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Ideas in Literature, First Edition, by John R. Williamson; Mary Jo Zell; Elizabeth A. Davis - ©2023 from BFW High School Publishers

Ideas in Literature

First  Edition|©2023  John R. Williamson; Mary Jo Zell; Elizabeth A. Davis

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  • About
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About

Ideas in Literature matches the current AP® Literature course, providing all the important reading and writing prep you need to ace the AP® Literature Exam.

Digital Options

E-book

Our e-books are accessible on multiple devices. Read online (or offline), bookmark, search, and highlight in an interactive and downloadable e-book.

Learn More

Contents

Table of Contents

UNIT 1

Reading Literally and Figuratively

BIG IDEA: Character

Workshop Focus: Characterization

GUIDED READING   Shirley Jackson, Charles  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Stephen King, Here There Be Tygers  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA: Setting

Workshop Focus: Time and Place

GUIDED READING  Alice Walker, The Flowers  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Jesse Stuart, Another April  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA: Structure

Workshop Focus: Plot

GUIDED READING   Roald Dahl, The Landlady   Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  King James Bible, Parable of the Prodigal Son  Parable

 

BIG IDEA: Narration

Workshop Focus: Point of View

GUIDED READING  Gary Soto, The Pie  Memoir

PRACTICE TEXT  Toni Morrison, Sweetness  Short Story

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Courage and Fate

  Anonymous, The Seafarer  Narrative  Poem

  Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ulysses  Poem

  Frank Stockton, The Lady or the Tiger  Short Story

Faith and Doubt

  Geoffrey Chaucer, The Pardoner’s Tale  Poem

  Washington Irving, The Devil and Tom Walker  Short Story

  Charles Johnson, Exchange Value  Short Story

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP: Writing About a Theme

Workshop Focus: Establishing a Unifying Idea Through a Defensible Thesis Statement

STUDENT MODEL  Preston Davis , Impulse, Ignorance, and Imminent Consequence  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Prose Fiction Analysis

Focus: Establishing a Unifying Idea through a Defensible Thesis Statement

 

MODELED TEXT   Hillary Jordan, from Mudbound  Excerpt

PRACTICE TEXT   Charlotte Bronte, from Jane Eyre  Excerpt

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Della Owens, from Where the Crawdads Sing  Excerpt

POETRY  Martin Espada, Of the Threads That Connect the Stars  Poem

 

UNIT 2

Analyzing Shifts and Contrasts

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Character Perspective and Bias

GUIDED READING  Aimee Nezhukumatathil, On Listening Your Teacher Take Attendance   Poem

PRACTICE TEXT   Anne Bradstreet, Verses Upon the Burning of Our House  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Shifts and Contrasts

GUIDED READING  Lisa Parker, Snapping Beans  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  John Crowe Ransom, Janet Waking  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, and Symbols

Workshop Focus: Association and Emphasis

GUIDED READING  Frank X. Walker, Death by Basketball  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Arisa White, It was easier to manage  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Similes and Metaphors

GUIDED READING  Amanda Gorman, In This Place (An American Lyric)  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  e. e. cummings, she being Brand  Poem

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Thought and Feeling

  John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning  Poem

  John Loomis, Deer Hit  Poem

  Hafissa Thompson-Spires, Fatima, the Biloquist: A Transformation Story from The Heads of Colored People  Chapter

Opportunity and Loss

  Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress  Poem

  Natasha Trethewey, Pilgrimage  Poem

  Sofia T. Romero, Cloud Nine  Short Story

 

WRITING WORKSHOP Writing about Tone

Workshop Focus: Justifying a Thesis through a Line of Reasoning

STUDENT MODEL  Sophia Amstalden, Escaping Expectations  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Poetry Analysis

Focus: Justifying a Thesis Through a Line of Reasoning

MODELED TEXT  William Shakespeare, Sonnet 73    Poem

PRACTICE TEXT   Joy Harjo, Perhaps the World Ends Here  Poem

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  W. E. B. Du Bois, from The Comet  Excerpt

POETRY  Walt Whitman, A Noiseless Patient Spider  Poem

 

UNIT 3

Analyzing Tensions

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Static and Dynamic Characters

