Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Course Description
AP 12 students will be confronted with a rigorous schedule of reading, interpreting, discussing and writing about collegelevel literature. Throughout the course students will be invited to share insights and interpretations with fellow classmates during large and small group discussion. Students should be able to demonstrate familiarity with the literature and a growing facility with literature analysis.
In accordance with the AP Course Description, the complex goal of the course is to • help students grow in their knowledge and love of literature and their regard for the people who create it;• teach them to read, write and discuss works within and without the evolving literary canon with precision,
sensitivity, energy and imagination;• recognize the imaginative linkages that words can provide between human beings across oceans or centuries even
as they attempt to understand the distinctive and sometimes divisive cultural contexts that inspired or shaped the texts presented;
• encourage them to develop a deep and abiding resonance with some literary texts; • help students discover pattern and purpose in individual texts and respond to the themes;• allow them to shape their own values and preferences with respect to both the style and substance of others; and• Prepare them for a lifetime of observations and ideas. Because the class will function as a community of learners, if students are committed to the work as well as to listening to and learning from each other, this class will ultimately become one in which all are teachers and students. We will learn from each other, read writing aloud, and work collaboratively on revisions.
In conference with students, two individualized focus correction areas are determined. One of these FCAs will entail working on mechanical problems in the writing, while the other will is geared toward substance, readability and organization. Students meet with teacher by appointment before and after school, and at lunchtime for conferences. As weaknesses are eliminated, new foci are developed.
As students are invited to participate in AP English Literature, it is assumed that they successfully completed the 911 sequence in which the writing of Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, Arthur Miller, Ernest Hemmingway, Pat Frank, Elie Weisel, Homer and Halse Anderson were read and analyzed.
Grading Policy Grading Scale
Category Percent of Quarter Grade
Formal Papers 50 % Timed In-class
writes25 %
Daily and class work
15 %
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Participation 5 %
Final exam 20 % of semester grade
Score Letter Grade
90-100 A80-89 B70-79 C60-69 D
Below 60 FAILING
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Course Plan and Pacing Guide
SummerJuly & August: Summer Reading and Responding: The Life of Pi by Yann MartelStudents will read independently and use Blackboard to communicate with instructor and each other as they read and respond to the novel. In addition to responding to weekly questions, students are asked use a list of questions to stimulate discussion on Blackboard. Weekly questions follow:
Question 1July 913 Pages 140 Chapters 19The narrator opens this story with an extensive discussion of the morality of zoos. How does his position differ from what you may consider to be politically correct? Is his argument good? Does he discuss the position of those who are not in favor of zoos? Qualify the author’s argument for the defense of zoos. Also, how has anthropomorphism caused problems for modern day zookeepers?
Question 2July 1620 Pages 4080 Chapters 1030What comfort does Piscine find from each of the religions individually, Islam, Christianity, and Hindu?
Question 3July 2327 Pages 80119 Chapters 3144Page 118. “Darkness came. There was no moon. Clouds hid the stars.” How does syntax here help to establish the mood.
Question 4July 30August 3 Pages 119161 Chapters 4555Page 151. The paragraph that begins, “I wish …” presents an incredibly fearful scene. Pi, afraid for his life, describes the elegance of the tiger. Discuss the author’s ability to create this unusual scene. How does he do it and yet keep the tension?
Question 5August 610 Pages 161200 Chapters 5669In Chapter 63, Pi discusses the problem of timekeeping as a castaway. Then, in Chapter 64, paragraph 1, the third sentence he casually states, “For months I lived stark naked….” What effect does this have so soon after the statement of the timelessness? Why say “months” when he clearly has disassociated himself with time? How does the notion of timeless existence connect with this spiritual side?
Question 6August 13 16 Pages 200240 Chapters 7089In relation to the thunderstorm and their individual reactions, what’s the irony in chapter 85?
Question 7August 2023 Pages 240283 Chapters 9092At what point in Chapter 92 did you begin to question the narrator’s experiences as real? Were there any other instances before this which raised your awareness?
