AP English Literature and Composition
Course Description
The goals of this course are to
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help students grow in their knowledge and love of literature and their regard for the
people who create it
teach students to read actively and deliberately, write persuasively and analytically, and
discuss works with precision, sensitivity, energy, and imagination
encourage students to write creatively and develop a deep and abiding resonance with
some literary texts
provide students with a strong knowledge of traditional vocabulary of literary study and
elements of style
strengthen students’ speaking and listening skills through collaborative learning,
cooperative groups, role-playing, simulations, synthesis, seminars, and multi-media
presentations
enable students to analyze the way in which clarity of meaning is affected by the patterns
of organization, irony, tone, mood, the author’s style, the “sound” of language, imagery,
personification, figures of speech, and other techniques used by the author.
present students with the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences
of the historical period that shaped the characters, plots and, settings or the work.
prepare students to handle the rigors of a university course and to pass the AP exam
provide students with several opportunities to demonstrate mastery of 12th grade
California English-Language Arts Standards: Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking
(www.cde.ca.gov/standards)
Required Text:
DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 5th Edition. McGraw Hill
ISBN # 0-07-242617-9
Recommended Materials:
Any AP Literature and Composition Preparation Guide
In the AP Literature and Composition course, the student should consider obtaining a personal
copy of the various novels, plays, epics, poems, and short fiction use in the course.
Short Stories:
“Astronomer’s Wife,” Kate Boyle; “Shiloh,” Bobby Ann Mason; “Araby,” James Joyce; “The
Rocking Horse Winner,” D.H. Lawrence; “Good Country People” and “A Good Man is Hard to
Find,” Flannery O’Connor; “Eleven,” Sandra Cisneros; “A Very Old Man with Enormous
Wings,” Gabriel Garcia Marquez; “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman; “Young
Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne; “Metamorphosis,” Franz Kafka’ “I Stand Here
Ironing,” Tillie Olson; “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” Katherine Anne Porter; “Gimpel the
Fool,” Isaac Bashevis Singer; “The Lesson,” Toni Cade Bambara; “The Things They Carried,”
Tim O’Brien.
Poetry:
“The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost; “Rape,” Adrienne Rich; “An Irishman Foresees his
Death,” William Butler Yeats; “1(a” and [Buffalo Bill’s],” E.E. Cummings; “London,” William
Blake; “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” “Dover Beach,” Matthew Arnold; “The Dover
Bitch: A Criticism of Life,” Anthony Hetcht; “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and “The Garden of
Love,” William Blake; “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” Robert Herrick; “When I was
one-and-twenty” and “To an Athlete Dying Young,” A.E. Housman; “To His Coy Mistress,”
Andrew Marvell; “When I consider how my light is spent,” John Milton; “Ozymandias,” Percy
Bysshe Shelley; “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” and “The world is too much with us,” Walt
Whitman; “We Real Cool,” Gwendolyn Brooks; “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S.
Eliot; “Do not go gentle into that night,” Dylan Thomas; “Death of a Toad,” Richard Wilbur’
Plays:
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
Oedipus Rex and Antigone by Sophocles
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and The Tragedy of Othello by William Shakespeare
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Novels:
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Reading
An AP English Literature and Composition course engages students in the careful reading and
critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students
deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and
pleasure for their readers. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style, and themes as
well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and
tone.
Reading in this course is both wide and deep. This reading necessarily builds upon the reading
done in previous English courses. Students will read works from several genres and periods—
from sixteenth to the twenty-first century—but, more importantly, they get to know a few works
well. They read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s complexity, to
absorb its richness and meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form.
In addition to considering a work’s artistry, students reflect on the social and historical values it
reflects and embodies. Careful attention to both textual detail and historical context provides a
foundation for interpretation, whatever critical perspectives are brought to bear on the literary
works studied.
Active Reading
Reading actively includes understanding the writer’s purpose, audience, logic, and
themes. Highlighting and annotating help the reader toward understanding what is read.
Highlighting involves marking the text with symbols (underline, number, etc.) whenever the
reader comes across a particularly useful or interesting section. Annotating involves carrying on
a conversation with the text by using marginal notes. The reader might do this by asking
questions and looking for parallels among the reading, other readings, and the reader’s personal
experiences. Questions which arise during active reader are then answered through a more
careful analysis.
Writing
“Don’t tear up the page and start over again when you write a bad line-try to write your way out
of it. Make mistakes and plunge on…Writing is a means of discovery, always.”
–Garrison Keillor
“Inspiration usually comes during work, rather that before it.”–Madeleine L’ Engle
“I’ve always thought best when I wrote.” -Toni Morrison
“Writing is a political instrument.” – James Baldwin
“I write to find out what I’m thinking. I write to find out who I am. I write to understand things.”
