English 11 Regents Exam Preparation
DIRECTIONS: For each critical lens statement below, do the following:
1. rewrite the critical lens in your own words.
2. circle whether you agree or disagree with it.
3. list at least 2 books or plays you could discuss to support your
opinion & explain why you chose those books.
I.
“You must learn to do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor
Roosevelt
Rewrite it in your own words –
Do you agree? (circle one)
YES
NO
List two books that you could use to support your opinion:
1.
2.
II.
“The best literature is about the old universal truths, such as love,
honor, pride, compassion, and sacrifice.” – William Faulkner
Rewrite it in your own words –
Do you agree? (circle one)
YES
NO
List two books that you could use to support your opinion:
1.
2.
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III.
“The test of a courageous person is the ability to bear defeat without losing
heart.”
Rewrite it in your own words –
Do you agree? (circle one)
YES
NO
List two books that you could use to support your opinion:
1.
2.
IV.
“In literature, evil often triumphs but never conquers.”
Rewrite it in your own words –
Do you agree? (circle one)
YES
NO
List two books that you could use to support your opinion:
1.
2.
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V.
“The bravest of individuals is the one who obeys his or her conscience.” –
J.F. Clarke
Rewrite it in your own words –
Do you agree? (circle one)
YES
NO
List two books that you could use to support your opinion:
1.
2.
VI.
“Good people … are good because they’ve come to wisdom through
failure.” – William Saroyan
Rewrite it in your own words –
Do you agree? (circle one)
YES
NO
List two books that you could use to support your opinion:
1.
2.
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VII.
“We do not read novels* for improvement or instruction.” – Oliver
Wendell Holmes
* For the purpose of writing your critical essay, you may interpret
the word novels to include plays, short stories, poems, biographies,
and books of true experience.
Rewrite it in your own words –
Do you agree? (circle one)
YES
NO
List two books that you could use to support your opinion:
1.
2.
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DIRECTIONS: Part 4 of the ELA Regents Exam requires you to discuss two works of
literature you have read and interpret them through a critical lens.
Below is a list of books that are read of have been read in the past at Coxsackie-Athens
schools. Check off any books below that you have read.
Next, recall the themes, characters, settings, and resolution of each book. Record the
information on the attached pages for at least TWO books listed.
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Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Beowulf by Anonymous
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
April Morning by Howard Fast
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
Grendel by John Gardner
Shattering Glass by Gail Giles
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Phoenix Rising by Karen Hesse
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Animal Farm by George Orwell
1984 by George Orwell
Anthem by Ayn Rand
Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose
Othello by William Shakespeare
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
West Side Story by Irving Shulman
Antigone by Sophocles
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
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The Squire’s Tale by Gerald Morris
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee
Night by Elie Wiesel
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon
Monster by William Dean Myers
Handbook for Boys by Walter Dean Myers
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
Miracle’s Boys Jacqueline Woodson
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Paulo’s Wall by Rachelle DeSimone
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
The Cage by Ruth Sender Minsky
Hiroshima by John Hersey
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-Li Jiang
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Watasuki
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Book Title: ___________________________________________
Author: ______________________________________
Setting:
Characters:
Plot:
Theme(s):
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Point of View:
Book Title: ___________________________________________
Author: ______________________________________
Setting:
Characters:
Plot:
Theme(s):
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Critical Lens Essay: The Introduction
The introduction to your critical lens essay can use the following formula:
1.) Quote the critical lens.
2.) Interpret the critical lens (restate it in your own words and tell the reader what
you think it really means). Also, agree or disagree with your interpretation.
3.) Mention the two works of literature you will discuss in your essay.
4.) List the literary elements you plan to discuss.
You do not have to use this formula. You may craft other types of introductions that work
as well or better. However, using this type of “formula” introduction accomplishes three
things.
1.) It gets you started if you are stuck!
2.) It forces you to consider the works of literature and literary elements you plan
to discuss (thus, you must first outline your essay in your mind, so that your essay
will be better organized).
3.) It alerts the grader that you are discussing two works of literature plus literary
elements.
Example
Sample critical lens: “Whosoever does wrong, wrongs himself.” – Marcus Aurelius.
