AP Examination Questions

PHILOSOPHICAL PROTOCOLS:

Our perspective should be Martha Nussbaum's:

The central task of education...is to confront the passivity of the pupil, challenging the mind to take charge of its own thought. All too often, people's choices and statements are not their own...Words come out of their mouths, and actions are performed by their bodies, but what those words and actions express may be the voice of tradition or convention the voice of the parent, of friend, of fashion. This is so because these people have never stopped to ask themselves what they really stand for, what they are willing to defend as themselves and their own...They are like instruments on which fashion and habit play their tunes, or like stage masks through which an actor's voice speaks.

from: Martha Nussbaum. Cultivating Humanity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000. pp. 28-29. Thus...

Self-motivation is the key to success in AP English. Since the specifications for success are stringent, it is to the credit of students who are farsighted enough to realize that hard work now would be more than rewarded in the future. Consequently, enrollees should have a realistic perspective of the requirements for success:

Time management is essential. Students are expected to check with the instructor on a regular basis regarding the completion of assignments. Self-motivation in this course, as in any college level program, is expected. Asking for extensions is generally not acceptable except in case of an emergency. Due dates are posted sufficiently in advance to allow for completion of all work. Not managing time well, or underestimating the time needed to complete projects, as in college, do not constitute emergencies.

The course is paper intensive. Short papers of 5 pages are assigned in order to strengthen explicative skills, and AP Essay questions are completed on a regular basis Additionally, a summer paper and a term paper are assigned. Accepted standards for Freshman College English are utilized: all papers are submitted electronically, and must be free of mechanical, grammatical, and spelling errors.

Students are expected to conduct library research in college libraries without being told, and to use that material for in class discussions and papers.

There are no tests and quizzes. Evaluations are based on:

papers
college library research
class discussions on a daily basis, including teaching the class for one to two periods
completing AP questions from previous tests.

Computer literacy is important. Much of the course work is on-line at the SJC web site, and all assignments requiring research must use the Internet in addition to college libraries: Students have access to the MLA data base. Students should have an account with Mr.Colvin, Director of Technology, to allow computer use at school. The minimum requirements include:

ALL STUDENTS MUST HAVE A COMPUTER ACCOUNT AT ST. JOHN'S.
PLEASE SEE MR. COLVIN, THE DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY, FOR AN ACCEPTABLE USE FORM.
ALL STUDENTS MUST CREATE AN EMAIL ACCOUNT WITH YOUR LAST NAME AS PART OF THE ADDRESS FOR SUBMISSION OF SCHOOL RELATED ASSIGNMENTS.
TURITIN.COM MUST BE USED FOR SUBMISSION OF PAPERS.

It is recommended that students spend at least one hour per night on AP related work, and more time on the weekend. Reading and researching should go beyond what is minimally assigned.

My schedule of office hours is posted in the classroom. I am available for student conferences when they are requested. I am at school from 6:15 AM to 4:00 PM-- MTWTF.

E-mail address : r.nighan@gmail.com

TEXTS:

CLASSICAL UNIT:

The Iliad (Fagles' Translation)
The Poetics of Aristotle
Selections from The Republic of Plato
Oedipus (Norton Critical edition)

SHAKESPEARE UNIT:

King Lear
Othello
Macbeth
Hamlet--review from Honors British Literature

MODERN LITERATURE:

Heart of Darkness by Conrad
Turn of the Screw by James
Modern poetry to be assigned

SUPPORTS:

For each text assigned, you will be assisted in locating critics who are recognized authorities: Bradley, Bloom, Knox, Edel etc.
AP Examination questions will be analyzed throughout the term.
The course content of HONORS BRITISH LITERATURE will frequently be recalled.

POLICIES:

The class should be conducted as a college level seminar. Daily preparation and discussions are important.

Strengthen your time management skills--allow sufficient time to prepare drafts of papers and essays.

You must check HOMEWORK CENTRAL DAILY BY 4:00 PM as needed for assigned work. Absence is not an excuse for missing work, especially since the research curriculum links and background handouts are now on line.

Work submitted late will be accepted with no points off, with points off or not accepted at all depending on the circumstances.

Missed work must be made up upon returning to school..

