ap lit sonnet essay

Writing an essay on a Shakespearean sonnet can be quite a challenge. The following are a few tips to help you start the process: Although love is the overarching theme of the sonnets, there are three specific underlying themes: (1) the brevity of life, (2) the transience of beauty, and (3) the trappings of desire. The first two of these underlying themes are the focus of the early sonnets addressed to the young man (in particular Sonnets 1-17) where the poet argues that having children to carry on one's beauty is the only way to conquer the ravages of time. In the middle sonnets of the young man sequence the poet tries to immortalize the young man through his own poetry (the most famous examples being and ). In the late sonnets of the young man sequence there is a shift to as the solution to mortality (as in ). When choosing a sonnet to analyze it is beneficial to explore the theme as it relates to the sonnets around it. marks a shift to the third theme and the poet's intense sexual affair with a woman known as the . The mood of the sonnets in this sequence is dark and love as a sickness is a prominent motif (exemplified in ). Often students will be asked to choose one sonnet addressed to the young man and one addressed to his mistress and analyze the differences in tone, imagery, and theme. Comparing Sonnet 116, with the theme of ideal, healthy love, to Sonnet 147, with the theme of diseased love, would be a great choice. For a complete guide to the theme of each group of sonnets, please see the article . Shakespeare likely did not write his sonnets with a conscious emphasis on literary devices, and early editors of the sonnets paid little attention to such devices (with the exception of metaphor and allusion). However, in the era of postmodern literary theory and close reading, much weight is given to the construction or of the sonnets and Shakespeare's use of figures of speech such as , , , , , , , personification, and internal rhyme. Much modern criticism also places heavy emphasis on the sexual puns and double entendres in the sonnets ( (2.14) being both blood semen, etc). For more on this please see the commentary for . For examples of Shakespeare's use of antithesis and synecdoche, please see the commentary for and . For examples of Shakespeare's use of metonymy, please see the commentary for . For an example of Shakespeare's use of partial alliteration, please see the commentary for . Notice the attention to alliteration and assonance in . For examples of Shakespeare's use of personification and extended metaphor, please see the commentary for , , , , and . For an example of Shakespeare's use of an elaborate metaphor known as a , please see . For an example of what many consider to be one of Shakespeare's rare failed metaphors, please see the commentary for . Once you have identified such literary devices you can explore both how they contribute to a greater understanding of the theme and how they serve to give the sonnet movement, intensity, and structure. Researching the history of words Shakespeare used is a sure way to gain a greater understanding of the sonnets and will sometimes lead to new and fascinating commentary. Words that today have a specific meaning, such as (see ) or (see ) often could have multiple meanings as the rapidly-changing language of the time was still heavily influenced by Old French and Middle and Old English. The is available online by subscription, as are a couple of free etymological dictionaries. Do not be afraid to develop your own thoughts on the sonnets. A persuasive argument, backed by ample evidence, is always the key to a powerful essay. As Katherine Duncan-Jones points out, "Not until the American Joseph Pequigney's in 1985 was a homoerotic reading of positively and systematically championed" ( , 81). _____ Mabillard, Amanda. . . 20 Nov. 2009. Landry, Hilton. . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963. Shakespeare, William. . Ed. Katherine Duncan-Jones. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1997. ______ ?	? ? opens with a seemingly joyous and innocent tribute to the young friend who is vital to the poet's emotional well being. However, the poet quickly establishes the negative aspect of his dependence on his beloved, and the complimentary metaphor that the friend is food for his soul decays into ugly imagery of the poet alternating between starving and gorging himself on that food. The poet is disgusted and frightened by his dependence on the young friend. He is consumed by guilt over his passion. Words with implicit sexual meanings permeate the sonnet -- "enjoyer", "treasure", "pursuing", "possessing", "had" -- as do allusions to five of the seven "deadly" sins -- avarice (4), gluttony (9, 14), pride (5), lust (12), and envy (6). What are your chances of acceptance? Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance. Your chancing factors Extracurriculars. Ultimate Guide to the AP English Literature and Composition Exam Do you know how to improve your profile for college applications. See how your profile ranks among thousands of other students using CollegeVine. Calculate your chances at your dream schools and learn what areas you need to improve right now — it only takes 3 minutes and it's 100% free. The English Literature and Composition exam is one of the most popular AP exams among self-studiers and enrolled students alike. In 2019, a total of 380,136 students took the AP Literature exam, making it the third most favored AP exam, trailing only English Language and U.S. History in popularity. If you are interested in taking the AP Literature exam—and are taking a class or self-studying—read on for a breakdown of the test and CollegeVine’s advice for how to best prepare for it. When is the AP Literature Exam? 2020’s AP English Literature and Composition exam day is Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 8 AM. Check out our blog 2020 AP Exam Schedule: Everything You Need to Know to learn more about this year’s AP exam dates and times.  What Does the AP Literature Exam Cover? The AP Literature course engages students in careful reading and critical analysis of fictional literature, leading to a deeper understanding of the ways in which writers provide both meaning and pleasure to their readers—considering structure, style, theme, and smaller-scale elements such as figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.  Although there is no required reading list, the College Board formerly provided a list of prospective authors in its past AP Literature course description. Regardless of which specific titles are read in preparation for the exam, students should be familiar with works from both British and American authors written from the 16th century to the present. Ten of the commonly studied works in AP Literature courses are: Great Expectations , Charles Dickens  Invisible Man , Ralph Ellison Beloved , Toni Morrison  King Lear , William Shakespeare  Heart of Darkness , Joseph Conrad  The Portrait of a Lady , Henry James  Wuthering Heights , Emily Bronte  Their Eyes Were Watching God , Zora Neale Hurston  To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , James Joyce  How Long is the AP Literature Exam? What is the Format? The AP Literature exam is one of the longer AP exams, clocking in at 3 hours. It is comprised of two sections.  