Congratulations Grads

Grads, grades and papers with comments will be available in 2207 tomorrow (Monday).

Independent Reading and Research Help

Who? Who? Who?
OWL
Thesis Statements about Literature.
The home for everything else at Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL)

Responding to Psychological Trauma

How do we respond to trauma (brokenness, disconnection, ruptures, holes, lacks) and to unfulfilled needs, yearnings, hungers, desires? What do we think? What do we invent? Who do we plan? What do we do? How do our responses affect others' responses? Do we heal? Our selves? Others? How? Do we ease suffering? Do we exacerbate it? Do we become more vulnerable? Do we grow stronger? How?

In your response you might think about As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner or Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut in terms of these questions. How does the book you've read take on these questions? & what do you, personally, think about the way the book has taken the questions on? Refer to specific passages and scenes in work. Refer to patterns and other choices made by the author. Use all your lit analysis skills (your head) but also bring in your full self, including your heart.

If others have posted then read the posts. You might be compelled to respond.

If issues unrelated to the questions I've written above are the ones that press upon you most vigorously then write about those.

Whatever you write about I'm looking forward to illuminating and lively comments.

AP Lit Exam Eve

Varsity English Scholars,

You have practiced everything that might appear on the test. You know that you'll spend an hour answering 55 questions based on four or five readings. (You've practiced three take-home sets and one in class set.) You know that you'll spend two hours addressing three essay prompts: (1) poetry analysis (either one poem or a shuttle comparison), (2) prose analysis, (3) open question. You know you'll use pencil on the multiple choice section and pen on the essay section. You know that if you put together your best multiple choice performance and your best essay writing performance you'll get a three or higher.

Now what?

1. Make sure you sleep and eat . No heavy meals. No all night studying. The bulk of the preparation is done.

2. One thing you can control is how prepared you are for the question three essay prompt. Prepare at least four question three review sheets . Use any and all available resources to review narrative point of view, characters, plot, setting, symbols and motifs, themes. I'll collect the question three sheets tomorrow morning.

3. To prepare for the essays read over the handout entitled "Excerpts from 'Final Notes before AP Exam'" . This sheet contains some important reminders of strategies that should be in the forefront of your mind tomorrow morning.

4. (For people who are looking for something to do -- something more productive than worrying -- this afternoon and early evening.)

* For the multiple choice questions you might review the literary terms from the midyear exam: http://apenglishghs2011.blogspot.com/2011/01/midyear-exam-literary-vocabulary.html. You might review multiple choice strategies : use process of elimination, be on the lookout for misleading options, answer all questions on a particular reading before moving on though you might answer harder questions on a particular reading last, annotate (underline, circle, cross-out) text in the reading and questions.

* You might look at the Q1 (poetry analysis -- both single poem analysis and comparison analysis), Q2 (prose analysis), and Q3 (open question) essay examples in your binder .

* For Q1 single poem analysis check out "The Century Quilt" prompt from last year (2010). Here's the poem and prompt -- http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_frq_eng_lit.pdf -- and here are sample essays (a 7, 5, and 2) -- http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_english_literature_q1.pdf. I think by comparing the introduction of the 7 to the 5 you'll see the difference between a bold insight (7) and a general insight (5). You'll also see how the 7 connects the quilts meaning to the techniques used (the choices the poet makes).

* For Q1 comparison analysis check out the Keats and Longfellow comparison from 2008. (I gave you this back in December but if you don't have it it's here: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_english_literature_q1.pdf. And here are samples (an 8, 5, and 3): http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_eng_lit_op_q1.pdf. Notice the use of shuttle comparison in the 8. (We looked at this back in December.)

* For Q2 prose analysis check out the prompt from earlier in the year when you were asked to analyze how Bertha is characterized in a passage from Jane Eyre . All Q2 essays ask you to explain how meaning is conveyed by the techniques the author uses. And here you can check out last year's Q2 prompt (on page 3) -- http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_frq_eng_lit.pdf -- and here an 8, 5, and 2. In the 5 notice how it begins with a clear, bold insight linking technique with meaning. Notice how its analysis is present but inconsistent and underdeveloped.

* For Q1 check out this webpage where a teacher has listed all the AP Q3 prompts from '70-'08: http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/APOpenQuestions.html. Read the prompt closely, identify the key words, choose a book of literary merit, plan how you'd use the book to address key parts of the prompt. You might practice a few so you feel confident.