GRADING CRITERIA:

1-AP practice evaluations from previous tests (ICES) = 40% of the quarter grade
2-Class preparation and participation = 20% of the quarter grade, to include revisions of written work: ICES and papers.
3-Papers = 40% of the quarter grade. All papers must be submitted to turnitin.com.
4-There is a first semester final examination, but the AP test replaces the final for the second semester.

PLEASE NOTE: STUDENTS WITH ACADEMIC ACCOMMODATIONS MUST INFORM THE INSTRUCTOR THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL.

ATTENDANCE / LATENESS:

At the discretion of the Principal, any student who has been absent from a single class for ten (10) or more days during a semester or twenty (20) days of classes for the entire year, without medical verification, may be required to attend summer school before being advanced or being awarded a diploma..

School late policies have been revised:

Students tardy to class regardless of the reason must report to the office first for a date and time stamped admission slip which will either be marked excused (if you have a note or a valid reason) or not excused resulting in tardy detention to be served the next day.
In this class, when the door is closed when the bell rings, you are late if not in the room.

School policies on late work and extra credit (from the student handbook):

Since following directions and timely effort are traits to be encouraged in education, teachers are asked to refrain from giving "extra-credit" assignment as a means of a student attempting to override past penalties for inadequate work. Any extra-credit offered is to be educational in nature, (i.e. visiting an exhibit) and offered to the entire class.

Teachers are to attach a penalty to all work submitted late that is not related to the excused absence of the student. (Students may offer circumstances in mitigation, but in an AP class, the circumstances would have to be very serious. Technology failures are not usually considered acceptable reasons for lateness).

ACADEMIC ETHICS and LEADERSHIP EXPECTATIONS from the Student Handbook:

The relationship between the teacher and the student must be characterized by the highest level of integrity' when a teacher gives a student an assignment-homework, pupil project, presentation, lab, etc.-or when he/she gives a quiz or exam, that teacher is building the framework for the student's learning Please note the following guidelines and follow them in your work at St. John’s.

The Academic Ethical Guidelines states:

1. A student will not use or give to another any notes, materials, other sources of information, or other assistance for a class, including but not limited to a quiz, test, paper, project, oral presentation or power-point presentation, which have not been approved by the teacher. All work is expected to be completed individually, rather than through a collaborative process, unless explicitly prescribed otherwise by the teacher.

2. A student's homework and in-class work fulfill the intention of the instructor in a specific class:

A. Individual assignments must be represented by individual work.
B. Group assignments must be represented by group work. In no case is direct copying allowed.

3. A student must represent his/her work honestly. That is, any and all work submitted by a student certifies that the student himself/herself did the work In other words, if a student assignment is about a book, it is presumed that he read the book; if the assignment is about an event he/she attended; it is presumed he/she attended said event; if the assignment is a translation of a work from a foreign language into English, or vice versa, it is presumed that the student performed the translation his/herself without the use of any other aids. A violation of this certification will result in the imposition of an academic penalty and may result in further disciplinary action at the discretion of the Assistant principal. The examples provided above are only illustrative and other situations, as determined by the Faculty or the Administration, may give rise to a violation of this section.

4. A student will not plagiarize in any form. Plagiarism presents the work or ideas of another as one's own. This includes:

A. Direct copying of another person's (living or dead) work
B. Using any amount of another person's material or ideas without proper documentation.
C. Paraphrasing another person's original material without proper documentation.

Any infringement or violation of the norms stated above will affect both the student's status in the relevant class and his/her status as a St. John's student. In all cases of cheating or the appearance of cheating, the teacher will give the student a significant academic punishment for the violation and will notify the parent(s). All incidents of academic dishonesty will be kept on file in the Student Affairs Office In the case of a student's second offense, the student will face probable dismissal. In all cases.

The Principal has and reserves the right to dismiss a student for academic deceit when he considers the circumstances warrant that action- contested cases of cheating will always be referred to the student Affairs office who will thoroughly investigate the instance, consult the student's disciplinary and academic history, confer with faculty persons in the subject area as needed and render a judgment.

