English 10: Literature

A year of 10th-grade literature taught through a tour of classic English and world writing, mostly 19th and early 20th century. Most lessons study a short story, poem, play or passage from a different famous work, practicing the same analysis skills on new texts.

← English 9: Literature English 11: Literature →

180 lessons

One a day for a school year

7 units

Each opens to its lessons

A new classic most days

Short stories, poems, plays, novels

Standards

Common Core Grade 10 reading & literature

What's taught, unit by unit

1
Classic short stories & foundationsDays 1–20
Evidence, theme, character, structure and point of view through Poe, Chopin, Chekhov, O. Henry, Tolstoy, Maupassant, Saki, Gilman, Bierce, Melville and Irving, plus Shakespeare's use of Ovid, Douglass on fallacy, the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln and Whitman, and Patrick Henry's speech.
- 1 · Strong and Thorough Evidence: Poe's Unstated Motive
- 2 · Tracing How Freedom Develops as Chopin's Theme
- 3 · A Complex, Contradictory Character: Chekhov's Lawyer
- 4 · A Withheld Reveal: O. Henry's Structural Choice
- 6 · A Russian Peasant's Point of View: Tolstoy's World Literature
- 7 · Shakespeare Transforms Ovid: Romeo and Juliet's Source
- 8 · Evaluating an Argument: Douglass Names a Fallacy
- 9 · Seminal US Document: The Declaration of Independence
- 11 · Objective Summary, Deepened: Maupassant's “The Necklace”
- 12 · Complex Character Interaction: Saki's “The Open Window”
- 13 · Cumulative Word Choice: Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper”
- 14 · Author's Purpose Across Genres: Lincoln and Whitman on Loss
- 16 · Rhetorical Devices: Patrick Henry's “Give Me Liberty”
- 17 · Tone Shift: Bierce's “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
- 18 · Interpretation Comparison: Melville's “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
- 19 · Setting's Active Role: Irving's “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
Plus 4 review days, not listed.
2
Deepening literary devicesDays 21–50
Each device on a new text: play structure (Wilde), foils (London), symbolism (Hawthorne), metaphor (Dickinson), motif (Dickens), irony (Stockton), character arc (Jane Eyre), theme (Chopin's The Awakening), historical context (A Tale of Two Cities), Antigone, The Jungle, Gatsby, Browning and Hemingway.
- 21 · Deepening Play Structure Analysis
- 22 · Deepening Foil Character Analysis
- 23 · Deepening Symbolism Analysis
- 24 · Deepening Extended Metaphor Analysis
- 26 · Indirect Characterization: The Duke's Self-Revealing Words
- 27 · Deepening Allusion Analysis
- 28 · Deepening Cumulative Word-Choice Impact Analysis
- 29 · Deepening Motif Tracing
- 31 · Deepening Setting-Character Conflict Analysis
- 32 · Deepening Foreshadowing Analysis
- 33 · Deepening the Human Condition Analysis
- 34 · Deepening Sound Device Analysis
- 36 · Deepening Diction and Connotation Analysis
- 37 · Deepening Irony Analysis
- 38 · Deepening Character Arc Analysis
- 39 · Deepening Thematic Development Analysis
- 41 · Deepening Historical Context Analysis
- 42 · Deepening Enduring Relevance Evaluation
- 43 · Deepening Literary Analysis Thesis Writing
- 44 · Deepening Author's Engagement With Social Issues
- 46 · Deepening Motif and Epigraph Analysis
- 47 · Deepening Juxtaposition Analysis
- 48 · Cumulative Word Choice and Tone: Hemingway's Spare Dialogue
- 49 · Synthesizing a Full Deepened Text Analysis
Plus 6 review days, not listed.
3
Structure, argument & social themesDays 51–80
Nonlinear time (Heart of Darkness), Twain's Huckleberry Finn, Paine's Common Sense, three Titanic accounts, Les Miserables, Crime and Punishment, Wuthering Heights, war (the Iliad, All Quiet on the Western Front, Tennyson), Swift's satire, Ibsen, Silas Marner, The Wizard of Oz and Little Women.
- 51 · Deepening Nonlinear Chronology Analysis
- 52 · Deepening Repetition Analysis
- 53 · Deepening Ambiguous Ending Analysis
- 54 · Deepening Character Motivation Analysis