Section 1: Multiple Choice 1 hour | 45 Questions | 45% of Score The first section of the AP Literature exam is one hour long and consists of 45 multiple-choice questions—23-25 Reading questions and 20-22 Writing questions. The multiple-choice questions are grouped in five sets of questions, with each set linked to a passage of prose fiction or poetry that contains between 8 and 13 questions. Students receive two sets of questions about both prose fiction and poetry, with the fifth set varying between prose fiction and poetry. The function of the multiple choice section is to assess a student’s ability to:  1. Understand and interpret word choice, comparisons, and figurative language This is one of the most common questions types on the AP Lit exam. Students are frequently asked to infer the meaning of certain words and phrases, and how they impact the rest of the passage. You will also be asked to identify and interpret figurative language. Source: The College Board 2. Understand the theme of the poem or passage You should be able to summarize and articulate what the excerpt is about and what sort of message it conveys. 3. Paraphrase or reformulate selected lines from the passage Students are tested on their reading comprehension by being asked to select the reformulated response that most closely aligns with the original excerpt. 4. Explain the function of… The narrator or speaker: Know how a narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls the details and emphases that affect how readers experience and interpret a text. Characters : Grasp how characters allow the reader to explore values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms. The plot and structure : Understand what the author conveys by the arrangement of the sections of text, their relationship to each other, and sequence, along with how the reader’s interpretation of the text is affected by these choices. Symbols and motifs : Describe the purpose of symbols and motifs and how they contribute to the meaning of the passage. 5. Identify parts of speech, verse forms, and meters You’ll occasionally need more technical knowledge of parts of speech (adjective, adverb, etc.) and verse forms (blank verse, free verse, sonnet, etc.). You should also have a basic knowledge of poetic meter (iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter, etc). Section 2: Free Response 2 hours 15 minutes | 3 questions | 55% of Score The second section of the AP Literature exam is two hours (plus a 15-minute reading period) and contains three free response questions. These prompts test three core abilities: A literary analysis of a poem A literary analysis of a piece of prose fiction (this may include drama)  An analysis that examines a specific concept, issue, or element in a meritorious literary work selected by the student.  The free response essays are graded by college and AP Lit teachers following a standardized rubric. Below are 3 example free response questions from 2019’s AP Literature Exam:  1. “Carefully read P. K. Page’s 1943 poem “The Landlady.” Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the speaker’s complex portrayal of the landlady. You may wish to consider such elements as imagery, selection of detail, and tone.” 2. “Carefully read the following excerpt from William Dean Howells’ novel The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885). Then, in a well-constructed essay, analyze how the author portrays the complex experience of two sisters, Penelope and Irene, within their family and society.  You may wish to consider such literary elements as style, tone, and selection of detail.” AP Literature Exam Score Distribution, Average Score, and Passing Rate AP Literature and Composition  6.2% 15.7% 27.8% 34.3% 16.0% The AP Literature exam is extremely challenging, with less than half (49.7%) of students achieving a passing score of 3 or higher. The average student score is 2.62—only Physics (2.51) and Human Geography (2.55) have lower average scores. If you’re curious about other score distributions, see our post Easiest and Hardest AP Exams . Best Ways to Study for the AP Literature Exam One of the first steps you should take when preparing for the AP Literature exam is to look at its full course description . This will help guide your studying and understanding of the knowledge required for the AP Literature exam. Below are a few more steps you can take to ace the AP Literature exam.  Step 1: Assess Your Skills Practice Questions and Tests: Take a practice test to assess your initial knowledge. The College Board’s AP English Literature Course and Exam Description offers some sample multiple-choice questions, and the College Board also provides six sample AP Lit free-response questions with scoring commentaries . Older versions of the AP English Literature exam are also available; you can find a copy of the 2012 AP Lit exam and the 1999 AP Lit exam . Search around the web and you’ll likely turn up even more practice exams with answers keys —some will even have explanations of the questions. You’ll also find practice tests in many of the official study guides, and some even include a diagnostic test to act as your initial assessment. Identify Areas in Need of Improvement: Once you have taken some kind of formative assessment, score it to identify your areas of strength and areas in need of improvement. It can be helpful to have a friend (or even better, a teacher) score your free-response essays, since they are more subjective than the multiple-choice section. With an accurate formative assessment, you’ll have a better idea of where to focus your studying efforts. Step 2: Know Your Material In the case of the AP Literature exam, this means focusing on your reading and writing skills. Become an Active Reader: When reading, take care to go slowly and reread important or complex sections. Pause often to consider meaning, context, and intent. Become an active reader, underlining and taking notes as you go. Remember that the importance of the text comes not only from the author, but also from how the text affects you, the reader. Pay attention to how you feel and why you feel that way. Visit the College Board’s Reading Study Skills for more information.          Write Frequently: Prepare for the writing section of your exam by writing frequently. According to the College Board, the goal is to become a “practiced, logical, clear, and honest” writer through the writing process. This means that you will plan, draft, review, redraft, edit, and polish your writing again and again. To be a successful writer on your exam, you will need to organize your ideas ahead of time, use your text wisely to support a clearly stated thesis, and provide a logical argument. Finally, you should pay close attention to your use of grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Visit the College Board’s Writing Study Skills for more information.  Get Expert Advice: For more specific guidance about test preparation, consider using a formal study guide. One good choice is Barron’s AP English Literature and Composition, 6th Edition . This study guide contains a review of test topics covering details test takers need to know about poetry, fiction, and drama, and includes five full-length practice tests. Some users do criticize it for providing few examples of scored student essays, but plenty of those are available on the College Board scoring examples page .  The Princeton Review’s Cracking the AP English Language & Composition Exam, 2020 Edition: Proven Techniques to Help You Score a 5 is another solid choice containing a summary of test strategies and a focused review of course content.  Alternatively, there are many online study resources available. Some AP teachers have even published their own study guides or review sheets online. You can find one such guide here . Consider using an app to study: A convenient way to study is to use one of the recently-developed apps for AP exams. These can be free or cost a small fee, and they provide an easy way to quiz yourself on-the-go. Make sure you read reviews before choosing one—their quality varies widely. One that does receive good reviews is the McGraw Hill 5 which also saves you some money by covering 14 different AP subjects.       