AP English—Literature and Composition Syllabus 2013-2014
Ms. Sparks
Teacher Information:
Webpage: http://susansparks.cmswiki.wikispaces.net
Email: susan.sparks@cms.k12.nc.us
Phone:
Course Description:
AP Literature and Composition engages students in close reading and critical analysis of fiction,
drama, and poetry. Students will study how writers use language to provide meaning and will
write about the literary works they study in this course.
Course Textbooks:
Arp, Thomas R. and Greg Johnson. Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 8th
ed. Boston: Heinle &Heinle: Thompson Learning, 2002.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s,
2005.
Course Objectives:
Reading Objectives—
 To use close reading as an analytical strategy
 To find, explain, and defend what is of value in literature
 To consider a work’s structure, style, and thematic aspects
 To study representative works from various genres and periods
 To consider the social and historical values of a work
Writing Objectives—
 To use a variety of writing strategies, including both formal process papers and informal
writing such as timed writings and in-class responses
 To revise writing as part of the writing process
 To prepare to write essays for the AP exam
 To write interpretative, expository, argumentative, and analytical essays
 To use a wide-ranging vocabulary, considering both denotative and connotative aspects
 To use a variety of sentence structures, correctly including subordinate and coordinate
constructions
 To write logically, using repetition, transitions, and emphasis
 To control tone, maintain a consistent voice, and use parallelism and antithesis
Course Outline:
*Literary works are representative of those studied in this course.
Formal Process Papers (focusing on the writing process)—
Writing from Literature Expressive Paper (Interpretative)
Single Work Analysis (Expository, Argumentative)
Compare/Contrast Multiple Works (Analytical)
Comparison of Works with Feature in Common (Analytical)
Novels—
Plot, Symbol, Irony, Point of View, Theme, Character, Stream of Consciousness, Tone, Detail
Selection, Diction and Syntax
 Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton (summer reading)
 Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (summer reading)
 Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
 Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
 A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf
 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
Novels will be provided for students, but students are encouraged to buy their own copies.
Short Fiction—
Plot, Setting, Conflict
 “Three Girls,” Oates
 “Soldier’s Home,” Hemingway
 “Interpreter of Maladies,” Jhumpa Lahiri
Characterization, Point of View
 from Hard Times, Dickens
 “The Lady with the Pet Dog,” Chekhov
 “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner
Diction, Syntax, Tone
 “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor
 “How to Tell a True War Story,” O’Brien
Detail Selection, Theme
 “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky,” Crane
 “The Chrysanthemums,” Steinbeck
Symbolism, Allegory
 “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” Lawrence
 “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” Marquez
Irony, Satire
 selections from Canterbury Tales, Chaucer
 “A Modest Proposal,” Swift
Drama—
Play Structure, Irony, Word Choice, Tone, Theme
 Macbeth, Shakespeare
 Hamlet, Shakespeare
 A Doll House, Ibsen
Poetry—
Denotation, Connotation, Allusion
 “She being Brand,” cummings
 “in-Just,” cummings
 “Miniver Cheevy,” Robinson
 “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock,” Eliot
Imagery
 “I Heard a Fly Buzz,” Dickinson
 “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” Dickinson
 “In a Station of the Metro,” Pound
 “The Red Wheelbarrow,” Williams
 “Meeting at Night,” Browning
 “Parting at Morning,” Browning
Rhythm, Meter, Sound Devices
 “My Heart Leaps Up, Wordsworth
 “The Snowstorm,” Emerson
 “A Bird Came Down the Walk,” Dickinson
 “Break, Break, Break,” Tennyson
 “Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries,” Housman
Ballad, Sonnet
 “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day,” Shakespeare
 “My Mistress’s Eyes,” Shakespeare
 “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” Marlowe
 “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” Raleigh
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, Apostrophe, Metonymy, Synecdoche
 “Richard Cory,” Robinson
 “Presentiment,” Dickinson
 “Bright Star,” Keats
 “A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning,” Donne
Paradox, Oxymoron, Hyperbole, Litotes
 “Ozymandias,” Shelley
 “The Unknown Citizen,” Auden
 “My Last Duchess,” Browning
Diction, Tone
 “To His Coy Mistress,” Marvell
 “One Art,” Bishop
Inclusions for Each Unit—
Major Work Data Sheets
Poetry Responses
Timed Writings
Timed Multiple Choice Selections
Writing Workshops
Text Annotation
Class Discussion
Quizzes and Tests
Vocabulary
AP Exam
Students may earn college credit for this course by passing the class and scoring high on the AP
exam in May. The exam is 3 hours: 1 hour for multiple choice section and 2 hours for essay
section. The multiple choice section contains 55 questions about both prose and poetry passages.
The essay section requires students to write 3 essays. The multiple choice is worth 45%, with the
essay worth 55%. The AP exam is on Thursday, May 8.
Graduation Project:
The graduation project is required in our school system. Each student must finish the graduation
project, based on the research completed in 11th grade. Students will present a speech, a project,
and a portfolio during 1st semester. The graduation project is a significant part of each student’s
grade. Students will receive pertinent information and due dates as the semester progresses.
Grading Scale:
This class follows the standard grading scale:
93-100
A
85-92
B
77-84
C
70-76
D
There is no re-testing in AP English.
This year the school district is using a new grade book program. Students will receive grade
weight information the first weeks of school.
Procedures and Supplies:
Students in Composition and Literature will participate in a rigorous academic curriculum; this
class is based on a freshman-level college class. Students should consistently prepare for class
and should bring appropriate texts and materials daily to class. Students should be able to easily
access organized notes during class discussions.
Students should use a notebook with the following sections: warm-ups, exam review, terms
and allusions, poetry, fiction and drama, vocabulary. This notebook will be a test grade at
the end of the school year.
Absences and Make-up Work:
Late work is not accepted. Any assignment that is a test grade may be turned in late, with ten
points deducted for each day late. Students who are absent must contact the teacher to make
arrangements for make-up work. The after-school schedule will be posted on the class webpage.
Since students may receive college credit for this class, Literature and Composition significantly
differs from a standard high school class. Students should show academic maturity in their
approach to this class.
Please return the following information or email Ms. Sparks with the following information.
I have read the course syllabus for AP Literature and Composition and have Ms. Sparks’s contact
information.
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