for the diversity of ideas in modern poetry Become aware of the conscious emphasis upon and celebration of the individual in American literature Learn how to do scholarly research on a thematic topic they have devised Utilize MLA internal citations and précis Deliver an in class oral presentation of their research papers Will observe and appreciate how an author s works hang together thematically Writing: Students will write an 8-10 page (of content) term paper which demonstrates their in-depth, sophisticated reading of one author s works. Included will be critical discussions by recognized scholarly sources. Title page and works cited page will be included. Written and oral presentations will end this AP English class.