Step 3: Practice Multiple-Choice Questions Once you have your theory down, test it out by practicing multiple-choice questions. You can find these in most study guides or through online searches. There are some available in the College Board’s course description. Try to keep track of which concept areas are still tripping you up, and go back over this theory again. Keep in mind that the key to answering questions correctly is understanding the passage, so practice active reading skills as you’re tackling the multiple-choice questions. This includes underlining, mouthing words, and circling key points. Remember, the answer will always be found in the text, and often the question will tell you exactly where in the text to look for it. Step 4: Practice Free-Response Essays Focus on Writing Skills: Use a rich vocabulary, varied sentence structure, and logical progression of ideas. Make sure that your words flow easily from one to the next. According to the College Board’s scoring criteria , writing that suffers from grammatical and/or mechanical errors that interfere with communication cannot earn a the maximum score of a 6, no matter how strong your thesis, compelling your argument, or convincing your evidence is.   Cultivate Cohesive Writing: You should also strive to write a thoughtful and persuasive analysis of the literature. Begin by writing a quick outline to structure your piece. Make sure that your introduction leads to a clearly stated thesis and use supporting paragraphs to build this argument. Use quotes judiciously in your answers and focus on writing with sophistication and clarity. Practice, Practice, Practice: The best way to prepare for these free-response questions is through repeated exercises analyzing short prose passages and poems, and through practicing with open analytical questions.  Understand Scoring: As you prepare for the writing portion of your exam, be sure to review how your free responses will be scored. Each free-response essay is graded on a scale from 0 to 6 with points awarded for three elements: Thesis (0-1 point), Evidence and Commentary (0-4 points), and Sophistication (0-1 point). A comprehensive explanation of the College Board’s scoring rubric is found on their website.   Study the free-response questions and scored student responses with written explanations provided by the College Board . The most effective way to use these is to read and respond to the prompts first, then review the student samples and scoring explanations. Use this feedback to practice another prompt and repeat the cycle until you are confident that your responses are as strong as the top scorers’.  Step 5: Take Another Practice Test As you did at the beginning of your studying, take a practice test to see which areas you’ve improved in and which still require practice. If you have time, repeat each of the steps above to incrementally increase your score. Step 6: Exam Day Specifics If you’re taking the AP course associated with this exam, your teacher will walk you through how to register. If you’re self-studying, check out CollegeVine’s How to Self-Register for AP Exams . For information about what to bring to the exam, see CollegeVine’s What Should I Bring to My AP Exam (And What Should I Definitely Leave at Home)? CollegeVine can’t predict how you’ll score on your AP Literature exam, but we can help take the guesswork out of college admissions. Our free chancing engine uses a data-driven algorithm taking into consideration criteria such as GPA, standardized test scores, and extracurricular activities to tell you your odds of acceptance at over 500 colleges and universities. Check out these other Collegevine articles for more information about AP exams.  2020 AP Exam Schedule How Long is Each AP Exam? Want access to expert college guidance — for free? When you create your free CollegeVine account, you will find out your real admissions chances, build a best-fit school list, learn how to improve your profile, and get your questions answered by experts and peers—all for free. Sign up for your CollegeVine account today to get a boost on your college journey. Related CollegeVine Blog Posts Publish Your Course US EN US English Partnerships Link to Educator.com Study Guide Terms of Service Home » English » AP English Literature & Composition » The Sonnets Rebekah Hendershot The Sonnets Table of contents, ap english literature & composition the sonnets. Section 2: Shakespeare: Plays & Sonnets: Lecture 17 | 21:09 min In this lesson, our instructor Rebekah Hendershot teaches The Sonnets. You’ll learn what a sonnet is, the functions of each part, why they matter, and then go over what is known and not known about them. Rebekah also explains major sonnets such as Sonnet 18, Sonnet 20, and Sonnet 130. Additionally, the mysterious sonnet characters are explored in detail. You’ll look into questions such as: Who was The Fair Youth? Was Shakespeare gay? What dark features did the Dark Lady have? And who was the Rival Poet? The lesson concludes with a list of ways to approach sonnets and read them effectively. Share this knowledge with your friends! Copy & Paste this embed code into your website’s HTML Show resize button - Allow users to view the embedded video in full-size. Study Guides Download lecture slides, related books & services. Post by Xinyuan Xing on October 21, 2015 Great Lecture! I watched Sonnet 20 slide twice! It's so wonderful! Lecture Slides are screen-captured images of important points in the lecture. Students can download and print out these lecture slide images to do practice problems as well as take notes while watching the lecture. Download All Slides First Things First 0:10 Lesson Overview 0:40 What is a Sonnet? 1:26 A 14-line lyric poem, usually about love Structure calls for four quatrains and a couplet Rhyme scheme Written in iambic pentameter What is a Sonnet?, cont. 2:46 First quatrain establishes theme Second quatrain develops theme Third quatrain rounds off theme Final rhyming couplet concludes with twist or surprise What Do We Know? 3:10 Poems probably written in the 1590s Theaters closed in 1592 due to plague Some poetry written on commission Probably circulated in manuscript form Published in 1609 without Shakespeare's permission What Don't We Know? 4:58 Who commissioned the sonnets How Thomas Thorpe for his hands on them Who “W.H.” was Who the characters were Why Do the Sonnets Matter? 5:54 Some of the finest poetry ever written Created new sonnet form Writing by Shakespeare that isn't a play Great for quoting What It Means: Sonnet 18 6:58 What It Means: Sonnet 20 9:00 Sonnet Characters: The Fair Youth 11:06 Attractive young man, identity unknown Some sonnets encourage him to procreate Romantic or platonic love? Affair with Dark Lady? Possibly Henry Wriothesley Was Shakespeare gay? Sonnet Characters: The Dark Lady 13:58 Attractive young woman, identity unknown “Dark” features Object of sexual love Sonnet Characters: The Rival Poet 15:20 A competitor Possibly George Chapman or Christopher Marlowe Possibly fictitious What It Means: Sonnet 130 16:26 How to Read a Shakespearean Sonnet 19:06 Break it up AP English Literature and Composition Section 1: Introduction
		8:43
		27:10
		9:40
		11:23
Section 2: Shakespeare: Plays & Sonnets
		22:20
		4:18
		26:51
		39:28
		24:00
		30:59
		24:32
		30:12
		30:34
		30:55
		19:08
		23:55
		29:12
		23:42
		20:46
		19:38
		21:09
Section 3: Multiple-Choice Section
		14:22
		9:17
		11:41
		9:48
Section 4: The Essays
		21:54
		11:03
		11:08
		17:28
		21:15
Section 5: Test Walkthrough
		15:24
		19:25
		10:07
		7:24
		14:43