PRACTICE TEXT  Sharon Cooper, Mistaken Identity  One-Act Play

 

BIG IDEA Setting

Workshop Focus: Social, Historical, and Cultural Contexts

PRACTICE TEXT  Luis Valdez, Los Vendidos  One-Act Play

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Conflict

PRACTICE TEXT   Michael Hollinger, Naked Lunch  One-Act Play

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Power and Control

  William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice  Drama

  Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House  Drama

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing about Character

Workshop Focus: Explaining Interpretation through Commentary

STUDENT MODEL  Jilliam Skaggs, Character Analysis of Tom Jones  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Literary Argument

Focus: Explaining Interpretation through Commentary

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Oscar Wilde, from A Picture of Dorian Gray  Excerpt

POETRY  John Murrillo, Enter the Dragons  Poem

 

UNIT 4

Analyzing Perspectives

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Characters in Conflict

GUIDED READING  Juan A. Sedillo, Gentleman of Rio En Medio  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Setting

Workshop Focus: Mood and Atmosphere

GUIDED READING  Jack London, Law of Life  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Archetypal Patterns

GUIDED READING  Sarah Orne Jewett, A White Heron  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT     Malinda Lo, Red   Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Narration

Workshop Focus: Narrative Perspective

GUIDED READING   Jamaica Kincaid, Girl  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies  Short Story

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Irony and Incongruity

  Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal  Satirical Essay

  Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron  Short Story

  Clint Smith, Counterfactual  Poem

Reason and Order

         Alexander Pope, from An Essay on Criticism    Poem

         Colson Whitehead, Chapter 7 from The Nickel Boys        Chapter

         Anton Chekhov, The Bet  Short Story

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing about Point of View

Workshop Focus: Creating Unity through Commentary

STUDENT MODEL  Julia Luxon, Analysis of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof  Literary Argument

 PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Prose Fiction Analysis

  Focus: Creating Unity through Commentary

MODELED TEXT  Emily Brontë, from Wuthering Heights  Excerpt

PRACTICE TEXT  N. Scott Momaday, from A House Made of Dawn   Excerpt

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Ann Petry, from The Street  Excerpt

POETRY  Claude McKay, Harlem Shadows  Poem

 

UNIT 5

Analyzing Comparisons

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Form, Sound, Rhythm, and Rhyme

GUIDED READING  Erick Didriksen, Sonnet XVIII  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Dorothy Chan, Ode to Chinese Superstitions  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, And Symbols

Workshop Focus: Words and Images

GUIDED READING  John Ciardi, Suburban  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Billy Collins, The Lanyard  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Metaphor, Personification, and Allusion

GUIDED READING  Robert Frost, Mending Wall  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Seamus Heaney, Digging  Poem

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Individual and Nature

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner  Poem

  Mary Oliver, Singapore  Poem

  Herman Melville, nBartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street  Novella

Imagination and Intuition

  John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn  Poem

  Countee Cullen, To John Keats, At Springtime  Poem

  Italo Calvino, The Enchanted Garden  Short Story

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP: Writing about Extended Metaphor

Workshop Focus: Creating Coherence through Transitional Elements

STUDENT MODEL           Teagen Ankerson, Analysis of "Thou Blind Man’s Mark"   Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Poetry Analysis

Focus: Creating Coherence through Transitional Elements

MODELED TEXT  George Herbert, The Collar  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Billy Collins, The Lanyard  Poem

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

POETRY  Toi Derricotte, Black Boys Play the Classics  Poem

PROSE  Barbara Kingsolver, from The Poisonwood Bible  Excerpt

 

UNIT 6

Analyzing Representations

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Contrasting Characters

PRACTICE TEXT  Zora Neale Hurston, Spunk  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Non-Linear Plots

PRACTICE TEXT  Jesmyn Ward , Richie from Sing Unburied Sing  Chapter

 

BIG IDEA: NARRATION

Workshop Focus: Narrative Tone and Bias

PRACTICE TEXT  Viet Thanh Nguyen, Chapter 1 from The Sympathizer  Chapter

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, and Symbols

Workshop Focus: Symbols

PRACTICE TEXT  John Irving, The Foul Ball from A Prayer for Owen Meany  Chapter

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Repression and Conformity

  Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde  Novel

  Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus  Novel

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing about Symbol

Workshop Focus: Creating Purposeful Syntax

STUDENT MODEL  Robert Dohrman, Darkness in a Changing Life  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Literary Argument

