AP Literature and Composition
2013-2014
Introduction
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The purpose of the Advanced Placement course in Literature and Composition is to assist
students in gaining valuable experience in collegiate-level instruction while earning
college credit.
The designation of a course as AP requires an audit by the College Board in order to
ensure that high standards of instruction and rigor are implemented consistently within all
high schools. As a result, students can expect the AP Literature and Composition course
to require high levels of academic motivation, reading that is rigorous in volume, breadth,
and depth, and standards consistent with instruction in an undergraduate-level college
literature course.
Students enrolling in the course are required to sit for the exam administration in May.
The AP course demands of students a high level of independence and motivation;
therefore, fulfilling expectations of classroom decorum and assigned duties are critical to
continued enrollment in the course.
Course Objectives
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Students will engage in careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature
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Students will deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide
both meaning and pleasure for their readers
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Students will develop habits of reading, including reading actively with insight and
enjoyment
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Students will develop habits of writing in their own voice with precision, intelligence,
clarity, and sophistication
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Students will develop habits of conversation in which they listen with respect and
speak with succinct vocabulary and clear train of thought
Materials and Grading
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Required Materials:
 Texts (Anthology, handouts, and primary readings brought to every class
session)
 Notebook (Three ring binder that includes lined paper)
 Annotation Materials (Pens/Pencils/Hi-lighters. Also sticky notes for
annotating the text)
 Homework (Assignments due for that day. This includes being prepared for
quizzes and tests)
Grades: All assignments will be categorized using a weighted grading system. Writing
assignments will be measured using an adapted score as per the AP reader 9 point
rubric. Category and grade weights for the course are as follows:
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Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
F
Class work - 15%
Homework - 15%
Projects - 15%
Quizzes - 15%
Tests - 20%
Final Exam - 20%
Percent
Unweighted /
Weighted
Weighted
College Prep G.P.A Honors G.P.A. AP G.P.A.
100% - 94%
4
4.5
5
93%-90%
3.75
4.25
4.75
89%-87%
3.5
4
4.5
86%-84%
3.25
3.75
4.25
83%-80%
3
3.5
4
79%-77%
2.8
3.3
3.8
76%-74%
2.4
2.9
3.4
73%-70%
2
2.5
3
69%-67%
1.8
2.3
2.8
66%-65%
1.4
1.9
2.4
64%-0%
0
0
0
*In order to receive credit, students must earn a 65% or higher. This is different
than the previous 60% cut off between D- and F.
Required Texts
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In the AP Literature and Composition course, the school will provide students with a
borrowed copy of the course anthology. Students are required to obtain personal copies of
some novels, plays, poems, and short stories used in the course. You may purchase copies
from a local new or used bookstore, or from an online book source. If available, you may
check out books from your school’s English Department. All titles may also be found in
the local library branches. Some of the works used can also be accessed online.
Anthology:

Jago, Carol, et. Al. Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking.
Bedford/St. Martin’s: Boston/New York, 2011
Summer
 The Bible (Biblical allusion summer project)*
Semester I
 Pride and Prejudice, Austen*
 Heart of Darkness, Conrad
 Pygmalion, Shaw*
 Poetry— as selected from American and British poets
 Prose (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Essays)—as selected from American and British writers
Semester II
 The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare
 The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde
 A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens*
 Poetry— as selected from American and British poets
 Prose (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Essays)—as selected from American and British writers
*Denotes that text is not provided, students are required to obtain a personal copy for use.
Major Assignments/Activities
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In-Class Writing
In preparation for the essay portion of the AP exam, students will write a variety of
essays and responses in class centering on interpretation, understanding, exposition,
analysis, and argument. Several essays will be timed and drawn from previous AP exam
prompts in order to simulate testing constraints. Students will receive instruction and
feedback, both before and after revising their work, furthering their knowledge and skills
in the following approaches to writing:
1) Writing to interpret (Aesthetic):
Students will be taught to write an interpretation of a piece of literature, basing their
essays on a careful observation of textual details, considering the way the work’s
structure and style help convey its theme.
