AP Literature Syllabus

 "With a phone and a typewriter, you can change the world" - the literary renaissance motto

AP Literature and Composition
Course Syllabus: 2021-2022
Instructor: Kent Fielding


COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The overall goal of the AP Literature and Composition class is to engage students in careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature and to prepare the students to take the AP Test in May.  As this is a college level course, students are expected to work more independently than in a typical high school course and to participate in classroom discussion.  Be warned that the class is very small and therefore it will be noticed by both the teacher and the other students if you haven’t done your reading and writing homework (and if this is the case I may ask you to stop by after school for a talk).  You, the student, are responsible for your own learning.  In college, no-one will ask—they will expect.

FOCUS (restated): A.P. is designed to be a challenging, engaging exploration of literature as ART.  Through critical reading, discussion, and written analysis of novels, plays, and poetry from various periods and perspectives, students will develop the reading, thinking and composition skills necessary for success in a college literature class.  Students carry considerable intellectual responsibility for course preparation.  This is a joint venture between teacher and students not a “teacher-driven” monologue.  Therefore there will be times when students will direct the class and lead, and times when students will actually teach the class activities.

Student progress will be evaluated in many ways including essays (both in class and out of class), short answer tests, homework assignments, timed-impromptu writing, dialectical journals, and quizzes.

SOME GOALS:

• To analyze literature by explaining how writers use the techniques of their art (craft) such as structure, style, theme, figurative language to communicate ideas
• To look at the social and historical values displayed in the literature we read
• To develop effective written and oral arguments by looking at logical organization, use of details, generalizations, sentence structure and vocabulary
• To develop effective research skills
• To think about how people live ethical and moral lives and how this is reflected in literature
• To explore and apply different theories of literary criticism.  Some theories we will investigate include: Historical, Moral-Philosophical, Mimetic, Formalist, Psychological, Symbolical or Mythological, Feminist, Reader-Response, Structuralism and Deconstruction.


TEXTS:
We will be reading work from the following texts, in part and whole:

 Arp, Thomas R. and Greg Johnson, Editors.  Perrine’s Literature, Structure, Sound,

and Sense, 8th Edition.  Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 2002.

 Hamlet or King Lear, Shakespeare
 Anna Karenina, Tolstoy
 The Trial, Kafka
 The Aeneid, Virgil
 Beloved, Morrison
 Bleak House, Dickens
 Their Eyes Where Watching God, Hurston
 The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
 The Inferno, Dante
 Moby-Dick, Melville
 Middlemarch, Eliot
 Selections from Paradise Lost
 Selected poetry from various periods
 Selected short stories by writers such as Joyce, Orwell, Hawthorne, Baldwin, Fitzgerald, Twain, Faulkner, including: “The Dead”,  “Sonny’s Blues”, “Babylon Revisited”, “The Hanging”, "Big Two Hearted River"
The English Patient, Ondaatje
Jane Eyre, Bronte
Tom Jones, Fielding
Home or Sula, Morrison
 
Outside reading requirement: one book per semester from a list of approved by Mr. Fielding

Writing: Six In-Class essays (40 minutes) per semester to give practice to the constraint of the AP test. Other writing assignments will focus on critical analysis and writing in different literary theories, including an analytical-expository essay explaining how textual details (theme, tone, symbolism, structure) create meaning and an argumentative essay relating textual evidence to social or cultural values.  Students are expected to participate in peer response (both in small groups and as a class), rewriting and 1-on-1 teacher-student conferences.  Teacher conferences will be prearranged and students are expected to have one per unit.  Conferences will focus on structure, organization, use of details to back up arguments, and sentence structure.

Blog: You will keep a daily blog of your reading.  This blog will act as dialectical journal (see handout on dialectical journals) and your writing should include notes, quotations and comments on the text – things that you see such as stylistic devices, motifs, symbols, character quirks and insights– as well as questions the text brings up.  This blog will be visible to other students, as a reference, but no two blogs should be alike.  Beware – this blog is part of daily grade.


Discussion: According to the College Board (the people who oversee AP courses), “Reading should be accompanied by thoughtful discussion…in the company of one’s fellow students.”  Discussions are activities intended to aid the understanding of a work.  Students must interact intellectually with their peers.  Translation: You must come to class prepared to talk about what you read.  This means take notes at home.

You will have one outside reading project per semester.  It will be based on a book of your choice (one that you have not read before and comes from a list of approved AP titles).

Vocabulary and Literary Terms: there will be new vocabulary every two weeks and a list of literary terms (the specialized language use to analyze literature) that students need to know and recognized.  Students are expected to choose one literary term per week, look up and post a definition with an example from their current reading.