I'm excited that we're finally on the eve of the big day. You've done a lot of work. You've spent hours on reading, rereading, writing, rewriting, discussing, and listening. Honor the hours of work you've already put in by spending of bit of time this afternoon or tonight reviewing what you need to review in order to feel confident tomorrow morning.

Thank you for all your hard work all year. I'll see you in room 2210 at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

all the best,
Mr. James Cook

AP English Literature and Composition Essay Link

As promised here's the link to the AP Central AP English Lit & Comp Exam page. (If you're looking for the "tragic figure" prompt. It was question 3 in 2003. If you're looking for the "question minus the answer" prompt. It was question 3 in 2004.)

Letter: The Last Weekend Before the Exam

Scholars,

Strong session on Friday in both classes. Well done. (A-block: the bell cut us off in the middle of dealing with #14 and the (poorly chosen) word "rejoicing" in option D (the correct answer). In F-block Tori pointed out that reflecting back on #14 after answering #15 (A) was helpful in determining that although D is clearly not a satisfying answer for 14 it is the best of the available options.)

Monday I'll collect your work on the three sets and address questions about Set 3: "Soul & Body". If you haven't done Set 3 make sure you do it.

Also get started on the "Preparation for Question Three" forms. (Dig up the ones you completed during first semester and write up ones for any of the books we've read during the second semester that you might want to use on the exam: As I Lay Dying, Slaughterhouse-Five, Going After Cacciato, King Lear, novels & plays "of literary merit" that you have read as part of your independent reading and research project. (Ask me if you're not sure a book you've read is appropriate for question 3.) Make sure you turn in at least four "preparation for question three" sheets before the exam.

Monday, after addressing any lingering questions about the various multiple choice sets, we'll turn our attention to reviewing the three essays (poem analysis [Q1], prose analysis [Q2], and writing about a novel or play [Q3]). I'll return your King Lear Q3 essays to facilitate that review. (You bring any timed essays or timed essay information in your binder.) I'll also give you a sheet of timed essay writing tips. (Multiple choice tips are currently on the blackboard).

Last bit of news, some time this weekend I'll post links to previous blog discussions about As I Lay Dying and Slaughterhouse-Five. Bring thoughts and questions about the books to class next week. This weekend I'll also create a place where you can post your comments about the novel you're reading. (By the Monday after the exam -- May 9 -- I'll expect that everyone has posted at least 300 words about the novel. If you think the comments will help you prepare for the exam do it this weekend or next week. If not wait until next weekend -- after the exam.)

I'm going for a walk. Hope you're able to enjoy the day too.

all the best,
Mr. James Cook
GHS

post script:
For those of you taking the AP Language Exam too we'll meet again on Wednesday (4May11) after school. Please complete the multiple choice questions in the packet I have given you. If you have lost the packet you can find it here starting on page 14. We'll review the multiple choice questions and review the three essays (rhetoric analysis, argument, and synthesis). You can find samples of essays (called "Free-Responses" by the College Board) here.

"What's Going On" Is Not Just a Song by Marvin Gaye

With trips to Europe and colleges, with illnesses and field trips and distractions of all kinds, you might be wondering "What's going on in AP English?"

Here's your answer...
1. Your education essay is due tonight (Friday) by pumpkin time. Put your essay in the comment box here.
2. Work on the AP multiple choice packet. Finish sets 1 and 2 by Monday, April 25. (Those of you who left for Europe earlier this week got a slightly different packet.) Take the work seriously. Do what you think will be most beneficial. If you want to time yourself and treat it like a test do that. If it will help you most to look up unknown vocabulary and unknown terms do that. If you want to collaborate with a peer do that. (I will check that you have completed the work.)
3. Create a thesis and a plan for your independent reading and research paper. I spoke with nearly all of you this week and look forward to discussing your theses and plans after vacation. (I will want to take a look at your thesis and plan.)
4. After vacation we're going to read one work book together. A-block has decided to read As I Lay Dying and F-block was split evenly 8 v 8 between As I Lay Dying and Slaughterhouse-Five. Take your pick. Some of you wanted to get a head start so I gave you books on Friday. If you weren't in class on Friday but want to get a head start check out the Sawyer Free Library: here for As I Lay Dying and here for Slaughterhouse-Five. After vacation you'll have 10 days to read before the exam which will mean 26 pages/day for As I Lay Dying or 22 pages/day for Slaughterhouse-Five.