2) Writing to interpret (Social/Historical):
Students will be taught to write an interpretation of a piece of literature, basing their
essays on careful observation of textual details, considering the social and historical
values it reflects and embodies.
3) Writing to interpret (Literary Elements):
Students will be taught to write an interpretation of a piece of literature, basing their
essays on a careful observation of textual details, considering such elements as the
use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.
4) Writing to understand (Informal/Exploratory):
Students will engage in writing activities that enable them to discover what they
think in the process of writing about their reading. Possible assignments will
include dialectical journals, annotation collections, response-prediction papers,
letters, notes, extended questions, reviews, adaptation proposals, free writing, and
the like.
5) Writing to explain (Expository/Analytical):
Students will write an expository, analytical essay in which they draw upon textual
details to develop an extended explanation/interpretation of the meanings of a
literary text.
6) Writing to evaluate (Analytical/Argumentative):
Students will write an evaluative essay in which they draw upon textual details to
make and explain judgments about the work’s artistry and quality, and its social and
cultural values.
Poetry Response
The poetry response is an ongoing, informal, exploratory writing piece in which students
base their responses on careful observation of textual details, considering such elements
as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. The poetry response will
require multiple readings of selected poems from American and British poets, and will
afford students crucial practice in the interpretation of poetic elements in preparation for
the AP exam.
Dialectical Journals
During their study of literature, students will write informally to explore their own
thinking process about reading. Through maintenance of dialectical/reading journals,
students will annotate text and record their own internal dialogue (i.e. questions,
commentary, responses, etc.) in which they actively engage with assigned readings. This
process will assist students in forming habits of reading critical to advanced interpretation
and analysis.
Formal Essays
Students will write four formal essays in which they will receive instruction and feedback
both before and after writing. During the writing process for formal essays, students can
expect to revise their essays using peer feedback, teacher review, and instruction in
techniques for personal editing. The following skills will be the focus of formal writing
instruction with explicit correlation to requirements of the AP exam:
1) A wide-ranging vocabulary effectively employed in writing.
2) A variety of sentence structures including appropriate use of subordination and
coordination.
3) Use of specific techniques in logical organization, such as repetition, transitions,
and emphasis.
4) A balance of generalization with specific, illustrative detail.
5) An effective use of rhetoric including controlling tone, establishing and
maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and syntax.
Voice Lessons
Students will participate in assignments adapted from Nancy Dean’s Voice Lessons.
These lessons will help students recognize elements of literary devices such as diction
detail, imagery, syntax, and tone while providing them with useful tools to revise their
own writing.
Grammar/Vocabulary Instruction
Students will receive instruction in the use of grammar throughout the course. While
students are expected to have a command of the English language prior to enrollment,
useful targeted instruction in the use of transitive/intransitive verbs, apposition,
subordination/coordination, effective transitions, and emphasis will focus students in
appropriate techniques for writing at the college level.
Students are expected to not only learn new vocabulary through their reading, but to
effectively use that vocabulary within discussion and writing. Short lessons on
vocabulary will focus on synonyms, etymologies, and appropriate effective usage of a
wide variety of words within the context of the AP exam framework.
Formal Discussions
The art of discourse will be a crucial component to the AP course. Students will be
directly instructed in how to conduct formal discussions in small groups. In order for
students to practice collegiate-level syntactical structures, and to “own” newly adopted
vocabulary, all students will be required to participate in close discussion within a small
group. Humility, honesty, and the ability to actually listen to each other will be the habits
groomed in this setting. Students will practice putting to words their thoughts and
reflections on the readings with guidance from the instructor.
