AP English Literature & Composition

Welcome to the AP English literature and Composition web page.

• Syllabus
  
• British Literature
•      Quarter 1 Assignment Calendar
•      Medieval Night
• American Literature
  •      Quarter 2 Assignment Calendar
  • Down Home (details coming soon)
• On-line Writing Lab

 

 

The AP® English Literature & Composition course is a college-level class that engages students in a careful and critical analysis of complex literary texts. Readings in the course provide a chronological survey of British and American literature, as well as an in-depth thematic unit on Romanticism that crosses geographic, temporal and cultural boundaries. As students develop their close reading skills, they will learn to identify the ways in which writers use language to create both meaning and pleasure. Through the use of weekly AP®-style multiple-choice literary analysis questions, students develop mastery of the specialized vocabulary of literary analysis and the conventions of standard
written expression.

An intensive program of writing and general vocabulary development is an integral part of the AP® English Literature & Composition course. Each week, students submit a written response to a literature-based prompt on an online bulletin board, as well as respond to other students’ postings. Students also write timed papers in class to
duplicate the AP® testing experience and craft more polished works outside of class to demonstrate the depth of analysis of their literary criticism and develop their own imaginative talents. Both teacher and peer feedback is used to help students revise formal writing assignments and develop an effective use of rhetorical devices. Student writing instruction is individualized through the use of personalized teacher assessment and conferencing. Through weekly exercises and SAT®-style sentence-completion drills, students develop a wide-ranging vocabulary. Students also work cooperatively on two small-group independent reading projects and produce two experiential events, “Medieval Night” and “Down Home Night.”

 

 

Units of Study

 

British Literature (Assignment Calendar)

• Anglo-Saxon Literature
  • Beowulf
    • Prologue (Old English and Modern English translation)
  • Development of the English Language
• Medieval Literature
  • Life in Medieval Britain
    • The Rules of Courtly Love
  • The Canterbury Tales
  • Mort d’Arthur
  • “Medieval Night”
  • Development of the English Language
    • The Lord's Prayer in Oold English, Middle English and Modern English
  • Medieval Drama
    • Mystery Plays
      • The York Mystery Play - text
      • The Coventry Mystery Play - article
• Renaissance Literature
  • Macbeth
• 17th and 18th Century Literature
  • Metaphysical Poets

 

American Literature

• Colonial American Literature
  • Colonial American literature
  • The Scarlet Letter
  • The Crucible
• The New Nation
  • Political writing
• Romantic Period
  • Transcendentalism
  • Gothic Literature
• Twentieth century American literature
  • The Great Gatsby
  • The Grapes of Wrath
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
  • “Down Home Night”

 

 

 

 

 

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AP & SAT Links

• College Board - Home page of the College Board
  • SAT Home Page
    • SAT Dates & Fees
    • Register Online
  • AP Home Page
    • AP Dates & Fees
• Learning Library - Has two online practice AP tests

 

 

 

 

 

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