Advanced Placement English



AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION SUMMER READING 2020

Summer reading is an essential part of AP Literature and Composition. It will expose you to a range of ideas and literary techniques as well as to some of the key issues of the course. The assigned texts will be a focus not only in the first weeks of school but also later in the course. ENJOY!

Please begin your summer work as soon as possible. If you purchase your own copies of the texts (physical copy or digital/e-reader version), you are encouraged to mark them up – underline, highlight, color code, make notes in the margins, for example. If you borrow copies from the library (please note that you will need any library copies to be available for work in class), you are encouraged to make notes - on post-its or index cards, for example. As these are just suggestions, decide on a system that is appropriate for you. Making an explicit record of your thinking about these texts will be helpful for the tasks below as well as for the work you will do with these books in class.

1. SING, UNBURIED, SING BY JESMYN WARD (2017) – READ BOOK AND COMPLETE CHART – TYPED CHART DUE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL:

Read Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. Reflect on the wide range of literary considerations present within the text. Complete the chart included at the end of this document for FOUR of the eight elements. For each of the four elements, develop a prompt question, craft a claim/thesis statement, and provide two examples that include properly cited direct textual evidence as well as analytical thoughts about the evidence’s connection to the prompt question/claim statement. Your work should be thoughtful, perceptive, and compelling, revealing the critical and varied ways that you approach reading and interpreting literature. See the models below using a text from your sophomore English course.

The Great Gatsby Example 1:

|Element |Prompt Question |Claim/Thesis Statement |Properly Cited Quotations |Explanations/Reflections |

| | | |(two per element) |(of quotations related to claim) |

|Setting |What is the importance and continuing |Write out your original claim/thesis |1st properly cited direct textual |Explanation of 1st textual |

| |influence of “home” (a broad concept |statement |evidence |evidence/quotation |

| |that could refer to many things such | | | |

| |as a dwelling, a place, or a state of | |2nd properly cited direct textual |Explanation of 2nd textual |

| |mind) in The Great Gatsby and how does| |evidence |evidence/quotation |

| |this significance illuminate the | | | |

| |larger meaning of the novel? | | | |

The Great Gatsby Example 2:

|Element |Prompt Question |Claim/Thesis Statement |Properly Cited Quotations |Explanations/Reflections |

| | | |(two per element) |(of quotations related to claim) |

|Theme |What does The Great |Write out your original claim/thesis |1st properly cited direct textual |Explanation of 1st textual |

| |Gatsby reveal about the effects of |statement |evidence |evidence/quotation |

| |wealth on the individual and/or | | | |

| |society and how do these ideas inform | |2nd properly cited direct textual |Explanation of 2nd textual |

| |the overall meaning of the novel? | |evidence |evidence/quotation |

PLEASE NOTE: Your edition of Ward’s novel may include supplementary material such as a reading guide and an interview with the author. The

essay prompts you develop should explore territory and questions NOT taken up in these resources. You should work to develop prompts, claims, etc. that attend to considerations that are original, layered, and nuanced. Avoid superficial, obvious, standard literary topics.

1. POETRY COLLECTION – READ SELECTED VOLUME AND ANNOTATE – DUE A FEW WEEKS INTO THE SCHOOL YEAR:

Choose one of the following contemporary poetry collections to read. Be sure to explore the choices in order to select a poet and a collection you want to spend time with. See the parenthetical notes next to each name/title to assist in selecting your summer poet.

Richard Blanco City of a Hundred Fires (coming of age, family, nostalgia, identity, multilingual [English and Spanish])

Eavan Boland New Collected Poems (Irish identity and experience, female identity and experience)

Billy Collins Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (the everyday expanded, travel, allusions)

Mark Doty Source (lyrical, descriptive, identity, the familiar, the everyday)

Martín Espada Alabanza (historical, political, oppression, Latino identity and experience)

Joy Harjo An American Sunrise (Native American identity and experience, female identity, ancestors, history, nature)

Seamus Heaney Opened Ground (Irish, local, small details, daily life, family, mythical)

Juan Felipe Herrera Notes on the Assemblage (Chicano identity and expression, civil rights, multilingual [English and Spanish])

Ted Kooser Delights and Shadows (domestic, small, daily life, imagery, metaphor)

Philip Levine What Work Is (working-class experience, childhood, memory, Detroit)

Mary Oliver New and Selected (Volume 1) (lyrical, primitive, the beauty and terror of nature)

Linda Pastan Carnival Evening (the ordinary, the domestic, the beauty and terror of daily life, female identity)

Robin Robertson Swithering (Scottish, raw, imagery, metaphor, nature, childhood)

Kay Ryan The Best of It: New and Selected (musical, witty, compact, concentrated)

Natasha Trethewey Domestic Work (history, imagery, regional, working-class experience, varied forms)

You will be expected to write in class about your selected poetry collection. In order to prepare for this writing, read your chosen collection for enjoyment as well as critical contemplation. Record your thinking in some form throughout your reading of the collection. In particular, you should select 3-5 poems that intrigue and/or challenge you to annotate and comment on specifically (on post-its, in the margins, etc. – your choice). Let the questions below (adapted from Literature – Structure, Sound and Sense, 6th edition [Arp and Perrine, editors]) guide your explorations and work.