Writer’s Workshops
Effective writing is a primary component of the AP course, and is explicitly assessed on
the AP exam. Students will participate in writing instruction and workshops throughout
the course. Here they will be given the opportunity for instruction prior to and after
writing, with the opportunity to revise their essays for logic and coherence; rhetorical
structures, repetition, and emphasis; precise vocabulary; sentence structure;
organizational features including transitions, balance of illustrative detail; and control of
voice and tone appropriate to their audience.
Course Syllabus
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The AP Literature and Composition course is structured thematically into eight units over
the course of the year. Each unit will consist of instruction in the interpretation of novels,
short fiction, non-fiction, essays, poetry, and plays and will be roughly four to five weeks
in length. Writing instruction will focus on the themes of each unit in relation to required
readings while explicitly preparing students for the AP exam in May.
As a reminder, students can expect rigorous requirements for reading and writing outside
the classroom. This syllabus reflects a list of possible poetry and fiction to be chosen for
the course, some may be removed or added based on the needs of the students. However,
students should expect to read all novels and plays included in the list of required texts.
Unit 1: Introduction/Fiction Boot Camp
Topics
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The AP course and exam: an overview
Thinking about literature
The effective reader
Approaching literature: Experience, Analysis, Extension
Analyzing Poetry (Style): Diction, Figurative Language, Imagery, Syntax, Tone
and Mood
Analyzing Poetry (Structure): Rhyme, Meter, Form, Poetic Syntax, Sound
Analyzing Fiction and Drama: Plot, Character, Setting, Point of View, Symbol,
and Theme
Writing the essay: Thesis, Organization, Evidence Integration
Readings
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Drama:
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, from Pygmalion
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, from Othello, the Moor of Venice
HENRIK IBSEN, from A Doll’s House
LORRAINE HANSBERRY, from A Raisin in the Sun
D. L. COBURN, from The Gin Game
TERRENCE MCNALLY, Andre’s Mother
Poetry:
EMILY DICKINSON, “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant”
STEPHEN DUNN, “The Sacred”
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, “When my love swears that she is made of
truth”
DAVID CLEWELL, “Vegetarian Physics”
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, “Praise Song for the Day”
DAVID IGNATOW, “The Bagel”
ALBERT GOLDBARTH, “Shawl”
BILLY COLLINS, “Introduction to Poetry”
FRANZ WRIGHT, “Learning to Read”
ROBERT FROST, “Out, Out—,”
A.E. HOUSMAN, “To an Athlete Dying Young”
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, “The Red Wheelbarrow”
JOHN KEATS, “Bright Star would I were stedfast as thou art”
ROBERT HERRICK, “Delight in Disorder”
SIMON ORTIZ, “My Father’s Song”
CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, “Promises like Pie-Crust”
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, “When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s
eyes”
YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA, “Slam, Dunk, & Hook”
EDWARD HIRSCH, “Fast Break”
EMMA LAZARUS, “The New Colossus”

LANGSTON HUGHES, “Let America Be America Again”
DWIGHT OKITA, “In Response to Executive Order 9066: All Americans of
Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers”
PAT MORA, “Immigrants”
JUDITH ORTIZ COFER, “The Latin Deli”
Prose:
SHERMAN ALEXIE, From Superman and Me
JULIA ALVAREZ, Snow
WILLA CATHER, from My Antonia
EUDORA WELTY, from Old Mr. Marblehall
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, from The Great Gatsby
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, from The Scarlet Letter
GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, One of These Days
JANE AUSTEN, from Pride and Prejudice
CHARLES DICKENS, from Hard Times
EDGAR ALLAN POE, from The Masque of the Red Death
