Goshen Central High School

AP English Literature
Course Overview and Syllabus
Mr. Mackay

I. Course Overview:

Welcome to AP English Literature and to a year of excitement and

challenge. You will be engaged in a wide-ranging journey on the literary
landscape, learning how to read. And when we finish our voyage, you will have
acquired a very important tool with which you can open up our lives to the
richness of literary art, through which you can peer into the mysteries of life in
your never-ending quest for truth.
A key to learning how to read is learning how to write about what you
have read; writing forces us to harness our thoughts and clarify them for
ourselves so we can inform our reader. Our course of study will take us through
the dark and mysterious paths of the literature-based essay, and by year’s end,
we will know our way.

Those are our goals; our more specific objectives are as follows:

1. You will be able to read critically, asking pertinent questions and

evaluating ideas.
2. You will be able to read with understanding a range of literature
representative of different genres and historical periods.
3. You will be able to read a literary text analytically, seeing
relationships between form and content using various critical modes.
4. You will be able to draw conclusions about the themes of a work,
appraising them and speculating independently on related ideas.
5. You will be able to think reflectively about what we have read and
discussed, and then apply our findings to your own lives.
6. You will be able to utilize writing as a way of discovering and
clarifying our ideas.
7. You will be able to write appropriately for different occasions,
audiences, and purposes (persuading, explaining, describing, and interpreting).
8. You will be able to use the conventions of standard written English
with skill and assurance.
9. You will be able to summarize clearly and accurately the ideas of
others.
10. You will be able to revise and edit your written work to enhance
clarity of thought.
11. You will be able to maintain a consistent tone and appeal through
precise diction, varied sentence structure, and syntax.
We will be studying the following full-length works this year:

Novels:
1984, by George Orwell
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad

Plays:
Rhinoceros, by Eugene Ionesco
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare

Major Poems:
Beowulf
The Canterbury Tales
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

We will also analyze numerous other poems and short stories, and you
will write a major critical analysis of the work of an author of your choice (with
some limitations).

In addition to frequent opportunities to write timed essays in class and

longer, more reflective essays outside of class (a minimum of six such
assignments each quarter), you will have numerous opportunities to write
creatively to attempt to experiment with the literary techniques we are studying.

All take-home essays may be revised and resubmitted at any time during
the marking period in which the essay was originally due, provided you meet
with me in conference at least once prior to resubmitting a paper.

As the year progresses, we will take time to share your ideas with the
class in semi-formal presentations to help develop your oral presentation skills.

Grades will be earned as follows: in-class essays—40%; take-home essays

—40%; oral presentations and participation in class discussions—20%. No
“tests” in the traditional sense are presently scheduled, but if it becomes
necessary to give such “tests” in class, they will count as part of the in-class essay
grade.

So let us begin on our journey of discovery, for

There, there is nothing else but grace and measure,

Richness, quietness, and pleasure.

--”Charles Baudelaire: L’Invitation Au Voyage” by Richard Wilbur

II. Course Outline

A. Quarter One

1. Introduction: “Truth is Beauty, Beauty Truth”

• What is literature? Reading Auden’s poem “Musee des

Beaux Arts” and examining Breughel’s painting “Icarus”
• One True Thing: Writing the Personal Essay for College
Applications
• Writing Assignment: Using a prompt from a college
application, students write a personal essay that
highlights “one true thing” about them (take-home
assignment [TH]). In addition to content, emphasis for
this assignment is placed on revision and editing skills.
Both style and mechanics of writing are reviewed
preceding the assignment and discussed with students in
writing conferences held with each student after the
essay has been submitted. Although emphasized with
this first writing assignment, particular attention is paid
to style and mechanics in notes on all written work and
in all conferences with students throughout the year.

2. A Look at Existentialism in Literature: “No Excuses”

• The Theater of the Absurd: Ionesco’s Rhinoceros and “The

Gap”
• Kafka’s Metamorphosis
• Sartre’s “The Wall”
• Writing Assignment: Take Home Essay.

3. Analyzing Orwell’s 1984: “The Spirit of Man”

• Group work to analyze literary techniques employed by

Orwell in the novel;
• Group work to analyze essential questions raised by the
novel, such as whether or not the inherent nature of the
individual-the "spirit of man"-is strong enough to
undermine a society such as that created by The Party.
• Full class discussion on the issue of relevance of the
novel in today’s world.
 • Writing Assignments:
o An in-class and a take-home essay

4. At least two in-class writing assignments, timed, using prompts

from AP exam open response essays.