Principles of an Active Leader:

The basic principle of our school's philosophy is that every student must actively engage in the educational process consequently, we expect each student to realize that the primary responsibility for learning rests squarely on his/her own shoulders. Parents, teachers, and friends may guide and direct the learning process, but real achievement in the academic endeavor is not possible if student is nor actively involved.

Each student is expected to be on time for each class and not to miss class except in the case of illness, school sponsored event or another serious reason. Each teacher expects that a student will come to class fully prepared, ready, willing, and able to participate in the lessons of the day. Learning deserves an environment of respect and freedom from distraction; furthermore, each student, is expected to assist in maintaining order by refraining from disruptive conduct.

If a student is absent, he/she is expected to check Homework central and/or contact his/her classmates for each day's assignment and make arrangements for securing appropriate books. In the case of a prolonged absence, a student's parents should contact the Student Affairs Office for assistance. In such cases, it is also prudent for students or their parents to contact teachers by e-mail in order to secure missed assignments and materials. Parents should feel free to contact teachers whenever they have a question or concern about their son/daughter's progress in a particular class.

If you answer 1/2 the multiple choice questions correctly, and write superior essays based on the criteria below, you will get at least a 3. More specifically, the examiners noted that an average student taking the examination will get 50-60% of the multiple choice questions right (based on scores from the last five years.)

1--Proficiency with the essay form argument--your first sentence must contain a clear thesis statement that will state what you intend to prove in the essay. It is argumentative in the sense that you are taking a position that will require substantiation through analysis; not paraphrase.

2--General knowledge. It is expected that you are familiar with works covered in a British Literature and AP course. The materials chosen for these courses at SJC were selected according to what the AP committee requires. Many of these questions use the phrase “choose a work of recognized literary merit.” This means interpretive literature that states a universal applicable to the human condition and could be reread many times while still engaging the reader’s consciousness and revealing with each reading more meaning. You should be familiar with a major novel, poem and play. It is not possible to find a question in which a Shakespeare play could not be used. Shakespeare is the most frequently mentioned author on the test.

3--Do not summarize the plot--presume the reader knows it. Do not define common literary terms or figures of speech--again presume the reader know.

4--Critical analysis--you must be able to do a close reading of the text you select. You should know it well enough to be able to quote a line or two from memory. Do not paraphrase. Interpret the text and select scenes that you think substantiate the thesis. It is the same process as quoting from a primary source to prove a thesis in a paper.

5--You must be able to make value judgments based on what you select. Some scenes and lines are more important than others, and you should be able to select what is most significant. Frye's The Anatomy of Criticism will help you here.

6--Criticism is important--for each work we have done plus your own research, you should be able to cite a critic who has reflected on the material. You may agree or disagree with what he/she says, but this kind of recollection adds depth to your work. For each genre, you should know a critic whose work has become standard for explicating a given work: Poetics, Shakespearean Tragedy, Prefaces of Henry James for the novel.

7--Allusion--several years ago, nine students took the class, and five of the nine scored 5 on the test. One reason was the ability to allude to other works that impacted on the one under discussion. References to classical authors, the bible etc. add depth to your work.

8--Write a conclusion that refers to the thesis, and reminds that reader that you have substantiated the thesis.

9--Using standard written English, spelling, punctuation etc. Generally do not use slang.

10--It is unwise to cross out, erase, insert lines with arrows from the margins. The readers have a lot to do, and looking at this kind of work creates a negative first impression. Scratch out an outline first somewhere other than the answer paper before you begin to write anything. Study the question first so you know what is asked before you begin to work.

11--Critical vocabulary is important. Readers expect you to be conversant with the major terms for each genre and use them appropriately:

12-THE FOLLOWING OUTLINE STRATEGIES RECOMMENDED BY THE EXAMINERS. (They are drawn from notes taken at an AP English teachers' convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday, October 14, 2000, and a second conference in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, October 8, 2005).