Resources: Students will be creating and compiling a list of on-line resources on texts and criticism that will help other students and future AP classes.  This will be a part of a final grade.

SEMESTER I

Poetry, Exploration of Themes, and Literary Theories

Unit 1: Introduction to Poetry (4 weeks)

All pages refer to Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense

Week 1: Literary Terms Specific to Poetry
Imagery: Pages 771-774, “After Apple-Picking” – Questions & Journal
Symbol/Allegory: 807-817, “The Road Not Taken” – Questions, Journal
Paradox, Irony, Satire: 829-839, “My Last Duchess” – Journal
Tone: 880-885, “The Man He Killed” – Questions and Journal
Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance: 899-907, various poems

Week 2: Forms of Poetry

Sonnet, Stanza, Ballad, Haiku, Villanelle, Pantoum, Blues, Blank Verse, Quatrain, Couplet, Ode, Blank Verse, Dramatic Monologue, Prose Poem, Epic Poem

In Journals – students will need to explain how each form works and how form = idea



Week 3:  Great Poets (focus on Modernism)
Theme: The Individual’s Place in Society

Frost – “Death of the Hired-Man”, “Home Burial”
Eliot – “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, “Wastelands”
Brooke- “The Dead”
Wilfred Owen – “Dulce et Decorum Est”
Hughes – “Theme for English B”
Bishop – “The Fish”
Jarrell – “Death of Ball-Turret Gunner”
Forche – “The Colonel”
Clifton – “Good Times”
Plath – “Mad Girl’s Love Song”

And perhaps Berryman and Dylan Thomas.

Week 4: In-Class essay, student’s poetry, poetry projects

Students will practice their hand at writing their own poems and exploring literary devices and poetic form.  These will be read out loud.

Students will also choose one poem from “Poems for Further Reading” and teach what the poem means and how it creates meaning by discussing form, literary devices and perhaps social context

1st In-class essay.
Personal or Exploratory Essay 2-3 pages.


Unit 2: “The Search for Identity” –Prose: Creative Non-fiction, Short Story, Novel.  – Six Weeks



The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
Beloved - Toni Morrison
The Sun Also Rises – Hemingway
“Big Two-Hearted River” – Hemingway, “Babylon Revisited” – Fitzgerald, “The Yellow Wallpaper” – Perkins, “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore” – Alexie

During this unit we will review (from last year) the structure of the short story and novel particularly looking at plot, character, theme, tone, symbolism, motif, imagery, allusion, types of irony.  These books and stories are classics of American Literature and we will reflect upon the experience of the narrator or protagonist (vs. what the author wants the reader to take away) and discuss how the experience exemplifies an idea of American Culture.  We will also compare and contrast the experiences presented in these stories.

Assignments:

Blogs/Journals – daily entries
In-Class Essays – 1 per book or novel
Literary Analysis Novel Project - see below



Unit 3: Literary Theory (one of the following) Moby-Dick, Anna Karenina, Tom Jones, Bleak House or Middlemarch (7 weeks plus Christmas Break)

As we read Moby-Dick or one of the other novels (Moby-Dick has been called the greatest American Novel ever written and an epic prose poem) we will look at different theories of literary criticism and how they might apply, or can be applied, to the novel.  Different theories have been listed above under “Some Goals”.

Assignments:

Blogs/Journals – Daily exploring lit devices, characters and different crit theories.

In-Class Essays – 2.
Every two weeks students will choose a theory and write a 2-3-page essay trying to utilize the guiding principal of the theory to explore the meaning of novel.  The student will meet 1-1 with the instructor and the best of the three essays will be revised and expanded (5-10 pages) for a final grade.


SEMESTER II

Drama, Classical Literature, the social and historical world of Dickens, the AP Test

Unit 4: Drama, Classical Literature and the Tragic Hero (7 weeks)

Two of the following:

Hamlet – Shakespeare or King Lear
The Inferno (Dante)
The Aeneid (Vergil) and Paradise Lost (Milton).

During this unit we will explore the meaning of the tragic hero in both drama, prose and poetry.  We will look at the origins of tragedy and why tragedy was such an important art form.

Assignments:

Blog/Journal: Daily entries
In-class essays: 3
Project – Drama Interpretation and presentation to class

Unit 5: Return to Morrison, Hurston or Dickens
Outside reading presentations


During this unit we might explore the social and historical world of Charles Dickens, noted as one of England’s greatest authors.  We will look at how characters, settings, symbols, motifs, and other literary devices create or give meaning to the social and historical world of the 1800s England.  What was Dickens trying to say about this world?

