AP English Literature and Composition

## Learning Outcomes

- Understand how **specific words and phrases** function as evidence in AP poetry analysis
- Identify the difference between **denotation** and **connotation**
- Explain how diction, syntax, repetition, and imagery shape tone and meaning
- Recognise shifts in language and connect them to changes in speaker attitude
- Build commentary that moves from quoted evidence to effect to interpretation
- Avoid common errors such as device-listing, summary, and vague tone claims

## AP English Literature and Composition Syllabus

For the AP English Literature and Composition, you are expected to understand how close reading of specific words and phrases supports poetry analysis, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that AP poetry questions may ask about the meaning or effect of a single word or short phrase
- Identify how **diction** reveals tone, attitude, speaker perspective, and larger meaning
- Explain the difference between **denotation** and **connotation** when discussing loaded language
- Understand how **syntax**, **repetition**, **imagery**, and **figurative language** work with diction rather than separately from it
- Distinguish **tone** from **mood**, and **shift** from a more specific **volta**
- Use short, precise quotations as evidence rather than long paraphrase
- Understand that this skill is rewarded mainly in **Row B: Evidence and Commentary** on the 6-point poetry analysis rubric

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
2. Why is quoting one exact verb or adjective often better than paraphrasing a whole stanza?
3. How can a shift in diction signal a shift in tone?
4. What is the difference between tone and mood?
5. Why does device-spotting alone not earn strong AP Lit commentary?

## Introduction

In AP Literature poetry analysis, students often know what a poem is “about” but struggle to explain how the poem creates that meaning. This subtopic fixes that problem. The exam often turns on a precise word, a repeated phrase, or a brief image that changes how the whole poem reads.

Strong readers do not just notice that a poet uses imagery or figurative language. They zoom in on exact wording, explain what those words suggest, and connect them to the speaker’s attitude and the poem’s larger meaning. That is the core of close reading, and it is a major part of high-scoring commentary.

> **Key Term: diction**
> A poet’s choice of words and phrases, especially as those choices shape tone, attitude, and meaning.

### Why exact wording matters in poetry analysis

Poetry is compressed language. In prose, an author may develop an idea over several sentences. In poetry, a single verb can do that work. That is why AP questions often ask about “the phrase,” “the word in line 5,” or “the effect of lines 8–10.” The test assumes that meaning lives in the details.

Take the difference between a poet saying a branch “moved” and saying it “trembled.” Both describe motion, but the second suggests weakness, fear, cold, or emotional strain. The denotation is similar, but the connotation changes the tone.

> **Key Term: denotation**
> The literal or dictionary meaning of a word.
>
> **Key Term: connotation**
> The emotional, implied, or associative meaning a word carries beyond its literal definition.

This distinction matters because AP analysis usually becomes stronger when it moves beyond denotation. If a student writes, “The word ‘withered’ means old,” that is thin commentary. Better commentary explains that **withered** suggests decline, depletion, and lifelessness. That moves from basic meaning to interpretive meaning.

A useful habit is to test whether a different word could have been used. If the poet writes “clings,” ask why not “holds.” If the poet writes “shatters,” ask why not “breaks.” The answer usually reveals tone or intensity. **Clings** suggests desperation or dependence. **Shatters** suggests violence, suddenness, and irreversibility.

This is one reason the Barron’s material stresses the force of diction. In poetry, word choice is not decorative. It is structural. Change the words, and you change the poem.

> **Test Tip:** In a poetry essay, short quotations are often stronger than long ones. A single loaded word like “ghosts,” “dull,” or “summer dream” gives you more room for analysis than copying four lines and summarising them.

A good AP paragraph often follows this pattern:

- Make a claim about tone or meaning
- Quote one or two precise words
- Explain their connotations or effects
- Link that effect to the poem’s larger idea

For example:

- Claim: The speaker’s grief is not loud but lingering.
- Evidence: words like “quiet pain” and “silent boughs”
- Commentary: these phrases soften the emotional register, making the sorrow feel persistent rather than explosive
- Meaning: the poem presents loss as an emptiness that settles in over time

That is what phrase-level analysis looks like.

### How words and phrases shape tone, shifts, and interpretation

Students often treat tone as something guessed from the poem’s “vibe.” AP readers want more than that. Tone must be built from evidence. If you call a speaker bitter, restrained, mocking, or reverent, the poem’s words need to prove it.

> **Key Term: tone**
> The speaker’s attitude toward the subject, audience, or self.

One of the clearest ways poets create tone is through patterns of diction. In Poe’s “Sonnet—to Science,” words such as “preyest,” “vulture,” “dragged,” and “torn” turn science into a force of violation. The point is not just that these are vivid words. Together, they build a hostile attitude. The poem’s critique depends on them.