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AP® English Literature

The production of poetry in sidney's sonnet 1.

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Twenty-One Poems for AP Literature and Composition

A Poem as it was Presented to His Sacred Majesty on the Discovery of the Plott / written by a Lady of Quality (1679).

Wikimedia Commons

The selections within this listing represent frequently taught poets and poems in AP English Literature and Composition. 

For each of the twenty-one poems or poetic forms for AP Literature and Composition, students and teachers will find a link to the poem and multimedia resources. These include EDSITEment lessons as well as EDSITEment-reviewed websites that discuss the poem, the poet, and its context. Media incorporated in these resources include audio clips and video as well as primary source documents and photographs, along with other useful tools such as timelines. They offer both the content and skills needed to support student success in AP English Literature and Composition.

1.  Matthew Arnold: “Dover Beach”

• About this Poet  from the Poetry Foundation
• Arnold’s “Dover Beach”: A Commentary from Victorian Web
• Dover Beach from Representative Poetry Online

2.  Elizabeth Bishop: “In the Waiting Room”

• Elizabeth Bishop from Voices and Visions
• On “In the Waiting Room” from Modern American Poetry

3.  Gwendolyn Brooks: “We Real Cool”

• Tyehimba Jess on "We Real Cool " from the American Academy Poets
• The Impact of a Poem's Line Breaks: Enjambment and Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool "
• On “We Real Cool ” from Modern American Poetry

The above video is an animation of what the creators imagine inspired Gwendolyn Brooks to write "We Real Cool."

