By: Diana Pogio, Brenda Contreras, Joy Doko
ANALYTIC FOCUS:
ANALYTIC FOCUS:
AP Literature Prose Essay Prompts (1970–2013)
Originally compiled and shared
by Cheryl DeLacretaz, Dripping Springs High
School, Dripping Springs, TX
NOTE: From 1956 (first official administration of AP
tests) through 1979, one AP English examine was given. In 1980, separate
Language and Literature exams were offered. The following prose essay prompts
are from a variety of novels, essays, short stories, and nonfiction sources.
1970 Meredith’s “Ferdinand and
Miranda” from The Ordeal of Richard
Feveral: Show how the young woman
and the young man in the passage are made to seem naturally suited for one
another.
1971 Orwell’s “Some Thoughts on the
Common Toad”: Demonstrate how the
speaker establishes his attitude toward the coming of spring.
1972 Joyce’s “Eveline” from Dubliners: Explain how the author prepares his reader
for Eveline’s final inability or unwillingness to sail to South America with Frank. Consider at least two elements of fictions
such as theme, symbol, setting, image, characterization, or any other aspects
of the narrative artist’s craft.
1973 Dickens’ Hard Times: Explain how the
author’s presentation of details is intended to shape the reader’s attitudes
toward the place he describes — Coketown and the caves. Give specific attention to the function of
word choice, imagery, phrasing, and sentence structure.
1974 Henry James’s What Maisie Knew: In the opening lines of the passage we are
told the “new arrangement was inevitably confounding” to Maisie. Write a descriptive or narrative piece which
presents a person who is undergoing a new experience that is confounding.
1975 Lagerkvist’s The Marriage Feast: Define and discuss the subject of the
story. Direct your remarks to the
significance of the events described.
1976 Work/author unknown: Characterize briefly the world and way of
life described in the passage, discuss the effect of the passage as a whole,
and analyze those elements that achieve this effect.
1977 No prose selection (instead,
had the following prompt: A character’s
attempt to recapture or reject the past is important in many plays, novels, and
poems. Choose a work in which a
character views the past with such feelings as reverence, bitterness, or
longing. Show with clear evidence how
the character’s view of the past is used to develop a theme in the work.)
1978 Johnson’s “Review of ‘A Free
Enquiry Into The Nature and Origin of Evil’”: Analyze Samuel Johnson’s attitude
toward writer Soame Jenyns and treatment of Jenyns’ argument.
1979 Quentin Bell on the Woolf family:
Show how style reveals feelings about family.
1980 Two funerals: Compare the different authors’ attitudes by
examining diction and choice of detail; also discuss their effect on the
reader.
1981 George Bernard Shaw on his
mother’s cremation: Analyze how diction
and detail convey attitude.
1982 Stevenson’s “Cat Bill”: Analyze strategies that make the argument
effective for his audience.
1983 Thomas Carlyle’s “Work”: Examine how he uses language to convince the
reader of the rightness of his position.
1984 Austen’s Emma: Explain how passage
characterizes Emma more than Harriet.
Mailer’s “Death of Benny Paret”: Explain and analyze effect on reader and how
diction, syntax, imagery, and tone produce that effect. (Two prose prompts; no
poem)
1985 Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms: Compare two drafts of a passage from A Farewell to Arms and analyze the
effect of revisions.
1986 Dickens’ Dombey and Son: Define
narrator’s attitude toward characters through imagery, diction, narrative structure,
choice of detail.
1987 George Eliot’s “Leisure” from Adam Bede: Describe her two views of
leisure and discuss stylistic devices she uses to convey those views.
1988 Updike’s “Reunion”: Analyze blend of humor, pathos, and grotesque
in their story.
1989 Conrad’s “Captain MacWhirr”
from Typhoon: Define attitude of speaker toward Captain and
analyze techniques he uses to define Captain’s character.
1990 Didion’s “Self-deception -
Self-respect”: Show how style and tone
help convey attitude.
1991 Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson: Discuss
the ways Boswell differentiates between the writing of Addison and Johnson.
1992 Beginning and ending of Tillie
Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing”: Analyze
the narrative techniques and other resources of language Olsen uses to
characterize the mother and her attitude.
1993 Lytton Strachey’s conception
of Florence Nightingale: Define
Strachey’s view and analyze how he conveys it.
1994 Sarah Jewett’s “A White
Heron”: Show how the author dramatizes
the young heroine’s adventure using diction, imagery, narrative pace, and point
of view.