JOHN STEINBECK, from The Grapes of Wrath
HENRY ROTH, from Call It Sleep
GEORGE ORWELL, from 1984
THOMAS HARDY, from Tess of the D’Urbervilles
DINAW MENGESTU, from The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
MARK TWAIN, from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
KATHERINE MANSFIELD, from Miss Brill
SHIRLEY JACKSON, from The Lottery
VIRGINIA WOOLF, from Mrs. Dalloway
BRAD WATSON, Seeing Eye
SUZANNE BERNE, from A Crime in the Neighborhood
MARY SHELLEY, from Frankenstein
COLM TÓIBÍN, from Brooklyn
EDWARD P. JONES, The First Day
JAMAICA KINCAID, Girl
AMY TAN, Two Kinds
BHARATI MUKHERJEE, Two Ways to Belong in America
Assignments/Activities
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AP exam diagnostic test
In-class Writing: Interpretive essay: Multiple Texts
Poetry Response: Assigned Readings
Dialectical Journal: Assigned Readings
Voice Lessons: In-class participation
Grammar/Vocabulary Instruction
Formal Discussion
Senior Exhibition Research/Community Service
Unit 2: Home and Family
Topics
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Structure, Style, Theme
Connotation
The AP exam score: calculation and strategies
The ‘Triple Eight’: attacking the AP exam essay questions
Planning the essay: prompt analysis, organization, and sentence structure
Multiple choice strategies
Tone: Diction
Introducing the Novel
Writer’s Workshop: Using precise vocabulary and syntax
The AP Essay: Question 1 (Prose)
Readings
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Novel:
JANE AUSTEN, Pride and Prejudice
Drama:
AUGUST WILSON, Fences
Poetry:
THOMAS BASTARD, “De Puero Balbutiente”
BEN JONSON, “On My First Son”
ANNE BRADSTREET, “Before the Birth of One of Her Children”
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, “We Are Seven”
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, “A Prayer for My Daughter”
LANGSTON HUGHES, “Mother to Son”
THEODORE ROETHKE, “My Papa’s Waltz”
ROBERT HAYDEN, “Those Winter Sundays”
SYLVIA PLATH, “Daddy”
SHARON OLDS, “Rite of Passage”
LINDA PASTAN, “Marks”
MARY OLIVER, “Wild Geese”
EAMON GRENNAN, “Pause”
LI-YOUNG LEE, “The Hammock”
KEVIN YOUNG, “Cousins”
EAVAN BOLAND, “The Pomegranate”
RITA DOVE, “The Bistro Styx”
NAOMI SHIHAB NYE, “My Father and the Figtree”
LISA PARKER, “Snapping Beans”
Prose:
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, Babylon Revisited
TILLIE OLSEN, I Stand Here Ironing
HELENA MARÍA VIRAMONTES, The Moths
MAY-LEE CHAI, Saving Sourdi
RALPH ELLISON, I Yam What I Am
LAURA ESQUIVEL, January: Christmas Rolls
CHRIS OFFUTT, Brain Food
GEETA KOTHARI, If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?
Assignments/Activities
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Formal Essay: Interpretive Essay: Structure, Style, and Theme in Pride and
Prejudice
Poetry Response: Assigned Readings
Dialectical Journal: Assigned Readings
Voice Lessons: In-class participation
Grammar/Vocabulary Instruction
Formal Discussion
Practice Exam: Multiple Choice Questions
Timed Writing focus: AP Essay Question 1 (Prose)
Senior Exhibition Research/Community Service
Unit 3: Identity and Culture
Topics
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Fiction review
Specialized, archaic, and unfamiliar diction
Allusion and Reference
Prosody
Tone: Detail
Writer’s Workshop: Using a Variety of Sentence Structures
The AP Essay: Question 2 (Poetry)
Readings
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Novel:
JOSEPH CONRAD, Heart of Darkness
Poetry:
JOHN MILTON, “When I consider how my light is spent”
ALEXANDER POPE, “The Quiet Life”
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, “The World Is Too Much with Us”
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, “The Apology”
EMILY DICKINSON, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”
E. E. CUMMINGS, “the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls”
COUNTEE CULLEN, “Heritage”
DYLAN THOMAS, “Fern Hill”
GWENDOLYN BROOKS, “We Real Cool”
MAHMOUD DARWISH, “Identity Card”
KAMAU BRATHWAITE, “Ogun”
GARY SOTO, “Mexicans Begin Jogging”
SHERMAN ALEXIE, “The Powwow at the End of the World”
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JULIA ALVAREZ, “First Muse”