Focus: Creating Purposeful Syntax

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Khaled Hosseini, from A Thousand Splendid Suns  Excerpt

POETRY  Naomi Nye, Hugging the Jukebox  Poem

 

UNIT 7

Analyzing Associations

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Character Change and Epiphany

GUIDED READING  James Joyce, Araby  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Elizabeth Bowen, The Demon Lover  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Setting

Workshop Focus: Contrasting and Changing Settings

GUIDED READING   Doris Lessing, A Mild Attack of Locusts  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Chimamanda Adichie, Cell One  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Narrative Pacing

GUIDED READING  Saki, The Storyteller  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Sinclair Lewis, The Hack Driver  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Narration

Workshop Focus: Reliable and Unreliable Narrators

GUIDED READING  Truman Capote, Miriam  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minister’s Black Veil  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, and Symbols

Workshop Focus: Symbolic Settings and Motifs

GUIDED READING   Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour   Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper   Short Story

 

BIG IDEA FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Similes and Personification

GUIDED READING  Edgar Allan Poe, Masque of the Red Death  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Ken Liu, Paper Menagerie   Short Story

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Appearance and Reality

  Virginia Woolf, The New Dress   Short Story

  Robert Browning, My Last Duchess  Poem

  Octavia Butler, Bloodchild   Short Story

Loss and Disillusionment

   D.H. Lawrence, The Rocking Horse Winner  Short Story

   Li Young Lee, Hymn to Childhood  Poem

  Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis  Novella

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP: Writing about Setting

Workshop Focus: Writing Introductions

STUDENT MODEL  Hannah Richards, Culture as Setting in The Handmaid’s Tale  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Prose Fiction Analysis

Focus: Contextualizing Your Argument

MODELED TEXT  Yaa Gysai, from Homegoing  Excerpt

PRACTICE TEXT  Richard Wright, from Native Son  Excerpt

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Charles Dickens, from A Tale of Two Cities  Excerpt

POETRY  Percy B. Shelley, Ozymandias  Poem

 

UNIT 8

Analyzing Incongruities

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Irony and Paradox

GUIDED READING  Anne Sexton, Cinderella   Poem

PRACTICE TEXT   Elaine Magarrell, The Joy of Cooking  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, And Symbols

Workshop Focus: Ambiguity

GUIDED READING   W.H. Auden, The Unknown Citizen  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Wallace Stevens, Anecdote of the Jar  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Conceit and Allusion

GUIDED READING  Edward Taylor, Upon a Spider Catching a Fly   Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Haunted Oak  Poem

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Alienation and Fragmentation

  T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock  Poem

   Chen Chen, I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party  Poem

  Neil Gaiman, How to Talk to Girls and Parties  Short Story

Identity and Identities

  Teri Foltz, Manhunt  One-Act Play

  Janine Solursh, Forgotten Portraits   Poem

  Teresa Acosta, My Mother Pieced Quilts  Poem

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing about Irony

Workshop Focus: Writing Conclusions

STUDENT MODEL  Tim Mollette, Kafka’s Implausible Reality  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Poetry Analysis

Focus: Making Connections

MODELED TEXT   Jericho Brown, Prayer for the Backhanded  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT   Langston Hughes, The Weary Blues  Poem

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

POETRY  Crystal Wilkinson, O Tobacco  Poem

PROSE  Alex Haley, from Roots  Excerpt

 

UNIT 9

Analyzing Complexities

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Character Complexities

PRACTICE TEXT  Katherine Dunn, Chapter 1 from Geek Love  Chapter

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Significant Moments

PRACTICE TEXT  Ralph Ellison, Chapter 10 from Invisible Man  Chapter

 

BIG IDEA Narration

Workshop Focus: Narrative Complexities

PRACTICE TEXT  Anthony Doerr, Chapter 3 from All The Light We Cannot See   Chapter

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Power and Perception

  Caryl Churchill, Top Girls  Drama

  Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof   Drama

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing a Source-Based Literary Argument