Philadelphia: The committee recommends that:

prompts should not be slavishly imitated or mechanically repeated in the response
generic prompts are meant to encourage a creative response
figures of speech and literary devices of style cannot simply be mentioned; their purpose should be explored
inferential thinking be encouraged
the prompt should not be repeated in the answer
questions be read carefully to avoid misreading
the connotative nuances of language should be respected
readings should not be surface and literal--creative depth be preferred
the unpredictable thesis should be encouraged if substantiated
the contextual richness of language must be honored
writers should be more sensitive to nuance--metaphor, tone, and especially irony--to beyond the literal
paraphrases must be severely restricted and only used to serve analysis
unsubstantiated generalizations and clichés be avoided
the 'canned' essay be avoided--creativity in form and content should be encouraged
the most demanding texts be referenced
traditional choices in the free response (i.e.: Hamlet) be avoided unless a fresh response is discerned
film not be used
students know the difference between an essay with 5 paragraphs and a 5 paragraph essay--shy away from traditional structures
that all conclusions be supported
the scavenger hunt mechanism be avoided--the citing of critics was debated
a creative position be taken and supported

Washington, D.C.: The committee discussed the following:

1. The importance of students understanding irony in the texts. A good reader detects the presence of irony and can infer nuances coming from its use in the passages.
2. The need for students to understand not just that irony is used but why. Irony involves what the author meant but did not say.
3. That art miniaturizes life to make an ordered world (bringing order out of chaos), and the catharsis comes from this process.
4. The need to pay attention to the beginning of things ( The thesis foreshadows what is to come). Students must write a coherent 3 paragraph essay: beginning, middle and end. An essay is not a string of ideas, or a list of literary devices, but an organic and logically organized totality.
5. Always ask why something happens in art; not just that it does happen. The selections provided will hint at a critical approach that should be examined.
6. That the teacher should write essays with the students.
7. That techniques of composition should be identified and explicated...why used? Techniques must relate to meaning and not listed.
8. That time must be spent teaching the close reading of a text.
9. That texts from all literary periods should be taught.
10. Texts should become increasingly more difficult from all genres; not just poetry.
11. Details of a text must be known...from names of characters to relevant details. Do not paraphrase as a substitute.
12. Generalizations without support (universals without specifics) are bad.
13. The need to read the prompt carefully.
14. That prompts evolve from the passages and not the other way around.
15. The need to write frequent essays.
16. That for the free response, often the title of a text not on the list determines the score. You must select a work of comparable literary merit, so no matter how well you know or like a text, you cannot risk using one that does not rank with the ones on the list.
17. Knowing background cultural and philosophical nuances are important.
18. Multiple choice hint: read the passage first, read the stem next and not the choices; imagine the best answer you would write, and then compare it to the choices on the list. If you are torn between two, the stem provides the best clue on a reread.

1. A critic has said that one important measure of a superior work of literature is its ability to produce in the reader a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude. Select a literary work that produces healthy confusion. Write an essay in which you explain the sources of the pleasure and disquietude experienced by the readers of the work.

2. Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two societies or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or a play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

3. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class or creed. Choose a play or novel in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and moral values.

4. Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness. Select a work of recognized literary merit.

5. Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel or play of recognized literary merit and show how the authors manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole. Do not summarize the plot.

6. Some novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. Then analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the reader’s or audience’s views. Avoid plot summaries.

7. Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action.

8. The meaning if some literary work is often enhanced by sustained allusion to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Select a literary work that makes use of such a sustained reference. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the work’s meaning.

9. In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose a work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In an essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work.

10. In a novel or a play, a confident (male) or confidante (female) is a character, often a friend or relative of the hero or heroine, whose role is to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much “the reader’s friend as the protagonist’s” However, the author sometimes uses the character for other purposes as well. Choose a confidant or confidante from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you discuss the various ways the characters functions in the work.

11. Choose a novel or play or long poem in which a scene or character awakens “thoughtful laughter” in the reader. Write an essay in which you show why this laughter is thoughtful and how it contributes to the meaning of the work.

12. A critic said: “The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from the readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events--a marriage or last minute rescue from death--but some kind of spiritual or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death.” Choose a novel or a play that has the kind of ending described, and identify the “spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation” evident in the ending and explain its significance in the work as a whole.

13. In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence. Choose a novel or play of literary merit and write an essay in which you show such a character functions in the work. You may wish to discuss how the character affections action, theme, or the development of other character. Avoid plot summary.

