AP English Literature and Composition Poems Analyzed

For those who are studying AP English Literature and Composition, students must do the following, taking from the syllabus:

• Poetry Memorization: Students memorize 40 lines of poetry once per semester.
• Synopsis and Analysis: Provide a short summary and an explanation of how the poem’s structure influences the development of ideas and their interplay.
• Scheduled Recitations: Recitations are distributed throughout the semester.
• Sign-Up System: Students sign up for their preferred recitation dates.

Since Poem Analysis has the largest database of poetry analysis on the internet, you can find below every poem analyzed from the course, all with downloadable offline PDF Guides. If the poem has not yet been analyzed, we are working very hard to get it analyzed as soon as possible). Please feel free to skip to the poem most relevant to you, and if you want a poem that you cannot find on the site to be analyzed, feel free to contact us.

Unit 2: Poetry I

1. ‘That Time of Year‘ (Sonnet 73) ^{[PDF Guide]} by William Shakespeare ^{[PDF Guide]}
2. ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Dylan Thomas ^{[PDF Guide]}
3. ‘The Man He Killed‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Thomas Hardy ^{[PDF Guide]}
4. ‘Dulce et Decorum‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Wilfred Owen ^{[PDF Guide]}
5. ‘Crossing the Bar‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Alfred Lord Tennyson ^{[PDF Guide]}

Unit 5: Poetry II

1. ‘Out, Out—‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Robert Frost ^{[PDF Guide]}
2. ‘The Author to Her Book‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Anne Bradstreet
3. ‘The Convergence of the Twain‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Thomas Hardy ^{[PDF Guide]}
4. ‘The Chimney Sweeper: A little black thing…‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by William Blake ^{[PDF Guide]}
5. ‘The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died…‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by William Blake
6. ‘Much Madness is Divinest Sense‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Emily Dickinson ^{[PDF Guide]}

Unit 8: Poetry III

1. ‘Paradise Lost‘ by John Milton (not yet analyzed)

Theme: Marriage and Family Relationships

1. ‘Those Winter Sundays‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Robert Hayden
2. ‘On Her Loving Two Equally‘ by Aphra Behn ^{[PDF Guide]}
3. ‘Digging‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Seamus Heaney ^{[PDF Guide]}
4. ‘For Julia, In the Deep Water‘ by John N. Morris (still analyzing)
5. ‘To a Daughter Leaving Home‘ by Linda Pastan ^{[PDF Guide]}
6. ‘My Last Duchess‘ ^{[PDF Guide]} by Robert Browning ^{[PDF Guide]}