Workshop Focus: Using and Citing Sources

STUDENT MODEL  Katrina Ruiz, How Characterization Sparked the Women’s Movement  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Literary Argument

Focus: Considering Alternate Interpretations

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You?  Short Story

POETRY  William Cullen Bryant, Thanatopsis  Poem

 

Glossary/Glosario

 

Appendix A: Writing Workshop: Writing a College Application Essay

 

Appendix B: MLA Guide to Style and Documentation

 

Appendix C: Critical Approaches to Literature

 

Index

Authors

John R. Williamson

John R. Williamson is the Dean of K-12 Programs and Superintendent of Model Laboratory School at Eastern Kentucky University where he also continues to teach both AP® English courses. Prior to this role, John served as the Vice President of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for The College Board’s AP® Program where he led the transformation of all 38 AP® courses and exams, including both AP® English Language and AP® English Literature. For over 20 years John has led workshops across the country as an AP® faculty consultant and trainer. Additionally, he has experience as a reader and table leader for both AP® English exams. John has taught courses at all high school levels as well as both undergraduate and graduate courses in composition, rhetoric, linguistics, and literature.


Mary Jo Zell

A teacher for almost thirty years, Mary Jo Zell currently serves as the English department chair at Keller High School in Keller, Texas, where she teaches AP® English Language, AP® English Literature, and Dual Credit English. She is also an adjunct professor at Tarrant County Community College. She has been a reader and table leader for the AP® English Language Exam for the last 18 years. She served on the AP® English Literature Instructional Design Team and is an AP® faculty consultant who has conducted national and international workshops and summer institutes.


Elizabeth A. Davis

Elizabeth Davis has taught English for more than three decades for Round Rock ISD and College Station ISD, where she also served as English Department Chair for many years. She has been a reader for the AP® English Language Exam and served on the AP® Literature Instructional Design Team. For over twenty years, she has served as an AP® faculty consultant, conducting workshops in both AP® English Language and AP® English Literature.


Fully Aligned, Fully Engaged.
The Complete AP® Literature Package.

Ideas in Literature matches the current AP® Literature course, providing all the important reading and writing prep you need to ace the AP® Literature Exam.

E-book

Our e-books are accessible on multiple devices. Read online (or offline), bookmark, search, and highlight in an interactive and downloadable e-book.

Learn More

Table of Contents

UNIT 1

Reading Literally and Figuratively

BIG IDEA: Character

Workshop Focus: Characterization

GUIDED READING   Shirley Jackson, Charles  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Stephen King, Here There Be Tygers  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA: Setting

Workshop Focus: Time and Place

GUIDED READING  Alice Walker, The Flowers  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Jesse Stuart, Another April  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA: Structure

Workshop Focus: Plot

GUIDED READING   Roald Dahl, The Landlady   Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  King James Bible, Parable of the Prodigal Son  Parable

 

BIG IDEA: Narration

Workshop Focus: Point of View

GUIDED READING  Gary Soto, The Pie  Memoir

PRACTICE TEXT  Toni Morrison, Sweetness  Short Story

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Courage and Fate

  Anonymous, The Seafarer  Narrative  Poem

  Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ulysses  Poem

  Frank Stockton, The Lady or the Tiger  Short Story

Faith and Doubt

  Geoffrey Chaucer, The Pardoner’s Tale  Poem

  Washington Irving, The Devil and Tom Walker  Short Story

  Charles Johnson, Exchange Value  Short Story

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP: Writing About a Theme

Workshop Focus: Establishing a Unifying Idea Through a Defensible Thesis Statement

STUDENT MODEL  Preston Davis , Impulse, Ignorance, and Imminent Consequence  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Prose Fiction Analysis

Focus: Establishing a Unifying Idea through a Defensible Thesis Statement

 

MODELED TEXT   Hillary Jordan, from Mudbound  Excerpt

PRACTICE TEXT   Charlotte Bronte, from Jane Eyre  Excerpt

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Della Owens, from Where the Crawdads Sing  Excerpt

POETRY  Martin Espada, Of the Threads That Connect the Stars  Poem

 

UNIT 2

Analyzing Shifts and Contrasts

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Character Perspective and Bias