4.  Robert Browning: “My Last Duchess”

• Browning's "My Last Duchess" and Dramatic Monologue
• My Last Duchess audio clip from the American Academy of Poets
• “ My Last Duchess ” from Representative Poetry Online

5.   Emily Dickinson: “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” (124)

• About this Poem from the Poetry Foundation
• Emily Dickinson from Voices and Visions
• “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” (216) audio clip from the American Academy of Poets
• Letters from Emily Dickinson: “Will you be my preceptor? ”  
• Lesson 2: Responding to Emily Dickinson: Poetic Analysis

6.  John Donne: “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

• "A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning " audio clip from the Poetry Foundation
• A Brief Guide to Metaphysical Poets from the American Academy of Poets
• “ A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning ” from Representative Poetry Online

7.  T.S. Eliot: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ”

• The Poem  (with audio option)
• Introduction to Modernist Poetry :  Lesson 3: Navigating Modernism with J. Alfred Prufrock
• “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ” from Representative Poetry Online
• T. S. Eliot from Voices and Visions

8.  Carolyn Forché: “The Colonel”

• Carolyn Forché from Modern American Poetry

9.  Robert Frost: “Mending Wall”

• On “Mending Wall ” from Modern American Poetry
• Robert Frost's "Mending Wall": A Marriage of Poetic Form and Content
• Robert Frost from Voices and Visions

10.  Robert Hayden: “Those Winter Sundays”

• Close Reading Notes for “Those Winter Sundays ” from ReadWriteThink

11.  Langston Hughes: “Let America Be America Again”

• On “Let America be American Again ” from Modern American Poetry
• Langston Hughes from Voices and Visions
• EDSITEment's Teacher's Guide on Langston Hughes  
• Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy

12.  John Keats: “Ode on a Grecian Urn”

• Ekphrasis: Poetry Confronting Art from the American Academy of Poets
• “Ode on a Grecian Urn ” from Romantic Circles

13.  Andrew Marvell: “To His Coy Mistress”

• “To His Coy Mistress ” from Representative Poetry Online

14.  Wilfred Owen: “Dulce et Decorum Est”

• Poetry of The Great War: “From Darkness to Light”?
• Introduction to Modernist Poetry .   Lesson 1: Understanding the Context of Modernist Poetry

15.  John Crowe Ransom: “Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter”

• A Brief Guide to the Fugitives from the Cummings Institute
• John Crowe Ransom from Modern American Poetry

16. William Shakespeare: Sonnets

• Shakespeare’s Sonnets from the Folger Shakespeare Library
• Listening to Poetry: Sounds of a Sonnet
• Poetic Form: Sonnet from American Academy of Poets
• A Teacher's Guide for Shakespeare
• William Shakespeare from the Poetry Foundation

17. Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Ozymandias”

• Poem Guide About this Poem --> from the Poetry Foundation
• Percy Bysshe Shelley from Victorian Web
• “Ozymandias ” from Representative Poetry Online

18.  Wallace Stevens: “Sunday Morning”

• On “Sunday Morning ” from Modern American Poetry
• Introduction to Modernist Poetry .   Lesson 2: Thirteen Ways of Reading a Modernist Poem
• “ Sunday Morning ” from Representative Poetry Online

19.  Dylan Thomas: “Do not go gentle into that good night”

• About this Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• Death in Poetry: A.E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" and Dylan Thomas' "Do not go gentle into that good night "

20. William Carlos Williams: “Danse Russe”

• Seeing Sense in Photographs and Poems
• William Carlos Williams from Voices and Visions

21. William Butler Yeats: “The Second Coming”

• The Poem (with audio option)
• William Butler Yeats from Poetry Foundation
• Yeats: the Life and Works of William Butler Yeats  (online interactive from The National Library of Ireland)

Related on EDSITEment

Twenty-one more poems for ap english, a literary glossary for literature and language arts, fiction and nonfiction for ap english literature and composition, the works of langston hughes, incredible bridges: poets creating community, “remember” by joy harjo.

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AP Literature Reading List: 127 Great Books for Your Prep

Advanced Placement (AP)

A lot of students wonder if there's a specific AP English reading list of books they should be reading to succeed on the AP Literature and Composition exam. While there's not an official College-Board AP reading list, there are books that will be more useful for you to read than others as you prepare for the exam. In this article, I'll break down why you need to read books to prepare, how many you should plan on reading, and what you should read—including poetry.

Why Do You Need to Read Books for the AP Literature Test?

This might seem like kind of an obvious question—you need to read books because it's a literature exam! But actually, there are three specific reasons why you need to read novels, poems, and plays in preparation for the AP Lit Test.

To Increase Your Familiarity With Different Eras and Genres of Literature

Reading a diverse array of novels, poetry and plays from different eras and genres will help you be familiar with the language that appears in the various passages on the AP Lit exam's multiple choice and essay sections. If you read primarily modern works, for example, you may stumble through analyzing a Shakespeare sonnet. So, having a basic familiarity level with the language of a broad variety of literary works will help keep you from floundering in confusion on test day because you're seeing a work unlike anything you've ever read.

