AP English Literature and Composition Major British Writers Brief Description of the Course: Major British Writers is an advanced placement literature course that engages students in careful reading and analysis of literary works from a variety of genres including the novel, short story, poetry, and drama. While the foundation of the course is literature, students will also read a number of critical essays and respond and interact to those critics while forming their own responses to the major works. Thoughtful analyses as well as convincing arguments about the readings are also an emphasis of the course. This course is built around but not limited to works of British authors and features literature ranging from the 16th to the modern day. Through the study of major works as well as extensive poetry and short story readings, the students will read and analyze works from both British and American writers, as well as some world literature. The course is designed to comply with the curricular requirements described in the AP English Course Description. Course Level Essential Questions: • Why do we continue to read these particular texts? What is their value? What enduring themes exist? • How does literature help us understand what it means to be human? • How does the language of rhetoric impact meaning? • What similarities, contrasts, and parallels do we see between texts? • What is required of a successful college-­‐level essay? How can I effectively incorporate clear arguments, transitions, purposeful tone, sentence variety, sound grammar, and appropriate diction to my writing? • What does scholarly research look like and how do I find reliable sources of criticism? Unit 1: Analyzing Fiction and Poetry The Romantic period and Gothic tradition provide such a rich tradition of high interest works and a genre that continues strongly into the modern media. In the opening unit of the course it provides an opportunity for students to practice close reading with classic novel, short stories, and poems. Students are introduced to fundamental strategies for analysis of literary works, and we begin a building of language and skills they will use throughout the semester. In poetry we will pull from the works of Professor Michael Theune’s Structure and Surprise, where the turn, or volta, is a critical element in explication and determining a poem’s intention, direction, and meaning. Sometimes the poetry will match thematically in units but often the intention is to have the students work with a variety of structures, genres, and time periods from various poets. Students are also introduced to timed in-­‐class writing assignments. We will examine model student essays in class and analyze them for effective use of diction and syntax, appropriate vocabulary, grammatical conventions, appropriate tone and voice in addressing the audience, and use of specific illustrative textual detail. Fiction: Frankenstein, Mary Shelley Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe Excerpts from Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen “One of These Days,” Gabriel Garcia Marquez Poetry: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge “Sonnet 130,” William Shakespeare “Duck/Rabbit,” Billy Collins “Considering the Accordion,” Al Zolynas “To His Coy Mistress,” Andrew Marvell Non-­‐Fiction and Literary Criticism: “Frankenstein’s Fallen Angel,” Joyce Carol Oates “Frankenstein, Invisibility, and Nameless Dread,” Lee Zimmerman “’Passages’ in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Toward a Feminist Figure of Humanity?” Cynthia Pon “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” Oscar Wilde Essential Questions: • What is genre? • What defines some of the major trends in British Literature? • What does it mean to read poetry well? • Why is poetry important? Content or Skills Taught: 1. Close reading of prose and poetry 2. Characterization through metaphor and symbol 3. Comparison/Contrast essay organization 4. Analysis of the interplay between theme and structure Assignments or Assessments: 1. Reading quizzes 2. Vocab quizzes 3. Timed poetry explication 4. Character profiles of two protagonists from the texts 5. AP-­‐Style essay Unit 2: Women in 19th Century Literature: Jane Austen and Emily Bronte The classic and contemporary works of British literature are rife with social class issues – whether issues of socio-­‐economic mobility, servitude, gender, or rank. Women writers of the 19th century are a clear example of social expectation and sexism, for they often felt they could not publish their works openly. George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) and George Sand (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin) used pseudonyms, and Jane Austen’s works were published anonymously. Working with Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights provides the students with