AP LITERATURE
FEBRUARY AGENDA
Agendas, Journals, Quizzes, Homework
Agenda 2/5/13
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C & P Snippet Activity-Part V &VI
Part V & VI Socratic Seminar: 30-40 minutes
After lunch:
 Turn
in close reading assignment for John Donne
passage
 Multiple Choice: 12 minutes
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Ethan Frome-Edith Warton by Monday, Feb.11th
Snippet Activity-Quiz grade
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Select one snippet from Part V and one from Part VI.
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Choose a small bit of text—a snippet (perhaps a word, phrase,
possibly a sentence—at a stretch two sentences if they are not
long)
It strikes you
Puzzles, perplexes, delight, anger you w/its controversy, truth,
irony, rightness, weirdness, humor, etc.
Reveals character, suggests mood or atmosphere, exemplifies
tone and/or theme, is part of a pattern you noticed
In a couple of sentences, give context to the snippet
Tell why you chose that particular bit of text
Agenda 2/7/13
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Major Works Data Sheet-C&P due
Independent Novel Choice
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Writing Examples-What do you think?
Self evaluation of Centaur/Street essays
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Tracking
M/C Prose passage #4-What types of questions did
you miss?
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Make sure to give me your choice before you leave today!
Tracking
Reminder: You need Ethan Frome for Monday, 2/11
Mock Exam Prose Prompt Q2
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Read the following passage carefully. Then write an
essay analyzing how the author characterizes
Sylvia and her relation to the natural world. Using
evidence from the text discuss Sylvia’s discovery of
the “vast and awesome world.”
Example #1
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Sylvia has a lot in common with the natural world She
started with a belief “that whoever climbed to the top
of it could see the ocean.” (Line 6-7) It meaning a large
mountinous white oak tree. Her first obstacle in her
adventure in the natural world was to climb the
ginormous tree. To see “the sea with the dawning sun
making a golden dazzle over it.” (line 39) Proving what
she had thought since a child created an imaginative
way of thinking. At the top of the tree “Sylvia felt as if
she too could go flying away among the clouds.” (line
42-43) Sylvia had seen a winged majestic animals with
its slow moving pinions over the sea. The winged
animals were two hawks “ their gray feathers were as
soft as moths.”(line 41-42)
Example #2
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The essays gives a vast description of the surrounding world
and how Sylvia interacts with it. Sylvia discovers the woods
by exploring and adventuring through them. The imagery
that is used creates this idea of her being connected with the
tress when she climbs them. “Sylvia felt her way easily”
shows her comfort around the environment and the ease she
has while there. But she is also characterized by her
innocence of her going out and exploring by herself. She is
described with a “childish heart” that has great ambition to
climb the tree to see the ocean.
The relation she has with the natural world is unique. Here
she can be free and explore without any worries. She is
comfortable there “Sylvia knew it well” knowing that the
natural world is a place she can go to be a kid and keep
her youth and innocence but also being independent.
Example #3
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The natural world is a vast, expansive wonder that is free for all to
see. In this passage, Sylvia is discovering how amazing nature can
be. Its inconceivable beauty and size is developed in Sylvia’s mind.
Her relationship with nature is a familiar, but still wondrous mentality.
Sylvia’s comfortable relationship with nature is depicted in the
passage by creating an expansive, beautiful world.
Sylvia’s character is developed as a child with curiosity about the
life around her, who is already “at home” when she is in the
wilderness. The comparison of her climbing the tree to “fingers that
pinched and held like bird’s claws” (line 14) gives the reader the
idea that Sylvia is so comfortable in nature that she has become
animal-like. Although she is just a child, it is apparent that she has
been practicing these skills for quite some time. Her belonging in the
natural world is depicted when the author personifies the tree as
“amazed…as it felt this determined spark of human spirit”climbing
up its great branches. The fact that even the wildlife respected her
presence is very powerful.
Example #4
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Sylvia’s characterization and relation to the natural world is described
through the author’s switching of roles. Usually humans are the dominant
force while everything around them is simply trivial matter. However, in this
passage the author seems to make Sylvia a determined, but naïve girl in
the powerful and captivating world around her.
The author contrasted Sylvia’s physical attributes with her internal drives.
The description of “small and silly Sylvia” is reimbursed with her “spirit of
adventure,” “wild ambition,” “fancied triumph,” and “delight and glory.”
The author also contrasts Sylvia’s inquisitive nature with the inactive and
calming role of the natural world. He personifies the tree as being “asleep”
and describes the moonlight as being “pale” while simultaneously depicting
Sylvia as an active force with “tingling, eager blood.” Sylvia’s
determination is also evident when the author describes her as “almost lost,”
but then suddenly painting an image of how she “felt her way easily.”
Her(Sylvia’s) determination as well as the world’s powerful presence is
reiterated in the third paragraph, when nature is now being personified.
The author depicted nature as a harsh character that “caught and held her
and scratched her like angry talons.” However, the world isn’t acting as an
antagonist for Sylvia, but merely a test of her devotion to adventure and
enlightenment.
Self-Evaluation of Essays
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For each essay (The Street and The Centaur) do the
following things:
 Highlight
your thesis statement
 Highlight every piece of textual evidence that supports
your thesis
 Highlight (different color) commentary/analysis
 Using the rubric, score your essay
 Complete a tracking entry for each essay