Question 8August 2730 Pages 283319 Chapters 93100
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Pi’s story from pages 303311 is a disturbing, traumatic account of a violent journey with human characters taking the place of animals. Discuss the author’s spiritual growth in relation to his “possibly” fabricated story. What does the author want you to believe?
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Fall Semester
Week 1: Course Overview & Brushing Off the Cobwebs Jigsaw chapters of How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster Understand and then apply principles to Life of Pi
AP EXPERIENCE: INCLASS TIMED WRITE on APstyle promptEvaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Week 23: Elements of Fiction, Plot, Structure and Characterization: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
The Destructors, Graham Greeno What is the central conflict? o What motivates the plot? o How does organization highlight the plot and conflict?
How I Met My Husband, Alice Munroo How is the arrangement of the plot elements effective? o Discuss the effectiveness of the surprise ending.
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahirio How does the plot help illuminate the differing cultural viewpoints of Mr. and Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi?
Everyday Use, Alice Walkero Characterize the speaker and her reliability as a reporter and interpreter of events. o What details in the story prepare for and foreshadow mother's refusal to let Dee have the quilt?
Hunters in the Snow, Tobias Wolffo How do dialogue and actions help develop character? o How does characterization combine with plot to increase the element of surprise?
AP EXPERIENCE: TIMED (out of class) WRITE: Using stories we've read, discuss how the violation of narrative chronology contributes to suspense, mystery, surprise and conflict.Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.AP EXPERIENCE: TIMED (out of class) WRITE: Using the three criteria for developing convincing characters, write an essay in which you determine whether a character we've encountered is convincing.Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Week 4: Elements of Fiction, Theme: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
The Lesson, Toni Cade Bambarao What is the theme? o Does the theme reinforce or oppose popular notions of life?
Eveline, James Joyce o Does it furnish a new insight or refresh or deepen an old one?o Joyce said his Dublin stories dealt with the “spiritual paralysis” of its citizens. What evidence in this story supports that idea
as a major theme?AP EXPERIENCE: TIMED WRITE: (1972 AP LIT TEST)
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Write an essay in which you explain how the author prepares his reader for Eveline’s final inability or unwillingness to sail to South America with Frank. Consider at least two elements of fiction such as theme, symbol, setting, image, characterization or any other aspect of the narrative artist’s craft.Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Once Upon a Time, Nadine Gordimer o What is the theme? o How does the last paragraph help elucidate the theme?o Does the theme reinforce or oppose popular notions of life? o Does it furnish a new insight or refresh or deepen an old one?
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Week 5: Elements of Fiction, Point of View: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
Paul’s Case, by Willa Cather o Locate the shift in point of view and explain the purpose of the shift. o Does it provide a clue as to the purpose of the story?o How does Calvinism figure into the story?
A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner o Who is the narrator?o Establish a clear chronology for the events in Emily’s life.o How is point of view related to plot structure?
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, Katherine Anne Porter o Why is stream of consciousness appropriate for this story? o Can you make a case for two ‘jiltings’?
Week 6: Elements of Fiction, Symbol, Allegory, Fantasy: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez o What is the allegorical meaning of Marquez’ tale?o What allegorical meanings are given to the poor woman? The Portuguese man? The noise of the stars? The angel? The
house, chicken coop and Pelayo and Elisenda? The wings? The hens? The cripples? The merciful? o Is there religious significance to the old man’s wings?o Is this a “tale for children” as Marquez wrote? Could it be?o At what point did you become aware that the story included fantasy?
Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne o What is the point of view? Where does it change? What is the purpose of the change? o What allegorical meanings are given to Goodman Brown: His wife? The forest? Night? The journey?
The Lottery, Shirley Jackson o Identify symbols. o Combined, do the symbols take the story to an allegorical level?
