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how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

—AP Poetry Analysis—

We choose our AP Poetry Analysis prompts not just to prepare students for the essay on the AP Literature exam, but also to introduce the major themes of the novel or play through a complementary text that addresses the subject matter through a different lens.  Similar to the thought-provoking quotation that we use as the basis of our Journal Discussions, we want to give students another perspective on the issues they will encounter in the novel or play they are about to read.

Oftentimes, the choice of poem is relatively obvious by allusions made in the title or text of the novel or play.  For instance, when reading Chinua Achebe's  Things Fall Apart , it makes sense to analyze William Butler Yeats' "The Second Coming," the poem from which the title of the novel is taken.  Similarly, when reading Kate Chopin's  The Awakening , it is helpful to analyze Charles Swinburne's "A Cameo" since Gouvernail murmurs the first two lines of the poem during Edna's farewell dinner on Esplanade Street. There is a reason that authors and playwrights allude to other literary works, and our job as readers is to determine the thematic connection between the two. 

When there is not an obvious allusion made in the title or text, we have the opportunity to select a poem that relates thematically to the novel or play and is consistent with the AP Literary Analysis prompt already chosen.  For instance, when we teach Sandra Cisneros'  The House on Mango Street , we want students to focus on how Esperanza's feelings towards her neighborhood change over the course of the novel.  To achieve this purpose we chose the 2010 AP Literary Argument prompt for our final essay:

"You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you."

- Sonsyrea Tate

Sonsyrea Tate's statement suggests that "home" may be conceived as a dwelling, a place, or a state of mind.  It may have positive or negative associations, but in either case, it may have a considerable influence on the individual.

Choose a novel or play in which a central character leaves home yet finds that home remains significant.  Write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the importance of "home" to this character and the reasons for its continuing influence.  Explain how the character's idea of home illuminates the larger meaning of the work.

While there are many poems that focus on the concept of "home," we selected Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" to compare and contrast with Cisneros' work.  When analyzing any piece of literature, we focus on the four pillars of style analysis:  diction, imagery, language, and syntax.  We go into depth on all four pillars in the Style Analysis Tutorial , so for this section we will focus on what is unique about analyzing poetry in comparison to prose.

When we present a poem to the class, we structure it like an AP Poetry Analysis prompt that students will find on the AP Literature exam so they get more comfortable with the format:

Hayden AP Poetry Analysis.jpg

When we first introduce poetry to students, we note that paragraphs and sentences in prose have been replaced with stanzas and lines in poetry.  We emphasize, however, that most poetry is still written in complete thoughts and contains end punctuation.  Our advice to students is to read poetry as if it were prose, pausing and stopping when the punctuation dictates.  We always read poems out loud in class twice — the first time by the teacher to model how it should sound and then a second time by a student reader.  For poems with multiple long stanzas, we might have different students read different stanzas aloud.  

Since every word in poetry is important, we first define any words that students might not know —like "indifferently" or "austere" in Hayden's poem, for example .  We want students to consider the significance of the diction, imagery, and language in a poem —which, again, we discuss in detail in the Style Analysis Tutorial —but in this tutorial we are going to focus on how the specific syntax of poetry, which we call poetic devices, differs from prose and how poets use these poetic devices to establish tone and reveal theme. 

We break poetic devices into three categories based on the repetition of sounds.  The first category identifies the repetition of specific letter-sounds, which takes the form of alliteration, consonance, and assonance.  The second category concentrates on the repetition of syllables, which involves a poem's rhyme, rhythm, and meter.  The third category focuses on the repetition of words or phrases, which we call parallel structure:

Poetic Devices.jpg

I.  Alliteration/Consonance/Assonance

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words whereas consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds within words.  Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds.   Poets use repeated sounds not just because they are pleasing to the ear , but also to emphasize certain words  and create connections between words.

Let's look at the opening stanza of Hayden's poem:

Sundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,

then with cracked hands that ached

from labor in the weekday weather made

banked fires blaze.  No one ever thanked him.

When introducing poetic devices, we first ask students to find as many repetitions of consonant and vowel sounds as possible within an opening stanza.  For Hayden's poem, students usually notice the repetition of the hard "k" sound that comes at the beginning of words like " cl othes," " c old," and " cr acked"; in the middle of words like "cra ck ed," "a ch ed," "wee k day," "ba nk ed," and "tha nk ed"; and at the end of words like "bluebla ck ."

Consonance.jpg

When we ask students to describe the tone, or feeling, associated with that particular sound, students often say it is harsh and abrupt.  The next question is why Hayden would want to repeat that particular sound in his opening stanza, and how that sound might reflect the feelings that the speaker has internalized when remembering his father and his childhood home.  

Despite the coldness of the relationship he had with his father, it is clear that the speaker's feelings have changed now that he is older.  The adult speaker seems to recognize and appreciate the fact that his father "got up early" during the week, most likely to go to a blue-collar job that produced "cracked hands that ached."  Not only does Hayden alliterate the " w eekday w eather" to emphasize the harsh conditions that his father endured during the week to provide for his family, but he also alliterates the " bl ue bl ack cold" when the speaker's father "made /  b anked fires bl aze" to show how the father also provided comfort for his family in the early morning darkness before any of them had gotten out of bed.

Alliteration.jpg

When Hayden stops the opening thought with a caesura in the middle of the fifth line, he uses the period to interrupt the flow of the line to set us up for the devastating final words of the stanza:  "No one ever thanked him."  When reading those words, we sense the guilt and regret the speaker has for failing to appreciate his father when he was a child.

Hayden's use of assonance is also interesting to analyze in the first stanza, specifically with the juxtaposition of long and short "a" sounds.  The long "a" sounds connect the hands that " a ched / from l a bor in the weekd a y weather m a de / banked fires bl a ze."  Those same hands that "ached" from long hours of manual labor outside the home were the same hands that "made" the fires inside the home —on "Sund a ys too"— to provide comfort and warmth for his family.

Assonance.jpg

One could argue that the length of those drawn out "a" sounds  reflects the long thankless days that the father spent providing for his family with no apparent acknowledgment or appreciation of his sacrifice.  Is there bitterness inside the father?  Perhaps those harsh "k" sounds combined with the short "a" sounds in "bluebl a ck," "cr a cked," "b a nked," and "th a nked" reflect not just the speaker's fear of his father as a child, but also the resentment that the speaker imagines the father must have had towards his ungrateful family.

We emphasize with students that any literary interpretation—but especially with an analysis of the subtleties of syntax or poetic devices—is subject to debate.  The role of a literary critic is not necessarily to be "correct," but to make interesting observations based on evidence from the text to make the reader think differently or more deeply about the work.  Some interpretations are more convincing than others based on the evidence to support the claims, and others are more compelling based on the insight and depth of the analysis. 

Our advice to students is to think deeply about the literary work and make as interesting an argument as possible based on the evidence from the text.  An essay does not necessarily have to convince the reader that a certain interpretation is "right," but it should always aspire to be thought-provoking and make the reader think about the work in a new way.

II.  Rhyme/Rhythm/Meter

When we introduce the concept of rhyme, we differentiate between "end rhymes" and "internal rhymes."  When end rhymes create a consistent pattern, we call that a "rhyme scheme" and use letters, such as ABAB,  to represent the repeating pattern.  For Hayden's poem, however, there are no end rhymes, which means there is no rhyme scheme.  The first question that students should ask is why Hayden would choose to write his poem in free verse rather than with a set rhyme scheme.

Just because there are no end rhymes does not mean, however, that there are no internal rhymes.  In the first stanza, we see "blue black " and " cracked " on successive lines and " banked " and " thanked " in the same line.  These internal rhymes are not only aesthetically pleasing to the ear, but they also link those words thematically.  It is up to the reader to make a connection as to why the poet would want to pair those two words.

Internal Rhyme.jpg

In the first pairing, the "blue black cold" represents the harsh conditions that the father has to face everyday — "Sundays too" — to provide and care for his family.  His perpetual sacrifice is represented by the " cracked hands that ached," but it seems that the "aching" of his hands does not just reflect a physical hardship; instead, it seems to also imply an internal suffering, one that the speaker is unable to recognize as a child but acknowledges and takes some responsibility for as an adult.  Similarly, the " banked fires" that the father made "blaze" every morning go unacknowledged by his family; despite the fact that he should have been " thanked " for the sacrifices he made, no one ever did.

In the second stanza, Hayden also uses internal rhymes effectively:

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.

When the rooms were warm, he'd call,

and slowly I would rise and dress,

fearing the chronic angers of that house,

The first line connects " wake " with the first syllable in " break ing," showing how the father regularly gets up in the early morning to make the house warm for his family by "breaking" the cold.  The tone of the stanza, however, is not one of familial love and warmth.  The present participles at the end of the first line connect with the present participle in the fourth line to create a series of internal rhymes by repeating the "-ing" syllable on "splinter ing ," "break ing ," and "fear ing ."  Despite the speaker's understanding at an intellectual level that the father's efforts are "splintering" and "breaking" the cold, they are sublimated by his simultaneously "fearing the chronic angers of that house." Instead of feeling gratitude for this father's efforts, the speaker only has dread and fear, fully aware that his father's temper is always in threat of "splintering" and "breaking" the peace and tranquility of the house.

When determining rhythm, we have to look at the punctuation and the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (i.e. meter) in a line or stanza.  In looking at the punctuation in the second stanza, the first thing we notice is the proliferation of commas.  The comma at the end of the first line creates an asyndeton that takes the place of an "and" that could have easily separated the two present participles in a smoother, more rhythmic way.  Instead, Hayden uses the comma to create a jarring transition between the two participles that abruptly concludes with the period at the end of the line. 

One could argue that the punctuation aptly reflects the harsh, abrupt tone that we saw in the consonance of the repeated "k" sounds in the first stanza, which continues in the second stanza with " c old," "brea k ing," " c all," and " chr oni c ."  The commas at the end of each successive line in the second stanza slows the pace and makes us consider each line carefully.  The commas never complete the thought, however, so we carry the tension from one line to the next — and even into the next stanza — understanding implicitly that the "chronic angers of that house" remain unresolved and simmering beneath the surface, which breaks any sense of harmony in the house or rhythm in the poem.

The disruptive punctuation is complemented by the absence of a set meter.   To determine meter, we have to recognize which syllables are stressed and which are not.  The easiest way to do that is to look at the multi-syllable words first to determine where the natural accents lie.  For instance, the word "splintering" in the first line of the second stanza has three syllables, but only one contains the natural accent, which is the first; the final two syllables are unstressed.  Likewise, in "breaking" the first syllable is stressed and the second is not.   In fact, all of the multi-syllable words in the second stanza have the first syllable stressed:

Meter I.jpg

After we find the natural accents, we then look at the single-syllable words, where there is ample room for interpretation.  In general, primary words — like nouns and verbs — are usually stressed whereas secondary words — like articles and prepositions — are not.   This is a guideline but not a rule, however.  When words are stressed, they are emphasized; sometimes it makes sense, based on the context of the line, to stress an adjective, for instance, rather than the noun.  Similarly, stressed and unstressed syllables usually alternate in poetry to create a natural rhythm, but poets will intentionally disrupt the rhythm to call attention to specific words. 

Here is a possible scan of the second stanza in Hayden's poem:

Meter II.jpg

The first line starts off with a series of three rhythmic iambs (two-syllable combinations of unaccented syllables followed by accented syllables) before the pattern is broken with the words "splintering, breaking" at the end of the line.  By analyzing the meter, we can assume that soon after waking—even on Sundays with a fire warming the house—the speaker still feels a sense of tension and unease.  What is interesting is Hayden's decision to end the line with a weak, unaccented syllable, which one could argue conveys a sense of weary resignation, as if the speaker can never escape the constant "splintering, breaking" tension that permeates the house.  

The first syllable of the second line, "When," could certainly be accented, but leaving it unaccented allows that feeling of helplessness to carry over from the previous line and build into another series of rhythmic iambs that runs through the next two lines until it is disrupted once again by a present participle, this time "Fearing," which starts the fourth line and connects to the "splintering, breaking" of the first line.  This rhythmic pattern—and its disruption—repeats itself as if to imply that any sense of harmony within the house cannot remain for long. 

The preposition "of" in the final line of the stanza could also be unstressed, but choosing to accent the preposition creates another series of four straight iambs that is broken once again by a present participle, this time the "Speaking" at the beginning of the final stanza.  What is interesting is that the father is responsible for the "splintering, breaking" of the rhythm in the second stanza, but it is the speaker who is responsible for breaking the rhythm in the final stanza by "Speaking indifferently" to his father, which seems to imply that they both share responsibility for the psychic tension and "chronic angers of that house."  