GUIDED READING  Aimee Nezhukumatathil, On Listening Your Teacher Take Attendance   Poem

PRACTICE TEXT   Anne Bradstreet, Verses Upon the Burning of Our House  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Shifts and Contrasts

GUIDED READING  Lisa Parker, Snapping Beans  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  John Crowe Ransom, Janet Waking  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, and Symbols

Workshop Focus: Association and Emphasis

GUIDED READING  Frank X. Walker, Death by Basketball  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Arisa White, It was easier to manage  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Similes and Metaphors

GUIDED READING  Amanda Gorman, In This Place (An American Lyric)  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  e. e. cummings, she being Brand  Poem

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Thought and Feeling

  John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning  Poem

  John Loomis, Deer Hit  Poem

  Hafissa Thompson-Spires, Fatima, the Biloquist: A Transformation Story from The Heads of Colored People  Chapter

Opportunity and Loss

  Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress  Poem

  Natasha Trethewey, Pilgrimage  Poem

  Sofia T. Romero, Cloud Nine  Short Story

 

WRITING WORKSHOP Writing about Tone

Workshop Focus: Justifying a Thesis through a Line of Reasoning

STUDENT MODEL  Sophia Amstalden, Escaping Expectations  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Poetry Analysis

Focus: Justifying a Thesis Through a Line of Reasoning

MODELED TEXT  William Shakespeare, Sonnet 73    Poem

PRACTICE TEXT   Joy Harjo, Perhaps the World Ends Here  Poem

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  W. E. B. Du Bois, from The Comet  Excerpt

POETRY  Walt Whitman, A Noiseless Patient Spider  Poem

 

UNIT 3

Analyzing Tensions

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Static and Dynamic Characters

PRACTICE TEXT  Sharon Cooper, Mistaken Identity  One-Act Play

 

BIG IDEA Setting

Workshop Focus: Social, Historical, and Cultural Contexts

PRACTICE TEXT  Luis Valdez, Los Vendidos  One-Act Play

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Conflict

PRACTICE TEXT   Michael Hollinger, Naked Lunch  One-Act Play

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Power and Control

  William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice  Drama

  Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House  Drama

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing about Character

Workshop Focus: Explaining Interpretation through Commentary

STUDENT MODEL  Jilliam Skaggs, Character Analysis of Tom Jones  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Literary Argument

Focus: Explaining Interpretation through Commentary

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Oscar Wilde, from A Picture of Dorian Gray  Excerpt

POETRY  John Murrillo, Enter the Dragons  Poem

 

UNIT 4

Analyzing Perspectives

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Characters in Conflict

GUIDED READING  Juan A. Sedillo, Gentleman of Rio En Medio  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Setting

Workshop Focus: Mood and Atmosphere

GUIDED READING  Jack London, Law of Life  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Archetypal Patterns

GUIDED READING  Sarah Orne Jewett, A White Heron  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT     Malinda Lo, Red   Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Narration

Workshop Focus: Narrative Perspective

GUIDED READING   Jamaica Kincaid, Girl  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies  Short Story

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Irony and Incongruity

  Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal  Satirical Essay

  Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron  Short Story

  Clint Smith, Counterfactual  Poem

Reason and Order

         Alexander Pope, from An Essay on Criticism    Poem

         Colson Whitehead, Chapter 7 from The Nickel Boys        Chapter

         Anton Chekhov, The Bet  Short Story

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing about Point of View

Workshop Focus: Creating Unity through Commentary

STUDENT MODEL  Julia Luxon, Analysis of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof  Literary Argument

 PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Prose Fiction Analysis

  Focus: Creating Unity through Commentary

MODELED TEXT  Emily Brontë, from Wuthering Heights  Excerpt

PRACTICE TEXT  N. Scott Momaday, from A House Made of Dawn   Excerpt

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Ann Petry, from The Street  Excerpt

POETRY  Claude McKay, Harlem Shadows  Poem

 

UNIT 5

Analyzing Comparisons

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Form, Sound, Rhythm, and Rhyme

GUIDED READING  Erick Didriksen, Sonnet XVIII  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Dorothy Chan, Ode to Chinese Superstitions  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, And Symbols

