A.P. Syllabus – First Quarter
Text: Perrine’s Literature Structure, Sound, and Sense, Eighth Edition
Literature: Reading and Writing, The Human Experience: Seventh Edition
AP English Workbook: Sixth Edition
Class sets of novels as explained in each quarter’s syllabus
Students will read, discuss, and write formally and analytically on the subsequent literature.
1. Study of existentialism and existential literature.
a. No Exit – Sartre
i. Forty-minute time essay on why each character is in hell, existential absurdity,
fate choices, and consequences.
b. The Guest – Camus
c. The Stranger – Camus
i. Forty-minute timed essay discussing Meursault’s attitude toward life and
humanity; discuss Camus style, tone, and diction and how they are used to
convey theme and purpose. (Peer discussion and grading; editing; rewriting for
submission.)
d. The Myth of Sisyphus- Camus
e. Love in L.A. – Gilb
f. Abalone, Abalone – Mori
i. Students will choose one of the shorter works, b, d, e, f, and write a forty minute
analysis of the works as they pertain to existential philosophy.
g. Siddhartha – Hesse
i. Student’s will choose one character in the work, other than the protagonist,
Siddhartha, and discuss how that character contributed to Siddhartha reaching
Nirvana.
2. Study of values and socioeconomic class differences, responsibility, and guilt.
a. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings – Marquez
b. The Swimmer – Cheever
c. The Lesson – Bambara
d. The Rocking-Horse Winner – Lawrence
i. Students will choose one of the above short stories and write a forty minute
timed essay discussing setting, character, point of view, and plot conflict to
convey theme and purpose.
(These stories were grouped for their anti-
materialistic themes.)
e. Eveline – Joyce
f. Young Goodman Brown – Hawthorne
g. The Lottery – Jackson
i. Students will choose one of the above and write a forty minute timed essay on
symbolism, choices and consequences, irony and themes. (Peer discussion and
grading; editing; rewriting for submission.)
3. Additional writing assignment: Students will obtain an editorial from a newspaper and
write a one-page response that will be read orally to the class.
4. Students will engage in a formal cross-examination debate.
5. Students will write an original 3-5 page short story.
6. Students will keep a journal throughout the year writing daily 3-5 sentence responses to
various quotes, anecdotes, poems, art pieces, and song lyrics.
* All papers should be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. If hand-written, papers should be
in blue or black ink. All work turned in should have a heading with name, hour, and date.
A.P Syllabus – Second Quarter
The emphasis will be predominantly on poetry-tone, diction, figurative language, imagery, themes,
motifs, genre, and style.
1. Unit One – Robert Frost
a. “Mending Wall”
b. “Acquainted With the Night”
c. “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
d. “The Road Not Taken”
e. “Departmental”
f. “Desert Places”
g. “Design”
h. “Home Burial”
i. “Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening”
j. “The Oven Bird”
k. “Bereft”
i. Students will study the above poems looking at style, diction, structure, tone,
and figurative language. Students will write three page analysis of Frost’s work
discussing Frost’s recurring themes, symbols, motifs, and meanings.
2. Unit Two – Emily Dickinson
a. “Abraham to Kill Him”
b. “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”
c. “I Never Saw A Moor”
d. “Imperceptibly Of Grief”
e. “Much Madness is Divinest Sense”
f. “There’s A Certain Slant of Light”
g. “There’s Been a Death, In the Opposite House”
i. Students will study the above poems looking at style, diction, structure, tone,
and figurative language. Students will write three page analysis of Dickinson’s
work discussing Dickinson’s recurring themes, symbols, motifs, and meanings.
3. Unit Three – Blake
a. “The Chimney Sweeper”
b. “The Lamb”
c. “A Poison Tree”
d. “The Sick Rose”
e. “The Tiger”
f. Introduction to “Songs of Innocence”
i. Students will compare and contrast Blake’s poems from “Songs of Innocence”
to “Songs of Experience” paying attention to subject matter, style, tone, diction,
and theme. (Peer discussion and grading; editing; rewriting for submission.)
4. Unit Four – Romanticism
a. “Westminster Bridge” - Wordsworth
b. “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud” - Wordsworth
c. “The World Is Too Much With Us” - Wordsworth
d. “Ode On a Grecian Urn” - Keats
e. “Ode to a Nightingale” - Keats
f. “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” – Keats
i. Students will read “Tintern Abbey” by Wordsworth and discuss the aspects of
Romanticism contained in the poem.
