Poetic Analysis

As with any other AP© Exam thesis, using a three-pronged thesis with a three literary devices you will explore is rather limiting and boxes in your paragraphs to a specific device. You, instead, want to focus on creating space for complexity in your thesis.

For the Poetry Analysis, the exam almost always wants you to think about how the Tone changes over the course of the poem and what that reveals about the speaker's complex attitude towards a subject. This requires finding the shift in Tone and then using that to structure your thesis.

Sample Breakdown and Thesis for the prompt above:

• Idea: From the prompt.

  • • The "complex portrayal of the guitars' musical world."

• Insight: What is the poet trying to reveal about the subject and humanity's relationship with the public?

  • • We are getting insight into how the musical world of these guitars is shaped by emotion and life, both present and historic.

• Aspects: Show how the Tone shifts during the course of the poem. You can see this thinking about the narrator, the subject-matter, the audience, etc. (see the Poetic Elements page for more guidance on finding the Shift). You'll use the two sides of the Shift to discuss why the Insight matters and contains complexity within it.

  • • We could explore 1) the passionate language of the first guitar showing the heart come out of its player, and 2) the presence of the second guitar at major moments in life and in history.

• Thesis: In Victor Hernández Cruz's poem, "Two Guitars," he reveals through the voice of two guitars that music expresses the timelessness of life through its passionate ability to sneak past language. Cruz explores this notion through the shift from the language of the first guitar whose player sings out his heart to the eternal presence of the second guitar at major life and historical moments.

There are two suggested ways to organize your prompt, which have a degree of overlap. Organize the response either by the Insight and Aspects of your Thesis OR chronologically.

Insight: 

If your thesis has two clear Aspects, those are perfect topics for Body Paragraphs. Each Body Paragraph should address one Aspect. The beauty of this approach is it allows you to pull evidence from throughout the passage and use a range of literary devices in each Body Paragraph. This makes for more well-rounded and less cookie-cutter writing. The main drawback of this approach is that students are more likely to forget to explain how the author develops their insight using literary devices to support their analysis.

Example Layout from the Prompt Above:

• Thesis: In Victor Hernández Cruz's poem, "Two Guitars," he reveals through the voice of two guitars that music expresses the timelessness of life through its passionate ability to sneak past language. Cruz explores this notion through the shift from the language of the first guitar whose player sings out his heart to the eternal presence of the second guitar at major life and historical moments.

• Body Paragraph 1 Topic Sentence: The first guitar emphasizes that music is a passionate endeavour, which allows it to sneak past the lanugage of language and truly share something with others that normally evades our understanding. Musical understanding is something felt more than explained according to this guitar.

• Body Paragraph 2 Topic Sentence: It is music's ability to speak without using words that gives it such a powerful place in our lives. As explored by the second guitar, music shows up in every aspect of our lives, at major moments in our lives and in our history and it expresses the importance of those moments through the same method of sneaking past the limits of our language.

Chronologically:

The other recommend approach for this response is by organizing your response Chronologically, which tracks how the Tone changes over the course of the poem. The benefits of this approach are that you are able to incorporate the whole text and treat every part of it as importance. The drawbacks of the approach are that it is easy to fall into a summary rather than an analysis and it becomes easy to lose the central idea of the Thesis as you develop the character arc. Remember that your goal isn't just to show how the tone changes (the author has already done that), you want to think about what the character's changes reveal about the world.

Example Layout from the Prompt Above:

• Thesis: In Victor Hernández Cruz's poem, "Two Guitars," he reveals through the voice of two guitars that music expresses the timelessness of life through its passionate ability to sneak past language. Cruz explores this notion through the shift from the language of the first guitar whose player sings out his heart to the eternal presence of the second guitar at major life and historical moments.

• Body Paragraph 1 Topic Sentence: At the start of this poem, the first guitar speaks and describes the experience of its player, who has expressed the passion of love through the guitar's unique language.

• Body Paragraph 2 Topic Sentence: In the second stanza, the second guitar chimes in and expresses its experiences with music, this time focusing on the places it has been and the life it has seen in the world.

There are three main types of evidence that you can use to analyze this poetic prompt that could make a difference in the evidence you pull out. It also makes sense to go through these as steps, first identifying the Speaker, seeing how the Line-Structure reveals the speaker's Tone/energy, and then how the author uses Figurative Language to effectively convey the importance of different parts of their Tone. To think about it in terms of Structure, use Speaker and Line-Structure to help come up with the major moments in the passage (in your paragraphs), and then focus on how the Figurative Language draws attention to those parts of the Tone/Conflict and conveys their importance (in your sentences). As an extra, you may also consider Sound Devices, though these can sometimes be tricky to recognize during a silent exam.

Speaker:

The speaker of the poem is always essential because it is their perspective that we are exploring. You want to be careful though of identifying the speaker with the poet. In the past, including the prompt included above, the speaker may not even be human. Attending to the speaker's unique characteristics (especially if they aren't human) can make a difference in how you present the poem. In effect, you can think of the speaker as a character sharing their experience with us, and—just as you would with a prose response—pulling out and explaining how the experience of the speaker shapes what they are saying can be a useful way to add complexity to your analysis.

Line-Structure:

The structure of a line of poetry reveals more than we typically imagine. Is it a short line? The poet might be emphasizing a unique thought here that has to stand alone. Does the line end before the end of a sentence (enjambment)? They might be trying to build syntactic tension to leave you guessing at their final purpose. All of these choices matter and make for a great source of analysis in poetry. For Line-Structure, consider End Stops, Enjambment, Caesura, Line Inversion, and Repetition on a regular basis (you can learn more about these under the Poetic Elements page)

Extra Tip: Be sure to discuss the last couple lines of a poem. The way a poet ends their reflection often functions like the thesis of an essay. It is one of the most important parts of their statement. Including it can help enhance your analysis.

Figurative Language:

In addition to Tone, pay attention to Imagery, Symbols, Similes, Metaphors, Personification, and Allusions used throughout the passage. These elements are sprinkling on the cake. As the author develops the Speaker and their attitude, they will use Figurative Language to draw attention to the two sides of the Shift and help the reader better understand their purpose for writing.

Sound Devices:

Sound is essential to poetry. Poetry is sound because in sound lives rhyme and rhythm. Yet, this is hard to hear and analyze while you are in a silent testing sight. As such, these devices are good to be aware of since everything in AP© Literature is about becoming better literary critics, but it may have limited use on the exam. When thinking about Sound Devices, you are normally asking if the sounds of the poem mimic the subjects of the poem (like a clock ticking or a whispering wind) or you are asking how the wods of the poem reflect the positive/negative Tone. All words have a tonal quality to them—think of the people who don't like the word "moist"—that an experienced poet will use to reflect the subject matter and message of their poetry.