Workshop Focus: Words and Images

GUIDED READING  John Ciardi, Suburban  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Billy Collins, The Lanyard  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Metaphor, Personification, and Allusion

GUIDED READING  Robert Frost, Mending Wall  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Seamus Heaney, Digging  Poem

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Individual and Nature

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner  Poem

  Mary Oliver, Singapore  Poem

  Herman Melville, nBartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street  Novella

Imagination and Intuition

  John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn  Poem

  Countee Cullen, To John Keats, At Springtime  Poem

  Italo Calvino, The Enchanted Garden  Short Story

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP: Writing about Extended Metaphor

Workshop Focus: Creating Coherence through Transitional Elements

STUDENT MODEL           Teagen Ankerson, Analysis of "Thou Blind Man’s Mark"   Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Poetry Analysis

Focus: Creating Coherence through Transitional Elements

MODELED TEXT  George Herbert, The Collar  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Billy Collins, The Lanyard  Poem

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

POETRY  Toi Derricotte, Black Boys Play the Classics  Poem

PROSE  Barbara Kingsolver, from The Poisonwood Bible  Excerpt

 

UNIT 6

Analyzing Representations

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Contrasting Characters

PRACTICE TEXT  Zora Neale Hurston, Spunk  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Non-Linear Plots

PRACTICE TEXT  Jesmyn Ward , Richie from Sing Unburied Sing  Chapter

 

BIG IDEA: NARRATION

Workshop Focus: Narrative Tone and Bias

PRACTICE TEXT  Viet Thanh Nguyen, Chapter 1 from The Sympathizer  Chapter

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, and Symbols

Workshop Focus: Symbols

PRACTICE TEXT  John Irving, The Foul Ball from A Prayer for Owen Meany  Chapter

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Repression and Conformity

  Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde  Novel

  Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus  Novel

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing about Symbol

Workshop Focus: Creating Purposeful Syntax

STUDENT MODEL  Robert Dohrman, Darkness in a Changing Life  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Literary Argument

Focus: Creating Purposeful Syntax

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Khaled Hosseini, from A Thousand Splendid Suns  Excerpt

POETRY  Naomi Nye, Hugging the Jukebox  Poem

 

UNIT 7

Analyzing Associations

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Character Change and Epiphany

GUIDED READING  James Joyce, Araby  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Elizabeth Bowen, The Demon Lover  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Setting

Workshop Focus: Contrasting and Changing Settings

GUIDED READING   Doris Lessing, A Mild Attack of Locusts  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Chimamanda Adichie, Cell One  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Narrative Pacing

GUIDED READING  Saki, The Storyteller  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Sinclair Lewis, The Hack Driver  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Narration

Workshop Focus: Reliable and Unreliable Narrators

GUIDED READING  Truman Capote, Miriam  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minister’s Black Veil  Short Story

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, and Symbols

Workshop Focus: Symbolic Settings and Motifs

GUIDED READING   Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour   Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper   Short Story

 

BIG IDEA FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Similes and Personification

GUIDED READING  Edgar Allan Poe, Masque of the Red Death  Short Story

PRACTICE TEXT  Ken Liu, Paper Menagerie   Short Story

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Appearance and Reality

  Virginia Woolf, The New Dress   Short Story

  Robert Browning, My Last Duchess  Poem

  Octavia Butler, Bloodchild   Short Story

Loss and Disillusionment

   D.H. Lawrence, The Rocking Horse Winner  Short Story

   Li Young Lee, Hymn to Childhood  Poem

  Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis  Novella

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP: Writing about Setting

Workshop Focus: Writing Introductions

STUDENT MODEL  Hannah Richards, Culture as Setting in The Handmaid’s Tale  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Prose Fiction Analysis

Focus: Contextualizing Your Argument

MODELED TEXT  Yaa Gysai, from Homegoing  Excerpt

PRACTICE TEXT  Richard Wright, from Native Son  Excerpt

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Charles Dickens, from A Tale of Two Cities  Excerpt

POETRY  Percy B. Shelley, Ozymandias  Poem

 

UNIT 8

Analyzing Incongruities

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Irony and Paradox

GUIDED READING  Anne Sexton, Cinderella   Poem

PRACTICE TEXT   Elaine Magarrell, The Joy of Cooking  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Word Choice, Imagery, And Symbols

