AP Literature and Composition
Teacher: Michael Oliver
Email: Michael@newschoolva.com
AP English: Literature and Composition
This AP Literature and Composition is a yearlong 8 to 12 person seminar course that approaches the study of literature as the study of human identity and how narrative reflects our understanding of self. It is divided into four sections, or quarters. The first three quarters are 1) The Eternal Self, 2) The Alienated Self, and 3) The Postmodern Self. In each of those three sections we explore literature that defines the self and human identity according to the broad outlines indicated. Along the way, we learn how to analyze the literature using a variety of methods. The fourth section of the course serves as a review of the principles of critical analysis, an exploration of several works of classic literature, and as study of test taking strategies. After the AP test, the course explores ideas and characters found in contemporary drama and theatre.
In each section students read a variety of genres and styles, investigating not only poetry and fiction, but also drama from an array of cultures and periods. As the course progresses, students learn how to use the art of literary analysis, how to describe the intimate relationship between content and form, and how to identify and write about various literary devices and techniques. Of course, writing is a major focus of the course; students write and rewrite papers, correcting grammar, structure, reasoning skills, and the application of evidence. By the end of the course, students have improved their language and thinking skills and enriched their use of language.
Initially, students have take-home essays of 600 to 700-words, which are reviewed and critiqued by the teacher and, then, rewritten by the students. In section two of the course students begin to take in-class essay tests, which require them to analyze texts, focusing specifically on the relationship between how writers write and the themes about which they write. By the time students get to the fourth section, all the evaluations are of in-class essay tests.
In this course students will
1. Learn and apply the concepts of narrative and dramatic analysis
2. Learn and apply figures of speech and literary devices
3. Investigate some of the best examples of Classical Greek Literature
4. Investigate some of the best examples of the founding texts of Christianity and the West
5. Investigate some of the founding texts of American Civilization
6. Investigate many of the tools of Critical Analysis: Marxist Criticism, Reader Response Theory, Feminist Criticism, Aristotelian Analysis, etc.
7. Develop their ability to write and think critically and with authority
AP English: The Eternal Self
QUARTER I
In The Eternal Self, students explore literature that depicts the Self as an eternal, unchanging force. Students read two of the most famous poetic narratives: Homer’s Odyssey and Dante’s Inferno. Students also explore two of the greatest longer poems in the English Language: they read three sections of Milton’s Paradise Lost (and synopses of the other sections) and Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself in its entirety. Finally, students read Sophocles’ Oedipus and Euripedes’ Medea. Finally, at the end of the quarter, students read Orwell’s short novel, Animal Farm. Although all of these pieces are deeply rooted in the periods in which they were created; they also look at humanity in a more essentialized condition. Students examine the nature of essentialization and its implications as they relate to identity and the Self. Throughout the quarter, students also investigate in detail poems by many well known poets: Keats, Coleridge, Yeats, Shakespeare, and others, as well as a wealth of modern poets such as Rich, Stevens, Williams, and Reothke. They learn various poetic devices and terminology.
The Course and the Class
Participation
This course is a college course. Although a student’s engagement with the class and its material only counts for 20 percent of the overall grade, without participation students cannot achieve the level of understanding needed to flourish academically. By asking questions and responding to comments and questions, each of us learns how to put ideas and experiences into words, to make associations between literary texts and our lives. Because great literature can be interpreted in numerous ways, discussion and feedback, questions and challenges, are needed in order for each individual to work out the ambiguities that each work presents. In this class, there is not one right answer or response to a literary work, but there are responses that are well defined and defended and that are based on the actions, characters, and images of the piece and those that are not. Participation is vital to each of us if we are to reconcile differing, perhaps paradoxical, elements. Students who complete readings on time have an advantage; those who read the material conscientiously have an even greater advantage. Reading conscientiously means that you read without listening to music, watching TV, or doing Instant Messenger. Then you come to class and contribute to our overall understanding of the material. So students should come to class having tried their best to understand and respond even to the most difficult of assignments; finally, they should challenge the ideas presented in the readings, asking themselves: what did the author leave out? Or what might make the author’s point-of-view only part of the story. A notebook is required at all time as well as texts at the appropriate time.
