AP Literature and Composition Syllabus
Course Description
This AP Literature course is designed to teach college level thinking and writing through the fundamentals of
literary analysis, literary criticism, and rhetorical theory. It follows the curricular requirements of the AP English
Course Description.
This course is reading, writing, and discussion intensive. Every day in class we will either discuss or write on the
texts that we read outside of class. Our activities and studies will range from in-depth analysis of 16th Century
poetry to applying the various schools of criticism to modern novels.
The writing will be graded intensely, yet the opportunities for revisions and feedback are immense as deadlines are
given far in advance. Initially grades will be determined by content and timely completion, but as we progress
evaluations will also be made considering use of the vocabulary, sentence structures, and organizational
techniques that we will practice in class. Our many discussions will be practiced, critiqued, and eventually graded
for the quality of each participant’s contribution. Quizzes and daily grades are plentiful and predictable.
In the end, each student’s grade will be determined not by intelligence and natural talents, but by their work ethic
and their commitment to improve and deepen their literacy.
I expect each individual student that register’s for this course to come with an open mind, an impeccable work
ethic, and willingness to speak their mind.
Assignments
Reading Assignments
Reading is the heart of this course. Without a commitment to complete reading assignments thoroughly and on
time, the student cannot expect even a moderate degree of success in this course. Students should expect to
spend time every night at home and spare time during school reading material for this course. Short stories and
poetry, though deceptively short, will need to be read more than once (minimum of twice) to develop in-depth
understanding required for our discussions.
Writing Assignments
All writing assignment fall into three main categories: In-class timed, outside class extensive, and researched.
Major graded assignments will be written in four modes: Narrative (Creative), Analysis, Critique, and
Persuasion/Argument.
Narrative and Critiques will nearly always be written, revised, and reviewed in a workshop fashion over a period of
time. Analysis and Persuasion/Argument will be peer-reviewed in the first semester, but in the second semester
these assignments will be timed in-class writings only to prepare students for the AP Exam.
Quizzes
There will be many
Daily Grades and Graded Discussion
There will be many more.
Exams and Notebook
Test grades (the majority of the student’s average) fall into three types: Writing Assignments, AP style multiple
choice exams, and Notebook. The first two are self-explanatory.
The Notebook will be two test grades every quarter. It includes sections which need to be updated daily. Aside
from the grade (based solely on completion), the notebook will function as an invaluable tool to the student. It is
essentially a study guide, vocabulary bank, writing portfolio, and a record of all the students grades (so that there
will be no surprises on report card day).
Grading Schedule
Tests (Writing Assignments, Multiple Choice, Notebook)
Quizzes (Pop quizzes, planned vocabulary quizzes)
Daily Grades (Reading Journal Entries, Grammar Exercises)
Discussion (discussions can sometimes count as a test grade)
40%
20%
20 %
20%
Reading List - Each student is encouraged to purchase their own personal copy of these texts. The school and
public libraries have many copies of these titles, but students will want to reference them long after reading.
Summer Project
The Aeneid
Oedipus Rex
Oedipus at Colonus
Antigone
First Semester
Beowulf
*The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer
*Le Morte de Arthur – Sir Thomas Malory
Macbeth, King Lear, Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare
Faust – Goethe
Paradise Lost – John Milton
Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
* 11th to 19th century poetry
Second Semester
The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
The Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
**Woman at Point Zero – Nawal El Saadawi
My Name is Asher Lev – Chaim Potok
The Art of War – Sun Tzu
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brian
* Modern and Postmodern Poetry
* We study selections from these texts which will be provided to each student. Students should not purchase
these works in their entirety unless they wish to own a full copy for their own personal collection.
**This title can be difficult to obtain and should be ordered via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. well in advance of
the second semester.
Recommended Prerequisite Reading List
Students who have attended Fayetteville High School throughout their high school careers will most certainly have
been exposed to the following texts. Students who have transferred to us from other schools should review the
following list carefully. It will be assumed that all students have a basic knowledge of the following texts:
To Kill a Mocking Bird – Harper Lee
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
The Illiad – Homer
The Odyssey – Homer
Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare
Julius Caesar – Shakespeare
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
As I Lay Dying – Faulkner
The Great Gatsby – Fitzgerald
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
Various works by Edgar Allen Poe
Reading and Writing Schedule
Disclaimer: This schedule is intended to give the student/parent a general overview of the course. It is subject to
be modified at any time if the need arises.