- 56 · Deepening Multiple Narrator Analysis
- 57 · Deepening Nonfiction Argumentative Strategy
- 58 · Deepening Comparing Nonfiction Accounts
- 59 · Synthesizing a Deepened Independent Analysis
- 61 · Deepening Antagonist Complexity Analysis
- 62 · Indirect Characterization: Sylvia's Silence in A White Heron
- 63 · Deepening Contrasting Values Analysis
- 64 · Deepening Epilogue Function Analysis
- 66 · Deepening War Narrative Perspective Analysis
- 67 · Deepening Literature Processing Trauma Analysis
- 68 · Deepening World Literature Point-of-View Analysis
- 69 · Deepening Historical-Response Poetry Analysis
- 71 · Cumulative Word Choice in Satire: Swift's A Modest Proposal
- 72 · Transforming a Genre: Baron Munchausen and the Travel Narrative
- 73 · Deepening Internal Conflict Analysis
- 74 · Deepening Title Analysis
- 76 · Deepening Economic Theme Analysis
- 77 · Deepening Political Theme Analysis
- 78 · Deepening Dystopian Warning Analysis
- 79 · Deepening Literature Documenting an Era
Plus 6 review days, not listed.
4
Voice, time & the Victorian novelDays 81–115
Suspense in Dracula, Faulkner's A Rose for Emily, Mrs Dalloway, Du Bois, Joyce's Araby, Mansfield, Thackeray, Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Blake's The Tyger, Collins, The Great Gatsby, Dover Beach, Pygmalion, and Norris and Dreiser, tracing direct address, time, memory, ambiguity and moral complexity.
- 81 · Deepening Suspense-Building Analysis: Dracula
- 82 · Deepening Collective Narrator Analysis: A Rose for Emily
- 83 · Deepening Circular Structure Analysis: Mrs Dalloway
- 84 · Deepening Character Arc Analysis: The Magnificent Ambersons
- 86 · Deepening Central Question Analysis: The Souls of Black Folk
- 87 · Word Choice and Comic Tone: Three Men in a Boat
- 88 · Deepening Beginning-Ending Comparison: Araby
- 89 · Synthesizing a Full Deepened Text Analysis: The Garden Party
- 91 · Deepening Direct Address: Thackeray's Vanity Fair
- 92 · Deepening Prose Rhythm: Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles
- 93 · Deepening Treatment of Time: Wells's The Time Machine
- 94 · Deepening Central Metaphor: Blake's "The Tyger"
- 96 · Indirect Characterization: Grief Through Ritual in Cranford
- 97 · Deepening Multiple Settings: Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress
- 98 · Deepening Deliberate Ambiguity: Collins's The Moonstone
- 99 · Synthesizing a Deepened Theme-Development Analysis
- 101 · Deepening Foil Setting Analysis
- 102 · Indirect Characterization: Bazarov's Final Actions
- 103 · Deepening Treatment of Memory Analysis
- 104 · Deepening Portrayal of Community Analysis
- 106 · Deepening Hope/Despair Balance Analysis
- 107 · Deepening Central Image Analysis
- 108 · Deepening Complicating a Simple Idea Analysis
- 109 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set
- 111 · Indirect Characterization: Paul's Repeated Need in The Rocking-Horse Winner
- 112 · Deepening Generational Conflict: The Way of All Flesh
- 113 · Deepening Symbolic Object Analysis: McTeague's Canary
- 114 · Deepening Moral Complexity: Sister Carrie
Plus 7 review days, not listed.
5
More classics: identity, justice, ambition & lossDays 116–150
A cumulative review early on, then themes such as identity, belonging, justice, sacrifice, ambition, forgiveness and loss through Cyrano de Bergerac, Anne of Green Gables, Ivanhoe, Walden, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ecclesiastes, Marlowe, Proust, Milton, Gray and Keats. Includes practice reading sets.
- 116 · Cumulative Review: A Year of English 10 Reading (Part 1)
- 117 · Cumulative Review: A Year of English 10 Reading (Part 2)
- 118 · Reflecting on a Year of Deepened Reading
- 119 · Looking Ahead: English 11 Next Year
- 121 · Deepening Identity Portrayal Analysis: Septimus Harding’s Crisis of Conscience
- 122 · Deepening Dramatic Structure Analysis: The Subverted Climax in The Playboy of the Western World
- 123 · Deepening Dialogue Foreshadowing Analysis: The Panache Motif in Cyrano de Bergerac