Reading Assignments
Some of the readings in this class are difficult, but, then again, as a college course some of the readings should be difficult. I have taken care, however, to include a variety of readings. Some are from eras far removed from the present; some might make you angry or nostalgic. For example, if you find yourself in one of the circles of hell, you might get upset; just remember that I have not chosen the literature for its content per se, but rather for its impact on the development of Western thinking. In other words, the literature has played an important role in shaping the culture and identity of the West. As a result, you might like some; you might hate some. Whether a reading is easy for you or difficult, whether it is something you like or hate, you should take the time to make notes in the text, comments or questions or challenges. You should have a dialogue with the text. If you have ten pages to read and you only finish five, but those five are heavily marked, then you have read better than the reader who finishes the whole text but has failed to engage the text in a meaningful discussion. Readings are due on the dates specified; you should come to class with a perspective on the text, ready to discuss and think.
Essays
The essays that you write in this class are formal explorations of the texts that we read and discuss. Students can rewrite essays as many as two times and earn back half the points that they lost on earlier drafts. Thus, a paper that earns a 50% on the first attempt could become as high as a 75% on the second and a 87.5% on the third. The excellent essay is not only coherent, well-crafted, and logically developed; but it also uses evidence from the text, elegant language (not flowery), and expresses ideas that illuminate both the text and the human condition. I will only accept essays that are typed, double spaced, and titled. Essays are due at the beginning of class on the dates indicated, in hardcopy. If a student has trouble printing an essay, he or she needs to email it to me prior to coming to school. The student then needs to turn in a hardcopy by the beginning of school the next day, without making changes to the essay. If the student does not email me a copy or does not turn in a hardcopy, the student does not receive credit for the essay. Essays lose a letter grade for every class day late.
Vocabulary
A major aspect of this course is poetic vocabulary to which you will be introduced. You should definitely take the time to learn the words and the techniques associated with those words, and be able to apply those words and techniques meaningfully in your essays, discussions, and tests. The final test of the quarter will evaluate your understanding of the poetic vocabulary. Students who are absent on that day need to make up the test within 24 hours of returning to school. The final test deals specifically with the vocabulary.
Visual Projects
There are two projects in the class; they make up almost 15 percent of a student’s grade. Visual projects include presentations and they are designed in coordination with essays. They are meant to prepare a student for the essay by assisting the student with the organizational and analytical pre-writing elements of essays.
Late Work Policy
Projects, papers, and reading assignments are due when indicated, at the beginning of class in the requested format. Each assignment has different requirements, so students need to refer to the directions under each assignment to know what each requires. With the exceptions of the two visual projects, which must be done by the dates indicated, other assignments lose a letter-grade for each class they are late.