Assignments:

Blog/Journal – Daily
In-Class Essays – 3
Argumentative Essay – students will write an essay exploring the textual details of one of the books and make an argument about what the author was trying to say about the social life and culture of the time.  This essay (5-10 pages) will be revise and posted on student’s blogs.
 

Unit 6: Poetry and Literary Movements

Unit 7: AP Test

We will spend 2-3 weeks reviewing strategies for the test – both the essay and multiple-choice selections.

AP TEST:

Summer reading for Juniors: The Handmaid’s Tale


Final Notes:

Plagiarism: Please do not copy or directly quote without giving proper citation (or acknowledgement) someone else writing.  This is intellectual theft and writers and critics take this seriously.  This also means do not copy from each other.  This classroom cannot be a “group mind” but must be a group of individual minds working to support each other’s ideas.  A plagiarized assignment will receive a zero with no chance for make-up. Repeated offenses will result in conferences with parents and administration and a probable “F” in the course.  It is okay to check sites like sparknotes.com but don’t let these sites do your thinking.  For one thing, the sites are too general, for success in AP you need to analysis beyond sparknotes and further I sometimes check these sites before I read your assignments.  I expect assignments to be free of these sites just as I don’t expect to see anyone referencing wikipedia in an argumentative essay.


GRADES:

Tests, essays, projects: 50% of total grade
Quizzes 25% of total grade
Homework, class work 10% of total grade
Blogs/journals  15% of total grade

Scale:

100- 93 = A
92.49- 90 = A-
89.49- 87 = B+
86.49-83.00 = B
82.49- 80.00 = B-
79.49-77.00 = C+
76.49- 73 = C
72.49-70.00 = C-
69.49-67.00 = D+
66.49- 63.00 = D
62.49- 60 = D-
Below 60 = F

LATE WORK: This is a college course therefore no late work will be accepted without talking with the instructor beforehand.


RULES

--Be in your seat when the bell rings
--Remain on task for the entire period (we need to cover a lot of ground in one short year)
--Read what you are suppose to read on time
--Meet the spirit of the assignment and course not just the letter grade
--Ask lots of questions about our readings and writings
--Turn in all work on time
--Remember everything you write in class is public and may be shared with the class at anytime (this means be prepared to read your own work out loud—no excuses)
--Think creatively, critically, and analytically
--Come to class passionate about literature
--Remember basic school rules: respect others at all times, no ipods in this class, get out computers only when needed (being on email or chats during class is not only not allowed but is disrespectful and will earn you detention with Mr. Fielding and an extra timed-essay to write during this detention.
--SMILE—this is a fun class



Literary Devices  
AP English

Every discipline employs a special vocabulary; literary criticism is no exception. Literary criticism is based in part on the assumption that writing is a purposeful activity and that excellent literature – work of literary merit --  is not merely a happy accident. During the year I will be encouraging you to familiarize yourself with some of the terminology that is used in literary criticism. To that end, you will be creating a glossary of literary devices that you encounter in your reading. Below I have included a list of a few of the many devices you will encounter while reading; you are in no way constrained to this list, it’s just there for your information – to give you a small sampling of the wonderful world of literary devices. There are hundreds of devices that writers employ; you will no doubt find a few that I have not heard of before.


allegory
alliteration
allusion
ambiguity
antagonist
analogy
apostrophe
archetype
aside
assonance
aubade
ballad
blank verse
cacophony
caesura
catharsis
character / flat, round
complication
conceit
connotation
colloquial diction
comedy
connotation
controlling metaphors
cosmic irony
denotation
dramatic irony
dramatic monologue
echo
elegy
epigram
existential character
extended metaphor
farce
flashback
formal diction
free verse
heroic couplet
hyperbole
imagery
informal diction
initiation story
metaphor
motif
myth
narrative structure
onomatopoeia
overstatement
oxymoron
parable
paradox
parody
pastoral
personification
point of view
protagonist
psychological realism
realism
rhythm
rite of passage
sarcasm
satire
simile
soliloquy
sonnet
style
symbol
syntax
theme
tone
tragedy
verbal irony


Over the course of the semester you’ll be asked to complete a number of literary device entries (1 per week). Generally speaking, you’ll be able to select the device that you wish to use; on rare occasions I’ll tell you which device you need to discuss. Your examples may come from books we read in class, novels you read for your outside reading, or novels of literary merit that you have read on your own. Texts from your other English classes are not acceptable.



