The AP English Literature Essays

Three Essays (40 minutes each)•Question 1 – Poem or Pair of Related

Poems

•Question 2 – Prose: usually fiction or drama (excerpt or complete short story)

•Question 3 – Analysis of student-selected novel, play or epic poem in response to an open-ended framing question

Question 1, 2009• In the following speech from Shakespeare’s

play Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey considers his sudden downfall from his position as advisor to the king. Spokesmen for the king have just left Wolsey alone on stage. Read the speech carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how Shakespeare uses elements such as allusion, figurative language, and tone to convey Wolsey’s complex response to his dismissal from court.

Question 2, 2009

•The following selection is the opening of Ann Petry’s 1946 novel, The Street. Read the selection carefully and then write an essay analyzing how Petry establishes Lutie Johnson’s relationship to the urban setting through the use of such literary devices as imagery, personification, selection of detail, and figurative language.

Question 3, 2009• A symbol is an object, action, or event that

represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning.

• Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Suggested Works for Question 3• You may choose a work from the list below or another

novel or play of comparable literary merit.

• As I Lay Dying• The Awakening• Beloved• Bleak House• Cat’s Eye• The Cherry Orchard• The Color Purple• Crime and Punishment• The Crossing

How the Essays are Scored

•Essays are scored using a 9 point holistic rubric.

•Writers are rewarded for what they do well, rather than points being deducted for errors.

Scoring Rewards…

•Insight (original ideas about a text)

•Apt and relevant evidence, •Competent, persuasive analysis•Fluency and effective control of language (which includes diction, syntax, tone)

Steps to Success

•Make a plan.•Begin quickly and directly.•Use paragraphs and topic sentences.

•Use quotations and explain them.•Create variety through sentences.•Find the right word.

Just for Fun…

•The following slides are actual excerpts from real AP Literature Exam essays. Don’t be this writer!

•Language has always been a major part of literature.

•The three classic characters of high class society: the snoob, the niave, and the knows better sarcastic.

•A feeling of disillusionment is created in the reader’s bowels.

•By just reading this you can cut it with a butter knife.

•Willy Loman committed suicide several times.