1995 Sandra Cisneros’
“Eleven”: Show how the author uses
literary techniques to characterize Rachel.
1996 Hawthorne’s “Judge Pyncheon”
from House of the Seven Gables: Analyze how the narrator reveals the
character of Judge Pyncheon. Emphasize
such devices as tone, selection of detail, syntax, point of view.
1997 Joy Kogawa’s Obasan:
Analyze how changes in perspective and style reflect the narrator’s
complex attitude toward the past. Consider elements such as point of view,
structure, selection of detail, and figurative language.
1998 George Eliot’s Middlemarch: Write an essay in which you characterize the
narrator’s attitude toward Dorothea Brooke and analyze the literary techniques
used to convey this attitude.
1999 Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing: Show how the author’s techniques convey the
impact of the experience on the main character.
2000 Joseph Addison’s The Spectator
(March 4, 1712): Analyze how the
language of the passage characterizes the diarist and his society and how the
characterization serves Addison’s satiric purpose. Consider such elements as selection of
detail, repetition, and tone.
2001 Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones (1749): Analyze the techniques that Fielding employs
in this scene to characterize Mr. Allworthy and Mrs. Deborah Wilkins.
2002 Alain de Botton’s Kiss and Tell: Write an essay in which you analyze how the
author produces a comic effect.
2002B Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News: Note the author’s use of such elements as
diction, syntax, imagery, and figurative language. Analyze how the author’s use of language
generates a vivid impression of Quoyle as a character.
2003 Mavis Gallant’s “The Other
Paris”: Explain how the author uses
narrative voice and characterization to provide social commentary.
2003B Joyce Carol Oates’s We Were the Mulvaneys (1996): Analyze the literary techniques Oates uses to
characterize the speaker, Judd Mulvaney. Support with specific references to
the passage.
2004 Henry James’s “The Pupil”
(1891): Analyze the author’s depiction
of the three characters and the relationships among them. Pay particular attention to tone and point of
view.
2004B Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton (1848): This is from a novel about mill workers living
in Manchester, England, in the 1840’s.
Analyze how Gaskell uses elements such as point of view, selection of
detail, dialogue, and characterization to make a social commentary.
2005 Katharine Brush’s “Birthday
Party” (1946): Write an essay in which you show how the author uses literary
devices to achieve her purpose.
2005B Norris’ McTeague: A Story of San Francisco: Discuss how the
characterization in the passage reflects the narrator’s attitude toward
McTeague. Consider such elements as
diction, tone, detail, and syntax.
2006 Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892): Analyze how the playwright reveals the values
of the characters and the nature of their society.
2006B From “a nineteenth-century
novel”: Discuss how the narrator’s style
reveals his attitudes toward the people he describes.
2007 Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun: Analyze how Trumbo
uses such techniques as point of view, selection of detail, and syntax to
characterize the relationship between the young man and his father.
2007B Seamus Deane reflecting on his
childhood experiences with books and writing:
Analyze how Deane conveys the impact those early experiences had on him.
2008 Aran from Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting (1999): Analyze how
the author uses such literary devices as speech and point of view to
characterize Aran’s experience.
2008B Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1818): Analyze the
literary techniques Austen uses to characterize Catherine Morland.
2009 Ann Petry’s The Street (1946): Analyze how Petry
establishes Lutie Johnson’s relationship to the urban setting through the use
of literary devices such as imagery, personification, selection of detail, and
figurative language.
2009B Zorah Neale Hurston’s Seraph
on the Suwanee (1948): Analyze the literary techniques
Hurston uses to describe Sawley and to characterize the people who live there.
2010 Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda (1801): The narrator provides a
description of Clarence Harvey, one of the suitors of the novel’s protagonist,
Belinda Portman. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you
analyze Clarence Hervey’s complex character as Edgeworth develops it through
such literary techniques as tone, point of view, and language.
2010B Maxine Clair’s “Cherry Bomb”: Write
an essay in which you analyze how Clair uses literary techniques to
characterize the adult narrator’s memories of her fifth-grade summer world.
2011 George Eliot’s Middlemarch (1874): In the passage, Rosamond and Tertius Lydgate, a recently married
couple, confront financial difficulties. Read the passage carefully. Then write
a well-developed essay in which you analyze how Eliot portrays these two
characters and their complex relationship as husband and wife. You may wish to
consider such literary devices as narrative perspective and selection of
detail.
