AP Spanish Literature and Culture Notes

La Época Medieval (Unit 1)

  • Comparative Works:
    • Fables: "La tortuga y la liebre" by Esopo.
  • Themes and Organizing Concepts:
    • Societies in contact.
    • Power relations.
    • Machismo.
  • Literary Terms:
    • Meta-narrative (Metacuento).
    • Moral (Moraleja).
    • Hyperbole (Hipérbole).
    • Fable (Fábula).
  • Work:
    • Conde Lucanor, Exemplo XXXV (“De lo que aconteció a un mozo que casó con una mujer muy fuerte y muy brava”) by Don Juan Manuel.

La Época Medieval (Unit 1)

  • Themes and Organizing Concepts:
    • Societies in contact.
    • Power relations.
    • Imperialism.
  • Literary Terms:
    • In medias res.
    • Octosyllabic verse (Verso octosílabo).
    • Refrain (Estribillo).
    • Assonant rhyme in even verses (Rima asonante en los versos pares).
    • Poetic voice (Voz poética).
    • Blank verse (Verso blanco).
    • Oral tradition (La tradición oral).
    • Polyphony (Polifonía).
  • Comparative Works:
    • “La rendición de Granada” by Francisco Pradilla y Ortiz.
    • “Abenámar y el rey don Juan” (Anonymous).
    • “Prendimiento de Antoñito el Camborio en el camino de Sevilla” by Federico García Lorca.
  • Work:
    • “Romance de la pérdida de Alhama” (Anonymous).

El Siglo XVI (Unit 2)