III.  Parallel Structure

Parallel structure is the repetition of words or phrases within the lines of a poem.  We have already seen how Hayden uses parallel structure in repeating the use of present participles to break the rhythm of the lines in the second stanza and at the beginning of the third.  We also see a key repetition in the penultimate line that, one could argue, unlocks the thematic meaning of the entire poem:

Speaking indifferently to him,

who had driven out the cold

and polished my good shoes as well.

What did I know, what did I know

of love's austere and lonely offices?

By repeating "'What did I know, what did I know" the speaker acknowledges his own ignorance as a child of the love and sacrifice that his father demonstrated through his daily actions.  The repetition also implies a sense of guilt and regret that he was unable to understand or appreciate his father when he was younger.  What is obvious is that the speaker has matured over the years —perhaps now having children of his own—and sees his father in a new, more compassionate light.  

To help students identify poetic devices and become more comfortable with the analytical process, we provide five study guide questions on the back of the AP prompt that students should try to answer on their own.  When students return to class, we answer any questions they may have and share our different interpretations of the poem as a whole class.

Hayden AP Study Guide.jpg

After we have explicated the poem and answered questions from the study guide, students prepare to write their AP Poetry Analysis essay.  Similar to the other AP essays, we encourage students to use  Hegel's Dialectic to organize their thoughts and outline their arguments:

Hegel's Dialectic.jpg

The AP Poetry Analysis prompt for Hayden's poem asks students to consider how the speaker has "re-assessed" the "strained" relationship he had with his father in childhood.  One possible way to organize the argument would be to have the thesis, or initial claim (i.e. first body paragraph), focus on the "strained" relationship in the speaker's childhood.  The antithesis, or counter-claim (i.e. second body paragraph), could then focus on the speaker's re-assessment of that relationship once he becomes an adult.  The synthesis (i.e. third body paragraph) would focus on what the speaker has learned from the experience, which would also reflect Hayden's overall theme (i.e. "the meaning of the work as a whole").

If this were the first assignment of the year, we would provide a model for what a quality AP Poetry Analysis essay using Hegel's Dialectic might look like: 

Sample Hayden Essay I.jpg

When using Hegel's Dialectic for an AP Poetry Analysis essay, it is sometimes helpful to think of the thesis/antithesis/synthesis model in terms of tone and theme instead.  Students should look for competing, yet complementary, tones in the poem, which would then be the focus of their first two body paragraphs.  Students would then resolve the tension between those competing tones by revealing overall theme in the concluding third body paragraph.

Hegel's Tone.jpg

Once students have completed the Journal Discussion and written the AP Poetry Analysis essay, they are now ready to begin the novel or play with a solid introduction to the major themes of the work.  Moreover, they will be able to compare and contrast how the author or playwright addresses the Essential Questions with the poet and and the author/speaker of the quotation.  Ultimately, students will have to answer those Essential Questions for themselves, but they now have three different guides to help them along the way.

<<  Style Analysis Tutorial

AP Passage Analysis Tutorial  >>

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AP Lit: Poetry Overview

6 min read • november 18, 2021

Candace Moore

Candace Moore

AP English Lit: Poetry Analysis

There are three types of free-response questions on the AP Literature exam . You will be given 120 minutes to write all three essays, so you should take approximately 40 minutes to write each one. The entire free-response section is worth 55% of your total exam score.

Question 1, that you will see first on the exam, will be a poetry analysis prompt. You will need to read a given poem of 100 to 300 words and a prompt to guide your analytical essay about the poem. The prompt will help you figure out what to look for as you read the poem.

So we’re all on the same page, here are the most important definitions you need to know that are necessary to understand any discussion of poetry analysis .

  • analyze: examine the passage closely for details that help you interpret and explain the question topic (i.e. breaking down how the poem was put together)
  • complexity: the thematic, character or structural tensions or conflicts that are present in any poem
  • thesis: the claim that establishes your line of reasoning and interpretation of the text

2011 AP English Literature and Composition Exam Q1 (from CollegeBoard.org)

The following poem is by the contemporary poet Li-Young Lee. Read the poem carefully. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze how the poet conveys the complex relationship of the father and the son through the use of literary devices such as point of view and structure .

See how the prompt asks about the “complex relationship of the father and son”? This helps you to know how to approach the poem and how to annotate it as you read it. The italics at the end of the prompt are to note specific literary devices that are given in older prompts that you might use to practice, but will not be given in 2020. However, the prompt will always give you:

  • time period of publication
  • a thematic, topical or structural aspect ( abstract topic ) to analyze

It is helpful to underline or circle these three elements to prepare you to read the poem. The prompt will always tell you to look for the literary devices or elements that the poet uses to create the thematic/topical/ structural aspect of the poem.

Reading the Poem

Now that you know what you’re looking for, read the poem . As you read, annotate the poem for elements of the abstract topic that the author has created. Make sure that you are also making connections between the topic and the literary devices .

🎥 Watch: AP Lit - How to Read a Poem

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Annotate for:

  • figurative language
  • shifts in tone , meaning or language
  • poetic structure and form
  • diction and syntax that connect to the topic.

In the following 1919 poem by Claude McKay, the speaker discusses courage in the face of death. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how McKay uses poetic elements and techniques to develop his message about death during conflict.

In this prompt, you are directed toward McKay’s topic and can determine that he is delivering a message about it, so as you read, you would annotate for not only the topic (death) but his message to his audience.

When you have read through the poem (twice if possible!), you will have an idea of what you want to write about. Then it is time to write your thesis .

🎥 Watch: AP Lit - Theme Statements and Thesis Statements

Not to alarm you, but your thesis might be the most important part of your essay. It establishes what you’re going to say, and whether or not you’re going to be able to back it up with the poetic evidence. It should be about a sentence long (it could be a couple, but no more), and clearly state:

  • the claim you’re making about the poem -- directly about the abstract topic given and defensible with the poetic devices in the poem
  • your original interpretation of the poem that is not a summary

If you were given the following prompt ( Example 3 ) ...

In the following poem by William Shakespeare (1609), the speaker reflects on the passing of time. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Shakespeare uses poetic elements and structure to convey his complex understanding of time.

...then your thesis would clearly state your interpretation of his understanding of time and the complexity of the understanding (or, why is it confusing/complex?), and probably the poetic elements that created this complexity and understanding.

Watch: AP Lit - Complexity in Poetry

As you may know, the rubric for AP Lit essays has changed from a 9-point holistic rubric to a 6-point analytical rubric. A perfect score is broken down as follows:

  • 1 point for your thesis
  • 4 points for your evidence and commentary
  • 1 point for sophistication

The rubric that College Board AP exam readers will use is one whole page per category. 😦 For now, let’s dive into what each category means.

Thesis Point

You cannot earn a partial point for your thesis -- you either earn a point or you do not. If you write a thesis statement that interprets the poem according to the prompt in a way that is defensible according to the poem: 1 point. In other words, you write a claim that can be defended by the poem.

If your thesis is too general, summarizes or describes the poem, or restates the prompt only, you will not earn a point.

Evidence and Commentary Points

You can earn up to 4 points for evidence and commentary . All of your evidence needs to be integrated and relevant, and all of your commentaries should connect your evidence to your prompt-based thesis.

If you write paragraphs that are unrelated to the prompt and/or the passage, you will earn a 0 in this category.

If you summarize the poem or describe its content, you will earn 1 point. You will also earn one point if you refer to the literary techniques (that you found in your annotation) but do not explain them or connect them to the poem and your claim/thesis.

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If you have some relevant evidence, connected weakly to some explanation and argument, you will earn 2 points. This includes inaccurate commentary or misinterpreted evidence. 😕

You will earn 3 points for a solid job of selecting evidence and connecting it to your claim. This means your line of reasoning is supported, and your evidence contains literary elements that you connect succinctly to the abstract topic you were given.

For consistent, persuasive support of your claim that uses significant and specific evidence, you will earn the full 4 points ! You would have examined more than one literary device/technique’s use throughout the poem, and organized your essay in order to best defend your claim.

Sophistication Point

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This point is new and very hard to pin down. It is only one point, which means you earn it or you don’t. But your sophistication in your essay can be found in your writing style, your claim and/or your support of your claim. Earning this point means that your argument was complex as well as responded appropriately to the complexity of the poem.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, expert's guide to the ap literature exam.

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Advanced Placement (AP)

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If you're planning to take the AP English Literature and Composition exam, you'll need to get familiar with what to expect on the test. Whether the 2023 test date of Wednesday, May 3, is near or far, I'm here to help you get serious about preparing for the exam.

In this guide, I'll go over the test's format and question types, how it's graded, best practices for preparation, and test-day tips. You'll be on your way to AP English Lit success in no time!

AP English Literature: Exam Format and Question Types

The AP Literature Exam is a three-hour exam that contains two sections in this order:

  • An hour-long, 55-question multiple-choice section
  • A two-hour, three-question free-response section

The exam tests your ability to analyze works and excerpts of literature and cogently communicate that analysis in essay form.

Read on for a breakdown of the two different sections and their question types.

Section I: Multiple Choice

The multiple-choice section, or Section I of the AP Literature exam, is 60 minutes long and has 55 questions. It counts for 45% of your overall exam grade .

You can expect to see five excerpts of prose and poetry. You will always get at least two prose passages (fiction or drama) and two poetry passages. In general, you will not be given the author, date, or title for these works, though occasionally the title of a poem will be given. Unusual words are also sometimes defined for you.

The date ranges of these works could fall from the 16th to the 21st century. Most works will be originally written in English, but you might occasionally see a passage in translation.

There are, generally speaking, eight kinds of questions you can expect to see on the AP English Literature and Composition exam. I'll break each of them down here and give you tips on how to identify and approach them.

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"Pretty flowers carried by ladies" is not one of the question types.

The 8 Multiple-Choice Question Types on the AP Literature Exam

Without further delay, here are the eight question types you can expect to see on the AP Lit exam. All questions are taken from the sample questions on the AP Course and Exam Description .

#1: Reading Comprehension

These questions test your ability to understand what the passage is saying on a pretty basic level . They don't require you to do a lot of interpretation—you just need to know what's going on.

You can identify this question type from words and phrases such as "according to," "mentioned," "asserting," and so on. You'll succeed on these questions as long as you carefully read the text . Note that you might have to go back and reread parts to make sure you understand what the passage is saying.

1Comprehension.png

#2: Inference

These questions ask you to infer something—a character or narrator's opinion, an author's intention, etc.—based on what is said in the passage . It will be something that isn't stated directly or concretely but that you can assume based on what's clearly written in the passage. You can identify these questions from words such as "infer" and "imply."

The key to these questions is to not get tripped up by the fact that you are making an inference—there will be a best answer, and it will be the choice that is best supported by what is actually found in the passage .

In many ways, inference questions are like second-level reading comprehension questions: you need to know not just what a passage says, but also what it means.

2inference.png

#3: Identifying and Interpreting Figurative Language

These are questions for which you have to either identify what word or phrase is figurative language or provide the meaning of a figurative phrase . You can identify these as they will either explicitly mention figurative language (or a figurative device, such as a simile or metaphor ) or include a figurative phrase in the question itself.

The meaning of figurative phrases can normally be determined by that phrase's context in the passage—what is said around it? What is the phrase referring to?

Example 1: Identifying

3Identifying_Figurative_Language.png

Example 2: Interpreting

4Interpret_figurative_language.png

#4: Literary Technique

These questions involve identifying why an author does what they do , from using a particular phrase to repeating certain words. Basically, what techniques is the author using to construct the passage/poem, and to what effect?

You can identify these questions by words/phrases such as "serves chiefly to," "effect," "evoke," and "in order to." A good way to approach these questions is to ask yourself: so what? Why did the author use these particular words or this particular structure?

5literary_technique.png

#5: Character Analysis

These questions ask you to describe something about a character . You can spot them because they will refer directly to characters' attitudes, opinions, beliefs, or relationships with other characters .

This is, in many ways, a special kind of inference question , since you are inferring the broader personality of the character based on the evidence in a passage. Also, these crop up much more commonly for prose passages than they do for poetry ones.

6character_analysis.png

#6: Overall Passage Questions

Some questions ask you to identify or describe something about the passage or poem as a whole : its purpose, tone, genre, etc. You can identify these by phrases such as "in the passage" and "as a whole."

To answer these questions, you need to think about the excerpt with a bird's-eye view . What is the overall picture created by all the tiny details?

7Overall_Passage.png

#7: Structure

Some AP Lit questions will ask you about specific structural elements of the passage: a shift in tone, a digression, the specific form of a poem, etc . Often these questions will specify a part of the passage/poem and ask you to identify what that part is accomplishing.

Being able to identify and understand the significance of any shifts —structural, tonal, in genre, and so on—will be of key importance for these questions.

7.1Structure.png

#8: Grammar/Nuts & Bolts

Very occasionally you will be asked a specific grammar question , such as what word an adjective is modifying. I'd also include in this category super-specific questions such as those that ask about the meter of a poem (e.g., iambic pentameter).