14. In his essay, “Walking,” Henry David Thoreau offers the following assessment of literature:

In literature it is only the wild that attracts us. Dullness is but another name for tameness. It is the uncivilized free and wild thinking in Hamlet and The Iliad in all scriptures and mythologies, not learned in schools, that delights us.

From the works that you have studied in school, choose a novel, play or epic poem that you may initially have thought was conventional and tame but that you now value for its “uncivilized free and wild thinking.” Write an essay in which you explain what constitutes its “uncivilized free and wild thinking” and how that thinking is central to the value of the work as a whole. Support your ideas with specific references to the work you choose.

15. The eighteenth-century British novelist, Sterne wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.”

From a novel or play, choose a character (not necessarily the protagonist) whose mind is pulling in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences. Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict within one character illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. You may use one of the novels or plays listed below or another novel or play of similar literary quality.

16. Many works of literature not readily identified with the mystery or detective story genre nonetheless involve the investigation of a mystery. In these works, the solution to the mystery may be less important than the knowledge gained in the process of its investigation. Choose a novel or play in which one or more of the characters confront a mystery. Then write an essay in which you identify the mystery and explain how the investigation illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

17. Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a "discerning Eye." Select a novel or play in which a character's apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behaviour consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the "madness" to the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

18. Morally ambiguous characters--characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or good--are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

19. According to critic Northrop Frye, "Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors of course may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning." Select a novel or play in which a tragic hero functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.

20. Critic Roland Barthes has said, "Literature is the question minus the answer." Choose a novel or play and, considering Barthes' observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers. Explain how the author's treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

21. In Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess "that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions." In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who conforms outwardly while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary.

22. Make up sample questions of your own that match the ones listed.

1. Be confident of your ability to do well. We will analyze and write about challenging literature; any work studied will be suitable for an essay. You will write papers designed to prepare your for the test ( and for college) using the techniques described in this printout.

2. For each genre, be comfortable with one work and use it first if it fits the question; be able to quote a line or two, but do not use “...” unless the quote is direct. Although Shakespeare is the author most suited for any free response, do not feel you have to use him or that the examiners will drop your score if you do not . Use that material with which you feel comfortable.

3. Do not summarize the plot, or write long first sentences that repeat the questions. DO in the first sentence state a thesis that the essay will support with examples. Remember that the graders have many pages to read--get to the point, argue it, and strongly conclude. For example. DO NOT begin an essay by saying, Heart of Darkness contains many fascinating things that Kurtz says and does...” Begin immediately. What are the “things”, and why are they important?

4. Critical support is important...

a--for prose fiction--the Prefaces of Henry James
b--for drama--(Shakespeare)--Bloom, Bradley, Frye (someone well known)
c--for poetry -- Sidney (Defense of Poetry), (Abrams)--romantic perspective; (Pope) Essay on
Man, Essay on Criticism, classical (Aristotle and Plato).--terms from the Poetics like
flaw, reversal, recognition, pity, fear, catharsis etc. have universal applications.
d--philosophical metaphors--cave and line from The Republic would work anywhere.

5. Allusions work well--but use them carefully--control--do not let an allusion dominate an essay. Be careful about how you refer to an allusion. In Lear, for example, do not just say “level 4” and keep going; maybe the reader does not know you mean Frye’s fourth level of nature.

6. Study the question first--for a 40 minute question, it may seem unreasonable to spend a minute or two doing this, but knowing what is asked for can avoid errors later. Sometimes a question may ask for more than one perspective--distinguish, analyze and substantiate.

7. You may underline and make notes on the selections, but these do not count toward the score.

8. Recall the chart we used for submitting the sample essays--review all strengths and weaknesses.

9. If you are asked to work with a contemporary passage that does not seem to correlative with what we have studied, remember that is intentional. They are looking for your ability to correlated modern selections with the more traditional. For example, you most likely would not be asked to explicate Hamlet's "To be..." soliloquy, but past tests have excerpted elements from Troilus and Cressida.

GENRE SPECIFIC COMMENTS:

Remember the check list used for answering the free-response essay:

POETRY:

1. Note the kind of poem by genre--lyric, dramatic monologue, sonnet, ode etc. Each has its own requirement, and the testers would expect; for example, you to know the requirements of a dramatic monologue in framing a response. There is always a relationship between form and content, such as the heroic couplet and 18th century poetics.

