AP English Language
Unit 3: The American Identity
Modern Poetry Synthesis
Overview
There are several goals and tasks for this assignment. You will embark upon research to learn information concerning the
movement of American Modernism in literature by searching provided websites to locate your information. From there,
you will study some of the most well-known and well-respected poets and poems from this period of writing in an effort
to build your own AP-style synthesis essay that you will respond to at the end of this project. Carefully follow the tasks
below at your own pacing. Consult the calendar for all due dates.
Assignment Tasks – Complete the following tasks in order. Check each box once completed. Consult calendar at bottom.
 Visit the RHS Media Center homepage and click on the AP Modernism button at the bottom of the list. Visit
www.polk.12.ga.us, select Rockmart High School under “Schools,” and hover over “Links” in the left column to
select “RHS Media Center” to locate the above button.
 Begin with collecting information regarding Modernism. Visit the provided links on the AP Modernism button to
collect information. Make notes concerning key events and characteristics of writing. Make sure you keep up with
where your information comes from: separate your paper by sources when making notes and copying information
to help make your citations easier to complete.
 Determine a theme of focus for this assignment. See the back of this page to choose from key themes and texts.
o This will be the most time consuming part of this assignment. You need to spend time scanning and
reading through the provided poems. Identify possible themes in them as you read. I suggest writing the
potential theme beside the poem after you study it, and once you have read through most of them, you can
see a developing trend that you can focus on for this assignment.
o NOTE: There are multiple ways to view each poem and an endless combination of poems that you can
create for this assignment. Focus on your work and not how others may organize and categorize the
poems. It is okay to be different.
 You will need a total of five poems to serve as Sources A-E for this synthesis assignment. Compile your poems
from a variety of authors. It is okay to use more than one poem from the same author, but have at least three
different authors as a minimum.
 Once you’ve selected five poems, make sure that you have fully analyzed each poem through the lens of your
identified theme. Create an essay question based on your theme and poems that will serve as a prompt for an
upcoming synthesis essay.
 Create a Works Cited page to document the location of each poem. Follow provided resources. Prepare to respond
to your created question. You will need an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. This respond
should mirror a timed AP Exam essay response.
 Use Microsoft Word to build a clean, orderly, and easily-understandable AP English Language exam-style
synthesis question. Copy and paste all poems on the document with correct identifiers and source information.
Use the example provided as a model – you will be expected to follow all details.
 Execute response on the assigned calendar day.
Calendar/Pacing – This is a suggested minimal pacing. Complete at your own pace. Note the bolded due date.
Wednesday, February 19th – Hand out assignment. Begin note-taking on Modernism.
Thursday, February 20th -- Continue assignment in Media Center. View back of handout to study key themes of
Modernism and to begin exploring poems and poets. Label poems according to potential themes.
Friday, February 21st – Meet in Media Center. Continue exploring authors and poems. Label poems according to
potential themes.
Monday, February 24th– Meet in Media Center. By the end of class, determine your theme of focus and begin
selecting possible poems to use for assignment.
Tuesday, February 25th – Meet in Media Center. Due: Theme choice, essay prompt, poem selections, and
completed Works Cited page. Use computers to begin building and organizing essay response. Adhere to
proper format, sizing, and organizational structure.
Wednesday, February 26th – Meet in Media Center. Finalize synthesis essays if incomplete. Prep for tomorrow’s
timed in-class essay by outlining, brainstorming, and prepping a response.
Thursday, February 27th – Meet back in classroom to complete timed essay response. Submit for grading.
Key Themes of American Modernism
*Remember that the theme is a reflection, comment, and/or critique of Modern American society.*
Alienation, Exile, and the Loss of Self
Decay and Decadence
Youth and the Loss of Innocence
Social Evils
Nature vs. Society
Modern Poet
Famous Poems – You are welcome to study more poems by each author!
Maya Angelou
“Still I Rise”
“Phenomenal Woman”
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
“One Art”
“The Fish”
“Sestina”
“We Real Cool”
“The Bean Eaters”
“The Wasteland” – you can use individual sections of this lengthier poem
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
“Mending Wall”
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
“The Road Not Taken”
“Fire and Ice”
“Birches”
“Acquainted with the Night”
“Nothing Gold Can Stay”
“After Apple Picking”
“The Death of a Hired Man”
“For Once, Then Something”
“Those Winter Sundays”
“Piano”
“Girl”
“Dance Figure”
“A Ballad of The Mulberry Road”
“Mirror”
“Daddy”
“My Papa’s Waltz”
“Fog”
“Chicago”
“A Father to his Son”
“Where the Sidewalk Ends”
“Ashes of Life”
“Anecdote of the Jar”
“The Emperor of Ice Cream”
“The Disillusionment of 10 O’clock”
“The Snow Man”
“There Will Come Soft Rains”
“A Love Song”
“The Red Wheelbarrow”
“The Great Figure”
“This is Just to Say”
“Spring and All”
Elizabeth Bishop
Gwendolyn Brooks
T.S. Eliot
Robert Frost
Robert Hayden
D.H. Lawrence
Ezra Pound
Sylvia Plath
Theodore Roethke
Carl Sandburg
Shel Silverstein
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Wallace Stevens
Sara Teasdale
William Carlos Williams