These questions are less about literary artistry and more about the fairly dry technique involved in having a fluent command of the English language .

8Nuts_and_Bolts.png

That covers the eight question types on the multiple-choice section. Now, let's take a look at the free-response section of the AP Literature exam.

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Keep track of the nuts and bolts of grammar.

Section II: Free Response

The AP Literature Free Response section is two hours long and involves three free-response essay questions , so you'll have about 40 minutes per essay. That's not a lot of time considering this section of the test counts for 55% of your overall exam grade !

Note, though, that no one will prompt you to move from essay to essay, so you can theoretically divide up the time however you want. Just be sure to leave enough time for each essay! Skipping an essay, or running out of time so you have to rush through one, can really impact your final test score.

The first two essays are literary analysis essays of specific passages, with one poem and one prose excerpt. The final essay is an analysis of a given theme in a work selected by you , the student.

Essays 1 & 2: Literary Passage Analysis

For the first two essays, you'll be presented with an excerpt and directed to analyze the excerpt for a given theme, device, or development . One of the passages will be poetry, and one will be prose. You will be provided with the author of the work, the approximate date, and some orienting information (i.e., the plot context of an excerpt from a novel).

Below are some sample questions from the 2022 Free Response Questions .

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Essay 3: Thematic Analysis

For the third and final essay, you'll be asked to discuss a particular theme in a work that you select . You will be provided with a list of notable works that address the given theme below the prompt, but you can also choose to discuss any "work of literary merit."

So while you do have the power to choose which work you wish to write an essay about , the key words here are "literary merit." That means no genre fiction! Stick to safe bets like authors in the list on pages 10-11 of the old 2014 AP Lit Course Description .

(I know, I know—lots of genre fiction works do have literary merit and Shakespeare actually began as low culture, and so on and so forth. Indeed, you might find academic designations of "literary merit" elitist and problematic, but the time to rage against the literary establishment is not your AP Lit test! Save it for a really, really good college admissions essay instead .)

Here's a sample question from 2022:

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As you can see, the list of works provided spans many time periods and countries : there are ancient Greek plays ( Antigone ), modern literary works (such as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale ), Shakespeare plays ( The Tempest ), 19th-century English plays ( The Importance of Being Earnest ), etc. So you have a lot to work with!

Also note that you can choose a work of "comparable literary merit." That means you can select a work not on this list as long as it's as difficult and meaningful as the example titles you've been given. So for example, Jane Eyre or East of Eden would be great choices, but Twilight or The Hunger Games would not.

Our advice? If you're not sure what a work of "comparable literary merit" is, stick to the titles on the provided list .

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You might even see something by this guy.

How Is the AP Literature Test Graded?

The multiple-choice section of the exam comprises 45% of your total exam score; the three essays, or free-response section, comprise the other 55%. Each essay, then, is worth about 18% of your grade.

As on other AP exams, your raw score will be converted to a score from 1-5 . You don't have to get every point possible to get a 5 by any means. In 2022, 16.9% of students received 5s on the AP English Literature test, the 14th highest 5 score out of the 38 different AP exams.

So, how do you calculate your raw scores?

Multiple-Choice Scoring

For the multiple-choice section, you receive 1 point for each question you answer correctly . There's no guessing penalty, so you should answer every question—but guess only after you're able to eliminate any answer you know is wrong to up your chances of choosing the right one.

Free-Response Scoring

Scoring for multiple choice is pretty straightforward; however, essay scoring is a little more complicated.

Each of your essays will receive a score from 0 to 6 based on the College Board rubric , which also includes question-specific rubrics. All the rubrics are very similar, with only minor differences between them.

Each essay rubric has three elements you'll be graded on:

  • Thesis (0-1 points)
  • Evidence and Commentary (0-4 points)
  • Sophistication (0-1 points)

We'll be looking at the current rubric for the AP Lit exam , which was released in September 2019, and what every score means for each of the three elements above:

To get a high-scoring essay in the 5-6 point range, you'll need to not only come up with an original and intriguing argument that you thoroughly support with textual evidence, but you’ll also need to stay focused, organized, and clear. And all in just 40 minutes per essay!

If getting a high score on this section sounds like a tall order, that's because it is.

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Practice makes perfect!

Skill-Building for Success on the AP Literature Exam

There are several things you can do to hone your skills and best prepare for the AP Lit exam.

Read Some Books, Maybe More Than Once

One of the most important steps you can take to prepare for the AP Literature and Composition exam is to read a lot and read well . You'll be reading a wide variety of notable literary works in your AP English Literature course, but additional reading will help you further develop your analytical reading skills .

I suggest checking out this list of notable authors in the 2014 AP Lit Course Description (pages 10-11).

In addition to reading broadly, you'll want to become especially familiar with the details of four to five books with different themes so you'll be prepared to write a strong student-choice essay. You should know the plot, themes, characters, and structural details of these books inside and out.

See my AP English Literature Reading List for more guidance.

Read (and Interpret) Poetry

One thing students might not do very much on their own time but that will help a lot with AP Lit exam prep is to read poetry. Try to read poems from a lot of eras and authors to get familiar with the language.

We know that poetry can be intimidating. That's why we've put together a bunch of guides to help you crack the poetry code (so to speak). You can learn more about poetic devices —like imagery and i ambic pentameter —in our comprehensive guide. Then you can see those analytical skills in action in our expert analysis of " Do not go gentle into that good night " by Dylan Thomas.

When you think you have a grip on basic comprehension, you can then move on to close reading (see below).

Hone Your Close Reading and Analysis Skills

Your AP class will likely focus heavily on close reading and analysis of prose and poetry, but extra practice won't hurt you. Close reading is the ability to identify which techniques the author is using and why. You'll need to be able to do this both to gather evidence for original arguments on the free-response questions and to answer analytical multiple-choice questions.

Here are some helpful close reading resources for prose :

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center's guide to close reading
  • Harvard College Writing Center's close reading guide
  • Purdue OWL's article on steering clear of close reading "pitfalls"

And here are some for poetry :

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison's poetry-reading guide
  • This guide to reading poetry at Poets.org (complete with two poetry close readings)
  • Our own expert analyses of famous poems, such as " Ozymandias ", and the 10 famous sonnets you should know

Learn Literary and Poetic Devices

You'll want to be familiar with literary terms so that any test questions that ask about them will make sense to you. Again, you'll probably learn most of these in class, but it doesn't hurt to brush up on them.

Here are some comprehensive lists of literary terms with definitions :

  • The 31 Literary Devices You Must Know
  • The 20 Poetic Devices You Must Know
  • The 9 Literary Elements You'll Find In Every Story
  • What Is Imagery?
  • Understanding Assonance
  • What Is Iambic Pentameter in Poetry?
  • Simile vs Metaphor: The 1 Big Difference
  • 10 Personification Examples in Poetry, Literature, and More

Practice Writing Essays

The majority of your grade on the AP English Lit exam comes from essays, so it's critical that you practice your timed essay-writing skills . You of course should use the College Board's released free-response questions to practice writing complete timed essays of each type, but you can also practice quickly outlining thorough essays that are well supported with textual evidence.

Take Practice Tests

Taking practice tests is a great way to prepare for the exam. It will help you get familiar with the exam format and overall experience . You can get sample questions from the Course and Exam Description , the College Board website , and our guide to AP English Lit practice test resources .

Be aware that the released exams don't have complete slates of free-response questions, so you might need to supplement these with released free-response questions .

Since there are three complete released exams, you can take one toward the beginning of your prep time to get familiar with the exam and set a benchmark, and one toward the end to make sure the experience is fresh in your mind and to check your progress.

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Don't wander like a lonely cloud through your AP Lit prep.

AP Literature: 6 Critical Test-Day Tips

Before we wrap up, here are my six top tips for AP Lit test day:

  • #1: On the multiple-choice section, it's to your advantage to answer every question. If you eliminate all the answers you know are wrong before guessing, you'll raise your chances of guessing the correct one.
  • #2: Don't rely on your memory of the passage when answering multiple-choice questions (or when writing essays, for that matter). Look back at the passage!
  • #3: Interact with the text : circle, mark, underline, make notes—whatever floats your boat. This will help you retain information and actively engage with the passage.
  • #4: This was mentioned above, but it's critical that you know four to five books well for the student-choice essay . You'll want to know all the characters, the plot, the themes, and any major devices or motifs the author uses throughout.
  • #5: Be sure to plan out your essays! Organization and focus are critical for high-scoring AP Literature essays. An outline will take you a few minutes, but it will help your writing process go much faster.
  • #6: Manage your time on essays closely. One strategy is to start with the essay you think will be the easiest to write. This way you'll be able to get through it while thinking about the other two essays.

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And don't forget to eat breakfast! Apron optional.

AP Literature Exam: Key Takeaways

The AP Literature exam is a three-hour test that includes an hour-long multiple-choice section based on five prose and poetry passages and with 55 questions, and a two-hour free-response section with three essays : one analyzing a poetry passage, one analyzing a prose passage, and one analyzing a work chosen by you, the student.

The multiple-choice section is worth 45% of your total score , and the free-response section is worth 55% . The three essays are each scored on a rubric of 0-6, and raw scores are converted to a final scaled score from 1 to 5.

Here are some things you can do to prepare for the exam:

  • Read books and be particularly familiar with four to five works for the student-choice essays
  • Read poetry
  • Work on your close reading and analysis skills
  • Learn common literary devices
  • Practice writing essays
  • Take practice tests!

On test day, be sure to really look closely at all the passages and really interact with them by marking the text in a way that makes sense to you. This will help on both multiple-choice questions and the free-response essays. You should also outline your essays before you write them.

With all this in mind, you're well on your way to AP Lit success!

What's Next?

If you're taking other AP exams this year, you might be interested in our other AP resources: from the Ultimate Guide to the US History Exam , to the Ultimate AP Chemistry Study Guide , to the Best AP Psychology Study Guide , we have tons of articles on AP courses and exams for you !

Looking for practice exams? Here are some tips on how to find the best AP practice tests . We've also got comprehensive lists of practice tests for AP Psychology , AP Biology , AP Chemistry , and AP US History .

Deciding which APs to take? Take a look through the complete list of AP courses and tests , read our analysis of which AP classes are the hardest and easiest , and learn how many AP classes you should take .

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how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

AP English Literature: Approaches to Poetry Analysis

how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

Mastering the art of poetry analysis is crucial for success in the AP English Literature exam. Here's a comprehensive guide on various approaches to poetry analysis that can enhance your understanding and interpretation of poetic texts:

1. Close Reading:

   - Focus: Examine the language, structure, and literary devices within the poem.

   - Analysis: Pay close attention to individual words, phrases, and images. Consider the impact of sound devices like rhyme, meter, and alliteration.

2. Structural Analysis:

   - Focus: Explore the poem's organization and form.

   - Analysis: Consider the arrangement of stanzas, lines, and the overall structure. Evaluate the impact of the chosen form on the poem's meaning.

3. Figurative Language:

   - Focus: Identify and analyze metaphor, simile, personification, and other figurative elements.

   - Analysis: Explore how figurative language contributes to the poem's themes, tone, and overall impact. Consider the symbolic significance.

4. Imagery:

   - Focus: Examine vivid and sensory language used to create mental images.

   - Analysis: Explore how imagery appeals to the senses and contributes to the poem's emotional or thematic resonance.

5. Theme Exploration:

   - Focus: Identify and interpret the central themes of the poem.

   - Analysis: Consider recurring ideas, motifs, or messages. Reflect on how the poet explores and conveys these themes through language and imagery.

6. Tone and Mood:

   - Focus: Determine the emotional tone and mood of the poem.

   - Analysis: Analyze word choices, diction, and the overall atmosphere created by the poem. Consider how the poet's tone contributes to the reader's emotional response.

7. Character Analysis (Persona):

   - Focus: Consider the speaker or persona of the poem.

   - Analysis: Analyze the characteristics, perspectives, and motivations of the speaker. Consider how the speaker's voice shapes the poem's meaning.

8. Historical and Cultural Context:

   - Focus: Explore the historical and cultural influences on the poem.

   - Analysis: Consider how societal events or cultural movements at the time of writing may impact the poem's themes, perspectives, and language.

9. Allusion and Intertextuality:

   - Focus: Identify references to other works, myths, or historical events.

   - Analysis: Explore how the use of allusion adds layers of meaning to the poem. Consider the impact of intertextuality on interpretation.

10. Sound and Rhythm:

    - Focus: Examine the poem's auditory qualities.

    - Analysis: Consider the rhythm, meter, and sound patterns. Explore how the poet's use of sound enhances the poem's meaning and emotional impact.

11. Symbolism:

    - Focus: Identify symbolic elements within the poem.