NATHALIE HANDAL, “Caribe in Nueva York”
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, “To George Sand: A Desire”, “To
George Sand: A Recognition”
RUDYARD KIPLING, “The White Man’s Burden”
H. T. JOHNSON, “The Black Man's Burden”
FELIX MNTHALI, “The Stranglehold of English Lit”
Prose:
JHUMPA LAHIRI, Interpreter of Maladies
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Young Goodman Brown
JOHN UPDIKE, A & P
JOYCE CAROL OATES, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
ANA MENÉNDEZ, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd
DORIS LESSING, The Old Chief Mshlanga
CHINUA ACHEBE, An Image of Africa
BINYAVANGA WAINAINA, How to Write about Africa
Assignments
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In-class writing: Interpretation/Evaluation: History, Society and Culture in Heart
of Darkness
Poetry Response: Assigned Readings
Dialectical Journal: Assigned Readings
Voice Lessons: In-class participation
Grammar/Vocabulary Instruction
Formal Discussion
Practice Exam: Multiple Choice
Timed Writing Focus: AP Essay Question 2 (Poetry)
Senior Exhibition Research/Community Service
Unit 4: Love and Relationships
Topics
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Analyzing Irony
Elements of Drama: Introduction
Reading and Writing about Drama
Ekphrastic Poetry
Tone: Imagery
Writer’s Workshop: Logic and Organization
The AP Essay: Question 3 (Free Response)
Readings
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Drama:
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, Pygmalion
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Poetry:
THOMAS WYATT, “They flee from me”
SIR PHILIP SYDNEY, “Leave me, O Love, which reachest but to dust”
JOHN DONNE, “The Flea”
ROBERT HERRICK, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”
LORD BYRON, “She walks in Beauty”
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, “Love is not all”
MARGARET ATWOOD, “Siren Song”
ELIZABETH BISHOP, “One Art”
ROBERT PENN WARREN, “True Love”
BILLY COLLINS, “Weighing the Dog”
JANE HIRSHFIELD, “This was once a love poem”
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”
PABLO NERUDA, “Mi fea: Soneta XX”
ANDREW MARVELL, “To His Coy Mistress”
ANNIE FINCH, “Coy Mistress”
E. E. CUMMINGS, “somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond”
ZAREH KHRAKHOUNI, “Measure”
Prose:
SANDRA CISNEROS, Woman Hollering Creek
ANTON CHEKHOV, The Lady with the Little Dog
KATHERINE MANSFIELD, Bliss
WILLIAM FAULKNER, A Rose for Emily
DAGOBERTO GILB, Love in L.A.
ANDREAS CAPELLANUS, from The Art of Courtly Love
CHARLES DICKENS, from Our Mutual Friend
ANITA JAIN, Is Arranged Marriage Really Any Worse Than Craigslist?
Assignments
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Formal Essay: Analytical/Argumentative Essay: Evaluating Artistic Quality and
Social/Cultural Values in Pygmalion
Poetry Response: Assigned Readings
Dialectical Journal: Assigned Readings
Voice Lessons: In-class participation
Grammar/Vocabulary Instruction
Formal Discussion
Timed Writing Focus: AP Essay Question 3 (Free Response)
Timed Practice Exam: Multiple Choice/Essays 1 & 2 (Semester I Final)
Senior Exhibition Research/Community Service
Unit 5: Conformity and Rebellion
Topics
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Tragedy and Comedy
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Plot Structure and Development
Character, Staging, and Theme
Close Read: King Lear
Shakespeare: Life and Language
Tone: Syntax
Writer’s Workshop: Generalization and specific detail
The AP exam: a review (MC strategies, Essays 1-3, Exam Day, Readers)
Writing with Shakespeare: The Open Response Essay
Readings
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Drama:
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Poetry:
GEORGE HERBERT, “The Collar”
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, “Song: To the Men of England”
EMILY DICKINSON, “Much Madness is divinest Sense”
WALLACE STEVENS, “Disillusionment of Ten O’clock”
E. E. CUMMINGS, “anyone lived in a pretty how town”
NAZIM HIKMET, “On Living”
DYLAN THOMAS, “Do not go gentle into that good night”
ANNE SEXTON, “Her Kind”
DUDLEY RANDALL, “Booker T. and W.E.B.”