Sample Introduction (Quote/Interpret/Mention/List):
According to Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, “Whosoever does
wrong, wrongs himself.” This statement implies that bad, evil, or wrong
acts do not only affect the victim of the acts but have a negative effect on
the perpetrator as well. Two works of literature that prove the validity of
Marcus Aurelius’s statement are Macbeth by William Shakespeare and
The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Both Shakespeare and Miller use a variety
of literary elements – including conflict, theme, and characterization -- to
emphasize their meaning.
This introduction provides a ready-made outline, because you can organize your essay
around literary elements. For example:
Literary Element
Conflict(s)
Theme(s)
Characterization
Macbeth
The Crucible
Person vs. person – Macbeth (evil) vs.
Macduff (good); Macbeth (against killing
Duncan) vs. Lady Macbeth (for killing
Duncan).
Person vs. Himself – Macbeth’s internal
conflict while struggling over whether to
kill Duncan.
Good vs. Evil
Person vs. Person – John Proctor
(protagonist) vs. Abigail Williams
(antagonist).
Person vs. Person – John Proctor’s
internal struggle over his infidelity.
Macbeth
John Proctor – how his guilt is manifested
(example: he cannot remember adultery as
one of the commandments).
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Truth
Developing your Critical Lens essay
Students often mention literary elements in their Critical Lens essays, but do not fully
develop their ideas. This gives their essays a repetitive, choppy, “list-like” quality and
leads to lower scores on the exam. One way to help you flesh out your ideas and avoid
underdeveloped essays is to use this 3-step technique:
1.) mention a literary element
2.) provide a specific example or direct quote
3.) relate the example or quote back to your main idea
Here is an example of an underdeveloped “list-like” paragraph:
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses some literary elements to show John
Proctor wronged himself when he did wrong by committing adultery against
his wife, Elizabeth. Miller uses characterization to show this. He also uses
conflict; specifically, he uses the internal conflict Proctor feels over his guilt.
This is how literary elements are used in The Crucible.
The writer of this paragraph does mention literary elements, and probably thinks he or
she “covered the bases,” but this type of exposition will not lead to a maximum score on
the exam. This writer has covered the “mention” part of the 3-step technique, but needs to
add steps 2 and 3 in order to “flesh out” his or her ideas.
First, let’s add some specific examples or details. The added information is inserted with
brackets [like this] so you can distinguish it more easily:
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses some literary elements to show John
Proctor wronged himself when he did wrong by committing adultery against
his wife, Elizabeth. Miller uses characterization to show this. [One time when
Proctor’s guilt manifests itself is when he fails to remember one of the Ten
Commandments when questioned by Reverend Hale. Ironically, the only
commandment he forgets is the one he committed – adultery. Miller] also
uses conflict; specifically, he uses the internal conflict Proctor feels over his
guilt.[ For example, Proctor’s guilt prevents him from confronting Abigail’s
lies early in the play, when he could still have prevented the witch trials from
taking place.] This is how literary elements are used in The Crucible.
Next, let’s add some context by relating back to our main idea that “bad, evil, or wrong
acts do not only affect the victim of the acts but have a negative effect on the perpetrator
as well.” These changes are inserted inside braces {like this}.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses some literary elements to show John
Proctor wronged himself when he did wrong by committing adultery against
his wife, Elizabeth. Miller uses characterization to show this. [One time when
Proctor’s guilt manifests itself is when he fails to remember one of the Ten
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Commandments while being questioned by Reverend Hale. Ironically, the
only commandment he forgets is the one he committed – adultery. Miller]
also uses conflict; specifically, he uses the internal conflict Proctor feels over
his guilt. [For example, Proctor’s guilt prevents him from confronting
Abigail’s lies early in the play, when he could still have prevented the witch
trials from taking place.] {As we have seen and will continue to see in the
play, Proctor’s sin of infidelity comes back to harm him in various ways.}
This is how {the} literary elements {of conflict and characterization} are
used {to reinforce the idea of “karma”} in The Crucible.
Although not perfect, this paragraph has better development of ideas than the original.
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