    - Analysis: Interpret the significance of symbols and their contribution to the poem's themes or messages. Consider both conventional and unconventional symbols.

12. Comparative Analysis:

    - Focus: Compare the poem with other works or poets.

    - Analysis: Explore similarities and differences in themes, styles, or approaches. Consider how this comparative analysis enriches the understanding of the poem.

13. Biographical Approach:

    - Focus: Consider the poet's life and experiences.

    - Analysis: Explore how the poet's personal experiences or background may influence the themes, perspectives, or emotions conveyed in the poem.

14. Reader Response:

    - Focus: Consider the reader's subjective response to the poem.

    - Analysis: Reflect on your own emotional reactions, interpretations, and connections with the poem. Consider how different readers might respond differently.

15. Contextual Analysis:

    - Focus: Analyze the broader context in which the poem was written.

    - Analysis: Consider historical, cultural, or literary movements that may have influenced the poet. Explore how the poem responds to or challenges the prevailing norms of its time.

By employing these diverse approaches to poetry analysis, you can develop a nuanced understanding of poems and effectively express your interpretations in the AP English Literature exam. Combining these strategies allows for a comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted elements that make poetry a rich and complex form of literary expression.

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5 Tips for Writing a Great AP Lit Essay

Nervous about the 'free response prompt' on AP Lit? Don't be. We broke it down into manageable steps!

Lisa Speransky

This year, if you’re taking the AP English Literature exam, you’ll be responsible for responding to three questions, which the College Board calls “free response prompts.” First , you’ll write a literary analysis of a poem. Second, you’ll write a literary analysis of a piece of fiction, which could be an excerpt from a play. Third , you’ll analyze a major literary aspect—a theme or a literary device, for example—of a literary work of your choosing.

The last of these prompts attracts perhaps the most attention and, by extension, produces the most anxiety among students. Anyone would admit that such a capacious (‘open, roomy’) question is challenging, especially when a year of AP Lit has taught you to focus on the details of the book you’re reading. And it certainly doesn’t help that this question comes at the very end of the essay, and you and your fingers are about as tired as they could possibly be!

But if you approach the prompt with enthusiasm, it can be the cherry on top of your exam, not the straw that breaks the camel’s back (getting creative with metaphors is always important in AP Lit!).

Here are five tips to help you write a great essay response to the third prompt on the AP Lit exam.

1. Select the perfect work.

Wait a minute—you can write about anything under the sun, as long as the College Board defines it as “a work of literary merit?” How is that even possible? In truth, your evaluators are using this prompt as a way to gauge your analytical abilities no matter the text. You’re not going to be judged for the work you select, as long as it’s substantial enough to ensure your analysis can be rich and meaningful. A good rule to live by: if a work pops into your head and you don’t immediately have at least a few different ideas for how to answer the prompt with it, toss it out of your brainstorming process. You want to find a work that is challenging and complex in order to show that you’re capable of effectively analyzing such works.

You have two main options for selecting the perfect work, both equally effective. The first is probably the most common: choose a book, play, or other literary work you read in AP Lit. Because you read it in class, you will almost surely be familiar with its themes and literary devices. Your second option is to pick a work you’ve read on your own, which could be anything from a novel you adored over summer break or the Shakespeare play you starred in at school. We recommend creating a short list of works you’d like to write about before you take your AP Lit exam, just to have your options at hand. As you’ve learned to do in class, consider each work’s rhetorical situation. This way, if you’re on the fence about whether a work is really “of literary merit,” you can ask your teacher or someone else in the know for an expert second opinion!

2. Practice really does make perfect.

You don’t know what the third free-response prompt will be, but you know that it will be! The College Board’s AP Lit exam page is only one of a gazillion easily accessible resources online that compile prompts from past years and devise hypothetical ones, too. These are great places to look. In the weeks leading up to the exam, we recommend selecting three to seven prompts—the more diverse in content, the better—and practicing with your list of works of literary merit. We recommend practicing with a work no more than two or three times—it’s great to know a text inside and out, but you don’t want to be a one-trick pony in case the prompt on the exam doesn’t lend itself to an essay about that text.

3. Outline, outline, outline!

Whether for AP exams , the SAT , or the ACT , you’ve heard the dictum a million times—outlines make better essays, even when your time feels extremely limited! When it’s time for the test, this can feel a little bit trite, but we challenge you to find one soul in the grand history of the AP English Literature exam who hasn’t benefited from creating even a rough outline. This is the place where your reasoning and organization come alive. We recommend devoting 5-7 minutes to your outline—the lower end if you’re confident you know the text inside and out and just need to nail down your claims and evidence, and the higher end if you need to jog your memory and give your thesis a bit more time to gestate.

What should your outline include? Keep it clear and concise. You definitely want to write your thesis; plan the topics of your body paragraphs, including potential topic sentences; and—a helpful, oft-forgotten third part—remind yourself why the work you’ve chosen is the best for the prompt. This last part won’t be formally integrated into your essay, but it’s extremely helpful as you try to stay focused and pointed while writing what can feel like an impossible broad essay.

Student holding pencil

4. Each paragraph is a new opportunity to be creative

The third free-response prompt, and the AP Lit exam in general, is extremely structured. It can feel downright constricting. The little-known truth about the last essay is that it’s the most creative part of the whole exam. You not only get to choose the prompt, but within the roughly five-paragraph structure of the essay you’re penning, you get to be quite creative with what you say in each paragraph. There are so many ways to explain to your readers how, say, a symbol illuminates an important theme in a text. We find this knowledge incredibly liberating; paired wisely with the organization that the outline and the essay require, this creative approach can lead to a top-notch essay.

Person marking paper

5. Proofread, but not just for the sake of proofreading.

We’ve all been there—time is nearly up, you’ve put the period at the end of your conclusion, and now it’s time to make sure you haven’t written an incoherent jumble of nothingness. This is the last, crucial step before handing in your AP Lit exam and never reading again (just kidding!)

Because you’re so exhausted from hours of test-taking, proofreading your third free-response essay can feel like a chore—a hurdle you have to jump to reach the finish line. But it can also be an opportunity to make sure your argument, your analysis, and your claims and evidence are coherent . We don’t mean that you should restructure your thesis—there isn’t time for that, and we’re sure it’s great, anyway!—but we encourage you to make sure that every sentence is as clear, concise, and (reasonably) creative as possible. Proofreading is the time to read every sentence with a fundamental question in the back of your head: What is this sentence doing, and what are the words that form it doing? If something feels like it’s not pulling its weight, don’t hesitate—change or delete it. Now that you’ve nailed the bigger picture, you must demand only the best from the details.

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How To Write Ap Lit Poetry Essay

How To Write Ap Lit Poetry Essay

Understand the Basics

Writing an AP Lit poetry essay requires a preconceived understanding of the poem’s structure, language, and subtext. Before beginning an essay, the reader should be familiar with the fundamental aspects of poetic composition. Understanding the distinction between the poem’s meter and rhythm, the use of simile and metaphor, and the purpose of the poem’s title can make a great difference in the essay. In addition to knowledge of the poem’s elements, students should possess an understanding of poetry analysis, be able to utilize theoretical frameworks, and be familiar with literary terms such as “synecdoche” and “denouement”. Understanding the basics is the foundation of formulating an effective essay.

Analyze Closely

Once the basic understanding of the poem is developed, the student can move on to deeper analysis. When writing an AP Lit poetry essay, analysis of both content and form is essential to a successful essay. Content analysis is the examination of the poem’s topics and the manner in which the author conveys them. This includes understanding the poem’s purpose and what the poet intends to communicate. Formal analysis examines rhyme scheme, meter, and other elements of poetic structure. Analyzing close reading of the text but also to draw connections between the poem and its historical, cultural, and literary context.

Utilize the Essay Format

Essays structures may vary, but following a precise format increases the essay’s clarity. A good essay structure involves providing a thesis statement, a brief introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion. Moreover, many AP Lit Poetry essay prompts involve more than one poem. In this case, students should delineate one thesis statement per poem. Each body paragraph should be devoted to a single point, which should be stated in the topic sentence. Additionally, the essay should be logically unified, for example, by presenting evidence that supports the thesis or by connecting one point to the next.

Engage with the Poem

Writing an AP Lit poetry essay requires careful engagement with and interpretation of the poem. This requires the student to employ personal and critical literacy which involves thoughtfully analyzing the poem and forming a personal opinion. This involves noting connections to the poem’s context, examining how the poem speaks to the reader, and considering how the poem’s themes intrigue and challenge the student. Articulating an original opinion is the backbone of any AP Lit poetry essay.

Maintain an Objective Tone

How To Write Ap Lit Poetry Essay

Objectivity is an essential component of an excellent AP Lit Poetry essay. The essay should focus on explaining and analyzing the poem’s content and form without taking sides. Even if the student disagrees with the poet’s message, the essay should still take into account the poem’s possible underlying meaning. When voicing any criticism or disagreement, the student should use an objective tone and avoid any kind of personal attacks.

Develop Writing Through Reflection

Writing an AP Lit Poetry essay is a process, not a one-time event. This process requires reflection by the student, to gauge their successes and failures in the essay they have written. By reflecting, the reader can identify any weak areas in their essay and address them (e.g. by providing additional evidence) in a re-write. Writing a poem is an opportunity to develop one’s literary analysis skills and better appreciate poetry on a deeper level. Reflecting on the poet’s work can provide insights which can be further utilized in other projects or academic assignments.

Build on Previous Essay Content

Building upon the content of previously written essays can be a great way to enhance the effectiveness of a poem essay. For instance, if the prompt for a poem revolves around the same theme as a previously written poem essay, the student can utilize the same research and analysis techniques. However, the essay should be significantly different; otherwise, it can be considered plagiarism. It is also important to gain new insights and do additional research to back up claims made in the essay.

Integrate Vocabulary and Grammar

Fluency in language is an important component of writing an effective AP Lit Poetry essay. When writing the essay, the student should employ vocabulary that best describes the poem’s content and structure. The essay should also demonstrate a command of grammar and punctuation. Mistakes in grammar, spelling, or syntax will not only weaken the essay’s argument, but also reflect negatively on the student’s level of education. Making sure that grammar and vocabulary are properly integrated into the essay can ensure an effective and successful essay.

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Minnie Walters

Minnie Walters is a passionate writer and lover of poetry. She has a deep knowledge and appreciation for the work of famous poets such as William Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and many more. She hopes you will also fall in love with poetry!

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  • How to write a literary analysis essay | A step-by-step guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay | A Step-by-Step Guide

Published on January 30, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 14, 2023.

Literary analysis means closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why the author made certain choices. It can be applied to novels, short stories, plays, poems, or any other form of literary writing.

A literary analysis essay is not a rhetorical analysis , nor is it just a summary of the plot or a book review. Instead, it is a type of argumentative essay where you need to analyze elements such as the language, perspective, and structure of the text, and explain how the author uses literary devices to create effects and convey ideas.

Before beginning a literary analysis essay, it’s essential to carefully read the text and c ome up with a thesis statement to keep your essay focused. As you write, follow the standard structure of an academic essay :

  • An introduction that tells the reader what your essay will focus on.
  • A main body, divided into paragraphs , that builds an argument using evidence from the text.
  • A conclusion that clearly states the main point that you have shown with your analysis.

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Table of contents

Step 1: reading the text and identifying literary devices, step 2: coming up with a thesis, step 3: writing a title and introduction, step 4: writing the body of the essay, step 5: writing a conclusion, other interesting articles.

The first step is to carefully read the text(s) and take initial notes. As you read, pay attention to the things that are most intriguing, surprising, or even confusing in the writing—these are things you can dig into in your analysis.

Your goal in literary analysis is not simply to explain the events described in the text, but to analyze the writing itself and discuss how the text works on a deeper level. Primarily, you’re looking out for literary devices —textual elements that writers use to convey meaning and create effects. If you’re comparing and contrasting multiple texts, you can also look for connections between different texts.

To get started with your analysis, there are several key areas that you can focus on. As you analyze each aspect of the text, try to think about how they all relate to each other. You can use highlights or notes to keep track of important passages and quotes.

Language choices

Consider what style of language the author uses. Are the sentences short and simple or more complex and poetic?

What word choices stand out as interesting or unusual? Are words used figuratively to mean something other than their literal definition? Figurative language includes things like metaphor (e.g. “her eyes were oceans”) and simile (e.g. “her eyes were like oceans”).

Also keep an eye out for imagery in the text—recurring images that create a certain atmosphere or symbolize something important. Remember that language is used in literary texts to say more than it means on the surface.

Narrative voice

Ask yourself:

  • Who is telling the story?
  • How are they telling it?

Is it a first-person narrator (“I”) who is personally involved in the story, or a third-person narrator who tells us about the characters from a distance?