the opportunity to work with enduring themes of love at its most uplifting and affirming, and also at its most destructive. Analyzing the works of Austen and Bronte within the context of when they were written and how characters and slices of society are portrayed also provide a window into social issues of the 19th century, especially in conjunction with our non-­‐fiction readings. Students will continue to work with timed writing and review the AP rubric for the essay portion of the exam. We analyze model student essays provided by AP. Students work on incorporating textual evidence to develop their interpretations. Fiction: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë “Babylon Revisited,” F. Scott Fitzgerald “A & P,” John Updike Poetry: “Promises like Pie-­‐Crust,” Christina Georgina Rossetti “Slam, Dunk, & Hook,” Yusef Komunyakaa “Shaker Show,” Charles Bernstein “you fit into me” Margaret Atwood Excerpts from Don Juan, Lord Byron “The Most of It,” Robert Frost “ohio,” m loncar Non-­‐Fiction and Literary Criticism: “Women’s Brains,” Stephen Jay Gould “No Name Woman,” Maxine Hong Kingston “The Men We Carry in Our Minds,” Scott Russell Sanders “Pride and Prejudice – and Politics,” Paula Byrne “Reading Jane Austen as a Moral Philosopher,” Thomas Rodham “Turkeys in the Kitchen,” Dave Barry Essential Questions: •
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Can love be earned? How does a work’s social, cultural, and historical values reflect the author and its audience? What challenges faced women authors of the 19th century? Content or Skills Taught: 1. The use of irony as a rhetorical device in prose and poetry 2. Development of tone through diction and syntax 3. The stylistic use and violation of grammar conventions Major Assignments or Assessments: 1. Reading quizzes 2. Vocab Quizzes 3. Times analysis of prose passage from Pride and Prejudice 4. Characterization presentations on Pride and Prejudice 5. Analytical essay Unit 3: Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s Comedies This unit is a natural extension of the first – we take what we learn and discuss from the works of Austen and Bronte and draw connections to Elizabethan comedy. Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing are an opportunity for the students to finally experience some of Shakespeare’s comedies – in their previous three years they are most likely to have encountered Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and MacBeth. These two comedies, like The Taming of the Shrew and others, revolve strongly around themes of femininity, masculinity, and crossing the lines between both. In Pride and Prejudice the students explore Austen’s talent for characterization, and Shakespeare provides a natural follow-­‐up in that aspect of close reading. Pride and Prejudice also introduces concepts of social mobility as characters such as Mr. Bingley and Mr. Gardiner have to contend with prejudice because of their merchant backgrounds, regardless of their personal character. Twelfth Night is a natural extension of this idea of social mobility as Malvolio is swatted down for his efforts to woo Olivia. Fiction: Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poetry: “The Chambered Nautilus,” Oliver Wendell Holmes “Design,” Robert Frost “Prayer,” Jorie Graham “Musée des Beaux Arts,” W. H. Auden “There’s a certain Slant of light,” Emily Dickenson “The Fish,” Elizabeth Bishop “To a Waterfowl,” William Cullen Bryant Non-­‐Fiction and Literary Criticism: “Professions For Women,” Virginia Woolf “Being a Man,” Paul Theroux “Broken Nuptials in Shakespeare’s Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing,” Carol Thomas Neely “When In Doubt, It’s From Shakespeare…,” Thomas C. Foster “The Ways We Lie,” Stephanie Ericsson Essential Questions: • Why have Shakespeare’s writings endured? • How is Shakespeare’s audience and social clime reflected in the works? • What forms the line between positive and negative uses of deceit? Content or Skills Taught: 1. The nature of Comedy and Tragedy 2. Serious subjects within comedy 3. Use of figurative language in prose and verse Major Assignments or Assessments: 1. Reading Quizzes 2. Vocab Quizzes 3. Dialectical journals for each act 4. Timed in class analytical essay Unit 4: The Working Class in Literature Having looked at gender and social class issues in British Literature from the authors’ perspective as well as in the fiction itself, this unit is a natural follow up as it explores the socio-­‐