5. Unit Five – T.S. Elliot
a. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
b. “The Hollow Men”
i. Students will write forty-minute timed essay discussing style, tone, diction,
symbolism, themes, and historical content of “The Hollow Men” (Peer
discussion and grading; editing; rewriting for submission.)
6.
7.
8.
9.
Other Poetical Works if time permits
Speech/PowerPoint presentation on a major poet
Descriptive essay, two-pages read orally to the class
Novels
a. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Wilde
i. Students will write a formal analysis of Lord Henry’s character and influence in
the demise of Dorian Gray.
b. The Awakening – Chopin
i. Students will write a formal analysis of Kate Chopin’s use of symbolism,
setting, and dialogue to express her themes and purpose.
A.P. Syllabus – Third Quarter
Emphasis on drama.
1.
Tragedy
a. Oedipus Rex – Sophocles
i. Formal essay on play as tragedy, Oedipus’ tragic hero, and is Oedipus fated to
doom or is he the master of his own fate? 40 minute timed writing.
b. Antigone – Sophocles
i. Write a formal essay comparing and contrasting Oedipus Rex to Antigone.
Discuss sexism and chauvinism in the work. Trace hubris throughout the play.
c. Othello – Shakespeare
i. Discuss racism, sexism, jealously, and chauvinism. Discuss Iago as a
Machiavellian villain
d. Death of a Salesman – Miller
i. Formal essay, Discuss Willy Loman as a tragic hero or flawed “everyman”?
Discuss sexism, chauvinism and gender stereotyping.
2. Theatre of the Absurd
a. The Sandbox – Albee
b. Naomi in the Living Room – Durang
c. Los Vendidos – Valdeze
i. Choose one of the above short plays and discuss symbolism, themes, tone, and
purpose.
40 minutes timed writing. (Peer discussion and grading; editing;
rewriting for submission.)
3. Realism
a. Mind the Gap – Oakes
b. Trifles – Glaspell
i. Choose one of the above and discuss gender stereotyping, chauvinism and
sexism as they relate to theme and purpose.
4. Novels
a. The Metamorphosis – Kafka
i. Students will write a formal essay discussing the significance of the title
throughout the work.
b. Catch-22 – Heller
i. Formal paper discussing the historical time period of the novel, ironies of war,
and the author’s themes and purpose. Students will discuss tone and diction and
how they are used to convey author’s theme and purpose. (Peer discussion and
grading; editing; rewriting for submission.)
5. Research Paper on a major poet or author 5-10 pages covering the author’s life,
influences, style, tone, diction, themes, symbolism, motifs, and legacy.
6. Persuasive Speech, 300 words, read orally, class discussion to follow.
7. Students will act out an original one-act play, 20 minutes in length.
A.P. Syllabus – Fourth Quarter
Emphasis on close read of prose selections, and practice multiple-choice questions for the A.P. test.
1. Essays/prose/nonfiction works
a. Rage – James Baldwin
b. The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass – Douglass
i. Students will write an essay over racism in American culture today.
c. A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift
i. Students will write a two-page satire imitating Swift’s style covering a current
world issue.
d. What if Shakespeare Had Had a Sister? – Virginia Wolfe
e. On Morality – Joan Didion
f. Letter from Birmingham Jail – Martin Luther King Jr.
g. Five Ripe Pears – William Saroyan
i. Students will write a two-page paper over moral relativism citing three examples
from today’s society. (Peer discussion and grading; editing; rewriting for
submission.)
h. On Dumpster Diving – Lars Eighner
i. Meditation XVII – John Donne
i. Students will write on socio-economic disparity in American culture, human
suffering, and existential brotherhood.
j. From Walden/Self-reliance – Thoreau
k. Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, 1950 - Faulkner
2. Novels
a. Heart of Darkness – Conrad
i. Students will discuss Conrad’s use of point of view, setting, symbols, and
dialogue to convey theme and purpose.
3. Close reads
a. Various pages from selected nineteenth and twentieth century works.
4. Sonnets
a. Shakespearean
b. Petararchan
c. Spenserian
d. Metaphysical sonnets by John Donne
i. Students will analyze various sonnets for style, structure, tone, and meaning.
(Peer discussion and grading; editing; rewriting for submission.)
5. Personal Narrative or Character Sketch, two pages, read orally, class discussion to follow
6. Work in the A.P. English Literature and Composition Examination, Sixth Edition
a. Multiple choice tests in the workbook
b. Analyze the practice essays in the workbook