Consider the narrator’s perspective . Is the narrator omniscient (where they know everything about all the characters and events), or do they only have partial knowledge? Are they an unreliable narrator who we are not supposed to take at face value? Authors often hint that their narrator might be giving us a distorted or dishonest version of events.

The tone of the text is also worth considering. Is the story intended to be comic, tragic, or something else? Are usually serious topics treated as funny, or vice versa ? Is the story realistic or fantastical (or somewhere in between)?

Consider how the text is structured, and how the structure relates to the story being told.

  • Novels are often divided into chapters and parts.
  • Poems are divided into lines, stanzas, and sometime cantos.
  • Plays are divided into scenes and acts.

Think about why the author chose to divide the different parts of the text in the way they did.

There are also less formal structural elements to take into account. Does the story unfold in chronological order, or does it jump back and forth in time? Does it begin in medias res —in the middle of the action? Does the plot advance towards a clearly defined climax?

With poetry, consider how the rhyme and meter shape your understanding of the text and your impression of the tone. Try reading the poem aloud to get a sense of this.

In a play, you might consider how relationships between characters are built up through different scenes, and how the setting relates to the action. Watch out for  dramatic irony , where the audience knows some detail that the characters don’t, creating a double meaning in their words, thoughts, or actions.

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Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the point you want to make about the text. It’s the core argument that gives your essay direction and prevents it from just being a collection of random observations about a text.

If you’re given a prompt for your essay, your thesis must answer or relate to the prompt. For example:

Essay question example

Is Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” a religious parable?

Your thesis statement should be an answer to this question—not a simple yes or no, but a statement of why this is or isn’t the case:

Thesis statement example

Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” is not a religious parable, but a story about bureaucratic alienation.

Sometimes you’ll be given freedom to choose your own topic; in this case, you’ll have to come up with an original thesis. Consider what stood out to you in the text; ask yourself questions about the elements that interested you, and consider how you might answer them.

Your thesis should be something arguable—that is, something that you think is true about the text, but which is not a simple matter of fact. It must be complex enough to develop through evidence and arguments across the course of your essay.

Say you’re analyzing the novel Frankenstein . You could start by asking yourself:

Your initial answer might be a surface-level description:

The character Frankenstein is portrayed negatively in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

However, this statement is too simple to be an interesting thesis. After reading the text and analyzing its narrative voice and structure, you can develop the answer into a more nuanced and arguable thesis statement:

Mary Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.

Remember that you can revise your thesis statement throughout the writing process , so it doesn’t need to be perfectly formulated at this stage. The aim is to keep you focused as you analyze the text.

Finding textual evidence

To support your thesis statement, your essay will build an argument using textual evidence —specific parts of the text that demonstrate your point. This evidence is quoted and analyzed throughout your essay to explain your argument to the reader.

It can be useful to comb through the text in search of relevant quotations before you start writing. You might not end up using everything you find, and you may have to return to the text for more evidence as you write, but collecting textual evidence from the beginning will help you to structure your arguments and assess whether they’re convincing.

To start your literary analysis paper, you’ll need two things: a good title, and an introduction.

Your title should clearly indicate what your analysis will focus on. It usually contains the name of the author and text(s) you’re analyzing. Keep it as concise and engaging as possible.

A common approach to the title is to use a relevant quote from the text, followed by a colon and then the rest of your title.

If you struggle to come up with a good title at first, don’t worry—this will be easier once you’ve begun writing the essay and have a better sense of your arguments.

“Fearful symmetry” : The violence of creation in William Blake’s “The Tyger”

The introduction

The essay introduction provides a quick overview of where your argument is going. It should include your thesis statement and a summary of the essay’s structure.

A typical structure for an introduction is to begin with a general statement about the text and author, using this to lead into your thesis statement. You might refer to a commonly held idea about the text and show how your thesis will contradict it, or zoom in on a particular device you intend to focus on.

Then you can end with a brief indication of what’s coming up in the main body of the essay. This is called signposting. It will be more elaborate in longer essays, but in a short five-paragraph essay structure, it shouldn’t be more than one sentence.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creature’s perception of him, and finally discusses the third volume’s narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.

Some students prefer to write the introduction later in the process, and it’s not a bad idea. After all, you’ll have a clearer idea of the overall shape of your arguments once you’ve begun writing them!

If you do write the introduction first, you should still return to it later to make sure it lines up with what you ended up writing, and edit as necessary.

The body of your essay is everything between the introduction and conclusion. It contains your arguments and the textual evidence that supports them.

Paragraph structure

A typical structure for a high school literary analysis essay consists of five paragraphs : the three paragraphs of the body, plus the introduction and conclusion.

Each paragraph in the main body should focus on one topic. In the five-paragraph model, try to divide your argument into three main areas of analysis, all linked to your thesis. Don’t try to include everything you can think of to say about the text—only analysis that drives your argument.

In longer essays, the same principle applies on a broader scale. For example, you might have two or three sections in your main body, each with multiple paragraphs. Within these sections, you still want to begin new paragraphs at logical moments—a turn in the argument or the introduction of a new idea.

Robert’s first encounter with Gil-Martin suggests something of his sinister power. Robert feels “a sort of invisible power that drew me towards him.” He identifies the moment of their meeting as “the beginning of a series of adventures which has puzzled myself, and will puzzle the world when I am no more in it” (p. 89). Gil-Martin’s “invisible power” seems to be at work even at this distance from the moment described; before continuing the story, Robert feels compelled to anticipate at length what readers will make of his narrative after his approaching death. With this interjection, Hogg emphasizes the fatal influence Gil-Martin exercises from his first appearance.

Topic sentences

To keep your points focused, it’s important to use a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph.

A good topic sentence allows a reader to see at a glance what the paragraph is about. It can introduce a new line of argument and connect or contrast it with the previous paragraph. Transition words like “however” or “moreover” are useful for creating smooth transitions:

… The story’s focus, therefore, is not upon the divine revelation that may be waiting beyond the door, but upon the mundane process of aging undergone by the man as he waits.

Nevertheless, the “radiance” that appears to stream from the door is typically treated as religious symbolism.

This topic sentence signals that the paragraph will address the question of religious symbolism, while the linking word “nevertheless” points out a contrast with the previous paragraph’s conclusion.

Using textual evidence

A key part of literary analysis is backing up your arguments with relevant evidence from the text. This involves introducing quotes from the text and explaining their significance to your point.

It’s important to contextualize quotes and explain why you’re using them; they should be properly introduced and analyzed, not treated as self-explanatory:

It isn’t always necessary to use a quote. Quoting is useful when you’re discussing the author’s language, but sometimes you’ll have to refer to plot points or structural elements that can’t be captured in a short quote.

In these cases, it’s more appropriate to paraphrase or summarize parts of the text—that is, to describe the relevant part in your own words:

The conclusion of your analysis shouldn’t introduce any new quotations or arguments. Instead, it’s about wrapping up the essay. Here, you summarize your key points and try to emphasize their significance to the reader.

A good way to approach this is to briefly summarize your key arguments, and then stress the conclusion they’ve led you to, highlighting the new perspective your thesis provides on the text as a whole:

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

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Articles & Advice > Test Prep > Articles

Poetry Study Guide for AP English Language & Literature

Check out our quick poetry review that can help you score high on AP English Tests, both Literature and Language.

by Faith Harron CollegeXpress Student Writer

Last Updated: Mar 16, 2023

Originally Posted: May 8, 2017

Trying to study for Advanced Placement (AP) Tests can be tedious…but if you’ve prepared and need a small refresher, or if you’re in search of a quick poetry history mixed with some review for the English Tests—both Literature and Language—here you go. Let’s begin. 

All about AP Literature

The AP Literature Test includes multiple choice and three types of essays to write. The multiple-choice section can focus on poetry or prose selections, and of the essay types, one will certainly include a poem. The grading scale for the essays ranges from 0–9.

Insider tips

According to long-time teacher of AP English Karri Landeis, the best way to score highly on the essays, particularly the prompt that asks you to analyze poetry, is to maintain focus. “Always read with a pen in hand,” Landeis says, adding that mere underlining often isn’t enough to constitute the beginnings of an essay. If the poem happens to be lengthy or difficult in content, chances are you won’t have enough time to read it multiple times for meaning or go back to a stanza and wonder what the author’s intent may have been.

Instead of simply underlining, Landeis recommends adding small notes, such as where you noticed a poetry device or how the device contributes to the meaning or perspective the prompt asks about. “It’s best to explicitly state the device,” says Landeis. While she acknowledges top essays can be written without doing so, AP readers prefer not to have to dig for your intended meaning when you write. As far as structure goes for the essay itself, a common form includes organizing the paragraphs by each poetic device. However, Landeis recommends that essays rich in complexity are born from chronological order—that is, analyzing the devices in the order they appear and building on previous paragraphs with more insight as the poem continues. 

In the essay’s conclusion, after a restatement of the thesis, Landeis maintains that the greater implications of the theme/perspective from the prompt should be addressed. “Find the one sentence that says it all, and end with that,” Landeis says, adding that doing so ties all the ends up nicely. ¨Write your last sentence like it’s the score you want to receive, because it’s the last thing [AP] readers will see.”

High school poet Zuyi Zhao has already taken both AP English courses. She’s prepared in the past for her exams by both reading and writing in quantity —practice that has paid off in her eyes. "Analysis comes a lot more easily if you have experience on both sides of the process,” she says, although she adds that it’s important to keep an open mind about poetry as well. "You can’t analyze poetry without enjoying it,” she says.

Related:  Inside Info on AP Courses: Which Ones Should You Take?  

Both of the AP Tests often include vocabulary in the multiple-choice section, and it’s always important to know a variety of literary devices so you can explain them within any of the three essays, Landeis says. Some common terms she uses to prepare her students include:

  • Types of stanzas : A stanza is a segment of the poem, often where a line break occurs, and includes a variety of line measurements. Some common line names are given below:  Lines   Name 2          Couplet 3          Tercet 4          Quatrain 5          Quintet 6          Sestet (not sextet) 8          Octave (not octet)   
  • Shakespearean/Petrarchan sonnet : These two terms are used interchangeably to describe the same poem. They refer to sonnets that are (as always) 14 lines, but include three stanzas of four lines each (a quatrain) along with a usually rhymed last 2-line stanza (couplet). Landeis uses “abab cdcd efef gg” as a song to remind her students of the common form.
  • Italian sonnet : The AP Test will commonly ask students to distinguish between the two. An Italian sonnet consists of a clear octave (8 lines) plus a sestet (6 lines) for the desired 14-line form. Poem identification is another topic the test on Literature often includes, Landeis says.
  • Narrative poem: Tells all or part of a story. Many song lyrics (particularly those of circle songs and country music) are narrative poems.
  • Lyric poem : Focuses on the individual and thoughts/feelings.
  • Metaphysical poetry : Often includes and can be identifiable by its bizarre metaphors (called conceits) and complicated diction.
  • Elegy : Lament for something; a poet’s ruminations on something, usually very solemn and dignified.
  • Ode : Celebratory poem. Can celebrate/commemorate even the most mundane of objects.

Poetic devices

Common poetic devices are relevant to both of the AP English Tests, and Landeis reminds students that each device must be identified, stated, and linked to the perspective the prompt asks you to consider. Devices include:

  • Alliteration : Repeated identical consonant sounds at the beginnings of words.
  • Allusion : A special type of reference to another work of literature, a symbol, an event, or a person. Allusions are commonly from well-known sources.
  • Apostrophe : This occurs when a character or speaker calls out to a person (either absent or dead) or inanimate object as if it could respond.
  • Caesura : Found exclusively in poetry, a pause in the middle of a line of poetry. Often is signified with a comma or period.
  • Diction : Word choice. Diction should nearly always be preceded by a descriptive adjective signifying its purpose to the work.
  • Enjambment: When a thought in poetry does not stop at the end of a line break; it merely continues on in the following line.
  • Hyperbole : Deliberate and ridiculous exaggeration. Can be meant seriously or in mockery.
  • Metonymy : Associating an object with another word very similar to it (e.g., referring to someone as a “Scrooge” due to their attitude).
  • Parallelism : Similar grammar structure between lines or sentences in poetry or prose. Whether a phrase is repeated, or the construction of the phrase is repeated, either works.
  • Rhyme and rhythm : Rhyme refers to the similarity or identical nature of sounds at the ends of lines. Rhythm is the pattern of stressed/unstressed syllables. Poetry can have either, while prose mainly concerns itself with rhythm.
  • Understatement : The antonym for hyperbole, an understatement is often meant as dry humor when a character or speaker says something is insignificant when it is truly not.  

Knowing these terms should help with the either AP English Tests, and remembering to include them in your essay will help you earn a higher score . They can also assist you when writing your own poetry—after all, if you understand the devices and why an author uses them, you’re one step closer to doing so yourself.