1. Who is the speaker? What kind of person is the speaker?

2. Is there an identifiable audience for the speaker? What can we know about it (her, him or them)?

3. What is the occasion?

4. What is the setting in time (hour, season, century and so on)?

5. What is the setting in place (indoors or out, city or country, land or sea, region, nation, hemisphere)?

6. What is the central purpose of the poem?

7. What is the tone of the poem? How is it achieved?

8. Outline the poem so as to show its structure and development.

9. Discuss the diction of the poem. Point out words that are particularly well chosen and explain why.

10. Discuss the imagery of the poem. What kinds of imagery are used? Is there a structure of imagery?

11. Point out examples of the following literary techniques and explain their appropriateness: metaphor, simile, personification, allusion, irony, paradox, understatement, symbols, allegory and sound devices (consonance, assonance, rhyme, meter, alliteration).

3. WHAT IT IS BY LYNDA BARRY (2008) – CAN READ WHOLE TEXT OR WAIT FOR SELECTIONS IN CLASS – DUE A FEW WEEKS INTO THE YEAR:

Another reading that we will be working with early in our course is the graphic/visual text WHAT IT IS by Lynda Barry (2008). This book provides a creative, unique reflection about writing. We will have copies available for your use during class in the fall. However, if you would like a more extended opportunity to explore the book, you may preview this text over the summer (either purchase or through the Bucks County library system). East’s library also has several copies available.

A FEW ADDITIONAL NOTES:

A Note on Academic Integrity:

The readings and interpretations of the books assigned this summer (and those assigned later) are to be wholly your own. Do not read critical essays, interviews, reviews, or notes about these works. Consultation of SparkNotes, Cliffs, Monarch, Bloom’s, or any other supporting resources/criticism is counter to the purposes and challenges of this course. Consulting such sources is considered cheating and will be handled accordingly.

A Note on Pacing:

Summer reading is best done over the course of the summer—not in one hectic week. So get an early start! If your fear is that you will forget everything you read in June, you can refresh your memory by reviewing your writing and the notes in your books shortly before the beginning of school. Please have your summer reading books and notes available to bring to class upon the start of school.

DUE DATES:

Late summer projects will not be accepted without significant consequence. See the following chart for the submission timeline.

|Assignment # |Assignment |Submission Date and Relevant Information |

|1 |Sing, Unburied, Sing |Submit a hard copy of your work on the first day of class. If the school year begins in |

| |Chart Completed for Four Elements |an online platform, you will need to email your assignment to your teacher by 3:00 PM on|

| | |the first day of instruction this fall. |

|2 |Poetry Volume |Writing (for which annotations are necessary) will take place in the first weeks of |

| | |school. |

|3 |What It Is |Reading of text and creation of related project will occur in the first weeks of school.|

| |(optional to preview during the summer) | |

A FEW NOTES ABOUT THE SING, UNBURIED, SING CHART: Please see the next page for the Sing, Unburied, Sing chart. The chart must be TYPED. Once completed, the typed chart may take up more than one page. If the school year begins in an online format and you need to submit this work via email, you must save the chart as a separate file and email just the chart document. DO NOT send this entire informational document in an email.

QUESTIONS? Please direct any questions to Ms. Tricia Conn: tconn@

ENJOY YOUR SUMMER! HAPPY READING AND WRITING!

Name: _________________________________

Sing, Unburied, Sing Chart

Please review the following list of elements and select FOUR elements to complete (per the info and models above).

|Element |Prompt Question |Claim/Thesis Statement |Properly Cited Quotations |Explanations/Reflections |

| | | |(two per element) |(of quotations related to claim) |

| | | | | |

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|Point of View | | | | |

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|Setting | | | | |

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|Characterization | | | | |

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|Internal and/or | | | | |

|External Conflict | | | | |

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|Narrative Moment | | | | |

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|Symbol | | | | |

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|Writer’s Craft | | | | |

|(diction, syntax, etc.)| | | | |

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|Theme | | | | |

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