English V AP Lit.
If you're enrolled in English V AP Lit for the 2017-2018 school year you're in the right place. Below you will find our summer reading novel and corresponding assignments. This will be due when the school year begins in the fall.
The summer reading list for AP Literature was chosen to enrich the first six weeks of instruction. During our first six weeks, we engage in an exploration of mythology and archetypes. Since The Iliad and The Odyssey are the primary sources for the study of Greek mythology, a solid working knowledge of the works would be beneficial to the student. Also, since these works can be used as source material on the AP Literature exam (Essay 3), I recommend taking notes over them in a reading journal. Reading journals should not be plot summaries but thoughts and reflections over characters, themes, and symbols. These are student notes to be reviewed in April and May in preparation for the AP exam and should be organized with that in mind. Although having read The Iliad and The Odyssey will not be mandatory for the class, I encourage it for all students for the following reasons: 1. They are both cornerstones of western literature 2. They can be used for the AP exam 3. They will enhance an understanding of mythology and archetypes in the first 6 weeks 4. They are great stories that stand up to the test of time. I will not include the scoring of the reading journals as a formal assessment, but I will include a bonus point potential for having read the works. We are reading the books The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer.
The Iliad is set three millennia ago, during the final year of the Trojan War, a conflict in which Greek warriors sailed the Aegean to what is now Turkey and besieged the citadel of Troy for ten years. In the first few pages the Greek hero Achilles quarrels with the chief king, Agamemnon, over a female slave whom the Greek soldiers had awarded to Achilles as a prize of honor in recognition of his exploits. Agamemnon seizes the woman. Achilles withdraws from fighting in a rage, and remains withdrawn for the bulk of the poem, during which time the Trojans, led by Hector--Trojan King Priam's son--almost burn the beached Greek ships and drive the invaders into the sea. Hector kills Achilles' close friend, Patroclus, prompting Achilles to resume fighting. The Greeks drive the Trojans back to their citadel. Achilles kills Hector. He abuses the corpse but, in the final pages of the poem, returns it to Priam for funeral honors. The Iliad ends there, before Achilles dies from an arrow shot into his heel, before the Greeks enter Troy by means of a hollow wooden horse and destroy the citadel. The Odyssey is Homer's epic of Odysseus' 10-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War. While Odysseus battles mystical creatures and faces the wrath of the gods, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus stave off suitors vying for Penelope's hand and Ithaca's throne long enough for Odysseus to return. The Odyssey ends as Odysseus wins a contest to prove his identity, slaughters the suitors, and retakes the throne of Ithaca. |
The Books.
It is highly recommended that you acquire your own physical copies of the books.
Here are convenient links where you can order them off of Amazon (do not order anything without your parents' permission):
If you cannot acquire your own physical copy of both books, you may find a full PDF version of them here (The PDF works best if downloaded and used with an eBook reader, such as Kindle or iBooks, especially if being read on a smartphone):
The Iliad:
Here are convenient links where you can order them off of Amazon (do not order anything without your parents' permission):
- The Iliad: www.amazon.com/dp/0140275363/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OOjjzb2FP63XE
- The Odyssey: www.amazon.com/dp/0140268863/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gPjjzbSQKDR32
If you cannot acquire your own physical copy of both books, you may find a full PDF version of them here (The PDF works best if downloaded and used with an eBook reader, such as Kindle or iBooks, especially if being read on a smartphone):
The Iliad:
This version is just the text alone:
|
This version has an introduction and explanatory footnotes:
|
|
|
The Odyssey:
the_odyssey.pdf | |
File Size: | 1566 kb |
File Type: |
Assignment.
As you read this novel, you will complete a reading journal to accompany it. This will be due at the start of the fall semester.