ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION DAVID LERNER DLERNER@SOMERVILLESCHOOLS.ORG Purpose of Assignments: In order for students to properly prepare for the rigors of AP level learning (deeper analyses of difficult texts predicated on a thorough knowledge of technical terminology), summer assignments are designed to allow for immediate application of classroom process and procedure, to smooth the transition from Honors, or CP, level work, and to establish a baseline. DUE DATE: First Monday upon return to school in September Required Assignment(s): [See attached document AP English Summer Reading 2017. ] Optional Assignment(s): [See attached document AP Literary Terms Assignment 2017. ]
AP English Literature and Composition Summer Reading 2017 I. In preparation for the rigors of the AP English Literature and Composition course, the following texts are required summer reading: As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner [Estimated completion one week] The Awakening, by Kate Chopin [Estimated completion one week] At the start of the school year, you will be assessed on these literary works by writing an AP style essay: To this end, you should read these works critically, with an eye towards form and structure (not just content), and take careful notes for your own use. (Refer to the terms in the optional literary terms assignment as to what to take notes upon.) The essay will be graded using the AP s 9-point scale and converted to a numeric grade. II. In addition to these two texts, you will need to thoroughly analyze the following five poems. Critically read and mark up each poem. Then write a two-paragraph analysis for each poem (a half page will do). This is to be submitted at the start of the school year and will be graded for accuracy and completeness. [Estimated completion three days] Here are some guidelines for reading and analyzing poetry: 1. Read the poem carefully, look up any words with which you are unfamiliar in the dictionary and write the definitions in the margins. Also, identify and understand any allusions in order to more fully comprehend the poem. 2. Read the poem out loud. Is there regular meter or rhyme? What words or sounds are emphasized? 3. Identify the speaker. Remember, even in a clearly autobiographical poem, the speaker is a persona adopted by the author. Pick out an important or defining characteristic of the speaker (ex. The speaker is a man in love ). 4. Identify the subject of the poem (ex. The subject is an unattainable woman ). 5. Identify the tone of the poem. Does the tone shift or change? Mark this in the margins, and underline key words (diction) or phrases (syntax) that help identify the tone. 6. Look for figurative language or literary devices. What do they mean and what do they add to the meaning of the poem? 7. Finally, use all the information you have gleaned from the poem to derive a clear idea of what is happening in it, focusing mainly on how form follows function within the poem, then use the specifics of what you have found to inform your two-paragraph analysis of each. Quote words, phrases, or lines from the poems for support!
ABSOLUTELY AVOID LOOKING ONLINE FOR ANALYSES OF THESE POEMS. [The only resource you will have on the AP exam is your own knowledge and ability. Therefore, do this work on your own; i.e. no sharing with a friend. This assignment is designed to assess your ability to analyze and write about poetry and give us a starting point for our study of literature.] To An Athlete Dying Young by A.E. Housman (1859 1936) The time you won your town the race We chaired you through the market-place; Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought you shoulder-high. To-day, the road all runners come, 5 Shoulder-high we bring you home, And set you at your threshold down, Townsman of a stiller town. Smart lad, to slip betimes away From fields where glory does not stay, 10 And early though the laurel grows It withers quicker than the rose. Eyes the shady night has shut Cannot see the record cut, And silence sounds no worse than cheers 15 After earth has stopped the ears: Now you will not swell the rout Of lads that wore their honours out, Runners whom renown outran And the name died before the man. 20 So set, before its echoes fade, The fleet foot on the sill of shade, And hold to the low lintel up The still-defended challenge-cup.
And round that early-laurelled head 25 Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead, And find unwithered on its curls The garland briefer than a girl's. When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats (1865 1939) When you are old and gray and full of sleep And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, 5 And loved your beauty with love false or true; But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face. And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled 10 And paced upon the mountains overhead, And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen (1893 1918) Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots 5 But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of disappointed shells that dropped behind. GAS! Gas! Quick, boys! -- An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; 10 But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And floundering like a man in fire or lime. -- Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, 15 He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; 20 If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, -- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest 25 To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas (1914 1953) Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they 5 Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, 10 And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 15 And you, my father, there on that sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Siren Song by Margaret Atwood (1939 - ) This is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is irresistible: the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons 5 even though they see beached skulls the song nobody knows because anyone who had heard it is dead, and the others can t remember. Shall I tell you the secret 10 and if I do, will you get me out of this bird suit? I don t enjoy it here squatting on this island looking picturesque and mythical 15 with these two feathery maniacs, I don t enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable. I will tell the secret to you, to you, only to you. 20 Come closer. This song is a cry for help: Help me! Only you, only you can, you are unique at last. Alas it is a boring song 25 but it works every time.
This is sample of the Standard 9-point essay rubric used by College Board. https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/ap-student/pdf/english-literature-andcomp/ap-2012-english_literature-scoring-guidelines.pdf