AP English Literature and Composition

Learning objectives

• Identify and explain the function of poetic structure including stanza breaks, line breaks, enjambment, and established forms (sonnet, villanelle, free verse)
• Analyze how sound devices (rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance) contribute to meaning and emotional effect
• Interpret figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification, apostrophe) in the specific context of each poem
• Distinguish between the speaker and the poet and explain why this distinction matters for interpretation
• Practice close reading a poem you have never seen before using a systematic approach

Learning objectives

• Analyze the function of plot structure (exposition, rising action, climax, resolution) and identify how deviations from convention create meaning
• Explain how dialogue, stage directions, and dramatic conventions convey character, conflict, and theme in plays
• Identify and analyze characterization, foils, and character function -- why specific characters exist in the story
• Distinguish between external and internal conflict and explain how each drives thematic development
• Write analytical responses about longer works that sustain a line of reasoning across multiple paragraphs

Learning objectives

• Analyze how narrative structure (in medias res, flashback, frame narrative) shapes meaning and reader experience
• Identify and distinguish types of irony (verbal, dramatic, situational) and analyze their effects on tone and theme
• Interpret symbolism and motif in context rather than assigning universal or fixed meanings to objects and images
• Analyze the function and effect of unreliable narrators, including how readers detect and respond to unreliability
• Develop interpretive claims that account for ambiguity and complexity rather than reducing texts to simple messages

Learning objectives

• Analyze how extended metaphor develops meaning across a poem and how the metaphor's logic shapes interpretation
• Identify and interpret tonal shifts (volta in sonnets, pivots in free verse) and explain their effect on meaning
• Analyze the function of dramatic monologue and persona -- what the speaker reveals about themselves unintentionally
• Explain how poetic form reinforces, complicates, or subverts content -- when form and meaning work together or against each other
• Write analytical essays about poetry that integrate observations about structure, language, and meaning

Learning objectives

• Analyze dramatic irony, soliloquy, and aside as tools for revealing character psychology and thematic tension
• Interpret the function of the tragic hero and hamartia -- not as a simple 'flaw' but as a complex pattern of choice and consequence
• Trace thematic development through recurring motifs and structural choices across a complete novel or play
• Analyze narrative techniques (fragmented chronology, multiple perspectives, unreliable narrators) and explain why authors choose them
• Write sustained analytical essays about longer works that integrate evidence from across the entire text

Learning objectives

• Apply critical lenses (feminist, Marxist, postcolonial, psychoanalytic) to short fiction and evaluate what each lens reveals and obscures
• Compare how authors across traditions use different craft choices to address similar themes, moving beyond surface similarity
• Analyze the effect of free indirect discourse, stream of consciousness, and other advanced narrative techniques
• Develop a defensible thesis connecting multiple literary elements in a unified interpretation of a complete work
• Evaluate how cultural and historical context shapes both the production and the reception of short fiction

Learning objectives

• Compare how poets from different traditions and eras address similar themes using different techniques and conventions
• Evaluate how historical and cultural context shapes poetic meaning, reception, and the politics of the literary canon
• Analyze how poets subvert or reinvent formal conventions for expressive, political, or cultural purposes
• Construct evidence-based literary arguments about poetry with embedded textual support and a clear line of reasoning
• Synthesize poetic analysis skills from all three poetry units into a coherent critical methodology

Learning objectives

• Compare dramatic and novelistic works across literary traditions, historical periods, and cultural contexts
• Apply critical lenses to drama and novels, developing interpretive arguments that go beyond surface reading
• Analyze how authors use, subvert, or reinvent genre conventions to challenge or reinforce cultural assumptions
• Write sustained literary arguments about longer works that integrate textual evidence, analytical frameworks, and a defensible thesis
• Synthesize all course skills into a personal critical approach you can apply to any unfamiliar text