SANDRA GILBERT, “Sonnet: The Ladies’ Home Journal”
LUCILLE CLIFTON, “Homage to My Hips”
ALLEN GINSBERG, “Is About”
CAROL ANN DUFFY, “Penelope”
Prose:
HERMAN MELVILLE, Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street
KURT VONNEGUT, Harrison Bergeron
T. C. BOYLE, Admiral
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE, The Headstrong Historian
Assignments
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In-class Writing: Expository/Analytical Essay: Extended Interpretation and
Explanation of Character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Through Textual Details
Classroom Performance: Team Acting Companies
Poetry Response: Assigned Readings
Dialectical Journal: Assigned Readings
Voice Lessons: In-class participation
Grammar/Vocabulary Instruction
Formal Discussion
The AP Exam: Analyzing the AP Essay (Reading and Scoring)
Timed Writing Focus: AP Exam Question 3 (Free Response)
Senior Exhibition Informative Essay
Unit 6: Art and the Artist
Topics
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Close reading poetry
Approaching the Poem
Fiction and Poetic Devices: Analyzing Voice, Word Choice, Imagery, Sound,
Form, Symbol, Allusion, Myth, and Theme
Sentence combining
Writer’s Workshop: Tone, Voice, and Audience
Readings
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Novel:
OSCAR WILDE, The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for
Serious People
Poetry:
T. S. ELIOT, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
ALEXANDER POPE, “Sound and Sense”
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, “Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a Dream”
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, “London, 1802”
JOHN KEATS, “On the Sonnet, Ode on a Grecian Urn”
ROBERT BROWNING, “My Last Duchess”
CLAUDE MCKAY, “The Harlem Dancer”
WALLACE STEVENS, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”
D. H. LAWRENCE, “Piano”
FRANK O’HARA, “The Day Lady Died”
MARY OLIVER, “Singapore”
BILLY COLLINS, “The Blues”
SEAMUS HEANEY, “Digging”, “Requiem for the Croppies”, “Bogland”,
“The Tollund Man”, “Tollund”, “A Call, Postscript”
Prose:
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, The Yellow Wallpaper
RAYMOND CARVER, Cathedral
DON DELILLO, Videotape
JAMES BALDWIN, Sonny’s Blues
DENNIS O’DRISCOLL, from Stepping Stones, Interviews with Seamus
Heaney
SEAMUS HEANEY, from Feeling into Words, Crediting Poetry
Assignments
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Formal Essay: Interpretive Essay: Figurative Language, Imagery, Symbolism and
Tone in The Importance of Being Earnest
Poetry Response: Assigned Readings
Dialectical Journal: Assigned Readings
Voice Lessons: In-class participation
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Grammar/Vocabulary Instruction
Formal Discussion
Original Poetry Composition
Poetry Presentation
Senior Exhibition Video
Unit 7: Tradition and Progress
Topics
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Introduction to Literary Criticism: Formalism, Feminism, Marxism,
Structuralism, Deconstructionism, Culturalism
Fiction Review: Creating the List
Poetry Review: Structure, Style, and Tone
Shakespeare Review: Language, Diction, and Syntax
Exam Preparedness: Strategies and Techniques
Writing the AP Essay: Syntax and Diction
Writing Workshop: Research, Sources, and…College
Readings
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Novel:
DICKENS, A Tale of Two Cities
Poetry:
THOMAS GRAY, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
WILLIAM BLAKE, “London”
MATTHEW ARNOLD, “Dover Beach”
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, “God’s Grandeur”
EMILY DICKINSON, “Crumbling is not an instant’s Act”
ROBERT FROST, “Mending Wall”
W. B. YEATS, “The Second Coming”
JAMES WRIGHT, “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio”
MITSUYE YAMADA, “A Bedtime Story”
MAY SWENSON, “Goodbye, Goldeneye”
CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI, “Indian Movie, New Jersey”
STEPHEN DUNN, “Charlotte Brontë in Leeds Point”
AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL, “When All of My Cousins Are Married”
DEREK WALCOTT, “Forty Acres”
WALT WHITMAN, “Mannahatta”
CARL SANDBURG, “Chicago”
LANGSTON HUGHES, “Jazzonia”
CLAUDE MCKAY, “The White House”
ARNA BONTEMPS, “Nocturne at Bethesda”
Prose:
ALICE WALKER, Everyday Use
CHARLES BAXTER, Fenstad’s Mother
SALMAN RUSHDIE, The Free Radio
GISH JEN, Who’s Irish?
