Overview for AP English Lit 2, 2010

Mrs. Fallahi

(better yet, just go through Parkway North website, teacher directory)

314-415-7695

Semester 2: (focus on Trends in European Literature)

This capstone honors English course travels from the late Renaissance and the Enlightenment to the heart of darkness, from blind faith and reason to doubt and chaos, “from optimism to nihilism, from wholeness to fragmentation, from progress to collapse, from the fires of revolution to the ovens of the final solution” (Michael Dulick and Merle Singer).

Course work (subject to change—we’ll see how it goes).

1. Poetry & meditations: Marlowe, Raleigh, Donne, and so forth. We’ll use poetry from 1600s to present.

2. Moliere, The Misanthrope: a representative play of the French neo-classical period—especially its plot, language, characterization, and theme. We begin to look at the Age of Reason and ideas of inductive reasoning. We examine the use of “dues ex machine” (God out of the machine) and the ideas of dark comedy. Assessments will include both selected responses and constructed response items.

3. Milton, Paradise Lost: We will read only a portion of this work, focusing on the ideas of the garden and Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the garden. How do they survive their fall? How is this fall of man seen as a rise? Through structure, we explore the ways Milton is breaking with the poetic tradition, creating a new type of epic, and his use of diction and cadence.

4. Voltaire, Candide: We focus on the ideas of work and the concept of the “garden” in the work. We look at the piece as it follows in the tradition of humankind’s existential dilemma of finding meaning in a mad and evil world and creating meaningful existence within it. The final paper assignment (encompassing both Paradise Lost and Candide) will focus on the ideas of the garden and man’s ability to create: a moment of victory, reaffirming life over death, and so forth.

5. Shelly, Frankenstein: We focus on the ideas of responsible creativity and the meaning of sympathy (and the lack of it in early 19th century society). Is all science worthwhile? Should we always create, if the scientific knowledge is available? What is our responsibility to our creations? How does this piece connect back to “the garden?” We will study Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in conjunction with the novel, which incorporates ghost story elements and is a pre-runner to the gothic period.

6. Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray: In this gothic romance, we will focus on ethical choices and appreciation of art. What does ‘art for art’s sake’ mean? What is meant by ‘aestheticism’? What is the relationship between art and artist? What is the aim of art?

7. Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment: Dostoyevsky writes a novel that seems to capture the very formlessness of life itself: lots of detail, strange and seemingly inconsequential things happening to people living in a dark and irrational world. Doesoyevsky, along with Flaubert (Madame Bovary), can rightfully claim to be the “father” of the modern novel. Raskalnikov, an impoverished student, commits the “perfect” crime, then, throughout the course of the novel, learns what it really means to be free and by what yardstick one measures human worth.

8. Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: We explore the stream of consciousnessformat of the novel, and we look at the bildungsroman hero: through Stephen Dedalus we trace the spiritual, moral, psychological, and social development of the protagonist from childhood to maturity. Students write responses to each chapter of the novel, focusing on the emerging awareness of Dedalus and his growth through specific textual analysis.

9. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor: What does it mean when a fictional hero takes a journey?. Shares a meal? Gets drenched in a sudden rain shower? Often, there is much more going on in a novel or poem than is readily visible on the surface—a symbol, maybe, that remains elusive, or an unexpected twist on a character—and there's that sneaking suspicion that the deeper meaning of a literary text keeps escaping you (from Google products website). You will be assigned chapters to read and summarize for the class.

Interspersed practice for the AP English Literature test using both the multiple choice and essay portions of the AP Literature Exams and Sharon Hamilton’s Essential Literary Terms.

We can adjust pieces as we go through the semester. I’m not sure we’ll have time for the literature book groups. Choices would include Dracula, a Jane Austen piece (Northanger Abbey or Pride and Prejudice), WutheringHeights, Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserable.

Expectations

  • Attendance (body, mind, and soul) and promptness affect both the citizenship and academic grade. And we miss you when you are not here.
  • Careful preparation, enthusiastic participation, intellectual humility.
  • Adherence to deadlines. Special circumstances such as serious illness or unusual problems must be discussed with me prior to the deadline.
  • In case of absence, please e-mail me, check my website, or check with other students. Otherwise, see me during academic lab or before or after school.
  • Always do your best work; always do your own work. Zeroes and zero tolerance for plagiarism.
  • Please visit me by appointment in lab or before and after school if I can help you succeed—or just to visit 
  • Leadership in the classroom (discussion, writing, and so forth)

Evaluation

Grades are weighted approximately as follows:

50% major stuff (essays, projects, major tests)

20% other stuff (homework, note checks, quizzes)

20% participation (preparedness, thoughtfulness, engagement, risk-taking)

10% final