Mrs. Blackmer (SCHOOL)
English (HOME)
Summer 2018
Summer Work Assignment
“To analyze” poetry does NOT mean “tofind the meaning.” The meaning of a good poem is infinite,
so analysis is just a way of endlessly unpacking meaning in general.
Again, congrats folks! Following is the summer work assignment for the English 12AP class. Before we start, I want to remind you of your agreement with us: The summer work is required. If you have questions during the summer, feel free to contact me by email (above—use my home email for quick responses in the summer).By signing in at the meeting today, you are acknowledging that you understand this requirement.It’s worth about 100 points, so if you don’t get it done, you’ll be in a deep hole!
The summer assignment: You will be doing three things over the summer:
- Literary Terms: Study the list of literary terms (see attached pages). You should know most of them by August so that we can start using them in our discussions of “works of literary merit”!
- Read How to Read Poetry Like a Professor (HTRPLAP). You’ll have to buy your own copy, butif you can’t afford it, I’ll have 5 copies that you can borrow (1st come 1st served):How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verseby Thomas C Foster.Paperback.$13.47 on Amazon.
- Select two poems from the “Poems Cited” list in HTRPLAP(NOT by the same poet) (pp.189-190). Analyze the poems using Foster’s instructions (this should look frightfully familiar, as in TPPCASTT and DIDLS). In order to do this, you will have to go online, print out a copy of each poem, find the following elements (a-g below), and write up each element using examples (quotes) from the poem (each poem separately):
a) Definition of a poem, and how this poem fits it (see “Interlude”)
b)Denotation/Connotation (Ch. 1, 2 & 6)
c)Rhythm, rhyme, meter (Ch 3, 4, 7)
d) Lines and enjambment (Ch. 5)
e) Speaker (Ch.8)
f) Structure(how it looks on the page) (Ch. 9, 10, 11)
g) Figurative language: symbol, imagery, motif, etc. (Ch. 12)
The first week of class, expect a quiz on how to read and analyze poetry, using a poem not on the list (so memorize the 7 rules in Ch. 1 as well as know the 7 elements to study (a-g above).
1. A Broad List of AP Literary Terms from the College Board
Elements of Style
Atmosphere
Colloquial
Connotation
Denotation
Dialogue
Dialect
Diction
Epigram
Inversion
Irony
….Dramatic
….Situational
…..Verbal
Mimesis
Mood
Paradox
Pathos
Proverb
Pun
Sarcasm
Satire
Slang
Tone
Voice
Voice
Narrative voice
….First Person
….Second Person
….Third Person
….Omniscient/Unlimited
….Objective (impartial)
….Intrusive(biased omniscient)
….Limited (one character)
….Shifting (multiple chars.)
Figurative Language
Allusion
Apostrophe
Euphemism
Hyperbole
Litotes
Meiosis
Metaphor
Metonymy
Motif
Onomatopoeia
Personification
Simile
Symbol
Synecdoche
Poetry
Alliteration
Anaphora
Assonance
Blank verse
Cacophony
Cadence
Caesura
Conceit
Connotation
Consonance
Controlling image
Couplet
Dirge
Dissonance
Dramatic monologue
Elegy
End-stopped line
Enjambment
Epic
Euphony
Foot
Form
Free verse
Iamb
Image
Imagery
In medias res
Lyric
Measure
Meter
Narrative
Octave
Ode
Pastoral
Pentameter
Persona
Quatrain
Refrain
Repetition
Rhyme
…..End
…..External
…..Feminine
…..Masculine
…..Internal
Scansion
Sestet
Sonnet
…..English
…..Italian
Speaker
Stanza/Strophe
Stress
Tercet
Trochee
Verse
Volt
SCORING CRITERIA
Assignment:English 12AP Summer Work
CRITERIA
How to Read Poetry Like a Professor / Points Possible / Teacher ScorePoem #1:
a) Foster’s Definition of a poem, and how this poem fits it (see “Interlude”)
b)Denotation/Connotation (Ch. 1, 2 & 6)
c)Rhythm, rhyme, meter (Ch 3, 4, 7)
d) Lines and enjambment (Ch. 5)
e) Speaker (Ch. 8)
f) Structure (how it looks on the page) (Ch. 9, 10, 11)
g) Figurative language: symbol, imagery, motif, etc. (Ch. 12) / 5
5
5
5
5
5
5
Poem #2:
a) Foster’s Definition of a poem, and how this poem fits it (see “Interlude”)
b)Denotation/Connotation (Ch. 1, 2 & 6)
c)Rhythm, rhyme, meter (Ch 3, 4, 7)
d) Lines and enjambment (Ch. 5)
e) Speaker (Ch. 8)
f) Structure (how it looks on the page) (Ch. 9, 10, 11)
g) Figurative language: symbol, imagery, motif, etc. (Ch. 12) / 5
5
5
5
5
5
5
TOTAL: / 70 / /70
COMMENTS: all entries should be grammatically correct, coherent, and in MLA format.