AP Literature and Composition

A Short Introduction

Free-write on the Following:

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but rather those who cannot learn, relearn, and unlearn.”

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Tips for Reading Literature

When examining literature keep in mind these important questions:

What is the author saying? Why is he/she saying this? How is he/she conveying the message?

In Other Words: Meaning/Theme Purpose Literary elements/techniques

Most Importantly: How do I feel about this piece of literature? How can it relate to me or the world around

me? Why do we study it?

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends upon

a red wheelbarrow

glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens.

In a Station of the Metro

THE apparition of these faces in the crowd;  Petals on a wet, black bough.

Free-Write “Unbeing dead isn’t being alive.” -E.E.Cummings

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

-George Bernard Shaw

Free-Write “Do not go where the path may lead, go

instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Live to the point of tears.” Albert Camus

Free-Write “This is the way the world ends, not with a

bang but with a whimper.” -T.S.Eliot

Free-Write/Brainstorm

Loneliness

Chiaroscuro Light verses Darkness Security/Camaraderie/Meaning VS. Terror/Alienation/Void Apollonian and the Dionysian when discussing characters.

“ A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Ernest Hemingway

“Life is under no obligation to give us what we expect.”

-Soren Kierkegaard

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” -Ernest Hemingway

Free-Write on the topic/topics of your choice.

“Resist much, obey little.” -Walt Whitman

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”

-William Styron