- 124 · Deepening Resilience Portrayal Analysis: The Moral Cost in Up From Slavery
- 126 · Deepening Belonging Portrayal Analysis: Anne’s Precarious Place at Green Gables
- 127 · Deepening Parallel Plotlines Analysis: Ivanhoe and the Outlaws in Scott’s Ivanhoe
- 128 · Transforming Source Material: Hogg's Justified Sinner and the Tempter Legend
- 129 · Synthesizing a Final Deepened Independent Analysis
- 131 · Deepening Environmental Theme Analysis
- 132 · Deepening Legacy and Inheritance Analysis
- 133 · Deepening Portrayal of Justice Analysis
- 134 · Word Choice and Tone: The Raft in Huckleberry Finn
- 136 · Deepening Sacrifice Analysis
- 137 · Deepening Withheld Judgment Analysis
- 138 · Deepening Cyclical Time Analysis
- 139 · Tracing a Theme’s Full Development Across One Text
- 141 · Deepening Multiple Timelines Analysis
- 142 · Structural Choice: Withheld Revelation in Ethan Frome
- 143 · Deepening Portrayal of Ambition Analysis
- 144 · Deepening Memory-Trigger Object Analysis
- 146 · Deepening Portrayal of Forgiveness Analysis
- 147 · Deepening Elegiac Tone Analysis
- 148 · Deepening Final Image Analysis
- 149 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 2
Plus 7 review days, not listed.
6
Last classics & cumulative reviewDays 151–170
Duty, pride and loyalty in short fiction from Hale, Pushkin, Hearn and Rebecca Harding Davis, the Arabian Nights as a frame story, Emerson's Self-Reliance as timed reading practice, and three rounds of full-year cumulative review plus a reflection.
- 151 · Deepening Portrayal of Duty: The Man Without a Country
- 152 · Deepening Layered Setting Symbolism: Life in the Iron Mills
- 153 · Deepening Portrayal of Pride: The Queen of Spades
- 154 · Deepening Withheld Backstory: Hoichi the Earless
- 156 · Word Choice and Tone: The Flat Narration of To Build a Fire
- 157 · Deepening Structural Frame Analysis: One Thousand and One Nights
- 158 · Practicing a Comprehensive Mixed Reading Passage Set 3
- 159 · Timed Reading Practice: Emerson's Self-Reliance
- 161 · Deepening Portrayal of Loyalty Analysis
- 162 · Deepening Cyclical Structure Analysis
- 163 · Indirect Characterization: Bartleby's Repeated Refusal
- 164 · Full-Year English 10 Reading Cumulative Review, Part 1
- 166 · Full-Year English 10 Reading Cumulative Review, Part 2
- 167 · Full-Year English 10 Reading Cumulative Review, Part 3
- 168 · Timed Reading Practice: The Comprehensive Final Passage
- 169 · Full-Year Reading Growth Reflection
Plus 4 review days, not listed.
7
Final review & celebrationDays 171–180
A final review using Hurston's Sweat and Yeats's The Lake Isle of Innisfree, preparing and giving a year-end presentation, celebration days (including Langston Hughes and Aesop), and a final reflection.
- 171 · Final Review: Theme, Character, and Structure — Hurston's “Sweat”
- 172 · Final Review: Craft and Tone — Yeats's “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”
- 173 · Preparing Your Year-End Reading Presentation
- 174 · Delivering Your Year-End Reading Presentation
- 175 · Celebration Day: Reflecting on a Year of English 10!
- 176 · Celebration Day: A Favorite Passage Challenge — Hughes's “Dreams”
- 177 · Celebration Day: Stories All Around You
- 178 · Looking Ahead Again: What I'm Curious About in English 11
- 179 · Final Reflection: My Year in English 10
- 180 · Congratulations! You Completed English 10!

By the end of the year, your child can

Support an interpretation of a text with strong, thorough evidence
Trace a theme or character arc through a whole story, poem or play
Explain how structure, point of view and word choice create tone and meaning
Analyze a nonfiction argument's strategies, including its rhetorical devices
Recognize irony, allusion, motif and symbolism in unfamiliar classic texts
Compare how two texts handle the same event or theme

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Other 10th Grade subjects: Geometry · English 10: Composition & Grammar · Chemistry · US History