To Improve Your Close-Reading Skills

You'll also want to read to improve your close-reading and rhetorical analysis skills. When you do read, really engage with the text: think about what the author's doing to construct the novel/poem/play/etc., what literary techniques and motifs are being deployed, and what major themes are at play. You don't necessarily need to drill down to the same degree on every text, but you should always be thinking, "Why did the author write this piece this way?"

For the Student Choice Free-Response Question

Perhaps the most critical piece in reading to prepare for the AP Lit test, however, is for the student choice free-response question. For the third question on the second exam section, you'll be asked to examine how a specific theme works in one novel or play that you choose. The College Board does provide an example list of works, but you can choose any work you like just so long as it has adequate "literary merit." However, you need to be closely familiar with more than one work so that you can be prepared for whatever theme the College Board throws at you!

Note: Not an effective reading method.

How Many Books Do You Need to Read for the AP Exam?

That depends. In terms of reading to increase your familiarity with literature from different eras and genres and to improve your close-reading skills, the more books you have time to read, the better. You'll want to read them all with an eye for comprehension and basic analysis, but you don't necessarily need to focus equally on every book you read.

For the purposes of the student choice question, however, you'll want to read books more closely, so that you could write a detailed, convincing analytical essay about any of their themes. So you should know the plot, characters, themes, and major literary devices or motifs used inside and out. Since you won't know what theme you'll be asked to write about in advance, you'll need to be prepared to write a student choice question on more than just one book.

Of the books you read for prep both in and out of class, choose four to five books that are thematically diverse to learn especially well in preparation for the exam. You may want to read these more than once, and you certainly want to take detailed notes on everything that's going on in those books to help you remember key points and themes. Discussing them with a friend or mentor who has also read the book will help you generate ideas on what's most interesting or intriguing about the work and how its themes operate in the text.

You may be doing some of these activities anyways for books you are assigned to read for class, and those books might be solid choices if you want to be as efficient as possible. Books you write essays about for school are also great choices to include in your four to five book stable since you will be becoming super-familiar with them for the writing you do in class anyways.

In answer to the question, then, of how many books you need to read for the AP Lit exam: you need to know four to five inside and out, and beyond that, the more the better!

Know the books. Love the books.

What Books Do You Need to Read for the AP Exam?

The most important thing for the student choice free-response question is that the work you select needs to have "literary merit." What does this mean? In the context of the College Board, this means you should stick with works of literary fiction. So in general, avoid mysteries, fantasies, romance novels, and so on.

If you're looking for ideas, authors and works that have won prestigious prizes like the Pulitzer, Man Booker, the National Book Award, and so on are good choices. Anything you read specifically for your AP literature class is a good choice, too. If you aren't sure if a particular work has the kind of literary merit the College Board is looking for, ask your AP teacher.

When creating your own AP Literature reading list for the student choice free-response, try to pick works that are diverse in author, setting, genre, and theme. This will maximize your ability to comprehensively answer a student choice question about pretty much anything with one of the works you've focused on.

So, I might, for example, choose:

A Midsummer Night's Dream , Shakespeare, play, 1605

Major themes and devices: magic, dreams, transformation, foolishness, man vs. woman, play-within-a-play

Wuthering Heights , Emily Bronte, novel, 1847

Major themes and devices: destructive love, exile, social and economic class, suffering and passion, vengeance and violence, unreliable narrator, frame narrative, family dysfunction, intergenerational narratives.

The Age of Innocence , Edith Wharton, novel, 1920

Major themes and devices: Tradition and duty, personal freedom, hypocrisy, irony, social class, family, "maintaining appearances", honor

Wide Sargasso Sea , Jean Rhys, novel, 1966

Major themes and devices: slavery, race, magic, madness, wildness, civilization vs. chaos, imperialism, gender

As you can see, while there is some thematic overlap in my chosen works, they also cover a broad swathe of themes. They are also all very different in style (although you'll just have to take my word on that one unless you go look at all of them yourself), and they span a range of time periods and genres as well.

However, while there's not necessarily a specific, mandated AP Literature reading list, there are books that come up again and again on the suggestion lists for student choice free-response questions. When a book comes up over and over again on exams, this suggests both that it's thematically rich, so you can use it to answer lots of different kinds of questions, and that the College Board sees a lot of value in the work.

To that end, I've assembled a list, separated by time period, of all the books that have appeared on the suggested works list for student choice free-response questions at least twice since 2003. While you certainly shouldn't be aiming to read all of these books (there's way too many for that!), these are all solid choices for the student choice essay. Other books by authors from this list are also going to be strong choices. It's likely that some of your class reading will overlap with this list, too.

I've divided up the works into chunks by time period. In addition to title, each entry includes the author, whether the work is a novel, play, or something else, and when it was first published or performed. Works are alphabetical by author.

Warning: Not all works pictured included in AP Literature reading list below.

