---Percey Bysshe Shelley in "A Defence of Poetry"

If you are enrolled in the A.P. English Language and Composition course at Carson High School, you will be expected to complete the following assignments prior to the first day of school. Do not wait until the night before, as this will not give you enough time to adequately complete each element of the assignment.

The purpose of the summer reading and writing assignment is to encourage independent learning and to prepare students for the type of independent work that will be required throughout the course of Advanced Placement Language and Composition. It also allows us more learning time during the school year, as we can start with content on the first day of school.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

A Writer’s Reference by Diane Hacker

Complete the following assignments in the specified order. All assignments must be completed before the first day of school.

1. Write a paragraph about what you understand Frankenstein to be before you have read the novel.

2. Write a two-page research paper contrasting the Enlightenment with the Romantic era. You may choose to compare/contrast two writers, composers, philosophers or artists, but be sure to include information on the elements of the Enlightenment and Romantic eras.

a. The paper should be double-spaced, using 12 point Times New Roman font.

b. Follow proper MLA formatting.

c. The body of the paper may not exceed two pages, so concise writing is a must.

d. You must include a minimum of three sources.

e. For this assignment ONLY, you will be allowed to use web pages, but take heed: web pages are difficult to cite correctly and often do not provide depth of information available from books. (Books are items consisting of paper that is bound between two covers. They contain information and are available at bookstores, online stores, libraries and sometimes even your own home.) Don’t forget about the public library and the WNCC library.

3. Read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." This is included in your packet.

4. Read the synopsis of the story of Prometheus provided in your packet.

5. Read Frankenstein - As you read, look for the following:

a. References to science/nature

b. References to society/nature

c. Allusions to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

d. Ideas surrounding creator/parental responsibility

e. Elements of the Romantic era and criticism of the Enlightenment.

NOTE: To assist you with this project, there will be a link on the Carson High School web page. To access it, go to www.carsonhigh.com and go to my web page and click on the link for A.P. Summer Support.

William Blake

William Wordsworth

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Mary Shelley

Lord Byron

John Keats

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Herman Melville

Edgar Allen Poe

Victor Hugo

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Henry David Thoreau

George Walker

J.M.W. Turner

Caspar David Friedrich

John Constable
The Hudson River School

Gorges Bizet

Johannes Brahms

Frederic Chopin

Claude Debussy

Franz Liszt

Gustav Mahler

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Richard Strauss

Peter Tchaikovsky

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Franklin

Alexander Pope

Jean Jacques Rousseau

John Locke

Francois Voltaire

Robert Adam

Robert Smirke

Antonio Canova

Bertel Thorvaldsen

Jean-Antoine Houdon

Anton Raphael Mengs

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Jacques-Louis David.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Ludwig Beethoven

Franz Joseph Haydn