AP LITERATURE
Ms. Madsen <|||||> Summer 2016
AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION COURSE DESCRIPTION
An AP English Literature and Composition course engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature.
Through the close reading of selected texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning
and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style and themes, as well as such smaller-scale elements as
the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism and tone
READING
Reading in an AP course is both wide
builds upon and complements the
courses so that by the time students
have read works from several genres
21st century. More importantly, they
well. In the course, they read
time to understand a work’s complexity,
to analyze how that meaning is
to considering a work’s literary artistry,
historical values it reflects and
textual detail and historical context
interpretation, whatever critical
literary works studied.
and deep. This reading necessarily
reading done in previous English
complete their AP course, they will
and periods — from the 16th to the
will have gotten to know a few works
deliberately and thoroughly, taking
to absorb its richness of meaning, and
embodied in literary form. In addition
students reflect on the social and
embodies. Careful attention to both
provides a foundation for
perspectives are brought to bear on the
In short, students read actively. The
careful, deliberative reading. And the
the material involves students in
observations of textual detail, establish
and draw from those connections a
interpretive conclusion about the
writing.
works taught in the course require
approach to analyzing and interpreting
learning how to make careful
connections among their observations,
series of inferences leading to an
meaning and value of a piece of
WRITING
Writing is an integral part of the AP English Literature and Composition course and exam. Writing assignments focus on the critical
analysis of literature and include expository, analytical and argumentative essays. Although critical analysis makes up the bulk of student
writing for the course, well-constructed creative writing assignments may help students see from the inside how literature is written. Such
experiences sharpen their understanding of what writers have accomplished and deepen their appreciation of literary artistry. The goal of
both types of writing assignments is to increase students’ ability to explain clearly, cogently, even elegantly, what they understand about
literary works and why they interpret them as they do.
To that end, writing instruction includes attention to developing and organizing ideas in clear, coherent and persuasive language. It includes
study of the elements of style, as well as attends to matters of precision and correctness.
READ THE ASSIGNED TEXTS AND COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING ASSIGNMENTS
1. MASTER HAROLD AND THE BOYS: A DRAMA BY ATHOL FUGARD
A white teen who has grown up in the affectionate company of the two black waiters who work in his mother's tea room in
Port Elizabeth learns that his viciously racist alcoholic father is on his way home from the hospital. An ensuing rage
unwittingly triggers his inevitable passage into the culture of hatred fostered by apartheid in South Africa. As you read, pay
close attention to stage directions and setting - in other words, everything in parentheses and italics is critical to a thorough
understanding of the play. Even better, get together with some peers and read it aloud before tackling the assignment on your
own.
AP LITERATURE
Ms. Madsen <|||||> Summer 2016
2. ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND BY LEWIS CARROLL
This well-known story marks the beginning of perhaps the greatest, possibly most influential, and certainly the most
world-famous Victorian English fiction, a book that hovers between a nonsense tale and an elaborate in-joke. Just
three years after its conception, extended, revised, and retitled Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, now credited to a
pseudonymous Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (its popular title) was about to become the publishing sensation
of Christmas 1865. It is said that among the first avid readers of Alice were Queen Victoria and the young Oscar
Wilde. A second volume about Alice (Through the Looking-Glass) followed in 1871. Together these two short books
(Wonderland is barely 28,000 words long) became two of the most quoted and best-loved volumes in the English
canon. (The Guardian)
●
1ST READING ASSIGNMENT: ANNOTATE NOVEL AND PLAY (IF YOU OWN YOUR OWN BOOK) OR KEEP A DOUBLE-COLUMN
JOURNAL
Annotating requires a close reading of the text. Employ close reading strategies as you read and be ready to discuss both
texts when we return to school in the fall.
●
2ND READING ASSIGNMENT: THEME MAP (NOTE: CHOOSE EITHER THIS ONE OR #3 – DO NOT DO BOTH)
Choose a major theme explored in either the novel or the play, and locate 6 direct quotes that show development of that theme.
Create a map identifying the theme in the center with eight quotes linked in a circle around it (include page numbers). Take
creative license in enhancing your map with symbols, images, and illustrations that reflect powerful moments in the text and
support your theme. Must be hand drawn - not computer generated.
●
3RD READING ASSIGNMENT: PECHA KUCHA PRESENTATION
For the text not utilized in the 2nd Reading Assignment, create a Pecha Kucha presentation: 20 slides on display for 20 seconds
each. Visit their official website and / or take a look at avoision.com/pechakucha for ideas. The goal is to identify themes in the
text and link them to contemporary issues (social, political, or philosophical) found in the world today; i.e., political power
struggles found in Alice, or race issues found in Master Harold.
●
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT: 1 ONE-PAGER PER BOOK. DUE FRIDAY, AUGUST 21 AT NOON.
Directions: Chose from the text what you believe to be an important theme quotation and type it at the top of the page (include
page number). Do not pick the book for which you did the second reading assignment (the theme map)
Write a one-page paper that unpacks what the quote means, how it enhances meaning and understanding, and how it
relates to the world. Do not use a quote already included in the theme map.
Specifications: Times New Roman, size 12 font, 1.5 spacing, one-inch margins. Do not include a heading, just student
name. If you need more room, you may single space, but you may NOT go on to the second page.
The written assignment must be emailed as an attachment to [email protected] by
Friday, August 21 at noon. The rest are due the day we return to school, Wednesday, 9/2.
3. AIMLESS LOVE BY BILLY COLLINS
“It’s hard to trust a poet who isn’t, at least on occasion, a little bit funny. There’s as much humor in life as there is chaos
and pain, and you expect some of it to seep to the surface as it does in many of the most sophisticated and (why not use
the word?) “serious” 20th-century poets – not just Larkin, but Roethke, Merrill, Wilbur and Auden (Critic Drew Garner,
New York Times).
From the two-term Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins come his first compilation of new and selected poems
in twelve years. Aimless Love combines more than fifty new poems with selections from four previous books – Nine Horses
The Trouble with Poetry, Ballistics, and Horoscopes for the Dead. By turns playful, ironic, and serious, Collins’
poetry captures the nuances of everyday life while leading the reader into zones of inspired wonder. Touching on the themes of
love, loss, joy, and poetry itself, these poems showcase the best work of this “poet of plenitude, irony, and Augustan grace”
(The New Yorker).
AP LITERATURE
Ms. Madsen <|||||> Summer 2016
Simply read – and enjoy. Read a minimum two sections of poems (from his older works) and the section: New Poems. Keep a
running list of poems that you really like.
4. READ ONE BOOK FROM THE SCHOOL-WIDE SUMMER READING LIST