Question 3 Resources

It's definitely worthwhile, says the English teacher on the eve of an in-class essay in response to an unknown prompt, to look at these samples.
Question 3 sample essays from 2003 and 2004.
Scoring responses to the sample essays: 2003 (Q3 on p. 4) and 2004 (Q3 on p. 4).

Much Ado about Education: An Argument or Personal Essay in the Comment Box

We spent a good chunk of time discussing practical and philosophical issues surrounding education. We considered both institutional and personal points of view. We considered structures, purposes, and experiences. We considered the status quo and alternatives. Now have your say.

Education Essay (with directions in R.A.F.T. form)

Role: Be yourself, a senior at Gloucester High School who has experienced, observed, and thought about education.

Audience: Your AP peers, your AP teacher, and others on the World Wide Web. (You'll be posting your essay in the comment box below by pumpkin time Friday, April 15.)

Format: You have a choice, whichever option you pick I'm imagining something in the 500 to 1000 word zone.

* You could write an argumentative essay using support and reasoning from your experiences, observations and studies to support your position on some aspect of education. (See topics below.) (Some of you may recognize the description of an argument essay from the SAT.)

* Or, you could write a personal essay, using narrative and reflection, to embody and suggest insights into education.

Topic: You could write about anything within the broad realm of education, but here are some of the topics many have you have already done some rich thinking about.

* How does the structure of the school day -- number of classes, length of classes -- and of the school itself affect teaching and learning?
* Are students motivated by a desire to learn, explore, and practice in order to respond and create? Are students motivated by a desire to achieve measurable success in school in order to please parents and gain access to colleges and jobs in the future? In what way does one dove-tail with the other? In what way are the two motivations opposed?
* How is the industrial model -- on which the century-old modern high school is based -- suited or not suited to the sort of learning you value and/or think is necessary?
* What are some of the alternative models for education? What are the advantages and disadvantages? What educational models and experiences -- inside and outside learning institutions -- work for you, for others?
* How might your experiences of (institutional or non-institutional) education -- here at GHS or elsewhere -- differ from others' experiences?

Whatever you write about don't forget to organize your thoughts into a focused argument or a sustained narrative with reflection.

I look forward to reading your responses.

King Lear Quotation Activity for Acts 4 and 5

 Korol Lir (King Lear), directed by Kozintsev, translated by Pasternak, music by Shostakovich

Each student chose four quotations from acts four and five in class on Monday, April 4.
Complete the following and bring it to class on Wednesday, April 6.

(I've sharpened the directions a bit.)
For each of the four quotations...
1. Identify speaker, act, scene, lines (e.g. if you chose the first line of the play: Kent, 1.1.1) You might use this website to help you find the lines.
2. Describe the context: who is present? what is the situation? What might any of this have to do with the quotation?
3. What's happening with language and meaning in the quotation? Consider images (both literal and figurative) and themes. Also, consider other features of language, like diction and syntax, in relation to meaning. Consider the possibility of irony. Discuss the significance of all of this in relation to the quotation's meaning.
4. Make connections between the quotation and your other quotations. (And/or make other connections.) Connections might have to do with speaker, events, imagery, themes.
*5*. I've added this: why do you think someone has decided that the quotation is significant and/or memorable enough to be included in a list of quotations from King Lear?

King Lear Quotation Activity for Acts 1, 2, 3

Engraved by Richard Earlom, 1792 based on a painting by Johann Heinrich Füssli

*** *** *** *** ***

Each student chose four quotations in class on Monday, March 28.
Complete the following and bring it to class on Wednesday, March 30.

For each of the four quotations...
1. Identify speaker, act, scene, lines (e.g. if you chose the first line of the play: Kent, 1.1.1) You might use this website to help you find the lines.
2. Describe the context: who is present? what is the situation? What might any of this have to do with the quotation?
3. Identify images (both literal and figurative) and themes. Discuss the significance of the imagery, themes and (more generally) the quotation.
4. Make connections between the quotation and your other quotations. (And/or make other connections.) Connections might have to do with speaker, events, imagery, themes.

Going After Cacciato: Making Meaning (beginning with the end)

In class on Friday you spent five to ten minutes responding to these prompts: 1. explain your understanding of the end -- "The End of the Road to Paris," "The Observation Post," and "Going After Cacciato" & 2. explain how you got to that understanding.

