Dear AP Literature Students, We are really excited to have you in the AP program next fall! Listed below are tasks that you need to complete over the summer in order to get off to a great start next September. All of the information you need is provided in this packet. Please read this packet carefully. You must be prepared on the first day of school! 1. Reading. You are required to read the three books listed below. Expect assessments of some kind for each when you return to school. Not only should you be familiar with the plot, but you must be ready to apply major concepts of How to Read Literature to the other works of fiction. You should take notes and use post-its as you read each work. You should have copies of EACH book with you for the first few weeks of school. a. Thomas Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor b. Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns c. Select one book from the district book selection: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen Michael Vey, the Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans Wonder by R.J. Palacio Turtles All the Way Down by John Green 2. College Essay. You will write a college essay based on the Common Application expectations. The Common Application prompts and rubric are included in this packet. You must have a hard copy on the first day of class. The essay should be submitted in MLA format. 3. Literature Terms. You will be expected to know the definitions of the attached terms as they apply to literary analysis. For each term on the attached list, you are to create a notecard with the term on one side and the definition on the other side. The notecards must be neat and ALL on index cards in order to receive full credit. 4. Annotations. Read and annotate the five attached poems. For each poem you should have distinct notes explaining how specific phrases or lines are meaningful. Be prepared to discuss the main ideas and themes of the poems during class discussion. Your experience in our English program should have you equipped to recognize the major tools that the writers uses to express ideas. No research please! You must rely on your own brain. PLEASE READ ATTACHED SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO ANNOTATE. YOUR PAPER MUST DEMONSTRATE EFFORT AND THINKING.
Have a safe and happy summer! Please do not hesitate to e-mail us if you have any questions and/or concerns. Sincerely, Mrs. Strittmatter, English Coordinator (bstrittmatter@lrhsd.org) and Mrs. Hoy (lhoy@lrhsd.org) Common Application Essay Prompts Choose one, and write a 650 word maximum essay. Common Application Essay Prompts 1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. 2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? 3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? 4. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. 5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. 6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more? 7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.
College Application Essay Rubric- 30 points EXCELLENT SATISFACTORY CONTENT ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE The essay is focused and reveals important personal characteristics or beliefs which would significantly supplement, not merely repeat, information in your application. The essay shows originality and depth. (17-18 points) The essay is somewhat focused and reveals personal characteristics or beliefs which would supplement, not merely repeat, information in your application. The originality may be lacking in that you select an overused topic. (11-16 points) The essay has a clear beginning, middle, and end. It is developed with originality and attention to proportion and emphasis. The paragraphs are logically and effectively developed. The transitions between paragraphs are effective. (6 points) The plan of development is apparent but not consistently followed. Most paragraphs are generally effective, but some lack focus. Transitions may be weak or mechanical. (4-5 points) The sentences are skillfully constructed, effective, and varied. Words used are vivid, accurate, and original. The writing is flawless or nearly so. A personal style is apparent. (6 points) Most sentences are correctly constructed but need more distinction or style. There may be some wordy/awkward phrases or lapses in usage, grammar, punctuation, or spelling. (4-5 points) UNSATISFACTORY The essay lacks focus or does not reveal personal characteristics or beliefs which would positively supplement your application. The essay topic may be inappropriate. (0-10 points) The plan and purpose of the essay are not apparent. It is developed with some irrelevance or redundancy. Most paragraphs are incoherent, undeveloped, or unorganized. Transitions are weak or missing. (0-3 points) Many sentences are poorly constructed and include many errors in grammar. The vocabulary is basic, and words may be used incorrectly. There are persistent usage, spelling, or punctuation problems. (0-3 points)
You are to read and annotate the following five poems! See annotation instructions following the poems. A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096) By Emily Dickinson A narrow Fellow in the Grass Occasionally rides - You may have met him? Did you not His notice instant is - The Grass divides as with a Comb, A spotted Shaft is seen, And then it closes at your Feet And opens further on - He likes a Boggy Acre - A Floor too cool for Corn - But when a Boy and Barefoot I more than once at Noon Have passed I thought a Whip Lash Unbraiding in the Sun When stooping to secure it It wrinkled And was gone - Several of Nature s People I know, and they know me I feel for them a transport Of Cordiality But never met this Fellow Attended or alone Without a tighter Breathing And Zero at the Bone. Notes: Emily Dickinson, "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass" from The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition, Ralph W. Franklin, ed., Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright 1998 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Source: The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition (Harvard University Press, 1998)
To His Coy Mistress By Andrew Marvell Had we but world enough and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love s day. Thou by the Indian Ganges side Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews. My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires and more slow; An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest; An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart. For, lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate. But at my back I always hear Time s wingèd chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity. Thy beauty shall no more be found; Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound My echoing song; then worms shall try That long-preserved virginity, And your quaint honour turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust; The grave s a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace. Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour Than languish in his slow-chapped power. Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball, And tear our pleasures with rough strife Through the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.
