Virtual Poetry Unit 
Emphasized Skills (as suggested in 2019 CED):

• STR 3.C – Explain the function of structure in a text.
• STR 3.D – Explain the function of contrasts within a text.
• FIG 5.B – Explain the function of specific words and phrases in a text.
• FIG 5.C – Identify and explain the function of a metaphor.
• FIG 6.B – Identify and explain the function of an allusion.

 Each week, I will post 2 poems on Tuesday. Each set of poems will focus on a specific literary analysis skill. Your job is twofold:

 Part 1: Compare/Contrast + Critical Thinking
Read the two poems and respond to the prompt in a Primary Blog Entry (100-150 words) by Tuesday night at 11:59pm. By Thursday night at 11:59pm, please read all Primary Blog Entries and select two that you find interesting, surprising, insightful, or conflicting with your own understanding and compose a brief response to each in a Secondary Blog Response (60-80 words).

Part 2: Individual Analysis + Emphasized Skill
The two poems that you read each week have been selected to highlight a specific skill (see list above). By Friday at 11:59pm, please upload to Turnitin.com a short written reflection (200-250 words) in which you use one of the poems to address the question that is aligned to the skill being addressed. 

*Nom de Plumes for the Blog Entries: Please select a pen name of your own and then share it with me through email. 

Skill: STRUCTURE 3.D - Explain the Function of Contrasts within a Text

Topic: Perseverance

Part 1 Primary and Secondary Blog Prompt: 
Compare and contrast the two poems. What are their similarities? How do they differ? Overall, which poem do you feel is more “essential” to study in AP English Lit and why? 
           -Primary Blog Entry (100-150 words) due by Tuesday at 11:59pm;
           -2 Secondary Blog Responses (60-80 words) due by Thursday night at 11:59pm
​BE SURE TO ADD WORD COUNT!

​Part 2 Individual Written Reflection Prompt: 
Produce a written reflection (200-250 words) wherein you explain the function of contrasts in one of the two poems. Demonstrate a strong line of reasoning and support all claims with textual evidence. 
Upload to Turnitin by 11:59pm on Friday.

Below, you will find a selection of AP Literature Essay # 3 Prompts that listed "A Doll's House"  among its suggested titles. 

Part One Expectations (please select one of the prompts and respond to the following):

(1) Why does this prompt attract you in particular?
(2) How does "A Doll's House" answer the question?
(3) Write a single sentence thesis statement that you might use if you were writing to this essay prompt.
200-250 words, 2 quotes from the play, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class

Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class.

AP Prompts:
1971. The significance of a title such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is so easy to discover. However, in other works (for example, Measure for Measure) the full significance of the title becomes apparent to the reader only gradually. Choose two works and show how the significance of their respective titles is developed through the authors' use of devices such as contrast, repetition, allusion, and point of view

1983. From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character's villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

1987. 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 summary.

1988. 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. Do not merely summarize the plot.

1995. 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 novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values.

2005. In Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary. 

Please listen to the audio recording of Ani DiFranco’s cover of the song, “Wishin’ and Hopin’.” Here is one excerpt of the lyrical content:

Show him that you care, just for him
Do the things that he likes to do.
Wear your hair just for him,‘cause
You won’t get him, thinkin’ and a prayin’
Wishin’ and hopin’.

In your Primary Post, you should:
(1) argue that such gender roles of  dominance and submission still exist in today’s society; OR

(2) argue that today our society no longer desires such gender specific behaviors, and that true love and 
marriage is based on mutual respect. 

Your Secondary Response Post can:
(1) challenge your colleague's points, OR
(2) make connections to your own lives, OR
(3) support and defend a shared view, OR
(4) somehow create a dialogue about the characters' actions and choices


***To add depth to your discussion, you may wish to discuss the irony of Ani DiFranco singing this song.


Part One Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, quotes from Act 2 AND "Wishin' and Hopin,'" minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class

Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class.