FLANNERY O’CONNOR, A Good Man Is Hard to Find
ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Spunk
JESSIE REDMON FAUSET, from Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral
Assignments
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Formal Essay: Research: Charles Dickens, Then and Now: Critical Approaches
to Victorian and Modern Society
Poetry Response: Assigned Readings
Dialectical Journal: Assigned Readings
Voice Lessons: In-class participation
Grammar/Vocabulary Instruction
Formal Discussion
Timed practice exam: Multiple Choice and Essays 1-3
Senior Exhibition Persuasive Essay
Unit 8: War and Peace
Topics
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Approaches to literary criticism: Formalism, Feminism, Marxism, Structuralism,
Deconstructionism, Culturalism
Theme/Imagery in film and drama
Research: MLA and APA formats/Preparing for College
Writing Workshop: Research, Sources, and…College
The Oral Presentation (Senior Exhibition)
Readings
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Poetry:
HOMER, “The Champion Arms for Battle”, “from Book 19 of the Iliad”
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, “If we are marked to die . . .” from Henry V,
Act IV, scene iii
ROBERT SOUTHEY, “The Battle of Blenheim”
WALT WHITMAN, “Vigil strange I kept on the field one night”
HERMAN MELVILLE, “Shiloh: A Requiem (April, 1862)”
SIEGFRIED SASSOON, “Lamentations”
WILFRED OWEN, “Dulce et Decorum Est”
ANNA AKHMATOVA, “The First Long-Range Artillery Shell in Leningrad”
RANDALL JARRELL, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”
HENRY REED, “Naming of Parts”
RICHARD WILBUR, “First Snow in Alsace”
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA, “The Terrorist, He Watches”
YOUSIF AL-SA’IGH, “An Iraqi Evening”
BRIAN TURNER, “Sadiq”
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NATASHA TRETHEWEY, “Elegy for the Native Guards”
WILFRED OWEN, “The Parable of the Old Man and the Young”, “Arms and
the Boy”
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, “Ulysses”
THOMAS HARDY, “A Wife in London”
YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA, “Facing It”
WALT WHITMAN, “A Child Goes Forth”
Prose:
LUIGI PIRANDELLO, War
MURIEL SPARK, The First Year of My Life
CYNTHIA OZICK, The Shawl
BHARATI MUKHERJEE, The Management of Grief
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, Soldier’s Home
MAYA LIN, from Boundaries
RACHELLE JONES, Satisfy My Soul
Assignments
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In-Class Writing: The Formal Meditation
Formal Essay Finalization: Research: Charles Dickens, Then and Now: Critical
Approaches to Victorian and Modern Society
Letter to self
Poetry Response: Assigned Readings
Dialectical Journal: Assigned Readings
Voice Lessons: In-class participation
Grammar/Vocabulary Instruction
Formal Discussion
Senior Exhibition Presentations/Portfolios