AP EXPERIENCE: TIMED (out of class) WRITE: The Lottery must obviously be interpreted symbolically or allegorically. How far is the meaning of its symbols fixed How far open to various interpretations? What specific interpretations can you suggest?Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Week 7: Elements of Fiction, Irony: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
The Guest, Albert Camus o In what respect is the title ironic? What are other title possibilities…how would changing the title impact meaning?o Does it shift? Where? What is is the purpose of the shift? o Does it furnish a new insight or refresh or deepen an old one?
The Drunkard, Frank O’Connor o What is the principle irony in the story? o What function does it serve?
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Weeks 78: Elements of Fiction, Evaluating Fiction: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
A Municipal Report, O. Henry A Jury of Her Peers, Susan Glaspell
PAPER, LITERARY ANALYSIS: The two stories have a number of plot features in common; in purpose, however, they are quite different. One attempts to reveal certain truths about aspects of human life and succeeds in doing so. The other attempts to do little more than entertain the reader, and, in achieving this end, it falsifies human life. Which story is which? Support your decision by making a thorough analysis of both.Evaluation: Teacher created rubric with individualized focus correction areas.
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Week 912: The Novella: Heart of Darkness, Joseph ConradAs they read, students will track motifs (light, dark, heart, Kurtz as voice, etc.) and document instances of British exploitation of Africa and Africans and the use of Africa’s resources to strengthen and enrich Britian. HOD is assigned, read, and discussed in three segments.
In Part One (pages 1746) we will discuss the use of imagery, assonance, foreshadowing, symbolism, Biblical allusions, the juxtaposition of Kurtz and the sick man, juxtaposition of Brussels and the African village, the characterization of Kurtz and the social and historical implications or Britain’s colonialization of Africa.
IN CLASS QUICK WRITE: Discuss Conrad’s assertion that “strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others” (21) as it relates to English colonialism.Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
IN CLASS QUICK WRITE: Discuss Marlow’s rationale for his attitude toward the pilgrims.Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
In Part Two (pages 4671) we will continue to discuss diction and imagery in the introduction of Kurtz, animal imagery, tone, irony and the social and historical implications or Britain’s colonialization of Africa.
IN CLASS QUICK WRITE: Discuss the methods used to convey tone in the passage on pages 4950 “going up that river…..half a crown a tumble”Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
IN CLASS QUICK WRITE: Analyze the use of syntax to establish mood in Conrad’s description of the attack (6061).Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
IN CLASS WRITE: Contrast Achebe’s portrayal of natives to Contrad’s (5052 and 56, 589) Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
In Part Three (pages 7195) we will continue to discuss imagery, motifs, frame narration and the social and historical implications or Britain’s colonialization of Africa.
IN CLASS WRITE: How are the images of nightmare/shadow/darkness (85 87) significant?Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
IN CLASS WRITE:Explain how the images of the last paragraph (945) summarize the ideas presented throughout the story.Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
After reading and discussing the novella, the class will respond to the following AP prompts. Two will be done in class and a third will be done as an analytical paper.
AP EXPERIENCE: AP PROMPT (1996): The British novelist Fay Weldon offers this observation about happy endings: "The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending,
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
I do not mean mere fortunate eventsa marriage or a lastminute rescue from deathbut some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death." In a wellwritten essay, identify the "spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation" evident in the ending of Heart of Darkness and explain its significance in the work as a whole. Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
AP EXPERIENCE: AP PROMPT (2000): Many works of literature not readily identified with the mystery or detective story genre nonetheless involve the investigation of a mystery. In these works, the solution to the mystery may be less important than the knowledge gained in the process of its investigation. Write an essay in which you identify the mystery and explain how the investigation illuminates the meaning of Heart of Darkness as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
AP EXPERIENCE: AP PROMPT (2001): One definition of madness is "mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it." But Emily Dickinson wroteMuch madness is divinest SenseTo a discerning EyeNovelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a "discerning Eye." In Heart of Darkness a character's apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Write a wellorganized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the "madness" to the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Week 1315: The Novel: Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
Read Article : Achebe comments on Conrad in Saturday February 22, 2003 The Guardian Out of Africa and From Chinua Achebe’s “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’” Published June 7th, 2006 in Uncategorized.
