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English IV-AP
AP English Literature and Composition
Required texts and readings:
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain
Course Description
The AP course in English Literature and Composition is designed to engage students in the
careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature, both classic and
contemporary. The course will include several novels, with a heavy dose of poetry.
Through the close reading and analysis of selected texts, students deepen their
understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for
their readers.
Course Rationale
Close, in-depth reading as well as literary analysis and writing are integral parts of AP
English Literature. Completion of this rigorous course culminates with an opportunity for
students to earn college credit by mastering literary objectives in both multiple choice and
essay format for prose and poetry.
Fall Semester
Summer Reading
Texts: Heart of Darkness
Poisonwood Bible
Major assignments and assessments:
 Students make book notes for each novel to include discussion of characters, themes,
historical connections, various literary devices such as palindromes and
malapropisms, symbolism, and irony
 Short Essay Tests (to check for understanding) on both novels
 Poisonwood Bible Socratic seminar focusing on character development
 Heart of Darkness Socratic Seminar focusing on characters, themes, and symbolism
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Open-ended, timed essay (AP format) on the impact of a minor character in Heart
of Darkness. (After students write essays, they are shown well-written examples on
the same prompt and given the opportunity to edit and revise their own essays.)
Multiple-Choice Tests (AP format) on Poisonwood Bible
Re-read 1st chapter of Poisonwood Bible along with 1st chapter of Tim O’Brien’s The
Things They Carry – students write personal essay titled “The Things I Carry”
emulating the style of these two chapters. (Teacher provides instruction to help
students develop logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase
coherence.)
Students pull two paragraphs from their own essays for peer review and revision.
Read Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” and write essay comparing it to the
summer novels, considering theme, character, writing style, and motifs. (Teacher
provides instruction and feedback to help students develop logical organization with
specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and
emphasis.)
AP Terminology
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90 literary terms (some review, some new)
Sample terms: allegory, anaphora, apostrophe, asyndeton, bathos, carpe diem,
chiasmus, dramatic monologue, epigraph, epistolary novel, litote, metonymy,
momento mori, paradox, pathos, periodic sentence, polysyndeton, synecdoche
2 tests for comprehension
Read and discuss selected poems as a class, searching for purpose and effect of
particular devices from literary terms list.
Novel Project
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Groups of 3 or 4 students – each group will read a different novel
List of approximately 100 novels and plays (both classical and contemporary) from
which to choose
Sample novels: 100 Years of Solitude, Angela’s Ashes, The Awakening, The Bluest
Eye, Catch-22, The Centaur, Cold Mountain, Crime and Punishment, A Death in the
Family, The Executioner’s Song, Frankenstein, The Gates of the Alamo, Grendel, The
House of Mirth, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Iliad, Invisible Man, Le Morte
D’Arthur, Light in August, The Metamorphosis, Moby Dick, Native Son, Obasan, One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Paradise Lost, Pilgrim’s Progress, Pride and Prejudice,
The Satanic Verses, Sophie’s Choice, Snow Falling on Cedars, Things Fall Apart, The
Things They Carried, Ulysses, Walden, Wise Blood, The Year of Magical Thinking
Novel to be read outside of class
Each student will write a literary analysis of the novel (5-8 pages) which will include
an introduction, summary of a major critical article, discussion of the author’s style,
explication of a major theme (each member of the group must choose a different
theme), and a comprehensive conclusion (each section to be a minimum of one
page).
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Grammar mini-lesson making corrections for mechanics and style on sample
student essay
As a group, students will make an oral presentation of chosen novel to the class.
They will be responsible for the same five criteria as the analytical paper as well as
presenting in an original and creative fashion. Presentations will last approximately
one hour.
The purpose of the project is to familiarize the students with a novel that they might
be able to use on the open-ended essay on the AP Literature exam in May.
Teacher provides instruction and feedback on the essay to help students develop a
wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively as well as an effective
use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and
achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure.
Grammar
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Teacher chooses two sentences from each student’s novel project essay with
mechanical problems. All sentences are shown on overhead projector with students
making appropriate corrections.
Thematic Poetry
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Students will choose a poem or a piece of artwork that shares one of the themes
from the novel chosen for the project. (Poems and artwork submitted for teacher
approval)
Two-page essay (with quotes from novel and poem) explaining the thematic
connections. (Teacher provides instruction to help students develop a balance of
generalization and specific, illustrative detail.)
Students are given opportunity for peer editing and reviewing before essay is turned
in.
Scrapbook Project
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Students will keep a literary/school scrapbook for the entire school year.
Minimum of 20 pages
Minimum of 25 documented quotes from summer novels, novel project, and any
literature read in high school English classes.
Minimum of 3 poems, photographs and illustrations, and personal journaling
Satire
Texts: Canterbury Tales
Satire Anthology (compiled by teacher)
Major assignments and assessments:
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Begin by reading Swift’s A Modest Proposal to discuss the purpose of satire in
society
Notes on satire (including literary terms and concepts such as verbal irony,
understatement, overstatement, bathos, and mock epic)
Read and discuss examples of satire (18th century to present-day)
Satire Project (groups of 2 or 3) – students write original satire (minimum of 3
pages) to be presented to class – visuals required
AP timed writing essay on satiric prose. (After students write essays, they are
shown well-written examples on the same prompt and given opportunity to edit
their own essays.)