  • Approximate time: 19-20 class periods.
  • Personal Progress Check 2:
    • Multiple-choice: Approximately 20 questions.
    • Free-response: 2 questions.
      • Short-answer: Text Explanation.
      • Essay: Analysis of a Single Text.
  • Building Course Skills:
    • Summarizing and paraphrasing texts.
    • Identifying and describing characters, plot, main ideas, and important events.
    • Connecting themes to characters in and across texts.
    • Comparing themes and structural, stylistic, or rhetorical features.
    • Studying historical, geopolitical, sociocultural, and other relevant contexts.
    • Moving from comprehension to interpretation, discussion, and analysis.
  • Preparing for the AP Exam:
    • Emphasizing thematic complexity.
    • Expanding academic vocabulary.
    • Comparing features of one text to others.
    • Summarizing key passages.
    • Identifying literary terms.
    • Comparing themes between required texts.
    • Explaining themes and providing examples of thematic development.
    • Defining and exploring characteristics of genre, period, or movement and literary techniques.
    • Constructing well-organized essays with a strong thesis, relevant examples, and a conclusion.
  • Essential Questions:
    • How does the historical, sociocultural, or geopolitical context affect literary creation in the 16th century?
    • How does the culture of writers affect the representation of events or history in a text?
    • How is it possible to know if a narrator is reliable?
  • Focus: Literary works from the Spanish Renaissance (Golden Age).
  • The 16th century marks the beginning of the colonial period in the Americas.
  • Language develops from medieval forms into an art form.
  • Familiarization with different genres and comparisons to works from the previous unit.
  • Enduring Understandings, Skill Categories, Skills, and Learning Objectives
    • Interpretive Communication: Analysis
      • 1.A Read/listen to and comprehend literary texts.
        • 1.A.i Paraphrase the literary text.
        • 1.A.ii Summarize the plot of a literary text.
        • 1.A.iii Explain literary texts using supporting details.
      • 1.B Identify the theme in a text.
      • 1.C Identify or describe literary elements, voices, and stylistic features.
        • 1.C.i Identify rhetorical figures.
        • 1.C.ii Identify points of view.
        • 1.C.iii Describe stylistic features (structure, setting, timeframes, characters, style, point of view, tone).
        • 1.C.iv Make distinctions between voices in order to establish differences in meaning.
        • 1.C.v Make distinctions between voices and the author’s perspective in order to establish differences in meaning.
        • 1.C.vi Make distinctions between stylistic features in order to establish differences in meaning.
    • Interpretive Communication: Cultural Context and Connections
      • 2.C Relate target language texts to genres, periods, movements, and techniques.
        • 2.C.i Identify features of a literary genre.
        • 2.C.ii Identify features of literary periods, movements, historical and sociocultural contexts.
        • 2.C.iii Identify structural or rhetorical features in a text of the same period, genre, or literary movement.
        • 2.C.iv Explain how the content and stylistic features of a text relate to a genre, period, or literary movement.
        • 2.C.v Explain how features of a text are characteristic of a genre, period, or literary movement.
        • 2.C.vi Identify the literary movement to which a text belongs.
        • 2.C.vii Explain how literary movements reflect their cultural and historical context.
      • 2.D Situate textual language and registers within historical, social, and geopolitical contexts.
        • 2.D.i Identify examples of formal and informal language.
        • 2.D.ii Identify use of language registers to reflect social relationships in texts.
        • 2.D.iii Identify linguistic features representative of the time and place in which a text was written.
        • 2.D.iv Explain the relationship between linguistic changes and historical/geopolitical contexts.
        • 2.D.v Compare textual language and registers in texts produced in different historical, social, and geopolitical contexts.
    • Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities
      • 2.E Relate texts to their contexts (literary, historical, sociocultural, geopolitical).
        • 2.E.i Identify information from other disciplines related to course content.
        • 2.E.ii Explain how a text’s content relates to sociocultural, geopolitical, or historical contexts.
        • 2.E.iii Explain the relationship between a literary text and its sociocultural, geopolitical, and historical contexts.
        • 2.E.iv Explain how behaviors and attitudes present in texts reflect sociocultural, geopolitical, and historical contexts.
    • 2.G Explain how a text reflects or challenges perceptions of a majority/minority culture.
      • 2.G.i Distinguish arguments from opinions.
      • 2.G.ii Explain how personal beliefs and opinions affect textual interpretation.
      • 2.G.iii Make connections between primary and secondary texts.
    • Presentational Communication: Argumentation
      • 5.A Present information in a descriptive form.
      • 5.B Create a thesis that states the purpose.
    • Language Usage: Language and Conventions
      • 6.A Use a variety of vocabulary appropriate to literary analysis.
      • 6.B Use a variety of grammatical and syntactic structures.