Unit 1 – “Let there be light …” Introduction to Literary and Critical Theory
Week 1: Review of Summer Project
Summer projects due at the end of the first full week of school. Lecture and exam on literary terms,
allusions, and schools of criticism.
Week 2: Beowulf
Introduction to Archetypal Theory and analysis of structure, tone and mood. Introduction to academic
discussion. First draft of structure analysis due on Thursday for peer review. Final draft on Friday
Week 3: Le Morte de Arthur (selections)
Continuation of Archetypal Theory. Plot analysis. Narrative rough draft due to me on Wed. Final draft
due on Friday.
Week 4: The Canterbury Tales (selections)
Introduction to Feminist Criticism. “Eve’s Apology.” Analyzing poetic devices via Middle English! Creative
composition of poem due on Thursday for peer review. Final drafts on Friday.
Unit 2 – “All the world’s a stage” Drama, Poetry … and other really old stuff.
Warning! This unit contains the Shakespeare Project, which will be graded harshly. During the next four weeks
there will be no weekly exam grade. Discussion, Quiz, and Daily grades will continue as normal. Students are
expected to bring me each of their analysis papers contained within the Shakespeare Project for editing as often as
possible. Extra Credit and staying after school are highly advised.
Week 1: Macbeth
Assignment of Shakespeare Project – Due last Friday of the quarter (see website documents). In-class
lecture and discussion on sonnets and other poetic forms. Emphasis on Shakespearean sonnet. Extra
Credit for poetry composition available. Intro to Jungian Criticism.
Week 2: King Lear
“Tragic Hero” Discussion throughout the week (some of these will be graded). Lecture on 17th to 18th
century poetry. Identifying Archetypes exercise. Extra Credit for poetry composition available.
Week 3: A Midsummer’s Night Dream
Integrating Philosophy with Literature. “How do you know you are real?” Discussion throughout the week
(many of these will be graded). Lecture emphasis: Metaphysical and Cavalier Poets. Extra Credit for
poetry composition available.
Week 4: Faust
“The Devil Made Me Do It” Discussion throughout the week (All of these will be graded). I really hope you
have done some extra credit because … ***Shakespeare Project Due on FRIDAY!!!!!!!!***
Unit 3 – “Abashed the Devil stood …” Allegory, Epics, and Historical Criticism
Note: This unit contains the “Milton Project.” (See website documents) Do not let the similarity of the title to the
“Shakespeare Project” frighten you. It’s not nearly as bad.
Week 1: Paradise Lost (first half)
Assign “Milton Project.” Introduction to Historical Criticism. Lectures on Paradise Lost. Class discussions
on Historical Criticism of previous works. Multiple Choice AP style exam on Friday.
Week 2: Paradise Lost (second half)
Part 1 of Project due on Friday. Multiple choice exam of entire epic on Friday. Class discussions on
Historical Criticism of Paradise Lost.
Week 3: Pilgrim’s Progress
Introduction to Allegory. Lecture emphasis on symbolism in poetry and prose. Class discussion on
Historical Criticism of Pilgrim’s Progress. Milton Project part 2 due on Friday.
Week 4: Faust
Milton Project part 3 due on Friday. Class discussion on Historical Criticism of Faust.
Unit 4 – “A Lovely Monster” Romanticism and Psychoanalytic Criticism
Week 1: Frankenstein
Assign Frankenstein Analysis (due on Monday) Introduction to Romanticism, romantic poetry, and crazy
people (psychoanalysis). Class discussion on psychoanalyzing main characters Wed. and Thur. Peer
Review of rough drafts on Friday.
Week 2: Lord Byron
Frankenstein Analysis Due. Assign Psychoanalytic Critique of Frankenstein (due Friday). Lecture
emphasis: poetic devices in Romantic poetry. Drafts for peer review due on Thursday. Final draft due on
Friday. Class discussion on themes of Lord Byron Mon-Wed.