2011B Tomson Highway’s Kiss of the Fur Queen (1998): The
following passage is the opening of the novel by the Cree novelist and
playwright Tomson Highway. Read the passage carefully. Then write a
well-organized essay in which you analyze how Highway uses literary devices to
dramatize Okimasis’ experience.
2012 Helena María Viramontes’s Under the Feet of Jesus: Carefully read
the following excerpt from the novel. Then write a well-organized essay in
which you analyze the development of Estrella’s character. In your analysis,
you may wish to consider such literary elements as selection of detail,
figurative language, and tone.
2013 D. H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow (1915): The following
passage focuses on the lives of the Brangwens, a farming family who lived in
rural England during the late nineteenth century. Read the passage carefully.
Then write an essay in which you analyze how Lawrence employs literary devices
to characterize the woman and capture her situation.
LITERARY TERMS USED THROUGHOUT THE YEARS
YEAR
|
LITERARY
ELEMENTS
|
1972
|
THEME, SYMBOL, SETTING. IMAGE,
CHARACTERIZATION
|
1973
|
WORD CHOICE, IMAGERY, PHRASING,
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
|
1980
|
DICTION, DETAIL
|
1981
|
DICTION, DETAIL
|
1983
|
LANGUAGE
|
1984
|
CHARACTERIZATION
|
1984 (2)
|
DICTION, SYNTAX, IMAGERY, TONE
|
1986
|
IMAGERY, DICTION, NARRATIVE, STRUCTURE,
CHOICE OF DETAIL
|
1990
|
STYLE, TONE
|
1994
|
DICTION, IMAGERY, NARRATIVE PACE, POINT
OF VIEW
|
1996
|
TONE, SELECTION OF DETAIL, SYNTAX,
POINT OF VIEW
|
1997
|
POINT OF VIEW, STRUCTURE, SELECTION OF
DETAIL, FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
|
2000
|
SELECTION OF DETAIL, REPETITION, TONE
|
2002 B
|
DICTION, SYNTAX, IMAGERY, FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
|
2003
|
NARRATIVE VOICE, CHARACTERIZATION
|
2004
|
TONE, POINT OF VIEW
|
2004 B
|
POINT OF VIEW, SELECTION OF DETAIL,
DIALOGUE, CHARACTERIZATION
|
2005 B
|
DICTION. TONE, DETAIL, SYNTAX
|
2007
|
POINT OF VIEW, SELECTION OF DETAIL,
SYNTAX
|
2008
|
SPEECH, POINT OF VIEW
|
2009
|
IMAGERY, PERSONIFICATION, SELECTION OF
DETAIL, FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
|
2010
|
TONE, POINT OF VIEW, LANGUAGE
|
2011
|
NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE, SELECTION OF
DETAIL
|
2012
|
SELECTION OF DETAIL, FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE,
TONE
|
- THROUGHOUT THE YEARS, MANY PROMPTS HAVE ASKED DIRECTLY THE EXACT
LITERARY TERMS THEY WANT YOU TO USE IN THE ESSAY.
- WE BELIEVE THE BEST LITERARY TERMS TO USE TO ANSWER THE PROSE PROMPT PASSAGE ARE THE FOLLOWING:
1.
- Imagery
- Visual
- Tactile
- Gustatory
- Olfactory
- Auditory
2. Symbolism / Symbolic Action
3. Point of view- Is the manner in which a story is narrated or depicted and who it is that tells the story. Simply put, the point of view determines the angle and perception of the story unfolding, and thus influences the tone in which the story takes place
4. Selection of Detail- Is the specific words, incidents, images, or events the author uses to create a scene or narrative.
5.Characterization- In literature refers the step by step process wherein an author introduces and then describes a character. The character can be described directly by the author or indirectly through the actions, thoughts, and speech of the character.
6.
- Figurative Language
- Hyperbole
- Litotes/other forms of understatement
- Metonymy / Synecdoche
- Metaphor
- Simile
7.Setting
- How is the setting portrayed?
- What kind of mood does the description of the setting portray?
- What types of words and images are used to establish setting?
8. Narration
- Who is narrating the story? Does the narrator's perspective color the reader's interpretation of events
- Is the narration first, second, third person? How may these different types of narration influence our perception of the prose?
9. Syntax
- Are the sentences curt and choppy? Long and overblown? Heavily or sparsely punctuated?
- Any humor in the writing?
- How may these writing styles reflect the themes of the work, or impact the reader's interpretation?
