Theme of AP Lit

I am very excited to have 35 students in AP Lit this year. With two sections, we can mix up readings, discussions, and assignments accordingly.

To begin class, we left behind required paperwork and information. Instead, we started our collaborative environment by teams listing literary terms on the board, and we commenced our participation by having an informal q & a.

Then, the paperwork came back: discipline review, schools policies, the AP Lit syllabus (which still, mournfully, has our favorite Scottish play listed instead of King Lear).

To wrap up today's course, you received a list of AP Literature terms. For this list, you will either create flashcards or use a Steno pad to learn unfamiliar terms and add these to your analyses in class. Then, you have a glossary of lit terms -- there is an overlap -- to help you recapture forgotten lit terms and learn new terms.

Due Friday: Close read "The Birthmark" for literary devices, themes, motifs, and critical schools (Historicist, Feminist, Psychoanalyst, Marxist). You will use this close reading on Friday to compose a typed essay in class. This will be your "Summer Reading in 4 Days" assignment and provide a writing sample for the course.

*For those of you wondering about the ins and outs of close reading, we will do a few in class during the upcoming days to give you a sense of what you may annotate for literary analysis.

Last year's AP Lit was one of the best classes I have ever had -- the content, the discussions,  the parties, the random raps. I hope you enjoy our short stories, novels, plays, and poetry and that these literary marvels will inspire you to read more for your own enjoyment.

P.S. I'll start wearing the big heels tomorrow.

Literary Terms to Know

On Tuesday, I will be handing you a two-sided handout with literary terms. Some of these terms should be quite familiar to you and others may seem like made-up words. When I taught English II, I expected my sophomores to memorize 35 literary terms while we were studying Lord of the Flies, Taming of the Shrew (now Macbeth, which was purloined from our AP Lit class), short stories, and poetry. Before I start giving you dactyls and conceits, here are those 35 terms, which you should have down prior to class or within the first few days. 

• onomatopoeia
• assonance
• simile
• allusion
• repetition
• symbol
• hyperbole
• tone
• mood
• imagery
• metaphor
• alliteration
• diction
• personification
• voice
• speaker
• sonnet
• stanza
• rhyme
• free verse
• dialogue
• protagonist
• antagonist
• static character
• dynamic character
• round character
• flat character
• third person limited
• third person omniscient
• satire
• theme
• setting
• situational irony
• verbal irony
• dramatic irony

Another literary element that will show up in almost all of your readings is the motif, a repeated literary device (often a symbol) that helps to construct a theme. For instance, in The Great Gatsby, there is a green light; in Macbeth, there is blood and lots of it - real and imaginary; in Lord of the Flies, there are Piggy's glasses and that conch shell.

And then there were three weeks...

In my non-summer reading letter, I mentioned that I would be updating the blog on a weekly basis. Well (to use a transitional expression from my former student MF), I went on vacation and spent every day at the pool working on my laps, my non-school reading, and my tan. Or in other words, I spent a month being Laura and not Professor or Ms. Gianini. So, for those of you who have been checking the blog waiting and wondering what will come next, I am here to inform you that I will be regularly updating with tips and ideas.

To begin...POETRY. Some are afraid of poetry - it uses odd syntax, inverts words, and relies too much on arcane symbolism. However, poetry relies on form, structure, and rhyme scheme.

Tip 1: When reading a poem, break analysis down into sections. Usually, a poem has stanzas (those paragraphs of poetry). Pay attention to the theme, tone, rhyme scheme, and literary devices in one stanza. Then, look at the next stanza to see if a motif (a repeated literary device that contributes to the theme), a conceit (an extended metaphor), or repetition exists or if there are shifts from the original writing.

Tip 2: Read a poem out loud. Many poems rely on meter (the pattern of beats, or syllables) and sound (alliteration, cacophony) to create a tone and mood. In class, we will learn about all types of meter, we will gallop to understand the rhythm of iambic pentameter, and we will break down poetry by syllables and lines.

Tip 3: Become familiar with poetry. In AP Lang last year, we read the following poems. These can be broken down for analysis and practice.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44992
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44628
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44982
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44978
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45146
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44479
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44477

Honestly, I have become more proficient in poetry by looking at its structure and not just its content.

And since AP Lit students will understand this allusion, it looks like I usurped power from Ralph and Jack while in Key West.

And, this guy sure reminded me of Piggy.

And, lastly, we made it to the Southernmost Point of the United States. My color theme for the trip was yellow, by the way. I think some of you may remember what yellow symbolizes. Creepers!