– Julia Alvarez
“To engage in imitation is to begen to understand what originality means.” –Nicholas Delblanco
“The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time-unlike, say, brain
surgery.” –Robert Cormier
Writing is an integral part of course and exam. Writing assignments focus on the critical analysis
of literature and include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays. Although critical
analysis makes up the bulk of students writing for the course, well-constructed creative writing
assignments may help students see from the inside how literature is written. Such experiences
sharpen their understanding of what writers have accomplished and deepen their appreciation of
literary artistry. The goal of both types of writing assignments is to increase students’ ability to
explain clearly, cogently, even elegantly, what they understand about literary works and why
they interpret them as they do.
To that end, writing instruction includes attention to developing and organizing ideas in clear,
coherent, and persuasive language. It includes study of the elements of style. And it attends to
matters of precision and correctness as necessary. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on
helping students develop stylistic maturity, which, for AP English, is characterized by the
following:
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A wide-ranging vocabulary used with denotative accuracy and connotative
resourcefulness;
A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordinate and coordinate
constructions;
A logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques of coherence such as repetition,
transitions, and emphasis;
A balance of generalization with specific illustrative detail; and;
An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, maintaining a consistent voice,
and achieving emphasis through parallelism and antithesis.
The writing required in an AP English Literature and Composition course is thus more than a
mere adjunct to the study of literature. The writing that students produce in the course reinforces
their reading. Since reading and writing stimulate and support one another, they are taught
together in order to underscore both their reading. Since reading and writing stimulate and
support one another, they are taught together in order to underscore both their common and their
distinctive elements (AP English Course Description 2006).
---------The “9” Essay
The essay is a well-organized essay that answers the question incisively. The writer develops a
valid thesis through the use of specific and relevant references to the text. Insight into the
literature is clearly expressed using language appropriate to literary criticism. The writer
demonstrates command of the elements of composition and analytical writing.
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We will work every day on invigorating your writing style. You will participate in writing
workshops that will focus on improving your voice, style, diction, syntax, and structure. We will
work on improving your ability to balance observations and generalizations with concrete details
and insightful commentary. We will work on eliminating weak verbs, wordiness, deadwood,
clichés, qualifiers, synonyms, preposition overloading, and nominalization. We will implement
the writing process to help you write logically, emphatically, concisely, coherently, and
beautifully. In order to improve your writing, the process requires several revisions to each
piece of formal writing. Peer editing and teacher feedback will be a major part of the
process. Peer editing helps students recognize common mistakes and ways to encourage careful
analysis. Teacher feedback further guides students toward mastery of the aforementioned writing
techniques.
For each formal writing assignment, you will be given a specific grading rubric. We will go over
the rubrics as a class prior to beginning each assignment and again prior to submitting a paper for
a grade. Remember to consult your rubrics throughout the entire writing process.
Portfolio
You will produce a final writing portfolio that includes creative writing, persuasive pieces,
pastiches, parodies, original poetry, reflections, interpretative essays, explications, expository
essays, meta-cognitive journals, evaluations, on-demand writing, style analyses, literary
analyses, formal analyses, and research papers.
Group Projects and Oral Presentations:
Students will from groups to read and discuss the work assigned. The group will be assigned an
element(s) and/or a character(s) to analyze along with a seminar topic to research. Each student
will share their findings, insights, evidence, and observations with the group. Each group will
share their information with the class Evaluation and assessment section
Performance Tasks:
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Group projects and seminars for each major work
Timed essays based on past AP prompts
Formal research papers
Oral presentations
Personal essay
Creative writing: Photo poem, autobiographical poem, CHS poem, pastiche, parody,
personification, script, screenplay, and original poems and short stories.
Multiple-choice exams
DE journals/annotations/graphic organizers/reading journals/discussion questions
Literary analyses
Reading/responding/ analyzing novels, drama, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and film.
Grading Scale
90-100 %
80-89 %
70-79 %
60-69 %
<60 %
In-class writings, discussions, and
activities
Group projects, seminar topics, and collaborative
work
Out of class writing, reading, and other
assignments
Extra Credit and enrichment activities
A
B
C
D
F
40%
30%
30%
(not to exceed
3%)
*Absences and tardiness can affect your grade.
Extra Credit and Enrichment Activities
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Plays-The theatre experience is a must to help one understand the drama genre. You will
have many opportunities to attend the theatre and view plays of literary merit for extra
credit. You will write a review and complete a literary analysis for each. You will also be
able to attend the school’s productions also.
Film-You also have opportunities to practice your literary analysis skills by applying
your knowledge to film. You will be able to watch films and make thematic connections
to the literature read in class. You will be able to watch the film version of the work and
discuss the treatment of specific scenes. You will also be able to use your literary analysis
skills to learn how to read a film.
Novels-You will have the opportunity to read a novel from a selected list each quarter.
You will complete a literary analysis and compare the themes and style of the novel to
other works by that author or other works in that genre.