Then we had rich conversations about your responses to the prompts...and more. (I enjoyed it and hope it wasn't so bad for you.)

Follow up on the class conversation with a blog post. Explore possibilities. Construct meaning. Ask questions. Follow up on what others have said and have written. What did you notice? What might it mean?

Post your comment(s) by class time on Monday, March 7. I look forward to reading your take.

Update: (1) *Going after Cacciato* (2) Independent Reading (Six Weeks Left until the End of Term Three)

Thank you. I've already begun enjoying your poetry anthologies.
Here's what's next.

Read Going after Cacciato (336 pages) by Tim O'Brien by Friday March 4.

Now that we've concluded our all-poetry-all-the-time immersion, we're ready to tackle some new prose fiction.

We spent the summer and first semester dealing primarily with bildungsromans, repeatedly asking questions about the nature of identity and the self (who am I?), about the development of self (how does a self come into being?), and about the relationship between self, choice, and environment (what has shaped me?).

From here to the end of the year we'll be concerned primarily with journeys: Going after Cacciato (a novel including real and imagined journeys during the Vietnam War in 1968), Slaughterhouse-Five (a novel including real and imagined journeys during World War II and after), As I Lay Dying (a tragic-farcical novel told from many perspectives about a poor southern family's journey to bury its matriarch) , and Heart of Darkness (a dark, impressionistic novel about a journey from Europe to Africa then up the Congo River).

While reading Going After Cacciato think about and take notes on...
Themes
The significance of journeys (with destinations, purposes, the need for courage, failure of will, hardships, obstacles, success, survival, failure)...
The relationship between war, memory, and imagination....
(What is the relationship between memory and imagination, between what we recall and what we make up? What role does the imagination play in making memory (and present reality) bearable? How true are our memories? How true are the stories we concoct? When does factual truth deviate from experienced truth?)
The relationship between control and its absence, between order and disorder...
Technique
Narrative perspective and voice, narrative threads (there are three major narrative threads in GAC), narrative pacing, direct and indirect characterization, parallel characters and foils, suggestive imagery, the use of realistic and grotesque depictions, and anything else you notice.

Here's the original review of Going After Cacciato from the New York Times (February 12, 1978).

*******

Continue reading books for your independent reading and research project.
You'll turn in evidence of the reading on or before April 1.
You're expected to read between 500 and 1000 pages or so by the end of the term. (If you're reading difficult experimental fiction you'll likely read closer to 500 pages and if you're reading popular children's fiction you'll be expected to hit 1000.)

The goal of this reading is to prepare for the paper you will write during the fourth quarter. The notetaking and writing you do about the reading you are doing during third quarter will help you a lot when you write the paper.

There are three different ways you could show evidence of your reading and thinking.

Option 1: Keep a quotation response journal. You should have a quotation and response for every twenty to thirty (20-30) pages or so. Your responses should often relate to the central question and/or thesis in your proposal.

Option 2: Keep a double-entry notebook. Take notes -- quotations, paraphrases, other information -- on the left side of your notes & on the right side write down your thoughts about the information on the left side. What you write on the right side should often relate to the central question and/or thesis in your proposal. You should have a page of notes for every twenty to thirty (20-30) pages or so of your reading.

Option 3: Write short essay responses (300-500 words or so). You should write an essay for every fifty to sixty (50-60) pages of so of reading.

When I talked to you about this in class today I foolishly quoted total numbers that were too low. Sorry. By April 1 you'll either have between 8 -- not 6 as I said in class -- and 20 page-long responses or 15 -- not 12 as I said in class -- and 50 quotation responses/double-entry notes.

Twenty-First Century Poems & More Ideas for Writing Your Own Poems

Some of you asked for help finding a twenty-first century poem. Others asked for (more) help writing your own poems. Here are some resources & ideas.

Poetry in the twenty-first century:

Go here for the UBUWeb. In the upper left hand corner of the page (below Samuel Beckett's head) you'll see a search box. Search for your theme. Not everything you'll find will be poetry. Not everything you'll find will be from the twenty-first century. But I found a lot of interesting things while looking for your themes. (Note: It took me a few minutes to notice that in order to get the "next 10" results of my search I had to scroll down a bit & look at the lower right corner of the page.)