IN CLASS WRITE: Contrast Achebe’s portrayal of natives to Contrad’s (5052 and 56, 589)
PAPER, LITERARY ANALYSIS: Read the quotation of literary critic, Mikhail Bakhtin below, and consider for what different purpose(s) Achebe has “appropriated” the white man’s education, language, and literary formss in order to make them his “own.”
Language, for the individual consciousness, lies on the borderline between oneself and the other. The word in language is half someone else’s. It becomes “one’s own” only when the speaker populates it with his own intentio, his own accent, when he appropriates the word, adapting it to his own semantic and expressive intention. Prior to this moment of appropriation, the word does not exist in a neutral and impersonal language (it is not, after all, out of a dictionary that the speaker gets his words!), but rather it exists in other peopl’s mouths, in other people’s contest, serving other people’s intentions: it is from threre that one must take the work, and make it one’s own.
Evaluation: Teachercreated rubric with individualized focus correction areas.
After reading Things Fall Apart , students will choose one of the APStyle prompts below and complete an inclass essay. These will be collected.
Evaluation: The next day students will be grouped by topic and will use a AP essay evaluation checklist to evaluate the writing of their peers. Each essay will be evaluated by two readers.
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Morally ambiguous characters—characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good—are at the heart of may works of literature. In Things Fall Apart identify a morally ambiguous character who plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid plot summary.
OR
How is the title of Things Fall Apart significant? Show how the meaning of the title is revealed implicitly through the author’s use of such devices as contrast, repetition, and allusion.
OR
Why is Things Fall Apart considered a seminal test for postcolonial literature?
PAPER, LITERARY ANALYSIS: In both Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness identify, then cite a passage which you feel most closely embodies or best represents the theme. Explain your coice and support it with evidence from each work. Evaluation: Teacher created rubric with individualized focus correction areas.
OrDoes Achebe’s novel succeed in portraying an Africa which is contrary to the one portrayed in Conrad’s novella? Give examples from both texts to support your view.
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Week 16: Elements of Poetry, What is Poetry? & Reading the Poem: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
o Active reading, bringing experience and knowledge, avoiding misconceptions, meant to be heard, concerned with experience, reading beyond mere understanding: involve senses imagination and emotions
o Reading more than once, use a dicitionary, observe line ends, learn to paraphrase, speaker and occasion, central purposeWinter, William ShakespeareSpring, William ShakespeareDulce et Deccorum Est, Wilfred Owen The Whipping, Robert HaydenBallad of Birmingham, Dudley RandallKitchenette Burning, Gwendolyn BrooksTerrence, This is Stupid Stuff, A.E. HousmanArs Poetica, Archibald MacLeishSuicide’s Note, Langston Hughes
The Man He Killed, Thomas HardyA Study of Reading Habits, Philip LarkinBreak of Day, John DonneMirror, Sylvia PlathDiscovery of the New World, Carter RevardThere’s Been a Death in the Opposite House, Emily
DickensonHow Many Times These Low Feet Staggered, Emily
Dickenson
Week 17: Elements of Poetry, Denotation and Connotation & Imagery: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
AP EXPERIENCE: INCLASS TIMED WRITE: AP Prompt: The Convergence of the Twain o Multiple meanings of words bring layers of meaning, diction is a choice, word associationso Auditory, olfactory, visual, gustatory, tactile, organic and kinesthetico Used to convey meaning and emotionThere is no Frigate Like a Book, Emily DickensonPathedy of Manners, Ellen KayOn My First Son, Ben JohnsonNaming of Parts, Henry ReedCross, Langston HughesThe World is too much with us, William WordsworthDesert Places, Robert FrostA Hymn to God the Father, John Donne
