This is a rigorous, college-level literature class. It also is a Dual Credit course in connection with Benedictine University. Students taking this course will be exposed to works of recognized literary merit from a variety of genres, countries, and time periods, but the literature of Great Britain and its former colonies (other than the United States) will be emphasized. The course will provide students with, in the words of the College Board, “the experience of literature, the analysis of literature, and the evaluation of literature.” Analysis of literary works will be guided by traditional critical close reading, but students will also be exposed to other critical approaches. Students will be expected to be able to speak and write intelligently about a work’s structure, style, theme, and tone, as well as its place in a historical context and its underlying philosophical assumptions. In writing about literature, students will learn to produce prose that is persuasive, rhetorically effective, stylistically graceful, and free of errors. Since mastery of the research paper (defined as “achieving a grade of C- or above on an assigned senior research -16- paper”) is a requirement for graduation from Holy Trinity, AP students will meet that requirement. This paper will be graded according to the same rigorous standards as the papers analyzing literature. At the end of the school year, all students taking this class will be expected to take the AP test for Literature and Composition unless special arrangements have been made with the approval of the teacher, department chair, counselor, and principal.