    • Interpersonal Communication: Literary Discussions and Presentations
      • 7.A Discuss texts and contexts in a variety of interactive oral formats (not assessed).
      • 7.B Discuss texts and contexts in a variety of interactive written formats (not assessed).
    • Presentational Communication
      • 7.C Create and deliver oral presentations related to course content in a variety of formats (not assessed).
    • Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities
      • 7.D Share literary texts through activities within and beyond the classroom setting (not assessed).
      • 7.E Share knowledge of literature and culture with communities beyond the classroom setting (not assessed).
    • Language Usage
      • 7.F Use pronunciation that is comprehensible to the audience in oral communication (not assessed).
      • 7.G Self-monitor and adjust language production in oral and written communication (not assessed).
  • Sample Instructional Activities:
    • Activity 1: Summarizing/Paraphrasing.
      • Skill: 1.A
      • Create a summary of the work in their own words in Spanish for someone who has never read it.
    • Activity 2: Categorizing.
      • Skills: 1.B, 1.C, 2.C
      • Find textual examples in "Soneto XXIII" to show how the poem is representative of an Italian-style sonnet.
    • Activity 3: SOAPStone.
      • Skills: 1.C, 2.D
      • Capture elements after reading Lazarillo de Tormes: speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone.
    • Activity 4: Debate.
      • Skill: 1.A
      • Debate whether or not the main character in Lazarillo de Tormes was justified in stealing food.
  • Themes and Recommended Organizing Concepts:
    • Societies in contact.
    • Socioeconomic divisions.
    • Social relations.
    • Family relations.
    • The individual in their environment.
    • Interpersonal relationships.
    • Spirituality and religion.
    • The individual and the community.
    • The construction of reality.
    • Self-conscious literature.
  • Literary Terms:
    • Protagonist.
    • Antihero.
    • Narratee (Narratorio).
    • Reliable or unreliable narrator (Narrador fidedigno o no fidedigno).
    • First-person or limited narrator (Narrador en primera persona o limitado).
    • Hyperbole (Hipérbole).
    • Point of view (Punto de vista).
    • Flashback.
    • Allusion (Alusión).
    • Allegory (Alegoría).
  • Comparative Works:
    • El hombre que se convirtió en perro by Osvaldo Dragún.
    • El periquillo sarniento by José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi.
    • “El garrotillo” by Francisco de Goya.
    • Historia de la vida del Buscón by Francisco de Quevedo.
  • Work:
    • Lazarillo de Tormes (Anonymous).
  • Themes and Recommended Organizing Concepts:
    • Societies in contact.
    • Spirituality and religion.
    • The construction of reality.
  • Literary Terms:
    • Symbolism (Simbolismo).
    • Image (Imagen).
    • Parallelism (Paralelismo).
    • Metaphor (Metáfora).
    • Ambiguity (Ambigüedad).
    • Polysyndeton (Polisíndeton).
  • Comparative Work:
    • Visión de los vencidos: “Los presagios, según los informantes de Sahagún” by Miguel León-Portilla.
  • Work:
    • El codice Mendoza, “Folio 2 recto” (Anonymous).
  • Themes and Recommended Organizing Concepts:
    • Societies in contact.
    • The construction of reality.
    • Nature and the environment.
    • Literary creation.
  • Literary Terms:
    • Witness narrator (Narrador testigo).
    • Narratee (Narratorio).
    • Enumeration (Enumeración).
    • Polysyndeton (Polisíndeton).
    • Asyndeton (Asíndeton).
  • Comparative Works:
    • Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España by Bernal Díaz del Castillo.
    • Malinche by Laura Esquivel.
    • “Tenochtitlán” by Diego Rivera.
    • “La conquista de México” by Juan González.
  • Work:
    • “Segunda carta de relación” by Hernán Cortés.
  • Themes and Recommended Organizing Concepts:
    • Societies in contact.
    • Imperialism.
    • Trajectory and transformation.
  • Literary Terms:
    • Elegy (Elegía).
    • Image (Imagen).
    • Caesura (Cesura).
    • Tone (Tono).
    • Apostrophe (Apóstrofe).
  • Comparative Works:
    • The Conquest of Tenochtitlán, from the ’Conquest of Mexico’ series (oil on panel) Spanish School, (17th century) / Private Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library (FRQ 2, 2015).
    • “Romance de la pérdida de Alhama” (Anonymous).
  • Work:
    • Visión de los vencidos: “Se ha perdido el pueblo mexica” by Miguel León-Portilla.
  • Themes and Recommended Organizing Concepts:
    • Time and space.
    • Carpe diem and memento mori.
    • Love and disdain.
    • Trajectory and transformation.
  • Literary Terms:
    • Apostrophe (Apóstrofe).
    • Anaphora (Anáfora).
    • Consonant rhyme (Rima consonante).
    • Quartet (Cuarteto).
    • Tercet (Terceto).
    • Hendecasyllable (Endecasílabo).
    • Chromatism (Cromatismo).
    • Metaphor (Metáfora).
    • Symbol (Símbolo).
    • Hyperbaton (Hipérbaton).
  • Comparative Works:
    • Soneto CLXVI by Luis de Góngora.
    • Salmo XVII by Francisco de Quevedo.
    • “En perseguirme, mundo, ¿qué interesas?” by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
    • “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli.
    • “Idealized Portrait of a Lady (Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as Nymph)” by Sandro Botticelli.
  • Work:
    • Soneto XXIII (“En tanto que de rosa y azucena”) by Garcilaso de la Vega.

