AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

I. Rationale and Course Description
This course is designed to develop reading and writing skills at the college level. In the course of the readings we will examine important elements of fiction, poetry, and drama in order to better understand what they offer, how they are constructed, and why they appeal to readers. Most of the works we read will be discussed in detail in class. Class discussion is essential; hence, it is imperative to keep up with the readings in order to participate. You are expected to attend every class and to contribute questions, comments and ideas.
In addition to the readings and discussions, the third major element in the course is your writing. The papers will be discussed in detail in class and related to the assigned readings. Each student will also be responsible for classroom presentations on as assigned. The mid term exam will progress over the course of three days, and will be an actual AP Lit exam. There will be two basic kinds of questions: 1) identifying and using literary terms and concepts (e.g. antagonist, dramatic irony, symbol) related to excerpts of literature and 2) essay questions designed to evaluate your careful reading of the works.
For each of the assigned readings you will usually write at least one page of typed comments in response to a question that will focus on the work(s) read. The idea is to preserve your impressions of the readings, develop useful notes, and to reflect upon what you're reading. These, along with the notes you make in your marble composition book, should prove helpful. Some of these will be collected. Date and identify each of the entries and keep them for our use.
Please bring the text or the current reading to each class meeting.
II. Basic Texts
Anthology – Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature – 6th Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s. Boston, 2002.
Major works within the anthology –
Antigone - Sophocles
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare
[The Glass Menagerie – Tennessee Williams]
Poetry A Assorted poems – approximately 30 (see poetry assignments below)
Individual Works –
Summer work -The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
The Quiet American – Graham Greene
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
King Lear – William Shakespeare
III. Course Requirements
1. / Readings (and perhaps occasional reading quizzes)
2. / Class discussions and oral presentations
3. / Short papers; written responses to the readings due for class.
4. / AP practice tests
5. / Mid Term (or later) AP exam
IV. Grading
Discussion, quizzes and oral presentations
Short papers and written exercises
Extended and revised papers
Practice AP exams


POETRY

POETRY ASSIGNMENTS – CLOSE READING/ANALYSIS

1.CLASS WORK – Poetry - “A Mountain Graveyard” – p. 686

Lyric Poetry

“The Author to Her Book” – Bradstreet – p. 780

Simile and Metaphor

HOMEWORK – “If” – Rudyard Kipling – p. 699

“A Woman Is Not A Potted Plant” p. 699

Writing – assignment on p. 699

2. CLASS WORK – Poetry - “The Sun Rising” John Donne – p. 704

“A Late Aubade” – Richard Wilbur – p.731

“Rite of Passage” – p.792 with

“Dulce et Decorum Est” – p. 794 see P. 928 for discussion

Writing – assignment in class on p. 705 (Donne and Wilbur)

HOMEWORK – Writing - Explication of “Sex Without Love” – p.739 &

“Poem for her Breasts” – p. 790

OR

Explication of “The Joy of Cooking” – p. 797 and “Home-Baked Bread” p. 769

3. CLASS WORK – Poetry - “A Beautiful Girl Combs Her Hair” Li Ho – p.705

“Mirror” – Sylvia Plath – p.789

“The White Porch” – Song – p.773

HOMEWORK – Writing – assignment on p.706; p.775

4. CLASS WORK – Poetry - “Happiness” Haas – p.707

“I Like Look of Agony” – Dickinson – p.962

HOMEWORK – Writing – assignment on p.707

DIRECTIONS: From the pieces that you have written for our poetry close reading/analysis, you will choose the strongest and revise it according to the procedures the class will determine.

LITERARY (POETIC) TERMS – FIGURES OF SPEECH

Pun, Synecdoche p. 782

Metonymy, Apostrophe p.783

Hyperbole – overstatement and understatement – p. 785

Paradox, Oxymoron

Symbol, Allegory

Irony

BRITISH POETRY OF THE 17TH CENTURY

17th Century Poetry

Class Presentations

AP English Lit & Composition
April 2006

The 17th Century Poetry Presentation: DIRECTIONS-

Choose a poem to learn and to “make your own.” Not only will you present and teach this poem to the class, but also you will present this poem on the day of the Poetry Festival in May to an outside audience. Therefore, you must know the poem – inside and out (as they say).

