CHS -> Home -> AP Literature -> Poetry Analysis

Resources, Links, & Files

1. Poetry Explication: Duke University
2. Poetry Explications: UNC Chapel Hill
3. Poetry Analysis: Single Poem
4. Poetry Analysis: Compare/Contrast
5. Poetry: Resources and Suggestions: This is the document embedded below.
6. Symbolism:  Examples of Archetypes
7. Universal Symbols

Practice Essays

• 2007 Prompts: "A Barred Owl" and "The History Teacher"
• 2007 STUDENT RESPONSES

Types of Questions Asked in the Poetry Essay (from 5 Steps to a 5)

1. How does the language of the poem reflect the speaker's perceptions and how does that language determine the reader's perception?
2. How does the poet reveal character? (i.e., diction, sound devices, imagery, allusion)
3. Discuss the similarities and differences between two poems.  Consider style and theme.
4. Contrast the speakers' views towards a subject in two poems.  Refer to form, tone, and imagery.
5. Discuss how poetic elements, such as language, structure, imagery and point of view convey meaning in a poem.
6. Given two poems, discuss what elements make one better than the other.
7. Relate the imagery, form, or theme of a particular section of a poem to another part of that same poem.  Discuss changing attitude or perception of speaker or reader.
8. Analyze a poem's extended metaphor and how it reveals the poet's or speaker's attitude.
9. Discuss the way of life revealed in a poem.  Refer to such poetic elements as tone, imagery, symbol, and verse form.
10. Discuss the poet's changing reaction to the subject developed in the poem.
11. Discuss how the form of the poem affects its meaning.

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Other Poetry Analysis Resources

Poetry Resources and Suggestions by amyecarter

Other Links & Files

• Five Steps to a Five: The Poetry Essay (Chapter 5)
• Meter: An Introduction
• Poetry Essay Prompts from the AP Literature Exams 1971-2013
• Sonnets: Italian and English
• Strategies for Literary Analysis: SIFT, DIDLS, & TP-CASTT
• Style Analsis Handout from Jim Burke: I suggest printing this small enough to use as a bookmark.
• Suggestions for Organizing a Compare/Contrast Essay
• TP-CASTT Graphic Organizer
• Why I've Stopped Writing Children's Literature by Gary Soto:  It is important not to confuse speaker and author/poet.  Read this article from the Huffington Post.  Then, be prepared to discuss Soto's argument.

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Introduction to Poetry:  You have 7 minutes.  Write a poem based on this sculpture.

After you've written your poem, read "The Trouble With Poetry" by Billy Collins.  Consider how the poem relates to the activity of writing your own poem.  Be prepared to discuss.

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