El Siglo XVII (Unit 3)

  • Approximate time: 25-26 class periods.
  • Personal Progress Check 3:
    • Multiple-choice: Approximately 20 questions.
    • Free-response: 2 questions.
      • Short-answer: Text and Art Comparison.
      • Essay: Analysis of a Single Text.
  • Building Course Skills:
    • Understanding implied meanings and ambiguities.
    • Explaining what and how texts communicate to the reader.
    • Comparing themes from works to nonrequired texts, texts from previous units, and artwork from the same period.
    • Identifying intermediate-level literary terms and explaining their use.
    • Comparing how genres have evolved from Unit 2.
    • Comprehending how the period is represented in the texts and how the period influenced the creation of the texts.
    • Identifying cultural perspectives, practices, and products and making comparisons to previous units.
  • Preparing for the AP Exam:
    • Listening to author interviews.
    • Writing essays comparing the uses and effects of literary figures and rhetorical devices.
    • Writing short-answers comparing artwork to texts with a common theme.
    • Analyzing characteristics of a genre by commenting on structural and stylistic features.
    • Analyzing cultural aspects from the period that appear in the work.
    • Reviewing prompts from past AP Exams and evaluating samples.
  • Essential Questions:
    • How does intertextuality contribute to the meaning of a literary work?
    • How is a character transformed as a result of their relationships with other characters?
    • How does literature reveal the perspectives and cultural practices in the relationships between men and women of the 17th century?
  • Focus: 17th century Peninsular Spanish literature; the pinnacle of artistic production and the second half of the Golden Age.
  • Marked the beginning of the decline of the Spanish empire.
  • Writers employed complex metaphors, syntax, and advanced vocabulary to criticize their social reality in a form of desengaño, or disillusionment.
  • This provided the opportunity to question commonly held traditions and perspectives.
  • Enduring Understandings, Skill Categories, Skills, and Learning Objectives
    • Interpretive Communication: Analysis
      • 1.A Read/listen to and comprehend literary texts.
        • 1.A.i Paraphrase the literary text.
        • 1.A.ii Summarize the plot of a literary text.
        • 1.A.iii Explain literary texts using supporting details.
      • 1.C Identify or describe literary elements, voices, and stylistic features.
        • 1.C.i Identify rhetorical figures.
        • 1.C.ii Identify points of view.
        • 1.C.iii Describe stylistic features (structure, setting, timeframes, characters, style, point of view, tone).
        • 1.C.iv Make distinctions between voices in order to establish differences in meaning.
        • 1.C.v Make distinctions between voices and the author’s perspective in order to establish differences in meaning.
        • 1.C.vi Make distinctions between stylistic features in order to establish differences in meaning.
      • 1.E Explain the function and/or the significance of rhetorical, structural, and stylistic features.
        • 1.E.i Explain the significance of points of view.
        • 1.E.ii Explain the relationship between the structure of a text and its content.
      • 1.F Explain implied meanings or inferences.
    • Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities: Cultural Context and Connections
      • 2.B Explain the relationship between cultural products, practices, and perspectives of target cultures.
        • 2.B.i Explain how cultural products or practices relate to cultural perspectives in literary texts.
        • 2.B.ii Explain how cultural beliefs and attitudes affect the interpretation of a text.
        • 2.B.iii Explain the role of cultural stereotypes in texts.
        • 2.B.iv Explain the relationship between a literary movement and cultural perspectives.
      • 2.C Relate target language texts to genres, periods, movements, and techniques.
        • 2.C.i Identify features of a literary genre.
        • 2.C.ii Identify features of literary periods, movements, historical and sociocultural contexts.
        • 2.C.iii Identify structural or rhetorical features in a text of the same period, genre, or literary movement.
        • 2.C.iv Explain how the content and stylistic features of a text relate to a genre, period, or literary movement.
        • 2.C.v Explain how features of a text are characteristic of a genre, period or literary movement.
        • 2.C.vi Identify the literary movement to which a text belongs.
        • 2.C.vii Explain how literary movements reflect their cultural and historical context.
      • 2.D Situate textual language and registers within historical, social, and geopolitical contexts.
        • 2.D.i Identify examples of formal and informal language.
        • 2.D.ii Identify use of language registers to reflect social relationships in texts.
        • 2.D.iii Identify linguistic features representative of the time and place in which a text was written.
        • 2.D.iv Explain the relationship between linguistic changes and historical/geopolitical contexts.
        • 2.D.v Compare textual language and registers in texts produced in different historical, social, and geopolitical contexts.
      • 2.E Relate texts to their contexts (literary, historical sociocultural, geopolitical).
        • 2.E.i Identify information from other disciplines related to course content.
        • 2.E.ii Explain how a text’s content relates to sociocultural, geopolitical, or historical contexts.
        • 2.E.iii Explain the relationship between a literary text and its sociocultural, geopolitical, and historical contexts.
        • 2.E.iv Explain how behaviors and attitudes present in texts reflect sociocultural, geopolitical, and historical contexts.
    • Interpretive Communication: Comparing Texts and Art
      • 4.A Relate texts to practices and perspectives found in a variety of media from the target cultures.
        • 4.A.i Identify themes and features of artistic representations.
        • 4.A.ii Describe similar themes and features between an artistic representation and a literary text.
    • Presentational Communication: Argumentation
      • 5.A Present information in a descriptive form.
      • 5.B Create a thesis that states the purpose.
      • 5.C Organize information, concepts, and ideas in presentations with a logical and coherent progression of ideas.
    • Language Usage: Language and Conventions
      • 6.A Use a variety of vocabulary appropriate to literary analysis.
      • 6.B Use a variety of grammatical and syntactic structures.
      • 6.C Present and organize information logically.
    • Interpersonal Communication: Literary Discussions and Presentations
      • 7.A Discuss texts and contexts in a variety of interactive oral formats (not assessed).
      • 7.B Discuss texts and contexts in a variety of interactive written formats (not assessed).
    • Presentational Communication
      • 7.C Create and deliver oral presentations related to course content in a variety of formats (not assessed).
    • Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities
      • 7.D Share literary texts through activities within and beyond the classroom setting (not assessed).
      • 7.E Share knowledge of literature and culture with communities beyond the classroom setting (not assessed).
    • Language Usage
      • 7.F Use pronunciation that is comprehensible to the audience in oral communication (not assessed).
      • 7.G Self-monitor and adjust language production in oral and written communication (not assessed).
  • Sample Instructional Activities:
    • Activity 1: Read Alouds.
      • Skills: 1.A, 1.C
      • Read a text aloud and pause to unravel syntax and identify literary figures and rhetorical devices.
      • Model how to annotate a text.
    • Activity 2: Change of Perspective.
      • Skills: 1.A, 4.A
      • Recreate a scene from a studied text, changing a key element, like the setting or genders of characters.
    • Activity 3: Intertextualizing.
      • Skills: 2.B
      • Compare "Soneto XXIII" by Garcilaso de la Vega and "Soneto CLXVI" by Luis de Góngora.
    • Activity 4: Role Play.
      • Skills: 1.A, 7.A, 7.C, 7.D, 7.F, 7.G
      • Act out a scene from a text in front of the class.