Meeting at Night, Robert BrowningParting at Morning, Robert BrowningThe Widow’s Lament in Springtime, William Carlos WilliamsThe Convergence of the Twain, Thomas HardyThe Forge, Seamus HeaneyAfter Apple Picking, Robert FrostThose Winter Sundays, RobertHaydenThe Reapers, Jean Toomer
Week 18: Elements of Poetry, Figurative Language: Simile, Metaphor, Personification Apostrophe, Metonymy: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
o Figures of speech, named and implied metaphors, synecdoche, metonymy,The Guitarist Tunes Up, Frances CornfordThe Hound, Robert FrancisBereft, Robert FrostIt sifts from Leaden Sieves, Emily DickensonMind, Richard Wilbur
Metaphors, Sylvia PlathPink Dog, Elizabeth BishopA Valediction Forbidding Mourning, John DonneTo His Coy Mistress, Andrew MarvellDream Deferred, Langston Hughes
AP EXPERIENCE: AP Multiple Choice Test: A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
Week 19: Elements of Poetry, Figurative Language: Symbol and Allegory: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
o More than what it is, richest and most difficult of figures, defines an area of meaning, ulterior meaningsA Noiseless Patient Spider, Walt WhitmanThe Sick Rose, William BlakeDigging, Seamus HeaneyTo the Virgins to Make Much of Time, Robert HerrickRedemption, George Herbert
Fire and Ice, Robert FrostCuriosity, Alistair ReidUlysses, Alfred, Lord TennysonThe Writer, Richard WilburHymn to God, My God, In My Sickness, John Donne
AP EXPERIENCE: TIMED INCLASS WRITE : Compare tone in Ulysses and Curiosity.Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Week 20: Elements of Poetry, Figurative Language: Paradox, Overstatement [Hyperbole], Understatement, Irony: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Senseo Apparent contradiction which is somehow true, hyperbole =exaggeration, minimizing realityo verbal=opposite of what is said, sarcasm, beware of misreading ironyo dramatic=discrepancy between what is said and what poem meanso situational irony = discrepancy between actual and anticipate circumstances
Incident, Countee CullenNew England, Edwin Arlington RobinsonBarbie Doll, Marge PiercyThe Chimney Sweeper, William BlakeOzymandias, Percy Bysshe ShelleyBatter My Heart, ThreePersoned God, John DonneSorting Laundry, Elisavietta Ritchie
Unknown Citizen, W.H. AudenDepartmental, Robert FrostAPO 96225, Larry RottmannIn the inner city, Lucille, CliftonMr. Z, M. Carl HolmanMy Last Duchess, Robert Browning
AP EXPERIENCE: TIMED INCLASS WRITE : Using irony to convey tone in My Last DuchessEvaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Week 21: Elements of Poetry, Allusion: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Senseo Danger of misunderstanding, as many interpretations as there are readers,o depth and richness of reading pays off
“Out, Out—“, Robert FrostIn Just, e.e. comingsOn His Blindness, John MiltonMiniver Cheevy, Edwin Arlington RobinsonLeda and the Swan, William Butler Yeats
Lea’s Sister and the Geese, Katharyn Howd MachanA monkey sprang dwon from a tree, Laurence PerrineTwo brothers devised what at sight, Laurence PerrineAbraham to kill him, Emily Dickinson
Week 22: Elements of Poetry, Meaning and Idea: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
To a Waterfowl, William Cullen Bryant and Design, Robert FrostThe Indifferent, John Donne and Love’s Diety, John DonneTo the Mercy Killers, Dudley Randall and How Annandale Went OutThe Caged Skylark, Gerard Manley Hopkins and No worst, there is none, Gerard Manley Hopkins
AP EXPERIENCE: TIMED (out of class) WRITE: Select a pair of poems. Determine common subject. What statement does each pair make about the subject? Which poem best embodies the theme? Which statement is more profound and why?Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Week 23: Elements of Poetry, Meaning and Idea: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
I Do, I Will, I Have, Ogden NashThe Applicant, Sylvia PlathGetting Out, Cleopatra MathisEquity, Charlyne Nichols
Midway, Naomi Long MadgettDream Deferred, Langston HughesIf We Must Die, Claude McKayBallad of Birmingham, Dudley Randall
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Vergissmeinnicht, Keith DouglasDulce Et Decorum Est, Wilfred OwenA Pilot from the Carrier, Randall JarrellThe Death of a Soldier, Wallace Stevens