The Flea By John Donne Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that which thou deniest me is; It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea our two bloods mingled be; Thou know st that this cannot be said A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead, Yet this enjoys before it woo, And pampered swells with one blood made of two, And this, alas, is more than we would do. Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost, nay more than married are. This flea is you and I, and this Our mariage bed, and marriage temple is; Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met, And cloistered in these living walls of jet. Though use make you apt to kill me, Let not to that, self-murder added be, And sacrilege, three sins in killing three. Cruel and sudden, hast thou since Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence? Wherein could this flea guilty be, Except in that drop which it sucked from thee? Yet thou triumph st, and say'st that thou Find st not thy self, nor me the weaker now; Tis true; then learn how false, fears be: Just so much honor, when thou yield st to me, Will waste, as this flea s death took life from thee.
Circe's Torment Louise Gluck I regret bitterly The years of loving you in both Your presence and absence, regret The law, the vocation That forbid me to keep you, the sea A sheet of glass, the sun-bleached Beauty of the Greek ships: how Could I have power if I had no wish To transform you: as You loved my body, As you found there Passion we held above All other gifts, in that single moment Over honor and hope, over Loyalty, in the name of that bond I refuse you Such feeling for your wife As will let you Rest with her, I refuse you Sleep again If I cannot have you. Two Countries - Naomi Shihab Nye Skin remembers how long the years grow when skin is not touched, a gray tunnel of singleness, feather lost from the tail of a bird, swirling onto a step, swept away by someone who never saw it was a feather. Skin ate, walked, slept by itself, knew how to raise a see-you-later hand. But skin felt it was never seen, never known as a land on the map, nose like a city, hip like a city, gleaming dome of the mosque and the hundred corridors of cinnamon and rope. Skin had hope, that s what skin does. Heals over the scarred place, makes a road. Love means you breathe in two countries. And skin remembers--silk, spiny grass, deep in the pocket that is skin s secret own. Even now, when skin is not alone, it remembers being alone and thanks something larger that there are travelers, that people go places larger than themselves.
Annotating Poetry Annotating is the act of marking up a text to bring attention to words, phrases, and structure that may have some importance to the overall mood or theme of a poem. Steps to Annotate a Poem 1. Initial reading of the poem. Write any questions that pop into your head while doing the initial reading. 2. Identify any words that you do not understand and look them up. Write the definitions on the poem. 3. Discover and mark rhyme scheme using a new letter for each end rhyme within the poem. 4. Count the amount of syllables in each line and mark the number at the end of the line. 5. Identify figurative language used within the poem. Think about the literal meaning of each figurative device. 6. Identify sound devices such as alliteration, assonance, and consonance. How does it impact the text? 7. Identify text that is repeated. Is there any reason the author would repeat the text? 8. Look closely at punctuation. Does it reveal anything about the speaker of the poem? (Example: Does it make them seem rambling, confident, or nervous?) 9. Circle any words that are impactful or interesting. Determine connotative meaning. Are there any patterns? What does it reveal about the speaker s attitude towards the topic? 10. Reread the poem. If you are still having a hard time understanding the poem, repeat the annotation process!
Questions you should be able to answer after annotating a poem: 1. What is the theme of the poem? 2. What kind of strategies does the author use to point out the theme? 3. What is the mood of the poem? 4. What kind of strategies does the author use to make the mood clear? 5. How does the figurative language impact the poem as a whole? 6. How does the punctuation/number of syllables/ rhyme scheme impact the poem as a whole?
AP Literature Terms Learning to Talk the Talk Primary Terms Once you learn to intelligently and perceptively discuss the impact these elements have on a piece of writing, you will successfully be able to write an analytical essay. (Notice the terms I haven t included rhetoric, logical fallacy, pathos, chiasmus that s AP Language but terms do crossover.) Diction Detail Syntax Pacing Tone Shift Imagery Connotation Figurative Language Denotation Point of View Theme Secondary Terms These terms are much more specific to literature. Most of these you ll never see on the AP exam but many are still important to literary analysis. Allegory Allusion Alliteration Ambiguity Antagonist Apostrophe Analogy Anecdote Aside Assonance Atmosphere Attitude Bildungsroman Cacophony Caesura Characterization Climax Colloquialism Conceit Conflict Consonance Enjambment Epiphany Euphony Flashback
Foil Foreshadowing Genre Hyperbole Irony Juxtaposition Litotes Metaphor Metonymy Mood Motif Objective Onomatopoeia Omniscient Oxymoron Parallelism Parody Paradox Personification Plot Elements Point of View Protagonist Reliability Repetition Sarcasm Satire Scansion Setting Simile Stereotype Subjective Symbol Synesthesia Synecdoche Style Turning Point Understatement Verse Forms 90 http://www.mseffie.com mseffie@mac.com