POETRY TEST:
Elements: Know both definitions and examples
Imagery, denotation, connotation, irony – verbal, situational, dramatic, sarcasm, metaphor, personification, metonymy, apostrophe, synecdoche, symbol, allegory, paradox, overstatement, understatement, allusion, tone, alliteration, assonance, consonance, internal rime, slant rime, end rime, approximate rime, refrain, meter, iamb, trochee, anapest, dactyl, spondee, monosyllabic foot, line, stanza, cacophony, caesura, enjambment, onomatopoeia

Forms:
Structure, line breaks, how the poem looks, rhyme and rhythm and how it is created
Blues, Sestina, Villanelle, Pantoum, Sonnet (English, Italian, Spenserian, and hybrid), haiku, quatrain, tercets, couplets, litany, ballad.

Poems:
“Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” “Home Burial” “Heights of Machu Picchu” “The Flea” “My Last Duchess” “The Wastelands” “To His Coy Mistress”, “The Waste Lands” “Nani” “The Colonel” “One Art” “Fern Hill” “The Waking” “My Mistress’ Eyes” “The Second Coming”



The Dialectical Journal/Blog

Effective students have a habit of taking notes as they read. This note-taking can several forms: annotation, post it notes, character lists, idea clusters, and many others. One of the most effective strategies is called a dialectical journal. The word “dialectical” has numerous meanings, but the one most pertinent is the “art of critical examination into the truth of an opinion.” As you read, you are forming an opinion about what you are reading (or at least you are SUPPOSED to be forming an opinion). That opinion, however, needs to be based on the text – not just a feeling. This is not Touchy-Feeling English, it is AP English. Therefore, all of your opinions need to begin with a text. To that end, you will need to create a dialectical journal as you read your outside reading novel. You will then use this journal to help you write your outside reading paper, and I will use it to gauge just how interactive you are with your novel. This journal will be included as a significant part of your paper – in fact, you will be unable to get anything higher than a low “B” without completing the journal, so take it seriously.

The procedure is as follows:

1. As you read, pay close attention to the text.

2. Whenever you encounter something of interest (this could be anything from an interesting turn of phrase to a character note), write down the word/phrase making sure that you NOTE THE PAGE NUMBER. If the phrase is especially long just write the first few words, use an ellipsis, then write the last few words.

3. Then WRITE YOUR OBSEVRATIONS ABOUT THE TEXT you noted or quoted.  Please separate this two things by a little space. You need to interact in detail with the text. Make sure that your observations are THOROUGH, INSIGHTFUL, and FOCUSED CLEARLY ON THE TEXT.


That is all there is to it. This way, once you have read your text you will already have a great set of notes on which to draw when you write your paper. You also should have gained a great deal of insight about your particular text.

Note: After you do your nightly blog entry you’ll need to list or pose a set of questions – five –ten that you’d like to discuss in class.

On some nights I will have you focused on a particularly idea, scene, or literary element.


Literary Analysis: The Novel

This particular writing project requires you to read and write an in depth style analysis of a challenging work of literary merit. Due to the independent nature of the project, you will need to be vigilant in completing all of the tasks required because I will not be reminding you every week to work on this. There are two parts to this assignment. First, there is a dialectical journal you must keep while reading your novel (the guidelines for that journal will be provided separately) . Second, you must complete all of the sections detailed in this document.

For this project, you need to write about each of the areas below. For the sake of clarity and organization, please make sure that each of your sections has the proper heading, and that the sections are dealt with in the order in which they are listed on this assignment sheet. Due to the nature of this research paper you do not need to provide transitions between the different sections, you merely need to provide the heading.  This assignment must be typed, with a standard 12 point Times New Roman font, and 1.5 spaced. The cover sheet should contain your name, class period, and date submitted. All of the standards for proper convections are expected. A paper that has a distracting number of errors will only be eligible to receive a “C” or lower.

Each section has a series of questions that are meant to stimulate your thinking and writing. They are not intended to be answered in order, but instead are intended merely to act as a guide for your analysis.

One last important note: FOR EACH SECTION, make sure that you connect your commentary both to DIRECT TEXT EXAMPLES (always cited with the correct page number!) as well as to the NOVEL AS A WHOLE. Only papers that accomplish this will receive an “A” grade.

1. THE AUTHOR AND HER/HIS TIMES: Biographical and historical information pertinent to the novel.  What important family, community, national, and world events helped inform this material? Do not provide an exhaustive biography; merely provide those details that can be directly linked to the novel in a manner that is convincing. This is one of the few sections that will require some outside research, so please remember to cite your source(s).

2. FORM/STRUCTURE, PLOT: How is the novel organized and what techniques are used?  Discuss techniques such as sequencing, multiple, complex, or simple plot, foreshadowing, chapter choices.  Then, provide a BRIEF outline of the events of the plot (no more than 200 words). For some modern novels, the plot may be difficult to describe succinctly – but try to do it anyway. When you discuss structure, remember that you need to discuss the effect of the intentional internal arrangement of parts.