Others- TBA
Summer Assignment: Modern Drama
Summer/2 weeks in class
Setting
Theme
Literary Terms
Biblical Allusions
Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun
Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Miller’s “Tragedy and the Common Man”
Unit 1: Literary Criticism and Genres: New Criticism,
Historical/Social/Feminist, Archetypal/Mythic, and Other Approaches
6 weeks
Reading (and Writing about) Literature (DiYanni, pp. 2-13)
The Experience of Fiction, The Interpretation of Fiction, The Evaluation of Fiction, and The Act
of Reading Fiction (Diyanni pp.21-32)
Types of Fiction (DiYanni, pp. 37-42)
Reading Poems: The Experience of Poetry, The Interpretation of Poetry, The Evaluation of
Poetry, and The Act of Reading Poetry (DiYanni, pp. 670-681)
Types of Poetry (DiYanni, pp. 682-685)
Critical Theory: Approaches to the Analysis and Interpretation of Literature (DiYanni, pp.20682111)
Reading poetry is a “recursive process.” In-class reading aloud of poetry, reading
actively/annotating, group discussion and analysis, and writing about a work of literature.
Invigorating Your Style Workshop: Creating Meaningful Thesis Statements, Using implicit and
explicit evidence
Peer editing, rewriting, and revising
Timed in-class writing: Compare/Contrast two works in the same genre using all 3 critical
approaches
Explanation of Critical Approaches to Literature Paper
Develop Rubric in class/share anchor papers
Unit 2: Personal Essay for College Admission/Scholarship Application
3 weeks in class
Explanation of the Reflective Essay
Invigorating Your Style Workshop: Choosing a topic, developing your voice, using anecdotes,
narration strategies, dialogue and details, and writing emphatically and concisely.
Peer editing, rewriting, and revising
Develop Rubric in class/share papers
Unit 3: The Greek Theatre/Aristotle’s view of Tragedy
3 weeks outside of class/2 weeks in class
Oedipus the King and Antigone
The Greek Theatre: Sophocles in Context (Diyanni, pp.1217-1301)
Group project #1: Literary Analysis of Drama
Timed in-class AP Free Response Question
Discuss AP Test Question 3 rubric and study sample essays
Invigorating Your Style Workshop: Writing about drama, using academic verbs, embedding
quotes, and writing about character and theme
Peer editing, rewriting, and revising
Unit 4: Style Analysis: Poetry and Prose
5 weeks in class
Elements of Fiction: Plot, Character, Setting, Point of View, Language and Style, Irony and
Symbol (Diyanni, pp. 43-106)
Writing about Fiction (DiYanni, pp. 107-124)
Elements of Poetry: Voice, Speaker, Tone, Diction, Imagery, Figures of Speech, Symbolism,
Allegory, Syntax, Sound, Rhythm, Meter, Structure, and Theme (DiYanni, pp. 686-755)
Writing about Poetry (DiYanni, pp. 805-821)
Invigorating Your Style Workshop: Concrete detail, commentary, chunking, the ideal paragraph,
transitions, and tips for taking in-class essays.
Peer editing, rewriting, and revising
Group project #2: Literary Analysis: Poetry
Timed in-class writing: Tone and Elements of Style
Explanation of Interpretation Paper
Discuss rubrics for AP Test Questions 1 and 2. Study sample essays.
Unit 5: The Novel: Toni Morrison’s Beloved
5 weeks outside of class/2 weeks in class
Structural Approaches
Point of View, Narration, and the Implied Author
Invigorating Your Style Workshop: Identifying key terms, cueing the reader, meaning of the
work as a whole, writing in present tense, academic nouns
Peer editing, rewriting, and revising
Group Project #3: Literary Analysis: Novel
Timed in-class writing: AP Free Response Questions
Explanation of Social/Historical Perspective Paper
Create rubric/share samples essays
End of 1st Semester
Portfolio with reflection and self-evaluation
Final Exam
Unit 6: The Elizabethan Theatre: Shakespeare in Context
5 weeks in class
Hamlet Prince of Denmark (in class) and Othello (outside of class)
Critical Perspectives and Research on Elizabethan Worldview
(Diyanni, pp.1302-1505)
(Diyanni, pp. 2031-2067)
Group Project #5: Research and Seminar (See topics)
Timed in-class writing: Issues in Hamlet/Othello
Explanation of the research paper
Invigorating Your Style Workshop: MLA format, attribution, documentation, using sources,
quotations, citations, constructing a sound an argument, counterarguing, and exposing fallacies.
Peer editing, rewriting, and revising
Unit 7: Theatre of the Absurd/Existentialism
2 weeks in class
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
(DiYanni, pp.1507-08)
Homework and discussion questions
Unit 8: Metaphysical Poetry
2 weeks in class
Conceits
Poetry analysis and reflection
Practice multiple-choice selections
Unit 9: Philosophy and Literature
4 weeks in class
Crime and Punishment (outside of class)
“Metamorphosis” (DiYanni, pp. 393)
Flannery O’ Connor’s Fiction (DiYanni, pp. 181-229).
Group Project: Create your own philosophy
Timed in-class writing: prose analysis
Explanation of literary analysis paper: fiction
Create rubric and share sample essay
Invigorating Your Style Workshop: Writing a parody, creating a pastiche, and using
personification.
Peer editing, rewriting, and revising
Unit 10: Comedy/Satire: Tartuffe and “A Modest Proposal”
Elements of Satire and Ladder of Comedy