Workshop Focus: Ambiguity

GUIDED READING   W.H. Auden, The Unknown Citizen  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Wallace Stevens, Anecdote of the Jar  Poem

 

BIG IDEA Figurative Language: Comparison

Workshop Focus: Conceit and Allusion

GUIDED READING  Edward Taylor, Upon a Spider Catching a Fly   Poem

PRACTICE TEXT  Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Haunted Oak  Poem

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Alienation and Fragmentation

  T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock  Poem

   Chen Chen, I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party  Poem

  Neil Gaiman, How to Talk to Girls and Parties  Short Story

Identity and Identities

  Teri Foltz, Manhunt  One-Act Play

  Janine Solursh, Forgotten Portraits   Poem

  Teresa Acosta, My Mother Pieced Quilts  Poem

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing about Irony

Workshop Focus: Writing Conclusions

STUDENT MODEL  Tim Mollette, Kafka’s Implausible Reality  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Poetry Analysis

Focus: Making Connections

MODELED TEXT   Jericho Brown, Prayer for the Backhanded  Poem

PRACTICE TEXT   Langston Hughes, The Weary Blues  Poem

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

POETRY  Crystal Wilkinson, O Tobacco  Poem

PROSE  Alex Haley, from Roots  Excerpt

 

UNIT 9

Analyzing Complexities

 

BIG IDEA Character

Workshop Focus: Character Complexities

PRACTICE TEXT  Katherine Dunn, Chapter 1 from Geek Love  Chapter

 

BIG IDEA Structure

Workshop Focus: Significant Moments

PRACTICE TEXT  Ralph Ellison, Chapter 10 from Invisible Man  Chapter

 

BIG IDEA Narration

Workshop Focus: Narrative Complexities

PRACTICE TEXT  Anthony Doerr, Chapter 3 from All The Light We Cannot See   Chapter

 

IDEAS IN LITERATURE

Power and Perception

  Caryl Churchill, Top Girls  Drama

  Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof   Drama

 

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP Writing a Source-Based Literary Argument

Workshop Focus: Using and Citing Sources

STUDENT MODEL  Katrina Ruiz, How Characterization Sparked the Women’s Movement  Literary Argument

 

PREPARING FOR THE AP® EXAM

Free-Response Question: Literary Argument

Focus: Considering Alternate Interpretations

 

Multiple-Choice Questions

PROSE  Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You?  Short Story

POETRY  William Cullen Bryant, Thanatopsis  Poem

 

Glossary/Glosario

 

Appendix A: Writing Workshop: Writing a College Application Essay

 

Appendix B: MLA Guide to Style and Documentation

 

Appendix C: Critical Approaches to Literature

 

Index

John R. Williamson

John R. Williamson is the Dean of K-12 Programs and Superintendent of Model Laboratory School at Eastern Kentucky University where he also continues to teach both AP® English courses. Prior to this role, John served as the Vice President of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for The College Board’s AP® Program where he led the transformation of all 38 AP® courses and exams, including both AP® English Language and AP® English Literature. For over 20 years John has led workshops across the country as an AP® faculty consultant and trainer. Additionally, he has experience as a reader and table leader for both AP® English exams. John has taught courses at all high school levels as well as both undergraduate and graduate courses in composition, rhetoric, linguistics, and literature.


Mary Jo Zell

A teacher for almost thirty years, Mary Jo Zell currently serves as the English department chair at Keller High School in Keller, Texas, where she teaches AP® English Language, AP® English Literature, and Dual Credit English. She is also an adjunct professor at Tarrant County Community College. She has been a reader and table leader for the AP® English Language Exam for the last 18 years. She served on the AP® English Literature Instructional Design Team and is an AP® faculty consultant who has conducted national and international workshops and summer institutes.


Elizabeth A. Davis

Elizabeth Davis has taught English for more than three decades for Round Rock ISD and College Station ISD, where she also served as English Department Chair for many years. She has been a reader for the AP® English Language Exam and served on the AP® Literature Instructional Design Team. For over twenty years, she has served as an AP® faculty consultant, conducting workshops in both AP® English Language and AP® English Literature.


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