Class Calendar
1st Quarter Topic Classwork Homework
September 3 Introduction Story Terminology Odyssey Essay
4 Story/Character Terminology Odyssey analysis Essay due
5 Thematic Divisions Discuss Odyssey
Week 2
8 Poetic Imagery Discuss Odyssey Narrative Article
9 Dramatic Structure Oedipus analysis Oedipus articles
10 Greek Tragedy Discuss Oedipus Notes to an essay
11 Oedipus video Discuss video
12 Medea Quiz Oedipus Essay #2 w/notes
Week 3
15 Thematic Analysis Discuss Medea
16 Discuss Medea Notes to an essay
17 Test Review Discuss Medea Essay
18 Greek Unit Test Medea 24 hour essay
19 Figures of Speech: Metaphor, Simile, and Personification Medea Essay #3 w/notes
Week 4
22 Denotation and Connotation Selections: Paradise Lost
23 Paraphrasing Selections: Paradise Lost
24 Figures of Speech: Synecdoche and metonymy
25 Inferno Part I Quiz
26 Visual Presentations Present Visuals Paradise Lost visuals
Week 5
October 29 Inferno Part II Quiz
30 Figures of Speech: Irony
1 Inferno Part III Quiz
2 Figures of Speech: Allegory
3 Inferno
Week 6
6 Inferno Part IV Quiz
7 Visual Presentations Present Visuals Inferno Visual
8 Figures of Speech: Symbol
9 Marxist Theory
10 Marxist Theory Inferno Essay
Week 7
13 No School
14 Animal Farm Quiz
15 No Class—PSAT
16 Discussion: Animal Farm
17 Discussion: Animal Farm
Week 8
20 Test Review Essay: Animal
21 Final Test Final Test
22 Test Continued
23 Song of Myself In Class
24 Song of Myself In Class
Week 9
27 Song of Myself Short Writing
28 Poetry
Grading System
Participation/Homework 15
Greek Unit (3 essays and test) [3X5 + 10]) 25
Inferno Essay 10
Animal Essay 15
Quizzes 10
Visual Projects (2 [5 & 10]) 15
Final Test 10
Total 100
In Summary
r Participation requires active mental engagement in the course material.
r Participation requires a notebook, an appropriate text, and total engagement.
r Participation requires a respect for ideas, their authors, and their implications: I expect you to challenge, respectfully, the ideas and feelings presented by the authors and myself.
r Essays must be turned in on the due-dates at the beginning of class; they lose a letter grade per class day late.
r Essays need to be typed, double spaced, and titled.
r Visual Projects must be ready at the beginning of class on the dates that they are scheduled.
r Students have 24 hours from the time of their return to make up missed quizzes and tests.
AP English: The Alienated Self
QUARTER II
In The Alienated Self, we explore various pieces of literature that address the nature of alienation. Students read three novels: Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Trial by Franz Kafka, and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, discussing their plots, characters, and themes. We also read two great plays: Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Brecht’s Good Woman of Setzuan. We also continue to develop our analytical and writing skills, using a number of short poems. Throughout the course, students learn about literary device and terminology. As we discuss and explore these works we also read critical essays that shed light on the literature. Assignments include three essays, two visual projects, and three tests.
Focus Skills: Communication & Persistence
Class Calendar
2nd Quarter Topic Classwork Homework
Nov. 5 Review of Test Essays Read Song of Myself
6 Notes from Underground Quiz Writing Assignment
7 Notes from Underground
10 Notes from Underground
11 Poetry
12 Poetry
13 MacBeth
14 MacBeth Essay Underground
17 MacBeth
18 MacBeth
19 MacBeth Quiz Finish MacBeth
20 MacBeth
21 Writing MacBeth
24 TEST
25 TEST continued
26-28 Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 1 Poetry
2 The Trial motifs Quiz and Analysis Writing
3 The Trial Discuss Essays Read Essays by Critics
4 The Trial Discuss Writing Read Essays by Critics
5 Visual Project on the Trial presentations Key Motifs
8 Good Woman of Setzuan Epic Theater
9 Good Woman Discuss Alienation Effect Essay Trial
10 Good Woman Characterization Read Good Woman
11 Good Woman Writing Assignment
12 Test
Jan. 5 Poetry
6 House of the Spirits Quiz Multiple Narrators
7 House of the Spirits Discuss Writing about Different Perspectives
8 House of the Spirits Discuss Writing Read Essays by Critics
9 Presentations
Visual Project Spirits Different Questions
12 House of the Spirits Discuss Essays
13 Poetry
14 Essay Spirits
15 Poetry Test
16 Poetry Test continued
19 Go Over Test
20-22 Exhibition Week
Grading System
Participation/Homework 20
Three Essays 35
Quizzes 10
Visual Projects (2) 15
Three Tests 20
Total 100
AP English: The Postmodern Self
QUARTER III
In The Postmodern Self, we explore various works of prose, poetry, drama that speak to the postmodern condition. The students read three novels: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, Sula by Toni Morrison, and either The Lover by Marguerite Duras or Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. They also read and watch a number of plays: Peter Weiss’ Marat/Sade, Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. We discuss the themes and literary techniques in each of these works, focusing on how the writers create ideas through the manipulation of literary and narrative techniques. The quarter ends with students submitting their own pieces for analysis of postmodern techniques and themes. There will be two essays, a visual project and a creative writing project, and three essay-tests.