1. / Please be certain that you are prepared to discuss the work you have chosen on the day it is due. The reading schedule will not permit us to make changes readily, so if you miss your turn as discussion leader there may not be another opportunity for you to complete that requirement for the course.
2. / As discussion leader, your role is to present the work to the class in an instructive manner. You may use notes or outlines to present the work but do not read to the class from a prepared text. No matter how well written, that sort of thing gets boring. Make a genuine effort to engage the class. Know what you are talking about, and be prepared to field questions during and after your presentation. The job of your classmates is to respond to your comments and to ask questions.
3. / You may find useful the following suggested procedure for discovering all the possibilities your poem offers:
a. / If possible, learn something about the author so that you have some context for your initial approach to the work. Note when the work was written. Provide useful background information.
b. / Read the work carefully, writing comments in the margin and noting passages that seem especially important. Take notes.
c. / Answer the relevant general "Questions for Responsive Reading" (for poetry: pp. 711-12). Be prepared to read the poem aloud.
d. / If you still need help (but only after you have wrestled with the work), you may use secondary sources such as critical articles and sections in books. For help with finding sources see the "Annotated List of References" (pp. 2100-02). Reference librarians can also help you to locate material if you are unsuccessful on your own. Sometimes disagreements among professional critics can reveal what is central in a work.
4. / Your presentation should not be simply a response to the list of questions mentioned above. Instead approach the work as you think it is best explained. The emphasis could be on point of view, character, setting, diction, tone, symbolism, irony, or whatever best serves as a way of making sense of the work's meanings and how those meanings are created. Discuss whatever you judge to be interesting and relevant to your particular work. Make specific, detailed references to the text to illustrate your points. For a variety of approaches review "Critical Strategies for Reading" (pp. 2021-2047). Be sure you are clear about what approach you are taking (a combination of approaches is, of course, possible).
5. / Keep in mind that the purpose of the presentation is to help your classmates understand the work. If something puzzles you, say so and we'll see what the rest of the class can contribute.
6. / Your presentation should be no longer than about twenty minutes. Also, remember that as others present their works they would probably appreciate questions if they stumble or the pace slackens. Neither I nor the class must agree with your approach to the work, but we must agree that you've had a thesis and something useful to say about the work.
7. Prepare a series of ten (10) multiple choice questions about the poem. The questions must include: speaker, point of view, attitude/tone, devices, “find a line which indicates______”, theme, diction.
Be sure that you know the answers and have written copy of the answers to the multiple choice questions.
8. Prepare a “visual” to augment your presentation of the poem. This must be a portable object (poster, diorama, prop, etc.) as you will use it during your Poetry Festival Day reading as well.
9. / If you are not prepared on the day assigned, another student will go out of turn for extra credit and you will receive a zero. If have any questions about what you are to do, don't hesitate to discuss them with me.
10. / Let me know your choice as soon as possible, but no later than ______. If I don’t hear from you by then, I’ll assign a poem.


WEBSITES SOURCES FOR AP ENGLISH LITERATURE

As websites are added, revised and sometimes deleted, the following is a sampling of resources for the teacher and the students of AP English Literature.

GENERAL-

http://edsitement.neh.fed.us/

A Rutger’s University professor’s site for literary resources

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/

Amazing Brit Lit site

http://www.luminarium.org/

SHAKESPEARE:

College sites-

http://fteague.myweb.uga.edu/wordcrun.html#top

AC Bradley on King Lear-

http://www.clicknotes.com/bradley/tr243.html

Amy Ulen’s “Surfing with the Bard” - http://www.shakespearehigh.com/library/surfbard/index.htm

Pathologist in Kansas (Ed Friedlander M.D) with a love of Shakespeare:

http://www.pathguy.com/kinglear.htm

A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Edition of King Lear-

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pdf/teachersguides/kinglear.pdf

Folger Library-

King Lear Lessons

http://www.folger.edu/eduLesPlanArch.cfm?cid=#42

Harlem Theater’s Study Guide

http://www.folger.edu/documents/CTH%20Lear%20Study%20Guide1.pdf

ACHEBE:

Kipling and Imperialism-

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/kipling/rkimperialism

AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITON

SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS - # 1

PLEASE DO THE FOLLOWING:

I. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

DUE DATE: POSTMARKED JULY 20, 2006 – USE EMAIL OR SNAIL MAIL– Late arrivals will be graded no higher than 60.

For the novel, reflect on the story as a whole and create a collection of responses to the questions in section B.

Read the assigned work.

Answer the following questions, using specific references to the text to support your conclusions. Your total number of responses should be sufficient to produce a Reading Journal (for summer reading) for extra credit in Humanities.

What did the main character learn from his or her life?

What is a theme that you have identified as significant?

If you were performing part of this novel as a monologue, what prop would you use to represent the character? And why would you select this item?

What literary devices/techniques can you identify? And which was most effective and why?

Choose one of the past AP Lit Exam Free Response Questions and use it to write a (typed) 40 minute essay on The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The AP Lit Free Response Questions are posted on my eboard at RD - http://www.riverdell.k12.nj.us/rdhs/faculty/eboards.htm

AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITON

SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS - # 2

II. THE GREAT GATSBY

DUE DATE: POSTMARKED AUGUST 24, 2006 – USE EMAIL OR SNAIL MAIL – Late arrivals will be graded no higher than 60.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: START HERE: Peruse the questions BELOW (letter “B”). Decide on which question you will focus. As you read, keep the question in mind – begin to think of how you will respond to it.

RE-READ the assigned work

Questions from which to choose:

SEE THE FOLLOWING PAGE

Note Taking

Take notes as you read.

Record page numbers. (You might want to use Post-its ®.)

These notes will be used in support of your working thesis.

The Essay

Create a strong thesis statement essay.

Use your notes, quotations and page numbers (citations) as supports.

Use examples from the novel for supports.

Introduce and elaborate on each example.

Essay - continued

Do I hear you ask: how long should it be?

If so, I answer this way – as long as you need in order to do a thorough job –

OR – at least three typed pages: 800-1,000 words.

This is not a good novel to use for Summer Reading as you have already studied The Great Gatsby in 10th Grade.

AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITON – continued – THE QUESTIONS

SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS - # 2

III. THE GREAT GATSBY

DUE DATE: POSTMARKED AUGUST 24, 2006 – USE EMAIL OR SNAIL MAIL– Late arrivals will be graded no higher than 60.

A. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: Peruse the questions BELOW (letter “B”).

1. Choose a question – only one group of questions - on which you

will focus.

2. As you read, keep the question in mind – begin to think of how you will respond to it.

B. Questions from which to choose:

1.  Metaphor and imagery contribute largely to Fitzgerald’s distinctive style in The Great Gatsby. Write an essay analyzing three or more important metaphors and explaining their contribution to the novel’s overall effect.

2.  Write an essay analyzing how race is represented in The Great Gatsby, paying particular attention to Fitzgerald’s portrayal of Jewish and African American characters and to Tom’s fascination with early-twentieth-century theories of white superiority.