Related:  English Grammar Cheat Sheet for Students  

Writing poetry

To Zhao, who has been writing extensively for about three years—primarily poetry—she enjoys unrhymed free verse but sometimes likes to experiment with different structures. “I don’t write nearly as often as I would like to, but I am able to write at least for an hour or so a week,” she says, and she would recommend that others do at least some reading and writing as well, especially to help with the AP Tests.

To go about writing a poem is a rather obscure process, even to the poet, Zhao says. “Sometimes the [ideas] just come to me,” she says. “Other times, though, the ideas sort of stem from brief phrases or lines that I think of first, kind of like working backwards from a poem’s title to the poem’s content.” She recommends drawing from character archetypes for inspiration if you’re interested in writing but stuck . Common history also provides ideas: poems that incorporate famous historical figures like Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, or other historical events have provided inspiration for many poets in the past and present.

Once your poem has been written, it’s time for what Zhao calls her favorite part: revision. “Even though as I’m revising, I think I hate the experience, I enjoy the process of finding a clearer and more eloquent way of conveying a sentiment within a poem,” she says. It’s an important sentiment to remember for taking either AP English exam as well: keeping an open mind and ensuring the organization in your essay remains clear and precise makes for a high-achieving score.

Related: 9 Study Tips to Help You Conquer AP Tests

There you have it—with these insider tips, you'll be ready to score high on your AP English Language and Literature Tests. Be sure to practice with this example of a full exam  from the College Board. Good luck!

Find more general AP Test-taking tips in our Test Prep section.

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how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

A Full Guide to Writing a Perfect Poem Analysis Essay

01 October, 2020

14 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

Poem analysis is one of the most complicated essay types. It requires the utmost creativity and dedication. Even those who regularly attend a literary class and have enough experience in poem analysis essay elaboration may face considerable difficulties while dealing with the particular poem. The given article aims to provide the detailed guidelines on how to write a poem analysis, elucidate the main principles of writing the essay of the given type, and share with you the handy tips that will help you get the highest score for your poetry analysis. In addition to developing analysis skills, you would be able to take advantage of the poetry analysis essay example to base your poetry analysis essay on, as well as learn how to find a way out in case you have no motivation and your creative assignment must be presented on time.

poem analysis

What Is a Poetry Analysis Essay?

A poetry analysis essay is a type of creative write-up that implies reviewing a poem from different perspectives by dealing with its structural, artistic, and functional pieces. Since the poetry expresses very complicated feelings that may have different meanings depending on the backgrounds of both author and reader, it would not be enough just to focus on the text of the poem you are going to analyze. Poetry has a lot more complex structure and cannot be considered without its special rhythm, images, as well as implied and obvious sense.

poetry analysis essay

While analyzing the poem, the students need to do in-depth research as to its content, taking into account the effect the poetry has or may have on the readers.

Preparing for the Poetry Analysis Writing

The process of preparation for the poem analysis essay writing is almost as important as writing itself. Without completing these stages, you may be at risk of failing your creative assignment. Learn them carefully to remember once and for good.

Thoroughly read the poem several times

The rereading of the poem assigned for analysis will help to catch its concepts and ideas. You will have a possibility to define the rhythm of the poem, its type, and list the techniques applied by the author.

While identifying the type of the poem, you need to define whether you are dealing with:

  • Lyric poem – the one that elucidates feelings, experiences, and the emotional state of the author. It is usually short and doesn’t contain any narration;
  • Limerick – consists of 5 lines, the first, second, and fifth of which rhyme with one another;
  • Sonnet – a poem consisting of 14 lines characterized by an iambic pentameter. William Shakespeare wrote sonnets which have made him famous;
  • Ode – 10-line poem aimed at praising someone or something;
  • Haiku – a short 3-line poem originated from Japan. It reflects the deep sense hidden behind the ordinary phenomena and events of the physical world;
  • Free-verse – poetry with no rhyme.

The type of the poem usually affects its structure and content, so it is important to be aware of all the recognized kinds to set a proper beginning to your poetry analysis.

Find out more about the poem background

Find as much information as possible about the author of the poem, the cultural background of the period it was written in, preludes to its creation, etc. All these data will help you get a better understanding of the poem’s sense and explain much to you in terms of the concepts the poem contains.

Define a subject matter of the poem

This is one of the most challenging tasks since as a rule, the subject matter of the poem isn’t clearly stated by the poets. They don’t want the readers to know immediately what their piece of writing is about and suggest everyone find something different between the lines.

What is the subject matter? In a nutshell, it is the main idea of the poem. Usually, a poem may have a couple of subjects, that is why it is important to list each of them.

In order to correctly identify the goals of a definite poem, you would need to dive into the in-depth research.

Check the historical background of the poetry. The author might have been inspired to write a poem based on some events that occurred in those times or people he met. The lines you analyze may be generated by his reaction to some epoch events. All this information can be easily found online.

Choose poem theories you will support

In the variety of ideas the poem may convey, it is important to stick to only several most important messages you think the author wanted to share with the readers. Each of the listed ideas must be supported by the corresponding evidence as proof of your opinion.

The poetry analysis essay format allows elaborating on several theses that have the most value and weight. Try to build your writing not only on the pure facts that are obvious from the context but also your emotions and feelings the analyzed lines provoke in you.

How to Choose a Poem to Analyze?

If you are free to choose the piece of writing you will base your poem analysis essay on, it is better to select the one you are already familiar with. This may be your favorite poem or one that you have read and analyzed before. In case you face difficulties choosing the subject area of a particular poem, then the best way will be to focus on the idea you feel most confident about. In such a way, you would be able to elaborate on the topic and describe it more precisely.

Now, when you are familiar with the notion of the poetry analysis essay, it’s high time to proceed to poem analysis essay outline. Follow the steps mentioned below to ensure a brilliant structure to your creative assignment.

Best Poem Analysis Essay Topics

  • Mother To Son Poem Analysis
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  • Ozymandias Poem Analysis
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  • The Second Coming Poem Analysis
  • Still I Rise Poem Analysis
  • If Poem Analysis
  • Fire And Ice Poem Analysis
  • My Papa’S Waltz Poem Analysis
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  • I Too Poem Analysis
  • The Juggler Poem Analysis
  • The Fish Poem Analysis
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  • Charge Of The Light Brigade Poem Analysis
  • The Road Not Taken Poem Analysis
  • Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus Poem Analysis
  • The History Teacher Poem Analysis
  • One Art Poem Analysis
  • The Wanderer Poem Analysis
  • We Wear The Mask Poem Analysis
  • There Will Come Soft Rains Poem Analysis
  • Digging Poem Analysis
  • The Highwayman Poem Analysis
  • The Tyger Poem Analysis
  • London Poem Analysis
  • Sympathy Poem Analysis
  • I Am Joaquin Poem Analysis
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Poem Analysis Essay Outline

As has already been stated, a poetry analysis essay is considered one of the most challenging tasks for the students. Despite the difficulties you may face while dealing with it, the structure of the given type of essay is quite simple. It consists of the introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion. In order to get a better understanding of the poem analysis essay structure, check the brief guidelines below.

Introduction

This will be the first section of your essay. The main purpose of the introductory paragraph is to give a reader an idea of what the essay is about and what theses it conveys. The introduction should start with the title of the essay and end with the thesis statement.

The main goal of the introduction is to make readers feel intrigued about the whole concept of the essay and serve as a hook to grab their attention. Include some interesting information about the author, the historical background of the poem, some poem trivia, etc. There is no need to make the introduction too extensive. On the contrary, it should be brief and logical.

Body Paragraphs

The body section should form the main part of poetry analysis. Make sure you have determined a clear focus for your analysis and are ready to elaborate on the main message and meaning of the poem. Mention the tone of the poetry, its speaker, try to describe the recipient of the poem’s idea. Don’t forget to identify the poetic devices and language the author uses to reach the main goals. Describe the imagery and symbolism of the poem, its sound and rhythm.

Try not to stick to too many ideas in your body section, since it may make your essay difficult to understand and too chaotic to perceive. Generalization, however, is also not welcomed. Try to be specific in the description of your perspective.

Make sure the transitions between your paragraphs are smooth and logical to make your essay flow coherent and easy to catch.

In a nutshell, the essay conclusion is a paraphrased thesis statement. Mention it again but in different words to remind the readers of the main purpose of your essay. Sum up the key claims and stress the most important information. The conclusion cannot contain any new ideas and should be used to create a strong impact on the reader. This is your last chance to share your opinion with the audience and convince them your essay is worth readers’ attention.

Problems with writing Your Poem Analysis Essay? Try our Essay Writer Service!

Poem Analysis Essay Examples 

A good poem analysis essay example may serve as a real magic wand to your creative assignment. You may take a look at the structure the other essay authors have used, follow their tone, and get a great share of inspiration and motivation.

Check several poetry analysis essay examples that may be of great assistance:

  • https://study.com/academy/lesson/poetry-analysis-essay-example-for-english-literature.html
  • https://www.slideshare.net/mariefincher/poetry-analysis-essay

Writing Tips for a Poetry Analysis Essay

If you read carefully all the instructions on how to write a poetry analysis essay provided above, you have probably realized that this is not the easiest assignment on Earth. However, you cannot fail and should try your best to present a brilliant essay to get the highest score. To make your life even easier, check these handy tips on how to analysis poetry with a few little steps.

  • In case you have a chance to choose a poem for analysis by yourself, try to focus on one you are familiar with, you are interested in, or your favorite one. The writing process will be smooth and easy in case you are working on the task you truly enjoy.
  • Before you proceed to the analysis itself, read the poem out loud to your colleague or just to yourself. It will help you find out some hidden details and senses that may result in new ideas.
  • Always check the meaning of words you don’t know. Poetry is quite a tricky phenomenon where a single word or phrase can completely change the meaning of the whole piece. 
  • Bother to double check if the conclusion of your essay is based on a single idea and is logically linked to the main body. Such an approach will demonstrate your certain focus and clearly elucidate your views. 
  • Read between the lines. Poetry is about senses and emotions – it rarely contains one clearly stated subject matter. Describe the hidden meanings and mention the feelings this has provoked in you. Try to elaborate a full picture that would be based on what is said and what is meant.

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You may have hundreds of reasons why you can’t write a brilliant poem analysis essay. In addition to the fact that it is one of the most complicated creative assignments, you can have some personal issues. It can be anything from lots of homework, a part-time job, personal problems, lack of time, or just the absence of motivation. In any case, your main task is not to let all these factors influence your reputation and grades. A perfect way out may be asking the real pros of essay writing for professional help.

There are a lot of benefits why you should refer to the professional writing agencies in case you are not in the mood for elaborating your poetry analysis essay. We will only state the most important ones:

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A Guide to Poetry Analysis: Understanding Poetry Terms & Techniques

  • The Albert Team
  • Last Updated On: February 16, 2024

how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

What We Review

 Introduction to the Art of Poetry Analysis

Poetry analysis is a multi-step process of building and understanding of and appreciation for a poetic work. As a result, poems are not meant to be skimmed over or only read in part. Rather, in the words of Billy Collins, poets want readers to “take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive.” True poetry analysis treats the poem as a work of art to be inspected up close while also appreciating the beauty in the form.

Poetry Terms: A Glossary for Poem Analysis

There are several poetry terms that are essential knowledge when it comes to poem analysis. Some of these poetry terms are: form, structure, line, stanza, pattern, rhyme scheme, poetic devices, sound devices, imagery, metaphor, simile, and symbolism to name a few. Albert has entire posts dedicated to defining each of these poetry terms in detail, and those can be found here.

Step-by-Step Guide to Analyzing a Poem

When analyzing a poem, there are several key steps to the process. This is why teachers will often ask students to read a poem multiple times, each time looking out for a different key element.

First, in a poem analysis it is helpful to identify the poem’s form and structure. What is the rhyme scheme? What is the rhythmic pattern?

Next, the reader should examine the language and imagery in the poem, including the poet’s diction or word choice and the breadth of poetic devices and imagery, including but not limited to similes, metaphors, and symbolism to name a few.

Once the reader has established the poetic form and structure as well as taken note of the different types of poetic language in the poem, this will allow the reader then to establish the theme and tone of the poem. Often, the theme reflects the poem’s historical and cultural context, while the tone reflects the poet’s personal and cultural connection to the poem. 

how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

Identifying the Poem’s Structure and Form

First, it is helpful to identify the poem’s form and structure. You can accomplish this by asking a series of questions such as:

  • What is the rhyme scheme or rhythmic pattern?
  • How many stanzas are in the poem?
  • Do any of the lines or stanzas break from the established pattern in the poem?

All of these are important questions to consider when identifying the poem’s structure and form. Some poetry forms, such as sonnets, are typically written on the topic of love. If the poem you are analyzing is written in the form of a sonnet, you can safely anticipate that the subject will be love.

