AP English Literature Reading
Louisville, Kentucky
June 13, 2013
Krystal Greene
Inglewood High School
Inglewood, California
msgreene5@yahoo.com
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The Rainbow, published first in 1915, is one of DH
Lawrence's most controversial works. The novel relates the
story of three generations of an English family—The
Brangwens. Banned in Great Britain when it was first
published, The Rainbow introduced sexual life into a
family-based novel, portraying a visionary quest for love by
three generations of English men and women.
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It is through these relationships that Lawrence explores
nonconformist questioning of tradition.
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His work addresses some of the social concerns of the
Modernist movement : social class, changing relationships
for changing times. Liberated sexuality, personal freedom
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Major Works: Sons and Lovers; Lady Chatterly’s Lover
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Quick Write: Complacent- marked by
self-satisfaction, especially when
accompanied by unawareness of actual
dangers or deficiencies.
Provide clear and specific examples of
how this definition might be reflected
in real life: politically, socially,
psychologically, and/or personally?
How does one’s complacency affect
others?
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The following passage is from D.H. Lawrence’s 1915
novel, The Rainbow, which focuses on the lives of the
Brangwen, a farming family who lived in rural England
during the late nineteenth l class?
century. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay
in which you analyze how Lawrence employs literary
devices to characterize the woman.
Break down
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uses
describe
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After students read and annotate the prompt, I have
them re-read to ensure they are clear on what the
prompt is asking. A few students will then share a
restatement of the prompt in their own words before
we begin reading the passage.
ANNOTATE
Circle/Underline words/phrases that seem important.
INFER
Comment directly on words/phrases:
patterns? Literal or figurative action? Is there
something concrete you notice about words or
phrases?
MAIN IDEA
The annotations and inferences
lead tothe main idea:
A specific opinion about the focus of the
passage
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Circle descriptions that characterize the woman and
her experience.
Underline/highlight powerful images.
Make marginal notes of any and all thoughts
regarding meaning and devices they recognize (e.g.
symbolism, juxtaposition, etc.).
Place boxes/brackets around patterns/similar ideas.
Plan how devices are used to convey meaning in
preparation for the essay.
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Key Questions: What are the most striking parts of the passage?
What contrasts exist between the woman and the men?
What evidence of complacency do we see in the passage? How is the
woman affected? How does the writer use techniques to create the
characterization?
Two Opposing Forces: complacency and desire
Juxtaposition: the simple world of the men is juxtaposed with the desire
for knowledge from the woman; men looked back, women looked
forward; vicar vs. husband
Structure: 1st part of passage- dissatisfaction and longing; 2nd part of
passage- recognition – recognizes vicar is someone who represents the
opposite of the quotidian world in which she exists, and she begins to
perceive a world that is better than her common existence.
Figurative Language: personification, metaphors, paradox, symbol
Rhetorical Devices: repetition, parallelism, anaphora (repetition of initial
words, phrases), juxtaposition, asyndeton, polysyndeton
OPEN MIND
Satisfied
“She faced outwards…”
Desire
“set out to discover”
Bored with current life
Student Generated Questions
Students create a few (2-3)
inferential questions and
answers about the passage. In
small groups, they will discuss
their answers.
Save the Last Word For Me-
Literal
Textual
Evidence
Inference
What are
possible
interpretations
of the text?
Emotional
What
impression
does the
text make
upon you?
Prose Analysis Strategy
DIDLS
D=Diction
I=Imagery
D=Details
L=Language
It was enough for the men that the earth heaved and
opened its furrow to them, that the wind blew to dry
the wet wheat, and set the young ears of corn
wheeling freshly round about; it was enough that
they helped the cow in labour or ferreted the rats
from under barn or broke the back of a rabbit with a
sharp knock of the hand. So much warmth and
generating and pain and death did they know in
their blood, earth and sky and beast and green
plants, so much exchange and interchange they had
with these that they lived full and surcharged, their
senses full fed, their faces always turned to the heat
of the blood, staring into the sun, dazed with looking
towards the source of generation, unable to turn
around.
