Literature and Composition

Literature and Composition, the second volume of the Excellence in Literature curriculum, is designed to cultivate not only a love for great literature, but also college-ready writing skills and deep cultural literacy. Students work with unabridged great classics (purchased separately), including novels, short stories, poems, and drama, which have been selected for compelling ideas, literary quality, and in honor of their place in the historical development of literature. 

This study guide is designed for one year of study, and it covers the following books, and includes poetry in every module.

• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe
• Walden by Henry David Thoreau
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
• The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
• Death Comes to the Archbishop by Willa Cather
• Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
• Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Study Guide Features: 

• Self-directed;
• Structured and easy to use with week-by-week lesson plans;
• Formats and Models chapter with instructions for each type of paper and a student-written model;
• Optional Honors track;
• Grading instructions and a rubric.

Additional short readings and audio-visual resources (linked) provide background information about the author, the historical period, and the literary and artistic context of each great book. 

Carefully designed assignments help students fully understand what they are studying as they develop competence in various types of written composition. 

An optional Honors track provides additional reading, writing, and the possibility of taking an assigned CLEP as a final exam. This guide is appropriate for Grades 8-12.