Close Reading

Close reading looks at the specific literary devices, diction, and repetitive instances to understand a character, a theme, a motif, a conflict, or any part of a literary text. In many AP prose prompts, you will be given a short selection and will use direct and indirect characterization to analyze a character and his or her context. Dialogue, body language, movement, and character interaction all play a part in detailing a character's meaning. 

An example -

"A woman stood in the doorway of the shop, her arms crossed, a woman made entirely of precisely ruled lines. Her face was long and stern, its planes sharpened by iron-grey hair tightly pulled back from the crown. Above the two angles of her cheek-bones, her eyes were curt incisions, while her nose was a narrow triangle, pinched to a white tip. Her plain white cap was so crisply starched it might have been folded from paper, while beneath the jutting lines of her collarbones, the rigid bodice of her plain dark dress made another precise triangle of her chest...." - Clare Clark

Here I have highlighted key words creating her character:

"A woman stood in the doorway of the shop, her arms crossed, a woman made entirely of precisely ruled lines. Her face was long and stern, its planes sharpened by iron-grey hair tightly pulled back from the crown. Above the two angles of her cheek-bones, her eyes were curt incisions, while her nose was a narrow triangle, pinched to a white tip. Her plain white cap was so crisply starched it might have been folded from paper, while beneath the jutting lines of her collarbones, the rigid bodice of her plain dark dress made another precise triangle of her chest...."

How would you describe her character from these details? In brief, her body language constructs a harsh, distant woman and her physical description conveys calculating angles. She is described in mathematical terminology, which is diction not connected to the female stereotype. I could go on here, but that would take away from your observations. 

With characterization, you should know the key types: protagonist, antagonist, round, flat, dynamic, flat, stock, foil, antihero. 

Lastly, the ability to describe tone in mature, precise language will help you immensely in understanding the text, writing analyses, and completing multiple choice passages. With that in mind. I thought 5 tone words a week will help with AP Lit Preparations.

• Jingoistic - extreme patriotism
• Reverent - respectful
• Laudatory - praising
• Kowtowing - obsequious, brown-nosing
• Vituperative - harsh, bitter criticism

Welcome to AP Lit

Even though we do not have required summer reading this year, I have already torn through two novels: one that I would not recommend, even though it used a great deal of asyndeton (lack of conjunctions) with the characters, and Brooklyn, the sweet novel that inspired the beloved film.

With AP Lit, the analysis of literature is at the forefront of each prose text: characterization, the relationships between characters in dialogue, physical movement, setting, narrator point of view, comparative techniques via the much beloved similes, metaphors, conceits (extended metaphors), motifs and symbols, gender roles, class roles, psychology, and many other literary elements that create the overall theme.

As you read this summer, pay attention to the characters and the conflicts. Notice how a character changes around other characters, how he or she develops or stagnates throughout the text, and what role the character plays in the overall plot and theme. Even when reading for fun, you can pull these details together to understand a text at a higher level.

I will be bonus blogging once a week with background, tips, and hints for AP Lit. I can't wait to hear about your readings this summer - especially since one of the writing prompts in class requires you to choose a novel of literary merit and write about it.

And on a personal aside, after three weeks of a torn pool liner with one foot of water, a thousand tadpoles, and moping of the highest level, the new pool liner is in and I can swim in a half hour! Finally, reading on the pool steps - my favorite place to tan, read, and relax.

Goodbye, My Pilgrims

I just want to thank you for the best AP Literature class I could have ever imagined. From Edna slinking off to the sea to Heathcliff bashing his head against a tree, you have exhibited the highest level of analysis, character connections, and poetical creativity imaginable. You have supported one another, you have supported me, and you have supported literature of all kinds: epic, Shakespeare, ode, elegy, Metamorphosis, frame, Romantic. The eleven of us made a superior team, almost akin to the 1992 Dream Team trouncing opponents from the Portland trials to the Barcelona Olympics. 

Continue reading, finding the caesura that authors create to explore their themes, and writing with individualistic gusto. I will miss all of you!

Best wishes to Ben, David, Justin, Ashley, Cassie, Laura, Stacey, Chilton, Hannah, & Madi! (And don't bicker about the order or any patriarchal favoritism! I wrote down the names by your seating arrangement in class!)

Malpais

Our Brave New World has now transferred to the reservation of Malpais, a place of human emotion, possession, and, alas, violence. As we look at another flawed world, we will see how Lenina and Bernard are affected by the people there and the secrets they are about to share. Make sure to read chapters 8-10 for tomorrow.