Ancient Works

The Queen of AP Literature surveys her kingdom.

Don't get trapped in a literature vortex!

1990-Present

Don't stay in one reading position for too long, or you'll end up like this guy.

An Addendum on Poetry

You probably won't be writing about poetry on your student choice essay—most just aren't meaty enough in terms of action and character to merit a full-length essay on the themes when you don't actually have the poem in front of you (a major exception being The Odyssey ). That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be reading poetry, though! You should be reading a wide variety of poets from different eras to get comfortable with all the varieties of poetic language. This will make the poetry analysis essay and the multiple-choice questions about poetry much easier!

See this list of poets compiled from the list given on page 10 of the AP Course and Exam Description for AP Lit, separated out by time period. For those poets who were working during more than one of the time periods sketched out below, I tried to place them in the era in which they were more active.

I've placed an asterisk next to the most notable and important poets in the list; you should aim to read one or two poems by each of the starred poets to get familiar with a broad range of poetic styles and eras.

14th-17th Centuries

• Anne Bradstreet
• Geoffrey Chaucer
• George Herbert
• Andrew Marvell
• John Milton
• William Shakespeare*

18th-19th Centuries

• William Blake*
• Robert Browning
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge*
• Emily Dickinson*
• Paul Laurence Dunbar
• George Gordon, Lord Byron
• Gerard Manley Hopkins
• John Keats*
• Edgar Allan Poe*
• Alexander Pope*
• Percy Bysshe Shelley*
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson*
• Walt Whitman*
• William Wordsworth*

Early-Mid 20th Century

• W. H. Auden
• Elizabeth Bishop
• H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)
• T. S. Eliot*
• Robert Frost*
• Langston Hughes*
• Philip Larkin
• Robert Lowell
• Marianne Moore
• Sylvia Plath*
• Anne Sexton*
• Wallace Stevens
• William Carlos Williams
• William Butler Yeats*

Late 20th Century-Present

• Edward Kamau Brathwaite
• Gwendolyn Brooks
• Lorna Dee Cervantes
• Lucille Clifton
• Billy Collins
• Seamus Heaney
• Garrett Hongo
• Adrienne Rich
• Leslie Marmon Silko
• Derek Walcott
• Richard Wilbur

You might rather burn books than read them after the exam, but please refrain.

Key Takeaways

Why do you need to read books to prepare for AP Lit? For three reasons:

#1 : To become familiar with a variety of literary eras and genres #2 : To work on your close-reading skills #3 : To become closely familiar with four-five works for the purposes of the student choice free-response essay analyzing a theme in a work of your choice.

How many books do you need to read? Well, you definitely need to get very familiar with four-five for essay-writing purposes, and beyond that, the more the better!

Which books should you read? Check out the AP English Literature reading list in this article to see works that have appeared on two or more "suggested works" lists on free-response prompts since 2003.

And don't forget to read some poetry too! See some College Board recommended poets listed in this article.

What's Next?

See my expert guide to the AP Literature test for more exam tips!

The multiple-choice section of the AP Literature exam is a key part of your score. Learn everything you need to know about it in our complete guide to AP Lit multiple-choice questions.

Taking other APs? Check out our expert guides to the AP Chemistry exam , AP US History , AP World History , AP Psychology , and AP Biology .

Looking for other book recommendation lists from PrepScholar? We've compiled lists of the 7 books you must read if you're a pre-med and the 31 books to read before graduating high school .

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Literature & Composition

Psychology in Everyday Life

Essential voices, essential skills for the ap® course third edition | ©2022 renee h. shea; robin dissin aufses; lawrence scanlon; katherine e. cordes; carlos escobar; carol jago, view a sample chapter →, have a question for a teacher using this product ask a bfw teacher advocate →, institutional prices.

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Let us focus on alignment so you can focus on creating an engaging and memorable course. Since its first edition, Literature & Composition was designed specifically for the AP® English Literature course. Its unique structure of skill-building opening chapters combined with an engaging thematic anthology provides the flexibility you need to plan your year and differentiate based on your students’ needs. In this edition, the book you know and love now fully aligns to the new AP® Course and Exam Description. Chapters 1-3 cover the reading and writing skills key to success in the course and on the AP® Exam. Chapters 4-9 are anthology chapters arranged by the timeless themes, such as Identity and Culture, that help bring our readings to life. Each of these thematic chapters offers a wide variety of classic and contemporary writing – including fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction, visual texts, and several full-length works – with guidance and support to help students think critically and write insightfully about great literature.