Go here for issues of Poetry magazine from the last decade. Look for titles that sound promising. Not all the poems are available on the web.

Go here for issues of Jacket magazine from the last decade. (Jacket #10 was published in January of 2000. I know, I know, the new millennium didn't begin until 2001 but I'm trying to give you guys an extra year in which to find a poem that addresses your theme.)

Go here for issues of Octopus magazine. (The link will take you to issue #14 but in the right most margin you'll see links to the previous 13 issues too.)

Go here for electronic books published by Faux press. (You'll see the titles of dozens of e-books published in the last decade. Look for titles directly related to your theme or which seem to share associations with your theme.)

*****
Ideas for Writing your Own Poems:
* Write your own poem in response to one of the poems you've found.

Perhaps you've found a poem that you relate to; you might present the theme in a similar way but with your own style (slang, modern diction, modern syntax, archaic syntax), your own images (ones from your own lived reality or from the mediated virtual reality you're familiar with) and your own details.

Perhaps there's a poem that upsets you might write a response chastising the poet or the poem's speaker. Or, you might create an alternative to the vision of the theme presented in the upsetting poem.

Your response might attempt to use the same form as the original.
Or, like Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady," it might use a different form.

You might take further inspiration from Mullen to rethink & rewrite a poem:
Mullen transforms the traditional natural images of beauty found in Shakespeare's poem into imagery derived from contemporary companies and products. Could you transform the imagery in a poem you've found in a similar way? Or in some other way?
Mr. Telles recently "translated" a sonnet into Gloucester dialect. Could you "translate" one of the poems you've found into another dialect or speech register?

You might confine yourself to using only the words (or forms of the words) found in a poem you've found.
Or, you might write a distorted-mirror poem in which you write a variant of every word in the original. So "Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art" might be rendered as "Dim moon, I'm certain that you change like me".

Some poets take a line that they like (or that moves them, or that disturbs them, or that stirs them) and use it as a catalyst for their own writing, titling their new poem "Poem beginning with a line from X". Here are some examples: 1, 2, 3.

* Write your own poem by "Google sculpting". Google sculpting is the process of using search results to generate language material for a poem.
There are several ways to do this:
1. Go to Googlism.com. Search for you theme. (Here is a search for "birth".) Edit the results into a poem. You'll be able to generate interesting and surprising new relationships and juxtapositions that reveal aspects of the theme that appear in our online culture but not, perhaps, in most poetry about the them.
2. Conduct a search of your theme -- or to make it more interesting use word combinations related to your theme -- using your favorite web search tool. Collect the language -- words and phrases -- from text that appears under the links. Edit the results into a poem.

Works Cited

Some of you asked for this.
Here's the works cited page I created for my poetry anthology.
The works cited page has examples of citing your own work and citing a song from an album.

Oh, & Moriah, I got a few things wrong in the anthology citation:

Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication.

Here are a few sources. Thanks to Purdue University.
MLA Works Cited Page: Book
MLA Works Cited Page: Electronic Sources
MLA Works Cited page: Other Common Sources

Introduction Example

Here's a link to the title page, introduction, and table of contents for the poetry anthology I created for the AP Lit teacher class I took several years ago. In the introduction I tried to suggest the significance of the theme itself and (briefly) the relationship of the poems to the theme. A good introduction will clearly set forth the theme, its significance, and say a something about the poems' relationship to the theme. A strong introduction will pique the reader's interest in the theme, perhaps suggest some of the complexity and variations within the theme; and suggest -- but not necessarily flesh out -- nuances and surprises in the poems' take on the themes.

Bring a typed poem of your own to class tomorrow (Friday 2/11)

We spent class time talking about how to go about doing translations but in case you want some help writing the other poems here are a few ideas.

Writing a poem on your theme using an allusion.
An allusion is an implied or direct reference to an event, literary work, myth, or work of art. An allusion does not explain at length the connection to the place, event, text, myth, or art; this encourages the reader to interpret the nature and meaning of the link.

An idea:
• Choose a well-known event, story, myth, song, etc. related to your theme. (If the theme is tragic love you might begin with Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. If the topic is the ocean you might begin with Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. If your anthology is focused on birth you might begin with the Botticelli’s painting the Birth of Venus.)
• Free-write for five minutes about whatever you’ve picked.
• Write a poem in which you transfer some of the details from your free-write into a new situation. (Imagine Romeo and Juliet at Gloucester High School. Imagine a Gloucester fisherman experiencing his own “odyssey” on his way home from the Grand Banks. Imagine your own birth taking place in the manner of Botticelli’s Venus.) This is a technique used in most of the Icarus poems we studied.