Week 3: Keats
Continuation of Lecture and Discussions on Romantic Poetry. Emphasis: Imagery, Meter, and Rhyme.
Review for timed poetry analysis next week. Daily in-class writing practice. No exam this week.
Week 4: Percy B Shelley and random Romantic Poets.
Continuation of Lecture and Discussion on Romantic Poetry. Emphasis: Symbolism, Tone, and Metaphor
Daily timed writing practice. Timed analysis of mystery poem on Friday.
Semester Review and Midterm
The last week of the 1st semester will be a comprehensive review of all above materials. Students will be
thoroughly reviewed Monday – Thursday and there will be no reading assignment. The Midterm will be
an extensive Multiple Choice and Essay Exam modeled after the AP Exam.
Unit 5 – “The Wasteland … and other scary places” Modernism, Satire, and Marxist Criticism
Week 1: T.S Eliot
Assign Imagery Project due Friday (see online documents) Assign Wasteland Analysis due Friday of Week
Two. Texts for this week include but are not limited to “The Wasteland,” “The Hollow Men,” “Rhapsody
on a Windy Night,” “The Hippopotamus.” Introduction to satire, Marxist Theory and In-class readings of
appropriate short stories.
Week 2: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Wasteland Analysis due. Multiple choice test over Marxism and Hitchhiker on Friday. In-class reading and
discussion of “A Modest Proposal.” Lecture emphasis: Integrating Marxist Critique with Satire.
Week 3: The Martian Chronicles
Introduction to Colonialism. Continuation of Marxist Criticism exercises. Assign Modest Proposal
Composition, rough drafts due Thursday for peer review, final on Friday.
Week 4: The Heart of Darkness
Colonialism and Marxism. Introduction to persuasion/argument. Assign daily note taking for discussion
test on Friday. Daily discussion on persuasion/argument. Assign Persuasive/Argument Essay “Catharsis:
Is there a time for violence?” due Friday week.
Unit 6 – “Mistah Kurtz - he dead.” Postmodernism and New Voices
Week 1: Things Fall Apart
Intro to Argument, Persuasion and Rhetoric. Lecture Emphasis: Persuasive speaking and logical fallacies.
Class discussion over racism, stereotyping, and overgeneralizations. “An Image of Africa: Racism in
Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’” Argument Essay due on Friday.
Week 2: Woman at Point Zero
Lecture Emphasis: Extremes in Culture. Assign Argumentative Essay due Friday. “Politics and the English
Language” by George Orwell.
Week 3: My Name is Asher Lev
Extremes in culture vs. Differing Culture. Assign Persuasive Speech Project and Groups due Friday week.
Lecture Emphasis: Rhetorical techniques.
Week 4: No reading assignment
This week will be taken up with Group Speech presentations. Students will critique each presentation as
they are given for daily grades.
Unit 7 – “Run to da CHOPPA!” The Literature of War and Postmodernism
Week 1: The Art of War
Modernization of the Art of War. Lecture Emphasis: Conflict. Daily Discussions on applying The Art of
War to modern ideas. Assign Expository essay due on Friday.
Week 2: The Things They Carried
Lecture Emphasis: Military Industrial Complex and the culture of war. Timed Argumentative essay due on
Friday.
Week 3: The Poetry of War (Selections from 11th century to Contemporary)
In-class discussion on analysis and theme. Multiple Choice AP style exam on Friday.
Week 4: Contemporary Poetry (Various Selections)
In-class discussion on analysis, structure, and theme. Timed analysis of random selection on Friday.
Unit 8 – Murphy’s Law: “If something can wrong, it will go wrong”
The last four weeks of class are reserved for review and for inevitable delays in the above schedule.
Regardless of all other factors, the last two weeks of class will be reserved for formal review for the AP
Exam.
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
Week 4:
Murphy’s Law - Cover of any units that may have been deleted in the interest of time.
Murphy’s Law cont.
Review for the AP Exam
Review for the AP Exam