3. POINT OF VIEW/ PERSPECTIVE: From what vantage point does the reader receive the information?  Is the perspective reliable, or is it highly subjective?  How are important ideas received?  Is there an agenda that the narrator seems to have, either consciously or subconsciously? Does the perspective shift, and if so, to what end? Are characters explicit in their dialog, or does on omniscient narrator fill the reader in concerning the larger issues?  Why is the perspective used particularly effective for this novel?

4. CHARACTER: Are each of the characters highly developed, or is most of the writing devoted to one character? Do you learn about them through what is not included in the text?  How is character revealed for the most part? Is through what they say? What they do? What they wear? What they think? The people with whom they associate? What the narrator says about them? How complex are the people that you meet?  Describe the central characters including what you find out about their names, ages, physical descriptions, personalities, functions in the novel – in other words, the responses to the questions asked in the preceding sentence. Also include one short quotation that reveals their character, and explain why the quote reveals character.


5. SETTING:  Where and when does the novel occur?  How many locations are described? Are there connections between the setting(s) and character(s)? How is the atmosphere described?  Are there any important settings that contrast or parallel each other?  Why is this setting so effective in supporting the ideas in the novel as a whole? Conversely, if the setting is ambiguous, what details seem most important and what is the effect of the ambiguity? Why is this story best told in this setting? When discussing setting, remember that it does not only mean the geographical location (topography, scenery) but also the cultural backdrop, social context, and the artificial environment (rooms, buildings, cities, towns) as well.

6. THEME: Identify one major theme (a central or controlling idea) and explicate the theme using specific moments from the text, either paraphrased or directly quoted.  What is the abstract concept being addressed and what is the evaluation of that concept through the text? Are there any “universal” truths are revealed, supported, or challenged by this theme?  Be aware that a theme cannot be expressed in a single word, and with complex works of literary merit the elucidation of a theme requires a full paragraph or more. Also note that the theme is rarely stated explicitly, but rather is implicit. Remember that a theme has TWO (2) PARTS: An abstract concept AND the author’s commentary on  or evaluation of that concept through the text.

7. Symbolism, imagery, metaphors, motifs: Pick out and examine (thoroughly explain) a complex symbol, image, metaphor or motif involved in the story.  How does it add meaning to the text?  How does it relate to the theme?  In a page set up with a thesis a short analytical paper where you connect symbol, imagery, metaphor or motif to theme.

8. Approach the text from a different critical view: feminist, historical, new-historical, psychoanalytical, reader’s response.  First look up one of these approaches on-line and briefly discuss what you find.  Second briefly discuss what you see in the book according to the critical approach you chose.  I suggest trying feminist or new-historical first.

9. Personal response.  What did you like about the novel?  What didn’t you like?  Would you recommend the book to a friend?  Why or why not?  Would you recommend the book to be studies in an English class?


SAMPLE TEST:

AP Open Question – SUN ALSO RISES Test
Today we are going to look at the open question for AP literature.

You will get one of these questions as a test for THE SUN ALSO RISES.

In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence. Choose a novel or play of literary merit and write an essay in which you show how such a character functions in the work. You may wish to discuss how the character affects action, theme, or the development of other characters. Avoid plot summary.

Select a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness.

Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character's actions alone be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Morally ambiguous characters -- characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good -- are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or another novel or play of literary merit.

Homework:

Read chapters 12 -13

Pick out two things in each chapter that you find significant to the overall meaning of the novel. List and comment on them.

You should think about the open response questions before you begin reading.


Outside Reading Assignment:
Due: Tuesday – December 17th
Objective: To present a 5-10 speech in which you illuminate some aspect of an outside novel.  You may choose to illuminate the audience on the relationship of characters to the times and or society or discuss the function of a character or characters to overall meaning.  You can look at novel structure and how the structure reinforces the main idea.  You can discuss literary devices (symbols, irony, allusions, etc), diction, syntax, or vocabulary and how their reinforce meaning.
Avoid mere plot summary.
Your speech will be giving without notes and should include the following:
Organization (25 points)
1) Hook
2) Thesis statement
3) Order of development
4) Body
5) Conclusion
Analysis (25 points)
You explore your thesis by giving examples from the novel and commenting on what those examples mean and how they backup and reinforce your thesis.
You should have at least 2 points (though try for 3) and you should have 2-3 examples for each point.
Your conclusion should be more than just a recap of your 1st paragraph.  It should leave the audience thinking and suggest other areas to explore.



In-class essays will be graded using the AP essay scale.