Class discussion of Middle Ages with emphasis on government, commerce, the new
middle class, and religion
Read and discuss the prologue to Canterbury Tales
Students memorize first 17 lines of the prologue in Middle English
Read and discuss “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” “Pardoner’s Tale,” and “Prioress’s Tale”
Timed writing (AP format) on connections among two characters from the prologue
and one tale. (After students write essays, teacher conferences individually with
each student on ways to improve timed writing.)
Poetry
Major assignments and assessments:
 Read Frost’s “Birches”
 Poetry analysis worksheet (imagery and purpose, figurative language and purpose,
speaker, tones and shifts, connotations, thematic statement)
 Read and discuss selected poetry of Billy Collins
 Students choose one Collins poem for analysis
 Read and discuss selected poetry of Emily Dickinson
 Students choose one Dickinson poem for analysis
AP Multiple-Choice Practice Tests
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Over the course of the semester, students will take portions of released AP
Literature exams.
The first two will be take-home assignments.
The next ones will be timed, in-class assignments.
After they have been graded, selections will be analyzed and discussed in class.
AP Timed Writing Practice Tests
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Over the course of the semester, students will write timed essays from released AP
Literature exams.
The first one will be timed for 50 minutes.
The second one will be timed for 45 minutes.
All others will be timed for the requisite 40 minutes.
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Students are shown well-written examples on the same prompt and given
opportunity to revise their own essays.
AP Practice Exam
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At the end of the semester, students will take a complete, timed AP Literature exam
over the course of a week.
Day One – 30 minutes for first half of multiple-choice questions
Day Two – 30 minutes for second half of multiple-choice questions
Day Three – timed essay on poetry
Day Four – timed essay on prose
Day Five – open-ended timed essay
Both the multiple-choice section and each timed essay are analyzed in an open-class
discussion.
Spring Semester
Novel Project
Students will complete novel project from first semester with different partners and a
different novel. (Novels chosen fall semester may not be repeated.) – See instructions from
Fall Semester. (Teacher provides instruction and feedback on essay to help students
develop logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as
repetition, transitions, and emphasis.)
Grammar
Text: Eats, Shoots, and Leaves
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Read and discuss relevant passages in book.
Teacher chooses two sentences from each of last semester’s novel-project essays
with mechanical problems. Show all sentences on overhead projector and have
students make corrections.
Thematic Poetry
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Students will choose a poem or a piece of artwork that shares ones of the themes
from the novel chosen for the project.
Two-page essay (with quotes from novel and poem) explaining the thematic
connections. (Teacher provides instruction and feedback to help students develop
an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining
voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure.)
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Poetry - Sonnets
Major assignments and assessments:
 Notes on types of sonnets
 Read and discuss selection of Italian sonnets
 Read and discuss selection of Shakespearean sonnets
 Students will memorize one Shakespearean sonnet of their choosing
 AP multiple-choice questions on a 17th-century poem
Tragedy
Text: Hamlet
Major assignments and assessments:
 Background notes on Shakespeare and the Renaissance
 Read the play together in class (with parts)
 Major test, including an essay on a character
 AP timed, open-ended essay on Hamlet (students choose from three prompts)
 After students write essays, teacher conferences individually with each student on
ways to improve timed writings.
Poetry
Major assignments and assessments:
 Read and discuss poetry section in Bedford literature book (Writing about Poetry;
Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone; Figures of Speech; Symbol, Allegory, and
Irony; Patterns of Rhythm, Poetic Forms)
 Analyze selected poems from the anthology as a class
 Students will analyze a selected poem in pairs and present to class
 Students write a poem using one of the forms: sonnet, villanelle, sestina, picture
poem, parody
Existentialist Literature
Text: The Stranger
Major assignments and assessments:
 Read novel in class
 Socratic seminar on existentialism and characterization in the novel
 AP timed, open-ended essay on The Stranger (students choose from 3 prompts)
 After students write essays, teacher conferences individually with each student on
ways to improve timed writing.
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AP Multiple-Choice Practice Tests
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Over the course of the semester, students will take portions of released AP
Literature exams.
They will be timed, in-class assignments.
After they have been graded, selections will be discussed and analyzed in class.
AP Timed Writing Practice Tests
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Over the course of the semester, students will write timed essays from released AP
Literature exams.
All will be timed for the requisite 40 minutes.
Responses will be discussed and analyzed in class
AP Practice Exam
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Before the AP exam, students will take a complete, timed AP Literature exam over
the course of a week.
Day One – 30 minutes for first half of multiple-choice questions
Day Two – 30 minutes for second half of multiple-choice questions
Day Three – timed essay on poetry
Day Four – times essay on prose
Day Five – open-ended timed essay
Complete exam will be discussed and analyzed in class
After the AP Exam
Text: Diaries of Adam and Eve
Major assignments and assessments:
 Read together in class
 Students write their own diaries in the voice of a religious or mythological character
Scrapbook Project
Year-long scrapbook project due in May (after AP exams).