economic aspect of the working class vs. the gentry. Hard Times is rife with satire of utilitarianism, materialism, and class distinctions. It’s an opportunity for students to explore the mechanization of humans as well as pry apart the prose for Dickens’ biting humor. The Jungle offers a variation on the theme -­‐ from the American perspective as opposed to the British -­‐ as the family unit is under siege by the realities of stockyards and the poor working class’ plight in pursuit of the alleged American Dream. Fiction: Hard Times, Charles Dickens The Jungle, Upton Sinclair Poetry: “Buying,” Jean Follain “Daddy,” Sylvia Plath “This Much I Do Remember,” Billy Collins “The Circus Animals’ Desertion,” William Butler Yeats “Her Door,” Mary Leader Non-­‐Fiction and Literary Criticism: “My Grandfather’s Tackle Box: The Limits of Memory-­‐Driven Poetry,” Billy Collins “The New Community,” Amitai Etzioni “All Happy Clans are Alike: In Search of the Good Family,” Jane Howard “Introduction to Charles Dickens,” Harold Bloom “Graduation,” Maya Angelou “On Dumpster Diving,” Lars Eighner “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs,” Stephen Jay Gould Essential Questions: • How does social class shape our view of the world? • How does industry, technology, and efficiency impact the role of the family? • Does education dictate a society’s values or reflect them? Content or Skills Taught: 1. The use of humor, hyperbole and sarcasm in serious subject matter 2. The use of juxtaposition as a rhetorical device 3. Non-­‐fiction prose narrative forms 4. Use of figurative language in non-­‐fiction prose Major Assignments or Assessments: 1. Reading quizzes 2. Vocab quizzes 3. Timed essay on The Jungle 4. Analytical essay Unit 5: Depictions of the American Experience in Europe Students majoring in English in the United States spend a significant amount of time studying American and English literature, and in Henry James those two worlds clash. Daisy Miller provides an opportunity for the students to explore James’ interest in the American expatriate – Daisy shows a remarkable lack of culture compared to the “Old World” of Europe but also a sense of innocence. In The Sun Also Rises the students have an opportunity to experience a voice so clearly different from our earlier readings – not only in language but also theme and characterization. It offers another perspective on the American expatriate experience as well as an echo of our earlier discussions of masculinity and femininity with the characters of Jake and Lady Brett Ashley. Fiction: Daisy Miller, Henry James The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway “The Use of Force,” William Carlos Williams “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor Poetry: “Funeral Blues,” W. H. Auden “the rites for Cousin Vit,” Gwendolyn Brooks “Emmett Till,” James Emanuel “A Dog Has Died,” Pablo Neruda “At Melville’s Tomb,” Hart Crane Non-­‐Fiction and Literary Criticism: “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa “The Way to Rainy Mountain,” N. Scott Momaday “Two Ways to Belong in America,” Bharati Mukherjee Essential Questions: • How do Hemingway and James differ in their views of the American experience in Europe? • How do different societies define gender roles? What is the importance of breaking them? Content or Skills Taught: 1. Close analytical reading focusing upon irony and allusion 2. Reading for cultural context 3. The importance of plot and structure in the novel Major Assignments or Assessments: 1. Reading Quizzes 2. Vocab Quizzes 3. Essays on Poetry Unit 6: The Remains of the Day After reading several classic novels and plays Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day provides an opportunity for a more contemporary voice and perspective on British relationships and social hierarchies of the 20th century. Themes of dignity, loyalty, love and social restraints of the servant class continue several discussions first broached earlier in the year as we wrap up our studies and prepare for the AP exam in the spring. Fiction: The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro “The Lady with the Little Dog,” Anton Chekhov Poetry: “Substance, Shadow, and Spirit,” T’ao Ch’ien “Duplicity,” William Bronk “Sonnet XXX,” Edna St. Vincent Millay “Santarém,” Eliabeth Bishop “To Be Superior,” D. H. Lawrence “A Dialogue Between the Soul and Body,” Andrew Marvell “Bouquet of Roses in Sunlight,” Wallace Stevens “Picnic Remembered,” Robert Penn Warren Non-­‐Fiction and Literary Criticism: “Why Don’t We Complain?” William F. Buckley, Jr. “The Ends of the World as We Know Them,” Jared Diamond “Regarding the Pain of Others,” Susan Sontag Essential Questions: • What are the costs of and benefits of loyalty? • Does loyalty endure questioning? • When is sacrifice admirable? When does it go too far? Content or Skills Taught: 1. Setting and plot as symbolic representations of thought. 2. Rhetorical strategies of storytelling 3. Use of flashback for structure in the story Major Assignments or Assessments: 1. Reading Quizzes 2. Out of class analytical essay addressing themes in The Remains of the Day using at least one critical resource for support. Final Exam The Final Exam for both semesters will be a mock AP Literature Exam