2. Be conscious of literal vs. figurative. Poetry and Shakespearean drama say much in a few words. Inference is important. If you can substantiate an inference, do so. Unless your interpretation is so widely off the mark that the text could not support the conclusion, you will be given credit for creative but substantiated work. DO NOT CHANGE THE QUESTION.

3. Remember the language of poetry--the figures of speech: simile metaphor personification allusion kinds of irony paradox etc. Do not define them, but use them. Connotation is important.

PROSE FICTION:

1. Be conscious of technique--point of view is essential--omniscient, limited omniscient, first person--you need to be able to explain why a point of view is used in terms of what it contributes to meaning.
Irony is especially useful.

2. Remember terms; inciting force, rising action, climax, turning point, static and dynamic characters, protagonist (not good guy), antagonist (not bad guy), confidant, setting, motivation. These terms are elementary, but use them if needed. One year, a question involved setting and motivation.
Setting will, for example, have metaphoric connotations as in H of D. Dramatization of consciousness and how such is done is important.

DRAMA:

1. Shakespeare is the best choice, and having written your long paper on him, you should be able to discuss any of the plays we have done.

2. Dialogue and stage directions are important; use of soliloquy; compression of time, use of setting and advantage of the objective point of view should be noted.

3. For drama and any interpretive work , there are levels of interpretive meanings--Work on the most difficult level--what goes on in the mind. Thus a Hamlet soliloquy would be worth using.

CRITICAL TERMS:

Abstract allegory alliteration allusion illusion ambiguity analogy caesura climax conceit conflict--levels of couplet denotation denouement dialect diction dramatic monologue epic--literary and folk epic simile fancy or imagination foreshadowing flashback heroic couplet hyperbole imagery irony--kinds of metaphor metaphysical mock epic motif motivation narrator kinds of point of view ode parody paradox pastoral persona personification satire invective satire soliloquy kinds of sonnets simile stream of consciousness tone antithesis, pathos, didactic, frame story archetype, sensibility, atmosphere

Make a distinction between theme and moral. Remember that each literary period has its own critical data base that could be used: ROMANTIC--Wordsworth (coloring of imagination) , Coleridge (primary and secondary imagination) etc.

APPEARANCE AND MECHANICS:

The essays you present must be pleasing to the eye, and easy to read. DO NOT:

1. cross out

2. write sentences in the margins using arrows to connect them to the paragraphs

3. leave gaps of white space between paragraphs

4. slant the writing on an angle--write straight across the page

The thesis paragraph should be about 3-4 sentences, the body of about 10 sentences for one paragraph or maybe two 6 sentence paragraphs, and a short conclusion paragraph.

MECHANICS:

WHAT YOU SAY IS THE KEY, BUT HOW YOU SAY WHAT YOU SAY IS REALLY JUST AS IMPORTANT. THE GRADERS OBVIOUSLY EXPECT STANDARD WRITTEN ENGLISH. THE PROBLEM IS THAT WITH CONTENT PRESSURE, THERE IS A TENDENCY TO WRITE QUICKLY HAVING SO MUCH TO SAY, AND THEREFORE TO FORGET ABOUT STYLE:

1. A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period.

2. Do not join sentences with commas--this is a splice or a run on.

3. Subordinate clauses are often mistaken for full sentences; they are fragments.

4.Spelling is essential.

5. A compound sentence has a comma before the coordinate conjunction, or a semicolon in place of the conjunction: Hamlet is insane. He asks for help. / Hamlet is insane, and he asks for help. / Hamlet is insane; he asks for help.

6. Sentences with introductory phrases or clauses has a comma after the phrase or clause.

7. Keep the tense the same--do not tense shift.

8. Do not use slang or contractions.

MAKE ANY CORRECTIONS NECESSARY:

Hamlet is indeed perplexed, he has not notion of whether the ghost is good or evil. He cannot confide in anyone. Which means that he is alone in order to face the task of executing public or private revenge as commanded by a ghost that could be from hell. Hamlet must therefore turn to Ophelia, she apparently rejected him. Because Hamlet also knew that Claudius thinks him mad he decides to act the part to torment him. placing him in great danger.