If you think your allusion might not be clear enough include a footnote in your anthology.

*******

Write a poem on your theme using a traditional or invented form.

Idea #1: For traditional forms look at the directions for the project or click here. Make sure you produce at least twelve lines of poetry. That's a minimum. You might try to excel in terms of quality, quantity, and/or formal rigor.

Idea#2 To invent your own form here are the guidelines for this assignment.
Make sure you have at least three rules or constraints. Rules/constraints could include:
* The use of particular words in particular places as with the sestina.
* The use of rhymes (or other sound techniques) in a particular pattern as with sonnets, ballads, terza rima, etc.
* The use of stressed and/or unstressed syllables in a particular pattern as with sonnets, ballads, blank verse, etc.
* The repetition of certain phrases, as with poems that use anaphora and epistrophe.
* The use of acrostics, double acrostics, or mesostics.
* The shaping of words on the page to form representative images or to achieve other effects.
* The omission of certain letters, such works are called "lipograms". (A novel called La Disparicion by George Perec is written using only words that do not contain the letter "e". The English translation by Gilbert Adair is called A Void and also uses no "e". Perec also has a novella in which all the words contain no vowels other than "e".)
* Oulipo is a loose gathering of writers who have come up with some very interesting constraints (including lipograms). A reasonable list of these constraints can be found here.
* What other rules or constraints can you think of?

Make sure you have at least twelve lines. That’s a minimum. Go above and beyond with quality, quantity, and/or the rigor of the constraints. If you invent your own poem make sure you include the rules in your anthology.

***
Write a poem on your theme in any form or style you want. (Free Verse! Free Verse! Free Verse!)

Idea: Free-write for five minutes about your theme. Circle fifteen words or word clusters (no longer than four words in a row). Make sure you have fifteen (15). Give yourself fifteen minutes to write a fifteen line poem in which you use one of the fifteen words or word clusters in each line. Make sure you use all fifteen words or clusters. For your title tweak (revise, change) a common expression related to your theme. (If your theme is the "fear" you might use the expression "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" but change it to "The Only Ring You Have to Wear is Fear of Self".)

Variations: You might restrict your free-write to concrete images only or a list of abstract nouns linked to concrete nouns (for politics: "the celebration of manure" "the vulnerability of starmoles" "the ubiquity of loosestrife," etc.) or a list of verbs related to your theme around which you will build each section of the poem...


Idea #2:

Independent Reading Project Proposal

Independent Reading & Research Project Proposal

Write a proposal letter in which you explain the idea for your project. The paragraph should include (1) the relationship of what you’re going to read to what you’ve already read, (2) what you plan to read during term three, (3) the central question that you are exploring (or if already have a thesis you might include a bold, insightful assertion instead of an exploratory), (4) the approximate number of pages in the books you plan to read during term three. Plan to read between 500 and 1000 pages.

Example

During second term I read Paradiso by Jose Lezama Lima, which has been described as a Cuban A Portrait of the Artist. I would like to read other books that are influenced by Joyce’s bildungsroman; I would also like to read literary criticism that analyzes the influence of A Portrait. The first work of criticism I’m interested in reading is From Modernism to Neobaroque: Joyce and Lezama Lima, which I found through Google Books. After reading the work of criticism I plan to read Fun Home, a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. (The first chapter is called “Old Father, Old Artificer,” words taken from the end of A Portrait.) Finally I plan to read The Dalkey Archive by Flann O’Brien in which a fictionalized Joyce is a speaking character. The question I’m interested in exploring is “How did subsequent writers make use of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?” (The three books are approximately 800 pages in length.)

Turn in the proposal letter by class time on Monday, February 7, 2011.