It is also helpful to note that when a poet decides to divert from an established pattern in a poem, it is on purpose. Typically poets break from a normal pattern in a poem when they want to indicate a shift, whether a shift in tone, mood, or topic. 

Examining the Language and Imagery by Looking for Symbolism and Metaphors

Next, readers should look for the poetic devices chosen by the writer. For example, how does the author incorporate imagery into his or her poem: is it through primarily metaphors, or is it through primarily similes, or, is it an even mixture of both?

Sometimes students new to analyzing poetry want to take a poem at face value without considering poetry terms. However, in poetry one thing almost always stands for or symbolizes something else.

how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

For example, Maya Angelou’s “Caged Bird” poem isn’t really about a bird; it’s about our experience as humans as feeling trapped or contained in circumstances that we do not want to be in. We can see others living and experiencing life in ways that we wish we could, but it is seemingly always out of reach. 

Understanding the Poem’s Theme and Tone

Once you have a basic understanding of what poetic devices are used and how these devices are used to represent something greater, you can determine both poem themes as well as the author’s tone. The poet’s choice of words clearly determines their tone.

If a poet uses words like “harsh” or “cruel” to describe their subject, the poem clearly has an offended or unhappy tone. However, if a poet uses words like “dream-like” or “fantastical”, their tone is imaginative.

The theme is the message that the author wants to convey within the poem. It can derived from everything that the reader has established so far, from the structure of the poem, the use of poetic devices within the poem, and the tone of the author.

Going back to Billy Collins and his poem, “Introduction to Poetry”, Collin’s theme or message to the reader is to never analyze poetry so intensely that you forget to enjoy the beauty of the work. Even though Collins begins his poem with the beautiful imagery of holding a poem up to the light like a color slide, he ends his poem with a very harsh image of the reader “tie[ing] the poem to a chair with rope and tortur[ing] a confession out of it.” This stark contrast serves a warning to the reader that true poem analysis seeks meaning without ignoring the artistry of the work. 

how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

Considering the Poem’s Historical and Cultural Context

It would seem that poetry analysis could stop at determining the theme; however, every poem that was ever written and will be written was created within a moment in time, and these moments in time influence a poet’s work whether a poet intends for it to or not.

For example, Walt Whitman’s poem, “O Captain! My Captain!” is a response to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The tone of the poem indicates that Abraham Lincoln was highly respected by his fellow Americans, and his loss was considered a great tragedy. 

Interpreting the Poem’s Personal and Universal Significance

Not only do poems carry deep personal significance to the author, but as humans we also experience many of the same emotions or struggles in our lives. Consequently, this allows poems to carry universal significance, even across centuries.

For example, consider Maya Angelou’s “Caged Bird.” Even though Angelou wrote this poem about her personal experience, her poem is still appreciated several decades later by readers who can relate to her experiences of feeling trapped in her circumstances. 

Case Studies: Applying Analysis to Famous Poems | Ode to a Nightingale

Let’s apply what we’ve learned about poetry analysis to the poem, “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats. Remember to keep in mind what you have learned about poetry terms.

Analyzing the Poetic Structure

First, let’s determine the form and structure of this poem. In this poem, Keats listens to the immortal song of a nightingale and bemoans the frailty of human life.

Here is the first stanza to analyze: 

“My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains          My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains          One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: ‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,          But being too happy in thine happiness,—                 That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees                         In some melodious plot          Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,                 Singest of summer in full-throated ease.”

The poetic structure follows an ABABCDECDE format. Additionally, the rhythmic structure is primarily iambic pentameter with some minor variations in certain lines. 

Interpreting Symbolism and Metaphor in “Ode to A Nightingale “

Next, let’s look for examples of poetic language and interpret these devices. The second stanza is highly imaginative and uses devices such as alliteration, allusion, symbolism, and personification to express the narrator’s desire to leave his life behind to follow the nightingale into immortality.

“O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been          Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth, Tasting of Flora and the country green,          Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth! O for a beaker full of the warm South,          Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,                 With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,                         And purple-stained mouth;          That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,                 And with thee fade away into the forest dim.” 

Keats uses alliteration to describe the unique and special nature of this “vintage” or wine he wishes to drink. This wine clearly has supernatural powers as indicated by the allusion to the Greek Hippocrene, a mythological fountain that gives the one who drinks from it poetic inspiration.

This wine is also symbolized as the “warm South”, a drink promising to provide comfort to whoever drinks it. Lastly, the wine is personified as having “beaded bubbles winking at the brim” and as having a “purple-stained mouth”. This drink that he imagines is tempting him and luring him to forget his human life and follow the nightingale to a better existence.

how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

Unraveling the Tone and Mood of a Poem

As seen above, the author’s tone is highly imaginative, but his tone is also melancholy, especially when he looks back at how quickly men grow old and die in this life. The third stanza shifts to this mournful tone: 

“Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget          What thou among the leaves hast never known, The weariness, the fever, and the fret          Here, where men sit and hear each other groan; Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,          Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;                 Where but to think is to be full of sorrow                         And leaden-eyed despairs,          Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,                 Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.”

As you can see, the speaker clearly despises his current state, claiming that “to think is to be full of sorrow”. The mood of the poem is also revealed through these shifting stanzas: while the forest where the nightingale sings is full of flowers and music and magical creatures, his personal life is full of pain, old age, and disappointment. 

Exploring Themes in “Ode to a Nightingale “

By contrasting these two moods, Keats underlines the vanity of human imagination and pursuit of the unattainable. This is the theme of Keats’ poem: as hard as we try, ultimately, we all grow old and pass away. Myths are merely myths, and fairy tales are merely sprung from someone’s imagination and have no place in reality. 

how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

Conclusion: Enhancing Appreciation through Poetry Analysis

Even though poetry analysis can be a time-consuming task, it is often a rewarding one. So much thought and effort go into the formation of a poem, so it is only natural that as readers we would likewise engage thought and effort into understanding these poems. 

For more practice analyzing poetry, check out our Poetry course! Albert’s Poetry course offers questions about poetry terms, poem themes, and much more. Use our practice questions with detailed explanations to grow in your understanding and appreciation of poetry!

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how to write an ap poetry analysis essay

How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay + Example

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What is the ap lit prose essay, how will ap scores affect my college chances.

AP Literature and Composition (AP Lit), not to be confused with AP English Language and Composition (AP Lang), teaches students how to develop the ability to critically read and analyze literary texts. These texts include poetry, prose, and drama. Analysis is an essential component of this course and critical for the educational development of all students when it comes to college preparation. In this course, you can expect to see an added difficulty of texts and concepts, similar to the material one would see in a college literature course.

While not as popular as AP Lang, over 380,136 students took the class in 2019. However, the course is significantly more challenging, with only 49.7% of students receiving a score of three or higher on the exam. A staggeringly low 6.2% of students received a five on the exam. 

The AP Lit exam is similar to the AP Lang exam in format, but covers different subject areas. The first section is multiple-choice questions based on five short passages. There are 55 questions to be answered in 1 hour. The passages will include at least two prose fiction passages and two poetry passages and will account for 45% of your total score. All possible answer choices can be found within the text, so you don’t need to come into the exam with prior knowledge of the passages to understand the work. 

The second section contains three free-response essays to be finished in under two hours. This section accounts for 55% of the final score and includes three essay questions: the poetry analysis essay, the prose analysis essay, and the thematic analysis essay. Typically, a five-paragraph format will suffice for this type of writing. These essays are scored holistically from one to six points.

Today we will take a look at the AP Lit prose essay and discuss tips and tricks to master this section of the exam. We will also provide an example of a well-written essay for review.  

The AP Lit prose essay is the second of the three essays included in the free-response section of the AP Lit exam, lasting around 40 minutes in total. A prose passage of approximately 500 to 700 words and a prompt will be given to guide your analytical essay. Worth about 18% of your total grade, the essay will be graded out of six points depending on the quality of your thesis (0-1 points), evidence and commentary (0-4 points), and sophistication (0-1 points). 

While this exam seems extremely overwhelming, considering there are a total of three free-response essays to complete, with proper time management and practiced skills, this essay is manageable and straightforward. In order to enhance the time management aspect of the test to the best of your ability, it is essential to understand the following six key concepts.

1. Have a Clear Understanding of the Prompt and the Passage

Since the prose essay is testing your ability to analyze literature and construct an evidence-based argument, the most important thing you can do is make sure you understand the passage. That being said, you only have about 40 minutes for the whole essay so you can’t spend too much time reading the passage. Allot yourself 5-7 minutes to read the prompt and the passage and then another 3-5 minutes to plan your response.

As you read through the prompt and text, highlight, circle, and markup anything that stands out to you. Specifically, try to find lines in the passage that could bolster your argument since you will need to include in-text citations from the passage in your essay. Even if you don’t know exactly what your argument might be, it’s still helpful to have a variety of quotes to use depending on what direction you take your essay, so take note of whatever strikes you as important. Taking the time to annotate as you read will save you a lot of time later on because you won’t need to reread the passage to find examples when you are in the middle of writing. 

Once you have a good grasp on the passage and a solid array of quotes to choose from, you should develop a rough outline of your essay. The prompt will provide 4-5 bullets that remind you of what to include in your essay, so you can use these to structure your outline. Start with a thesis, come up with 2-3 concrete claims to support your thesis, back up each claim with 1-2 pieces of evidence from the text, and write a brief explanation of how the evidence supports the claim.

2. Start with a Brief Introduction that Includes a Clear Thesis Statement

Having a strong thesis can help you stay focused and avoid tangents while writing. By deciding the relevant information you want to hit upon in your essay up front, you can prevent wasting precious time later on. Clear theses are also important for the reader because they direct their focus to your essential arguments. 

In other words, it’s important to make the introduction brief and compact so your thesis statement shines through. The introduction should include details from the passage, like the author and title, but don’t waste too much time with extraneous details. Get to the heart of your essay as quick as possible. 

3. Use Clear Examples to Support Your Argument 

One of the requirements AP Lit readers are looking for is your use of evidence. In order to satisfy this aspect of the rubric, you should make sure each body paragraph has at least 1-2 pieces of evidence, directly from the text, that relate to the claim that paragraph is making. Since the prose essay tests your ability to recognize and analyze literary elements and techniques, it’s often better to include smaller quotes. For example, when writing about the author’s use of imagery or diction you might pick out specific words and quote each word separately rather than quoting a large block of text. Smaller quotes clarify exactly what stood out to you so your reader can better understand what are you saying.

Including smaller quotes also allows you to include more evidence in your essay. Be careful though—having more quotes is not necessarily better! You will showcase your strength as a writer not by the number of quotes you manage to jam into a paragraph, but by the relevance of the quotes to your argument and explanation you provide.  If the details don’t connect, they are merely just strings of details.

4. Discussion is Crucial to Connect Your Evidence to Your Argument 

As the previous tip explained, citing phrases and words from the passage won’t get you anywhere if you don’t provide an explanation as to how your examples support the claim you are making. After each new piece of evidence is introduced, you should have a sentence or two that explains the significance of this quote to the piece as a whole.

This part of the paragraph is the “So what?” You’ve already stated the point you are trying to get across in the topic sentence and shared the examples from the text, so now show the reader why or how this quote demonstrates an effective use of a literary technique by the author. Sometimes students can get bogged down by the discussion and lose sight of the point they are trying to make. If this happens to you while writing, take a step back and ask yourself “Why did I include this quote? What does it contribute to the piece as a whole?” Write down your answer and you will be good to go. 

5. Write a Brief Conclusion

While the critical part of the essay is to provide a substantive, organized, and clear argument throughout the body paragraphs, a conclusion provides a satisfying ending to the essay and the last opportunity to drive home your argument. If you run out of time for a conclusion because of extra time spent in the preceding paragraphs, do not worry, as that is not fatal to your score. 

Without repeating your thesis statement word for word, find a way to return to the thesis statement by summing up your main points. This recap reinforces the arguments stated in the previous paragraphs, while all of the preceding paragraphs successfully proved the thesis statement.

6. Don’t Forget About Your Grammar

Though you will undoubtedly be pressed for time, it’s still important your essay is well-written with correct punctuating and spelling. Many students are able to write a strong thesis and include good evidence and commentary, but the final point on the rubric is for sophistication. This criteria is more holistic than the former ones which means you should have elevated thoughts and writing—no grammatical errors. While a lack of grammatical mistakes alone won’t earn you the sophistication point, it will leave the reader with a more favorable impression of you. 

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Here are Nine Must-have Tips and Tricks to Get a Good Score on the Prose Essay:

  • Carefully read, review, and underline key instruction s in the prompt.
  • Briefly outlin e what you want to cover in your essay.
  • Be sure to have a clear thesis that includes the terms mentioned in the instructions, literary devices, tone, and meaning.
  • Include the author’s name and title  in your introduction. Refer to characters by name.
  • Quality over quantity when it comes to picking quotes! Better to have a smaller number of more detailed quotes than a large amount of vague ones.
  • Fully explain how each piece of evidence supports your thesis .  
  • Focus on the literary techniques in the passage and avoid summarizing the plot. 
  • Use transitions to connect sentences and paragraphs.
  • Keep your introduction and conclusion short, and don’t repeat your thesis verbatim in your conclusion.

