AP Literature: Analyzing Poetry

Read these lines from an original poem: 'At dusk, my mother folded daylight / into the linen drawer, / saving a pale square for morning.' Identify the speaker's likely relationship to the scene and explain how the imagery shapes that relationship.

In the phrase 'the ashen, brittle fields waited under a spent sky,' analyze how diction creates mood.

Read these lines: 'The river kept the town's old names / beneath its green-black tongue.' Identify the figurative language and explain its effect.

A poem begins with images of sunlight, singing birds, and open windows, but ends with silence, locked rooms, and a 'cold key.' Explain how this shift affects the poem's meaning.

Read these lines: 'I meant to leave before the rain / but the road unrolled its silver argument / and I followed.' Analyze the metaphor in 'the road unrolled its silver argument.'

Explain how enjambment affects the meaning of these lines: 'I carried your letter across the bridge / though each step loosened / another word.'

A poem repeats the line 'Do not ask the sea to answer' at the end of several stanzas. Explain one possible purpose of this repetition.

Scan this line for its dominant meter: 'The winter moon withdrew behind the hill.' Identify the likely meter and explain how you know.

In a poem, a door appears first as 'painted blue and open' and later as 'swollen shut with rain.' Explain how the door may function as a symbol.

Analyze the ambiguity of the word 'still' in this line: 'Still, your cup waits beside the sink.'

Compare the tone of these two excerpts. Excerpt A: 'I lift the latch and bless the dust / that rises gold in morning.' Excerpt B: 'I lift the latch and taste the dust / that gathers in my throat.' Explain how one word choice changes the tone.

Write a defensible thesis for this prompt: Analyze how the poet uses imagery and structure to portray the speaker's changing attitude toward home.

Read this evidence: 'the clock coughs once, then stops.' Write two sentences of commentary explaining how this image could support a claim about time and mortality.

Revise this weak analysis to make it more specific: 'The poet uses imagery to show sadness.'

Read this short poem: 'After the Storm / The fence leans east, listening. / In every puddle, a torn cloud mends itself. / I step over branches, naming what survived, / then leave the broken gate unlocked.' Write a brief AP-style paragraph analyzing how the poem uses imagery and structure to develop a theme.