B. Second Quarter

1. Reading and Analyzing Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “The Readiness

Is All”
• In-depth analysis of each scene of the play, with careful
attention to syntax, diction, and the resulting layers of
meaning;
• Comparing and contrasting scenes in the play as filmed
by several different directors for nuance of meaning;
• Consideration of the complexity of characters in play;
• Consideration of major themes in the play with
discussion of relevance in the modern world;
• Writing assignment: analysis of selected quotes from the
play pertaining to unweeded garden extended metaphor,
the “mighty opposites” motif, or “the readiness is all”
theme [TH] [Assignment Appended];
• Students keep a written reading log in which they
respond to plot developments, questions about
characters, commentary on particular quotations, et al.
• Individual interpretations of a chosen soliloquy in the
play:
o Memorization of soliloquy and performance in
class with class discussion of acting choices

2. Analyzing Chopin’s The Awakening: “Si Tu Savais”

• Group work to locate and discuss the many symbols

Chopin uses in her novel;
• Group analysis of significant quotations in the novel
• Group to full class discussion of themes in the novel and
whether the novel is relevant in today’s world
• Writing assignment: Respond to prompt concerning
techniques Chopin used to develop her characters [IC,
timed].
 3. Analyzing Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: “The Horror, the Horror”

• Analyzing literary techniques of narrative doubling,

motifs (light/dark, civilized/uncivilized, et al.), and
symbols in the novel;
• Analyzing themes in the novel and discussing modern
relevancy;
• Introduction to five modern critical perspectives (reader
response, new historicism, gender, cultural, and
deconstruction); group presentations to class on
relevance of particular critical perspectives in
understanding the novel;
• Writing assignment: take home essay

4. At least two in-class writing assignments, timed, and one take-

home writing assignment, using prompts from AP exam open
response essays.

B. Third Quarter

1. Analyzing Short Stories

• Using McElhaney’s and Murfin’s collection of short

stories Point of View, students read and analyze short
stories told from the following points of view: interior
monologue, dramatic monologue, letter narration, diary
narration, subjective narration, detached autobiography,
observer narration, anonymous narration—single
character point of view, anonymous narration—dual
character point of view, anonymous narration—multiple
character point of view, and anonymous narration—no
character point of view.
• For each story, students are asked to look at setting,
characters, plot, style, and theme. Diction, syntax, and
sentence structure are closely examined as they relate to
style.
 • After class discussion about each style and the stories
read with that style, students write their own short story
(or at least a paragraph or two) in which they attempt to
use that particular style.
• Writing assignments:
o Students read a short story not covered in class, and
then, in a timed in-class essay, they analyze how the
particular point of view in that story is used by the
author to advance his or her theme.
o Students write at least two AP-style essays, in-class
and timed, using short passages to be analyzed and
discussed according to the directions in the writing
prompt

2. Analyzing Poetry

• Focus is on “classic” poetry, with the intention of

introducing students to poems—and poets—of renown.
Beowulf and selections from The Canterbury Tales are
included in this section of the course. Also prominently
featured are the British Romantic poets—Blake,
Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelly, Byron, and Keats—and
American poets Whitman and Frost. Many poems of
other poets are also included here.
• Poetry is analyzed for both content and style, with a
focused look at how literary techniques are used in the
genre.
• In order to increase appreciation of the art, students must
select a poem not discussed in class, give a prepared
reading of their poems to class, briefly highlight the
significant stylistic devices employed by the poet, and
finally explain why the chosen poem has particular
significance for them.
• Writing Assignment: Students will write at least three
AP-style poetry essay questions either taken from prior
AP exams or composed in the style used on the AP exam.

3. Research Paper

• Assigned in September, the research paper for the class is

due during the third quarter. Students chose a
prominently regarded literary author of novels or full-
length plays and read three novels or plays that they had
not previously read by that author. Based on that
reading, students then selected a proposed thesis about
which to research and write.
 • The paper is to be eight to ten pages long, must have a
minimum of three primary sources and five secondary
sources. Particular attention must be paid to proving the
thesis with specific references to the literature. Emphasis
is also placed on the paper being stylistically interesting,
as achieved by choosing colorful words and varying
sentence structure.

D. Fourth Quarter

1. Analyzing Poetry—this unit extends into the fourth quarter

2. Analyzing Miller’s Death of a Salesman: “The Woods Are

Burning”

• In groups, consideration of the symbols and motifs

employed by Miller in the play;
• In groups, analysis of techniques used to develop characters
• In a full class discussion, explore main themes of the play
and explore ways the play remains relevant today
• Journal writing: as students read the play, they consider in
their journals why it remains relevant today
• In-class essay on characterization

3. AP Examination at the beginning of May; review of objective-

style questions in preparation for the examination.

4. Shakespearean Comedy—The Merchant of Venice: “The Quality of

Mercy”

• Reading the play in class with students preparing parts prior

to class for better understanding and character interpretation
when performing in class;
• Analysis of themes, using significant quotations from the
play as prompts for discussion;
• Viewing a film version of the play, followed by a discussion
of the different challenges of staging the play and filming it;
• Written Assignment: choice of creative writing—choosing a
character and creating a back story for him or her; choosing
a minor character in the play and retelling the story from
that character’s point of view; writing lyrics to a theme song
for the play itself, for the weddings at the end, or for one of
the characters in the play; or student choice of an alternate,
approved assignment.
5. End of Year Creative Project

• Students choose an end of year creative project that they will

present to the class. The only restriction on this assignment
is that it must have a connection to literature. Examples of
acceptable assignments are preparation of scenes from a play
to perform, composing and performing music based on a
piece of literature, writing a parody based on a piece of
literature, or writing poetry in the style of particular period
or artist. I must approve all projects in advance.