10. Diction
- Diction is the distinctive tone or tenor of an author’s writings. Diction is not just a writer's choice of words it can include the mood, attitude, dialect and style of writing. Diction is usually judged with reference to the prevailing standards of proper writing and speech and is seen as the mark of quality of the writing. It is also understood as the selection of certain words or phrases that become peculiar to a writer
11. Irony
- Is there a difference between the literal meaning of the words on the page, and the implied, or actual meaning?
- Do we know more than the speaker in the story? (Dramatic Irony)
- Do situations turn out differently than we and most people would expect?
- Is a character the victim of fate? (cosmic irony/irony of fate)
12. Tone, Theme, Mood
- These are separate from the other literary elements because they are "bigger picture" elements.
- They don't fall into the "how" portion of analysis, but rather, they fall into the "what" portion of analysis. A theme is conveyed through some other literary element, or, the "what" is conveyed through the "how." It is awkward to say "the overall meaning is conveyed/captured/demonstrated by the theme of..." Mood and tone are the same way.
- These elements do not stand alone, but rather, are built through the combined effects of other literary elements.
Thematic Focus
What is a Prose Passage?
- You will need to read and analyze a prose piece of literature, then write a one page excerpt answering the question they give you on this part of the test
- In general the prose piece of literature will be fiction. NOTE: Novels and short stories are the pieces of literature's that are selected the most.
- The Non-fiction selection can include essays, biographies, autobiographies and articles from periodicals.
- On rare occasions they may also include an excerpt from a drama.
- There are many prose passage essay questions. some questions that have been asked on the test are:
- Explain the effect of the passage on the reader
- Compare/contrast two passages concerning diction and details for the effect on the reader.
- How does a narrator reveal character (i.e, tone, diction, syntax, point of view)
- Analyze style and tone and how they are used to explore the author's attitudes toward his or her subject.
- What is the attitude of the speaker toward a particular subject?
- Analyze the effect of revision when given both the original and the revised version of a text
- How does the author reveal a character's predicament? (i.e, diction imagery, point of view)
- Analyze narrative and literary techniques and other resources of language used for characterization
- How does the passage provide characterization and evaluation of one character over another? (i.e, diction, syntax, imagery, tone)
- how is the reader prepared for the conclusion of the piece?
- Most of the questions on the AP exam ask student to
- Analyze narrative and literary techniques which reveal character (diction, syntax, point of view, imagery)
- Analyze the altitude of the speaker or author using tone and style
- Compare/contrast two passages for their effect on the reader, diction and details
- Explain the effect of the passage on the reader
- Prose prompts will usually ask to identify what an author does and how they use literary techniques in their writing piece.
Grading the essay (Rubric):
- The essay readers will grade the essays giving it the grade with a number between 1-9
- A 9 essay has all the qualities of an 8 essay (addressing the prompt effectively and cohesively, analyze and/or discuss the stylistic elements called for in the question; using appropriate evidence from the given text, and show the writer's ability to control language well). It also shows a writing style that is impressive as is the analysis and/or discussion of the specifics related to the prompt and the text.
- A 5 essay demonstrates that the writer understand the prompt. The analysis/discussion is generally understandable, but the analysis/discussion is limited or uneven. The writer's ideas are expressed clearly with a few errors in syntax or diction,
- A 1 essay is very simplistic, disorganized, and lacking in control of language.
- A "9" graded essay is a perfect score of a 100
- A "8" graded essay has the score of 95
- A "7" graded essay has the score of 90
- A "6" graded essay has a score of 85
- A"5" graded essay in the minimum passing score of 75
- A "4" graded essay has a score of 65
- A "3" graded essay has a score of 55
- A "2" graded essay has a score of 45
- A "1" graded essay is the lowest failing score of 35
- A student needs a score of 5 or above to pass the essay portion of the exam
How to time the essay:
- The prose passage essay will be 40 minutes long, so use your time wisely. Plan out how you will use your time for each step that will lead to your finished paper. An example of how you can divide your time is to use...
- 1-3 Minutes reading and working the prompt
- 5 Minutes reading and making marginal notes about the passage
- 10 Minutes preparing to write (Ex: underlining, bracketing, circling, marginal notations, charts or key words)
- 20 Minutes to write the essay
- 3 Minutes for proofreading
- Its recommended to divide your time in this similar patter because this way you can use your time wisely to analyze and answer the question correctly, to get the highest score possible.
