Pre-Course Reading AP Literature
2017-2018
The summer reading for AP English consists of three parts. You should complete each part.
I.
II.
III.
Poetry preparation
All Students will read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Read a selection from the Most Frequently Cited Book List
I. Poetry
The poems listed below are ones which are referenced frequently in our discussion of poetry. If you have not read
them, you should. You will be expected to know these poems and be able to discuss them.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Robert Browning
Edgar Allan Poe
Walt Whitman
A.E. Housman
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
“My Last Duchess”
“The Raven”
“Oh Captain, My Captain”
“To an Athlete Dying Young”
“The Lady of Shalott”
II. Read and annotate Frankenstein
Be sure to mark elements in the book that contribute to the meaning of the work. Look for recurring ideas, symbols
and any other literary devices that are significant.
III. Most Frequently Cited Books on the AP Lit. Exam
Choose one of the works listed below. Choose wisely; you will be working with this novel for the entire
semester. Note: You must have the entire novel read by the first week of school. We will also write and do
research on this text. Be sure to annotate as you read the text.
Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice
Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre
Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights
Charles Dickens
Great Expectations
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment
Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man
Herman Melville
Moby Dick
Alan Paton
Cry, the Beloved Country
John Steinbeck
East of Eden
Richard Wright
Native Son (abridged edition; original 1940 text)
If you have questions e-mail: [email protected]