AP Literature and Composition 1
AP English IV, English Literature and Composition, Course
Outline and Syllabus
Benjamin Holloway, 2015-16
[email protected]
Course Objectives: The course overview and objectives for the course are taken from
the AP English Course Description published by the College Board. In the AP English
Literature and Composition course, students will have the opportunity to read “both wide
and deep,” including poetry, fiction, and non-fiction prose from pre-sixteenth-century
epics to contemporary literature. The readings will focus primarily on British literature,
though the reading list will not strictly be limited to British authors. The Literature and
Composition course will provide students with many opportunities to
“experience…interpret…and evaluate literature.” Class discussion, small-group
discussion, individual writing—both in timed and untimed settings—and synthetic
projects allow students these opportunities.
In addition, students will create their own writing based on readings, research and
personal experience. This writing will emphasize the expository, analytical, and
argumentative forms that are most commonly used in academic and professional writing.
Students will produce a variety of writings that focus on a central idea and develop with
appropriate evidence. Unlike the English III Language and Composition course,
Literature and Composition will have a heavy emphasis on literary interpretation and
analysis. Writing components of the class will give students practice and guidance with
writing evidence-based interpretation. As students experience literature, they will also
have chances to write personal reactions and reflective pieces about the works.
In their writing, students will “demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard
written English.” Also, students will “move effectively through the stages of the writing
process” in order to revise their writing. Students will use both teacher and peers in order
to aid in revision. For example, each nine-week cycle will include at least one formal
essay that moves through the complete writing process and will involve in-class peer
review and writing conferences with the instructor. Each nine-week cycle will also
include an in-class timed essay that asks students to move quickly though the prewriting,
drafting, and revising stages.
Students will learn research skills. Specifically, students will understand how to locate,
use and cite primary and secondary sources. Unlike previous English courses, Literature
and Composition will introduce the concept of an annotated bibliography and ask
students to write precise summaries of literary criticism. Students will use the Modern
Language Association (MLA) editorial style to cite sources.
Texts: Students will use the following texts for the majority of their readings and
assignments:
 Austen, Pride and Prejudice
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Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Goia eds., Literature: an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry,
and Drama
McEwan, Atonement
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Ward, Salvage the Bones
These works can be obtained from the school, though whenever possible it is best if
students have their own copies for annotation.
Grading: Students are evaluated on their analysis of texts, original essays written both in
class and out of class, tests and quizzes that cover basic reading concepts, literary
interpretation, grammar conventions, and vocabulary. Students are also evaluated on a
number of projects and assignments that require in-depth study and evaluation of topics.
Each final grade for a nine-week grading cycle will be consist of the following elements:
 50% major writing, projects, and tests
 20% quizzes
 15% class work and homework
 15% writing process (introduction exercises, outlines, first drafts, peer editing
exercises, reflective writing)
Late major grades will have 10 points deducted for each day late, excluding excused
absences. Quizzes missed due to excused absences only may be made up outside of
class. Class work or homework late more than one day, excluding excused absences, will
not receive maximum credit.
Due to the large number of students and the number of class essays, extensive
commentary and correction will not be given on every essay. Students looking for more
feedback are welcome and encouraged to set up a writing conference with the teacher to
discuss any piece of writing. Similarly, there are opportunities for peer review beyond
what may be assigned for class—just ask. Any formal essay with a grade lower than 90
but higher than 70 may be re-written, preferably after an out-of-class revision conference
with the instructor. This is in addition to in-class conferences and group workshops that
may take place. These revised essays will receive a maximum grade of 90.
Overview: The course is organized into separate units. For each unit, students utilize a
variety of styles to create essays. Essays cover an array of subjects. Writings include both
informal topics that allow students to develop as writers and formal process pieces that go
through several stages of drafts and revision by both the teacher and peers.
Each nine weeks, students will read a variety of readings, including fiction and poetry,
that allows students to interpret and evaluate literature. Students will also read a variety
AP Literature and Composition 3
of nonfiction pieces to study how literary critics write about their own interpretation and
evaluation.
Outline
1. First unit—Introduction to Literature (approx. four weeks)
a. Topics and themes
 Social and historical context for the study of English as a separate
field of inquiry
 Interpretation and “interpretative communities”
 Review of basic annotation and composition guidelines
 Preparing for college application, especially the essay portion
 Review of summer reading assignments
b. Major readings
 Eagleton, “The Rise of English”
 Fish, “How to Recognize a Poem When You See One”
 Nussbaum, “The Literary Imagination”
 Graf, “Disliking Books at an Early Age”
c. Major writing and projects
 Choice of creative project over Pride and Prejudice that
incorporates textual evidence (written) with visual representation
and analysis
 Summer personal writing: pleasure
 Personal writing: essay from the Common Application
2. Second unit—Early British Literature (approx. six weeks)
a. Topics and themes
 British tradition and style
 Connecting expression to theme
 Connecting genre to style
 Poetic, dramatic, and narrative analysis
b. Major readings
 Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”
 Milton, from Paradise Lost
 Shakespeare, Hamlet
 “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”
c. Major writing and projects
 Formal essay over themes in Hamlet
3. Third unit—Modern British Literature (approx. seven weeks)
a. Topics and themes—Focus on short works and research
 Expressive language and style
 Development of the novel
 Women writers and feminist reading
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 Colonial legacy in literature
b. Major readings
 Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent”
 Fielding, Tom Jones (film)
 Gilbert and Gubar, “The Female Swerve”
 McEwan, Atonement
 Shaw, Pygmalion (My Fair Lady film)
 Choice of:
1. Bronte, Jane Eyre
2. Austen, Sense and Sensibility
3. Bronte, Wuthering Height
c. Major writing and projects
 Formal essay over outside film dealing with the Pygmalion myth
 Formal essay over choice of novel by a woman writer
 In-class test over Atonement
4. Fourth unit—Literary Criticism and Theory (approx. eight weeks)
a. Topics and themes
 Literary Canon
 Relationship between author, text, and reader
 Modern poetry
 Modern novel
b. Major readings
 Barthes, “Death of the Author”
 Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
 Forster, A Room with a View (film)
 Guillory, “The Canon as Cultural Capital”
 Robinson, “Treason Our Text: Feminist Challenges to the Literary
Canon”
 Selection of poems for written response and discussion
c. Major writing and projects
 Choice of creative project over As I Lay Dying that incorporates
textual evidence (written) with visual representation and analysis
 Reflective essay relating the theoretical readings to fiction or poetry
 In-class essays over previously-read texts chosen by the student
(Four Special Texts)
5. Fifth unit—Research and Preparation for the Advanced Placement exam
(approx. seven weeks)
a. Topics and themes
 Researching literary criticism over a chosen text
 Modern novels and influence
 Preparation for the AP exam
 Revision of prose
b. Major readings
 Ward, Salvage the Bones
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 Contemporary novel of the student’s choice
c. Major writing and projects
 Major research essay on critical history of a major work from a
major author (Four Special Texts), with a revision if necessary
 In-class essays over previously-read texts chosen by the student
(Four Special Texts)