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But the woman wanted another form of life than this,
something that was not blood-intimacy. Her house faced out
from the farm buildings and fields, looked out to the road and
the village with church and Hall and the world beyond. She
stood to see the far off world of cities and governments and
the active scope of man, the magic land to her, where secrets
were made known and desires fulfilled. She faced outwards
to where men moved dominant and creative, having turned
their back on the pulsing heat of creation, and with this
behind them, were set out to discover what was beyond, to
enlarge their own scope and range and freedom; whereas the
Brangwen men faced inwards to the teeming of life of
creation, which poured unresolved into their veins.
It was enough for the men that the
earth heaved and opened its furrow
to them, that the wind blew to dry the
wet wheat, and set the young ears of
corn wheeling freshly round about; it
was enough that they helped the cow
in labour or ferreted the rats from
under barn or broke the back of a
rabbit with a sharp knock of the
hand. So much warmth and
generating and pain and death did
they know in their blood, earth and
sky and beast and green plants, so
much exchange and interchange they
had with these that they lived full
and surcharged, their senses full fed,
their faces always turned to the heat
of the blood, staring into the sun,
dazed with looking towards the
source of generation, unable to turn
The vicar, dark and dry and small
beside her husband, had yet a
quickness and a range of being that
made Brangwen, in his large
geniality, seem dull and local. …The
vicar had the power over the cattle so
the vicar had power over her
husband…She craved to know. She
craved to achieve this higher being, if
not in herself, then in her children.
That which makes a man strong even
if he be little and frail in body, just as
any man is little and frail in beside a
bull, and yet stronger than the bull,
what was it? It was not money nor
power nor position. What power had
the vicar over Tom Brangwen-none.
Yet strip them and set them on a
desert island, and the vicar was the
master. His soul was master of the
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“They desired no more”
“again, we get a sense of a complete life”
“They’re content with the simplistic”
“The woman craves more”
“She wants to know more. see more. discover”
“men have what women want”
“always a shadow of a man”
“feels as if men don’t take advantage of opportunity”
“Power of excitement knowledge”
“by being knowledgeable”
Observations
More
Themes
Discovery
Dreams vs.
complacency
knowledge
Man vs. woman
Techniques
Diction
imagery
juxtaposition
1) After students identify and plan their essay focusing on which
devices best address how the woman is characterized, they
should also make notes on the effect/ significance of each device.
When thinking of effect, I tell my students to consider this
question: What do you understand more clearly or contemplate as
a result of its’ use in the work?
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For each paragraph students should state, prove and comment on
significance:
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State point of view.
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Prove it by providing supporting evidence.
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Comment- Tell me why it matters. As taught in the Jane Schaeffer
Writing Method, students should use at least 2 pieces of evidence
per paragraph to comment (provide analysis of ) supporting
evidence.
Analysis: How? Why? What? How does the author
describe? Why does the author make these
choices? What does the author want us to
understand?
Writing Templates to get them started:
 In ________ the author ____ (active verb) to_____
 The __________, (lit devices) _____(active verb) to
_________
 The woman is __________ because______
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Open with Quick Write or warm up writing activity to
frame students idea around topic. Have thorough class
discussions before they begin writing.
Teach and consistently model effective annotation,
helping students see key ideas through focused note
taking (circling, underlining, etc.).
After they read and annotate the passage, students
should box/bracket patterns that emerge in their notes.
Make students PLAN their ideas before they write.
Use “piece-meal” writing, particularly if students are
tackling Question 2 at the beginning of the year.
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1) http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/introduction-to-dhlawrence-his-works-and-controversy.html
2) http://www.online-literature.com/dh_lawrence/
3) Buckley-Kuhn, Brenda, English Instructor. Pinewood Preparatory
School.
4) Jane Schaffer Writing Program.
http://www.slideserve.com/mathilde/jane-schaffer-writing-program
5) Murphy, Barbara and Estelle Rankin. 5 Steps to a 5: AP English
Literature. McGraw-Hill, 2002.
6) Murphy, Barbara and Estelle Rankin. 5 Steps to a 5: Writing the AP
English Essay. McGraw-Hill, 2004.