Apparently With No Surprise, Emily Dickinson“An Approving God”, Richard C. GuchesDesign, Robert FrostThe Villain, W.H. Davies
FORMAL PAPER, LITERARY ANALYSIS: Choose a subject cluster and then through careful analysis of the language and images, show (Support with statements from the texts.) how each poet’s attitude is conveyed. Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Week 24: Elements of Drama, Figurative The Nature of Drama: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense
o Makes use of plot and characters develops themes, arouses emotions and can be literary or commercialo Makes direct, immediate impacto Soliloquy, aside, stage directions,
Mind the Gap, Meredith OakesTrifles, Susen GlaspellThe Sandbox, Edward AlbeeNaomi in the Livingroom. Christopher Durang
AP EXPERIENCE: TIMED IN CLASS WRITE: The quote below was part of Albee’s introduction to his play, The American Dream. With that in mind, explain how the quote relates to The Sandbox.
“The play is an examination of the Amdrican scene, an attack on the substitution of artificaial for real values in our society, a condemnation of complacency, cruelty, emasculation and vacuity; it is a stand against the fiction that everything in this slippin land of ours is peachykeen.”
Week 25: Elements of Drama, Realistic and Nonrealisitc Drama: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense and Four Great Plays by Ibsen
o Literary truth does not equate to fidelity to facto Stageing liberties, creative lighting, dramatic conventions,o Soliloquy, aside, stage directions,
A Doll House, Henrik Ibseno All of the important events in Nora’s life take place before the play opens. What are they? How will they effect the
remaining two acts?o With what feelings toward Nora and Torvald does Ibsen leave his audience?
Los Venditos, Luis Valdezo At whom is the satire directed the four ‘models’ or the people who stereotype others? Provide evidence.
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
AP EXPERIENCE: TIMED (out of class) WRITE: “By their deeds shall ye know them.” We often judge people by what they do; therefore, we consider people who commit cruel or reprehensible acts corrupt, base or amoral. In literature, however, authors often introduce us to characters whom we learn to like or even respect, despite their deeds.
Read another play by Ibsen and Write an essay about one such character for whom you developed admiration or compassion. Briefly explain why you felt his or her behavior to be condemnable or contemptible, and how the author’s techniques influenced you to admire that person nonetheless. Do not summarize the plot. (40 minutes)
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Week 2628: Elements of Drama, Tragedy and Comedy: Perrine's Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense and King Lear
o Aristotle’s definition of tragedy and tragic hero, o Stageing liberties, creative lighting, dramatic conventions,o Soliloquy, aside, stage directions,
Oedipus Rex, Sophocleso A central formal feature of the play is its use of dramatic irony. Point out speeches by Oedipus, especially in the
Prologue and scene 1, that have a different or larger meaning for the audience than for Oedipus himself. Sophocles’s title literally translates “Oedipus the Tyrant,” but the word tyrant denoted a ruler who had earned his position through his own intelligence and strength rather than by inheritance—it was not a negative term. Given that, what ironies are suggested by Sophocles’s title?
OR King Lear, William Shakespeare
o Read and raise discussion questions.o Review Machiavelli’s leadership ‘qualities’ and apply them to Edmund.o Use of setting to enhance meaningo Trace/track/discuss motifs: folly of old age/ingratititude of youth, good and evil, nature, vision/blindness,
appearance/reality
FORMAL PAPER, LITERARY ANALYSIS: Develop a 35 page response. Be sure to support all opinion with textual evidence. Use parenthetic citations and focus on improving the correction ares given on the last paper. Your paper should be analytical in nature.Topic: Fidelity to a master and fidelity in marriage are examine through various relationships. Discuss each in terms of the religious and social conventions of the time.