Week 1
Jan 29 Poetry
Jan 30 Weiss’ Marat/Sade Multiple Narratives Quiz
Jan 31 Weiss’ Marat/Sade Character Construction
Feb 1 Weiss’ Marat/Sade
Feb 2 Poetry
Week 2
Feb 5 Modernism and Postmodernism
Feb 6 Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael Biblical Allusions
Feb 7 Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael Socratic Dialogues
Feb 8 Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael Deconstruction
Feb 9 Does Form Always Equal Content?
Week 3
Feb 12 In-Class Essay Test
Feb 13 Lysistrata by Aristophanes Quiz
Feb 14 Lysistrata by Aristophanes Principles of Comedy
Feb 15 Lysistrata by Aristophanes
Feb 16 Winterson’s “Newton”
Week 4
Feb 20 Poetry
Feb 21 Slaughterhouse Five Quiz
Feb 22 Slaughterhouse Five Different Kinds of Narrators
Feb 23 Slaughterhouse Five Style Reinforces Theme
Week 5
Feb 26 Changing Perspective Project for Slaughterhouse Five
Feb 27 Slaughterhouse Five
Feb 28 Poetry Irony
Mar 1 Poetry Satire
Mar 2 Poetry Slaughterhouse Five Essay Due
Week 6
Mar 5 Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Mar 6 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Mar 7 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Mar 8 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Mar 9 In-Class Essay Test
Week 7
Mar 12 Poetry
Mar 13 Poetry
Mar 14 Morrison’s Sula
Mar 15 Sula
Mar 16 Sula
Week 8
Mar 19 Sula Visual Project #2
Mar 20 Sula
Mar 21 In-Class Essay Test
Mar 22 Sula Essay Due
Mar 23 Final Essay and Test
Grading System
Participation/Homework 20%
Two Essays 25%
Three In-Class Essay Tests 25%
Writing Assignments 10%
Quizzes 10%
Creative Projects 10%
Total 100%
Critical Analyses
QUARTER IV
In the final quarter of this yearlong seminar class, students focus on two of the classics in American Literature: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Morning Becomes Electra by Eugene O’Neill. We review all of the literary devices explored earlier in the course, applying them to analysis of the characters and plots of these two classics. After the AP Tests have been completed students engage in the writing of original scripts, the best of which are performed in the school’s new play festival at the end of the year.
Week 1
April 17 Poetry Using Evidence
18 Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter Characterization
19 The Scarlet Letter Novel’s Structure
20 The Scarlet Letter Novel’s Symbolism
Week 2
April 23 In-Class Essay
24 Poetry Figures of Speech
25 Poetry Writing about Figures of Speech
26 Poetry Writing about Figures of Speech
27 In-Class Essay
Week 3
April 30 O’Neill’s Morning Becomes Electra Principles of Tragedy
May 1 Morning Becomes Electra Modern versus Classic
2 Morning Becomes Electra Characterization
3 In-Class Essay
4 Multiple Choice Questions
Week 4
May 7 Poetry
8 Poetry
9 Poetry
10 AP Literature Test
11 Discuss of the Literature
Week 5
May 14-18 Script Writing
Week 6
May 21-25 Script Writing
Week 7
May 28-June 1 Rehearsing
Week 8
June 3-7 Rehearsing and Performing
Grading System
Participation/Homework 20%
Two Essays 30%
Three In-Class Essay Tests 30%
Theater Work 20%
Total 100%