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“Because of this book, my students are excited to read and engaged in our material, and the burden of coming up with companion poetry, essays, and prose to our full length works has been taken off of my plate. I completely attribute my 90% and above pass rate every year to this textbook as a foundation of my class, as its skills-based focus is essential to performing well on the AP® test and beyond in college.” – Julia Parsons, Orange Lutheran High School, CA “The breadth and scope of the material is fantastic; all students will have access to classic and contemporary texts all in one place, saving both time and money. This book has given much of my planning periods back to me for the real task of grading my students writing.” – Johnny Walters, Heritage High School, NC “I love this textbook. It does an amazing job of breaking down and demonstrating the skills, making abstract ideas like ‘close reading’ very concrete through examples and samples. The text is the only book a class would need to use during a school year because it includes short stories, poetry, and longer works.” – Deb Ward, Burke High School, NE “Thoughtful content, with everything you need in one place. I love the wide variety of text selections. Having this textbook was a great resource for me as a first year AP teacher.” – Maren Baum, Butler High School, NJ “This textbook is extremely thorough and helps students break down large and complicated concepts. Walking through the book opens up instruction that will hone in AP exam skills. The various activities are invaluable when preparing to take the AP® exam and write essays.” – Danielle Sorrells, Blue Ridge High School, SC “I love the step-by-step approach that helps students to know how to break down a text. All of the readings in the opening chapters are fresh, relevant, and vary in diversity and complexity. This is appreciated when teaching skills!” – Hannah Broich, Manheim Township High School, PA

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Renee H. Shea; Robin Dissin Aufses; Lawrence Scanlon; Katherine E. Cordes; Carlos Escobar; Carol Jago

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Literature & Composition

Third Edition | 2022

Table of Contents

Renée H. Shea was professor of English and Modern Languages and Director of Freshman Composition at Bowie State University in Maryland. A College Board® faculty consultant for more than thirty years in AP® Language, Literature, and Pre-AP® English, she has been a reader and question leader for both AP® English exams. Renée served as a member of the Development Committee for AP® Language and Composition and the English Academic Advisory Committee for the College Board®, as well as the SAT® Critical Reading Test Development Committee. She is coauthor of The Language of Composition , Literature & Composition , Advanced Language & Literature , and Conversations in American Literature , as well as two volumes in the NCTE High School Literature series (on Amy Tan and Zora Neale Hurston).

Robin Dissin Aufses

Robin Dissin Aufses is director of English Studies at Lycée Français de New York, where she teaches AP® English Language and Composition. Previous to this position, Aufses was the English department chair and a teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore, New York, for ten years, and prior to that she taught English at Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York, for twenty years. She is co-author of Literature & Composition , The Language of Composition , and Conversations in American Literature and has published articles for the College Board® on novelist Chang-Rae Lee and the novel All the King’s Men .

Lawrence Scanlon

Lawrence Scanlon taught at Brewster High School for more than thirty years and now teaches at Iona College in New York. Over the past twenty years, he has been a reader and question leader for the AP® Language and Composition Exam. As a College Board® consultant in the United States and abroad, he has conducted AP® workshops in both language and literature and has served on the AP® English Language Test Development Committee. Larry is co-author of Literature & Composition , The Language of Composition , and Conversations in American Literature and has published articles for the College Board® and elsewhere.

Katherine E. Cordes

Katherine E. Cordes is a National Board-certified English teacher with a BA in English, psychology, and medieval studies; an MEd in curriculum and instruction; more than eighteen years of experience in the secondary English Language Arts classroom; and six years of experience working with NBCT candidates through the National Education Association. She currently teaches tenth-grade English, dual enrollment college writing, AP® English Language, and AP® English Literature at Skyview High School in Billings, Montana. As part of the College Board’s Instructional Design Team, Katherine contributed to the development, review, and dissemination of the 2019 AP® English Literature Course and Exam Description, and she has been an AP® Reader for the AP® English Literature exam for eight years. A co-author of American Literature & Rhetoric and Literature & Composition , she has also authored teacher resource materials for Conversations in American Literature and The Language of Composition.

Carlos Escobar

Carlos Escobar teaches tenth-grade English and AP® English Literature and Composition at Felix Varela Senior High School in Miami, Florida, where he is also the AP® Program Director. Carlos has been a College Board Advisor for AP® English Literature, an AP® Reader, and a member of the AP® English Literature Test Development Committee. He has mentored new AP® English teachers and presented at various local and national AP® workshops and conferences. As part of the College Board’s Instructional Design Team, Carlos contributed to the development, review, and dissemination of the 2019 AP® English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description. He designed and delivered daily live YouTube lessons streamed globally by the College Board and was the Lead Instructor for AP® Daily, the College Board’s skill-based, on-demand video series. A co-author of Advanced Language & Literature and Literature & Composition , Carlos has also co-authored the Teacher’s Editions for Literature & Composition , Second Edition; Advanced Language & Literature ; and Foundations of Language & Literature .

Carol Jago has taught English in middle and high school for thirty-two years and directs the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA. She is a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English. Jago served as AP Literature content advisor for the College Board and now serves on their English Academic Advisory committee. She has published six books with Heinemann, including With Rigor for All and Papers, Papers, Papers . She has also published four books on contemporary multicultural authors for NCTE’s High School Literature series. Carol was an education columnist for the Los Angeles Times , and her essays have appeared in English Journal, Language Arts, NEA Today , as well as in other newspapers across the nation. She edits the journal of the California Association of Teachers of English, California English , and served on the planning committee for the 2009 NAEP Reading Framework and the 2011 NAEP Writing Framework.

Third Edition | 2022

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