Evaluation: Classcreated holistic rubric: structure, rhetorical techniques, diction, syntax, substance.
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Week 2931: A Victorian Novel in Three Weeks: Tess of the D’UrbervillesStudent groups are assigned segments of the novel as follows. They are given a handout (attached) to record information they are to glean from their reading and share with the whole group.
Dividing the NovelPhase Pages Chapters Complete byThe First 158 111 February 3The Second 5979 1215 February 5The Third 8021 12624 March 7The Fourth 122181 2534 March 10The Fifth 182244 3544 March 12The Sixth 245295 4552 March 14The Seventh 296321 5359 March 17
Each student will get a part of the novel to read. After reading, each student will create the following to help us put the novel together.
1) a brief summary of the section read2) a list questions you have, representing holes or unknowns 3) a bit about each character in the section 4) notes about theme, plot, or other literary elements that you feel are significant and should be pointed out (for example,
if an event seems like it will have significance later on, you can emphasize that). o Type this to fit on one side of a sheet of paper. o Be sure to label the top of the page with the page numbers you read and the chapters you read. o As much as possible, give your information in list form instead of paragraph form. o You can use bulleted lists. Hand in prior to the day when we put the puzzle together.
When we come together, we will create an understanding of the plot as a whole and look at Tess's development. When we begin piecing the book together, each consecutive presentation will make more sense.
We can talk about the following themes: selfdetermination, power and sexual roles, choices, or anything else that we become interested in. Our discussion should relate to the text as much as possible, but we can also extend our discussion beyond the text.
Use this chart to assist you in tracking discussion topics and points of interest.o Look for and list symbols. We will talk about their significance in the plot, theme,
character development.o Think about phase titles, some of which may be interpreted in multiple always.o Note how the environment enhances characterization.o Define and discuss ‘naturalism’ and how Darwin’s work hangs over the era and its
writers.o The concept of Hardy as social reformer. Look for evidence of the failure of the
organized church.o How does the novel reflect the conflict between the old aristocracy and the new rising
class.o Note instances of conflict between reason and emotion. Try to determine Hardy’s stance
how heads and hearts impact the novel’s events.o We will talk about Hardy’s contemporaries and how the novel was received.o We will discuss adverse fatalism, Hardy’s philosophy.
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Weeks 3236: Novel of Choice Assignment: Concurrent with AP Test Prep, students selfselect a novel from the AP recommended reading list and respond to it in two essays. One formal, analytical paper and one inclass write. Given a list of past AP open prompts, students have to choose two. For the inclass write students have to bring an outline with quotes to support. Evaluation: The out of class essay is evaluated using a teachercreated rubric with individualized, predetermined focus correction areas based on demonstrated areas of weakness.
Clemens Advanced Placement English 12: Literature and Composition
Instructional Materials
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart and Related Readings. Evanston, Illinois: McDougal Littell, 2002. 3222.
Arp, Thomas R., and Greg Johnson, eds. Perrine's Literatrue Structure, Sound and Sense. 8th ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 2002. i
1745.
Bakhtin, Mikhail. "Discourse in the Novel." The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Ed. Michael Holquist. Arlington, Texas:
University of Texas Press, 1982.
Beard, Pauline, Robert Liftig, James Malek, James Maloney, Joanne Miller, Peter Trenouth, and Mattie Williams. The Best Test
Preparation for the Advanced Placement Examination English Literature and Composition. Piscataway, New Jersey: Research
and Education Association, 2003. v353.
Berger, Daniel. "The Most Unconventional Weapon." The New York Times Magazine 26 Oct. 2003: 4853.
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