Poetry Anthology Project

AP English Literature and Composition

Personal Poetry Anthology
1. Email me your theme.
2. Bring typed copies of seven of the fifteen poems to class on Friday, February 4

3. Bring a draft of one of your own poems to class on Friday, February 11
4. Bring a draft of the introduction to class on Monday, February 14
5. Completed project is due Friday, February 18(no extension letters will be accepted)

Theme: ___________________________________

For this assignment, you will prepare a poetry anthology. For our purposes, poetry will include song lyrics. The anthology will be unified by a common theme, and must consist of the following minimal requirements:

Criteria Title of Poem (Author of Poem)

1. A late sixteenth or seventeenth

century poem (Elizabethan,

Metaphysical, Cavalier)

2. A nineteenth century poem

(Romantic, Gothic, Victorian)

3. A twentieth century poem

(modern or post-modern)

4. A twenty-first century poem

(post-modern)

5. Lyrics to song

6. A sonnet (or poem written in

another traditional form: sestina,

terza rima, rondeau, villanelle, etc.)

7. A poem translated

from another language

8. A poem that you have written

containing an allusion

9. A poem that you have written

using a traditional or invented form

10. A poem that you have written

that is a strict, loose, or homophonic translation

11. A poem that you have written

in any form

12. Free choice

13. “ “

14. “ “

15. “ “

You must include

a. A title page with MLA information (See Compass page 55.)

b. A dedication and epigraph page

c. An introduction (300-500 words introducing the theme, briefly explaining the relationship between the poems and the theme, and reflecting upon the theme.)

d. A table of contents with titles, authors, and the criteria fulfilled by each poem

e. A minimum of fifteen (15) separate poems/songs. You are expected to type the poems. Do not copy and paste. I can often tell.

f. A Works Cited page, including discography (MLA format See Compass page 56-58) Five or more of the cited sources must be books.

You may include:

a. More of your own poems, more translations, more poems in any category

b. Illustrations and/or photograph (Art taken from other sources much be cited)

c. More than one song lyric

d. A mixed-CD/mixed-tape with the song(s) and poems

The Midyear Exam and How to Prepare for It

1. Literary Vocabulary (Click here for 2011 definitions and examples. Click here for 2010 definitions and examples. Click here for 2009 definitions and examples. Click here for 2008 definitions and examples.)

2. Poetry Memorization and Analysis.

Click here for the poems we've been studying in class. Memorize one of them. (If you choose to memorize "The Sick Rose" you will also need to memorize "Ah! Sunflower".)

On the exam you will be given a prompt asking you to analyze how the poet uses literary techniques to convey and embody meaning. For help with writing poetry analysis essays: Click here for three poetry analysis essays from the 2009 AP exam. The first earned a 9, the second earned a 6, and the third earned a 4. You'll also see the scoring rubric and a paragraph explaining the score for each essay. The essays analyze an excerpt from Shakespeare's Henry VIII; click here and you'll find the excerpt on page 2.

3. AP English Literature and Composition reading comprehension multiple choice questions. (Click here and turn to page 14 to see what these questions look like.)

Midyear Exam Literary Vocabulary

Post clear, thorough definitions & clear, appropriate examples of the terms you have been assigned -- offer an explanation if necessary -- by class time January 10.

Sonnets & Poetry (21)
English (Shakespearean) Sonnet, Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet, Iambic Pentameter, Meter, Iamb, Rhyme Scheme, Volta, Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Stanza, Octet, Sestet, Quatrain, Couplet, Enjambment, End rhyme, Full rhyme, Near/Off/Half/Slant Rhyme, Sonnet Sequence/Sonnet Cycle/Corona/Crown of Sonnets, Blank Verse

Other Types of Poems (5)
free verse, villanelle, sestina, terza rima, ballads

Other Poetic Techniques (3)
anaphora, epistrophe, inversion

Figurative Language (16)
figurative language, simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, personification, apostrophe, conceit, hyperbole, pun, double entendre, rhetorical question (=erotema), oxymoron, paradox, synesthesia, denotation, connotation

Irony (4)
irony, verbal irony, situational irony, dramatic irony

Narration (5)
narration, first person narration, third person limited narration, third person omniscient narration, stream of consciousness

Writing Style (9)
style, voice, diction, syntax, tone, mood, dialect, colloquialism, vernacular

Character (13)
characterization, direct characterization, indirect characterization, dynamic character, static character, round character, flat character, foil, protagonist, antagonist, tragic hero, antihero

Plot & Events (10)
Plot, exposition, inciting action, rising action, climax, denouement (resolution), flashback, foreshadowing, internal conflict, external conflict,

Other Literary Terms from First Semester (4)
motif, symbol, epigraph, epiphany