Here is an example essay from 2020 that received a perfect 6:

[1] In this passage from a 1912 novel, the narrator wistfully details his childhood crush on a girl violinist. Through a motif of the allure of musical instruments, and abundant sensory details that summon a vivid image of the event of their meeting, the reader can infer that the narrator was utterly enraptured by his obsession in the moment, and upon later reflection cannot help but feel a combination of amusement and a resummoning of the moment’s passion. 

[2] The overwhelming abundance of hyper-specific sensory details reveals to the reader that meeting his crush must have been an intensely powerful experience to create such a vivid memory. The narrator can picture the “half-dim church”, can hear the “clear wail” of the girl’s violin, can see “her eyes almost closing”, can smell a “faint but distinct fragrance.” Clearly, this moment of discovery was very impactful on the boy, because even later he can remember the experience in minute detail. However, these details may also not be entirely faithful to the original experience; they all possess a somewhat mysterious quality that shows how the narrator may be employing hyperbole to accentuate the girl’s allure. The church is “half-dim”, the eyes “almost closing” – all the details are held within an ethereal state of halfway, which also serves to emphasize that this is all told through memory. The first paragraph also introduces the central conciet of music. The narrator was drawn to the “tones she called forth” from her violin and wanted desperately to play her “accompaniment.” This serves the double role of sensory imagery (with the added effect of music being a powerful aural image) and metaphor, as the accompaniment stands in for the narrator’s true desire to be coupled with his newfound crush. The musical juxtaposition between the “heaving tremor of the organ” and the “clear wail” of her violin serves to further accentuate how the narrator percieved the girl as above all other things, as high as an angel. Clearly, the memory of his meeting his crush is a powerful one that left an indelible impact on the narrator. 

[3] Upon reflecting on this memory and the period of obsession that followed, the narrator cannot help but feel amused at the lengths to which his younger self would go; this is communicated to the reader with some playful irony and bemused yet earnest tone. The narrator claims to have made his “first and last attempts at poetry” in devotion to his crush, and jokes that he did not know to be “ashamed” at the quality of his poetry. This playful tone pokes fun at his childhood self for being an inexperienced poet, yet also acknowledges the very real passion that the poetry stemmed from. The narrator goes on to mention his “successful” endeavor to conceal his crush from his friends and the girl; this holds an ironic tone because the narrator immediately admits that his attempts to hide it were ill-fated and all parties were very aware of his feelings. The narrator also recalls his younger self jumping to hyperbolic extremes when imagining what he would do if betrayed by his love, calling her a “heartless jade” to ironically play along with the memory. Despite all this irony, the narrator does also truly comprehend the depths of his past self’s infatuation and finds it moving. The narrator begins the second paragraph with a sentence that moves urgently, emphasizing the myriad ways the boy was obsessed. He also remarks, somewhat wistfully, that the experience of having this crush “moved [him] to a degree which now [he] can hardly think of as possible.” Clearly, upon reflection the narrator feels a combination of amusement at the silliness of his former self and wistful respect for the emotion that the crush stirred within him. 

[4] In this passage, the narrator has a multifaceted emotional response while remembering an experience that was very impactful on him. The meaning of the work is that when we look back on our memories (especially those of intense passion), added perspective can modify or augment how those experiences make us feel

More essay examples, score sheets, and commentaries can be found at College Board .

While AP Scores help to boost your weighted GPA, or give you the option to get college credit, AP Scores don’t have a strong effect on your admissions chances . However, colleges can still see your self-reported scores, so you might not want to automatically send scores to colleges if they are lower than a 3. That being said, admissions officers care far more about your grade in an AP class than your score on the exam.

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How to use Copilot Pro to write, edit, and analyze your Word documents

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Microsoft's Copilot Pro AI offers a few benefits for $20 per month. But the most helpful one is the AI-powered integration with the different Microsoft 365 apps. For those of you who use Microsoft Word, for instance, Copilot Pro can help you write and revise your text, provide summaries of your documents, and answer questions about any document.

First, you'll need a subscription to either Microsoft 365 Personal or Family . Priced at $70 per year, the Personal edition is geared for one individual signed into as many as five devices. At $100 per year, the Family edition is aimed at up to six people on as many as five devices. The core apps in the suite include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.

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Second, you'll need the subscription to Copilot Pro if you don't already have one. To sign up, head to the Copilot Pro website . Click the Get Copilot Pro button. Confirm the subscription and the payment. The next time you use Copilot on the website, in Windows, or with the mobile apps, the Pro version will be in effect.

How to use Copilot Pro in Word

1. open word.

Launch Microsoft Word and open a blank document. Let's say you need help writing a particular type of document and want Copilot to create a draft. 

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A small "Draft with Copilot" window appears on the screen. If you don't see it, click the tiny "Draft with Copilot icon in the left margin."

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2. Submit your request

At the text field in the window, type a description of the text you need and click the "Generate" button.

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Submit your request.

3. Review the response and your options

Copilot generates and displays its response. After reading the response, you're presented with a few different options.

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Review the response and your options.

4. Keep, regenerate, or remove the draft

If you like the draft, click "Keep it." The draft is then inserted into your document where you can work with it. If you don't like the draft, click the "Regenerate" button, and a new draft is created. 

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If you'd prefer to throw out the entire draft and start from scratch, click the trash can icon.

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Keep, regenerate, or remove the draft.

5. Alter the draft

Alternatively, you can try to modify the draft by typing a specific request in the text field, such as "Make it more formal," "Make it shorter," or "Make it more casual."

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Alter the draft.

6. Review the different versions

If you opt to regenerate the draft, you can switch between the different versions by clicking the left or right arrow next to the number. You can then choose to keep the draft you prefer.

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7. Revise existing text

Copilot will also help you fine-tune existing text. Select the text you want to revise. Click the Copilot icon in the left margin and select "Rewrite with Copilot."

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Revise existing text.

8. Review the different versions

Copilot creates a few different versions of the text. Click the arrow keys to view each version.

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Review the different versions.

9. Replace or Insert

If you find one you like, click "Replace" to replace the text you selected. 

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Click "Insert below" to insert the new draft below the existing words so you can compare the two.

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Replace or Insert.

10. Adjust the tone

Click "Regenerate" to ask Copilot to try again. Click the "Adjust Tone" button and select a different tone to generate another draft.

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Adjust the tone.

11. Turn text into a table

Sometimes you have text that would look and work better as a table. Copilot can help. Select the text you wish to turn into a table. Click the Copilot icon and select "Visualize as a Table."

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Turn text into a table.

12. Respond to the table

In response, click "Keep it" to retain the table. Click "Regenerate" to try again. Click the trash can icon to delete it. Otherwise, type a request in the text field, such as "remove the second row" or "make the last column wider."

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Respond to the table.

13. Summarize a document

Copilot Pro can provide a summary of a document with its key points. To try this, open the document you want to summarize and then click the Copilot icon on the Ribbon. 

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The right sidebar displays several prompts you can use to start your question. Click the one for "Summarize this doc."

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Summarize a document.

14. Review the summary

View the generated summary in the sidebar. If you like it as is, click the "Copy" button to copy the summary and paste it elsewhere.

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Review the summary.

15. Revise the summary

Otherwise, choose one of the suggested questions or ask your own question to revise the summary. For example, you could tell Copilot to make the summary longer, shorter, more formal, or less formal. 

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You could also ask it to expand on one of the points in the summary or provide more details on a certain point. A specific response is then generated based on your request.

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Revise the summary.

16. Ask questions about a document

Next, you can ask specific questions about any of the content in a document. Again, click the Copilot icon to display the sidebar. In the prompt area, type and submit your question. Copilot displays the response in the sidebar. You can then ask follow-up questions as needed.

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Ask questions about a document.

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  1. How to Write the AP Lit Poetry Essay

    1. Focus on the Process Writing is a process, and so is literary analysis. Think less about finding the right answer, or uncovering the correct meaning of the poem (there isn't one, most of the time). Read the prompt over at least twice, asking yourself carefully what you need to look for as you read. Then, read the poem three times.

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    We choose our AP Poetry Analysis prompts not just to prepare students for the essay on the AP Literature exam, but also to introduce the major themes of the novel or play through a complementary text that addresses the subject matter through a different lens.

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    In this video, I'll show you how to write the AP English Literature poetry essay (Q1) step by step using the actual 2018 prompt. Watch me annotate the poem given, identify literary...

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    . You will be given 120 minutes to write all three essays, so you should take approximately 40 minutes to write each one. The entire free-response section is worth 55% of your total exam score. Question 1, that you will see first on the exam, will be a poetry analysis prompt.

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    Question 1: Poetry Analysis 6 points . In Ai's poem "The Man with the Saxophone," published in 1985, the speaker encounters a man playing a saxophone. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Ai uses literary elements and techniques to convey the complexity of the speaker's encounter with the saxophone

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    1. Close Reading: - Focus: Examine the language, structure, and literary devices within the poem. - Analysis: Pay close attention to individual words, phrases, and images. Consider the impact of sound devices like rhyme, meter, and alliteration. 2. Structural Analysis: - Focus: Explore the poem's organization and form.

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    1. Poetry Analysis Essay Overview 2. Learning the Fundamentals of an AP Lit Poem Analysis Essay 3. Researching the Poem 4. Organizing the Essay 5. Essay Writing Process 6. Preparing for Evaluation 7. Examples and Techniques 8. Relevant Evidence A poetry analysis essay is an essay that centers around a poem.

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    Visit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org. AP Central is the oficial online home for the AP Program: apcentral.collegeboard.org. Question 1: Poetry Analysis 6 points In Richard Blanco's poem "Shaving," published in 1998, the speaker writes about the act of shaving. Read the poem carefully.

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    1. Select the perfect work. Wait a minute—you can write about anything under the sun, as long as the College Board defines it as "a work of literary merit?" How is that even possible? In truth, your evaluators are using this prompt as a way to gauge your analytical abilities no matter the text.

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    understanding of the poem? NOTES Write or type in this area. 3. Student Handout 2: Poetry Analysis Activity registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this product.Visit www.marcolearning.com for additional resources. AP® English Literature and Composition Student Handout 2 Poetry Analysis Activity

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    Poetry essays for AP Lang will often focus on the analysis of the poem's rhetorical and argumentative techniques, as well as its themes and/or message. Similarly, the AP Lit exam can require you to write an essay about a poem, sometimes requiring you to analyze the poem's form, structure, and how it conveys its message. Analyzing the Poem ...

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    How To Write Ap Lit Poetry Essay October 25, 2023 by Minnie Walters Understand the Basics Summary Close 1. Understand the Basics 2. Analyze Closely 3. Utilize the Essay Format 4. Engage with the Poem 5. Maintain an Objective Tone 6. Develop Writing Through Reflection 7. Build on Previous Essay Content 8. Integrate Vocabulary and Grammar

  17. How to Get a 9 on Poetry Analysis FRQ in AP® English Literature

    Include the author's name and title of the poem in your thesis statement. Use quotes—lots of them—to exemplify the elements throughout the essay. Fully explain or discuss how your element examples support your thesis. A deeper, fuller, and focused explanation of fewer elements is better than a shallow discussion of more elements (shotgun approach).

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    The Introduction The introduction to your literary analysis essay should try to capture your reader‟s interest. To bring immediate focus to your subject, you may want to use a quotation, a provocative question, a brief anecdote, a startling statement, or a combination of these.

  19. How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay

    Step 1: Reading the text and identifying literary devices The first step is to carefully read the text (s) and take initial notes. As you read, pay attention to the things that are most intriguing, surprising, or even confusing in the writing—these are things you can dig into in your analysis.

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  22. A Full Guide to Writing a Perfect Poem Analysis Essay

    Write a Poetry Analysis Essay with HandmadeWriting What Is a Poetry Analysis Essay? A poetry analysis essay is a type of creative write-up that implies reviewing a poem from different perspectives by dealing with its structural, artistic, and functional pieces.

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    Poetry Terms: A Glossary for Poem Analysis. There are several poetry terms that are essential knowledge when it comes to poem analysis. Some of these poetry terms are: form, structure, line, stanza, pattern, rhyme scheme, poetic devices, sound devices, imagery, metaphor, simile, and symbolism to name a few.

  24. How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay + Example

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  25. How to use Copilot Pro to write, edit, and analyze your Word ...

    For those of you who use Microsoft Word, for instance, Copilot Pro can help you write and revise your text, provide summaries of your documents, and answer questions about any document.