Notice also how exact phrases can organise a whole contrast. In that poem, “dull realities” opposes “summer dream.” Those are not random pretty phrases. One compresses the speaker’s view of science as cold fact; the other compresses the value of imagination. The poem’s larger conflict is carried by phrase-level contrast.

This matters for multiple-choice as well as essays. If a question asks which phrase best captures the poem’s central opposition, it is testing whether you can connect wording to theme.

> **Key Term: imagery**
> Language that appeals to the senses and helps create tone, atmosphere, or meaning.

Specific words and phrases also help readers track **shifts**. A poem may begin in inquiry and move into accusation, or begin in calm observation and move toward unease. The shift is often signalled by changed diction, not by an obvious announcement.

> **Key Term: shift**
> A change in tone, perspective, imagery, attitude, or idea within a poem.

In a sonnet, this may be a **volta**, the formal turn. But not every shift is a volta, and not every poem with a shift is a sonnet.

> **Key Term: volta**
> A notable turn in thought or feeling in a poem, especially in a sonnet.

Suppose a speaker begins with broad, descriptive language and later uses sharp, judgmental verbs. That shift in word choice tells you the speaker is no longer just observing. The attitude has changed. In “Sonnet—to Science,” the movement from questioning language to accusatory language sharpens the criticism. In a different poem, a move from sensory abundance to emptiness might suggest disillusionment or loss.

This is why it is not enough to say “there is a shift.” You need to identify:

- where it happens
- what changes
- which words reveal the change
- why the change matters

Students also need to separate **tone** from **mood**. Tone belongs to the speaker. Mood is the feeling created in the reader. If a poem uses harsh, clipped language, the tone may be contemptuous while the mood may be tense or uneasy.

> **Key Term: mood**
> The emotional atmosphere created for the reader.

A frequent weak comment is: “This creates emotion.” That says almost nothing. What emotion? In whom? Produced how? Better phrasing would be: “The repeated harsh verbs create a resentful tone in the speaker and an unsettled mood for the reader.”

> **Test Tip:** If you name a tone, prove it with at least two words or phrases. AP readers trust tone labels only when the diction supports them.

### Connecting diction to syntax, repetition, and figurative language

Specific words do not work alone. They gain force from placement, repetition, and sentence structure. This is where stronger essays separate themselves from average ones.

> **Key Term: syntax**
> The arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence or poetic line.

A line may contain ordinary words, but unusual syntax can make them striking. If a poet delays the main verb, fragments a thought, or runs one line into the next, the phrasing affects emphasis and pace. In poetry, syntax often tells you how the speaker thinks.

For instance, when poets use enjambment, the lack of pause can create momentum, uncertainty, overflow, or instability. End-stopped lines can create closure, certainty, or heaviness. A fragmented phrase may mirror hesitation or emotional strain.

If a student only identifies enjambment, the analysis is incomplete. The better question is: what does the enjambment do to the key phrase? Does it force the reader to carry a word into the next line? Does it suspend meaning? Does it make a phrase feel unfinished?

> **Key Term: repetition**
> The intentional reuse of words, phrases, sounds, or structures for emphasis or cumulative effect.

Repetition is especially useful in phrase-level analysis. In Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” repeated “When” clauses make the lecture feel extended and mechanical. The repeated structure enacts accumulation. It is not just that the astronomer presents facts; the syntax and repetition make the presentation feel relentless.

Likewise, a repeated phrase can expose obsession, grief, prayer, insistence, or self-persuasion. In Tennyson’s “The Brook,” the refrain “For men may come and men may go, / But I go on forever” turns a simple claim into the poem’s central contrast between human transience and natural continuity.

What matters for AP essays is not saying “the poet uses repetition.” It is saying what repeats, what effect the repetition creates, and how that effect supports the poem’s meaning.

Figurative language also becomes clearer through exact words and phrases. In Poe’s sonnet, science is not merely criticised; it is figured as a “Vulture.” That metaphor shapes the rest of the poem’s diction. Words such as “preyest,” “dragged,” and “torn” belong to the same figurative field. This is a good example of how one phrase can organise a line of reasoning.

A useful method is to ask:

1. What exact phrase stands out?
2. Is it literal or figurative?
3. What connotations does it carry?
4. How do nearby words support or extend it?
5. What does that pattern reveal about the speaker’s attitude?

Here is a model analytical paragraph:

The speaker’s resentment emerges through predatory diction in the phrase “Vulture, whose wings are dull realities.” The metaphor does more than insult science; it casts science as a scavenger that feeds on what is already dying. Words that follow, such as “preyest,” “dragged,” and “torn,” extend that image, making science seem invasive and destructive rather than neutral. As a result, the poem frames the conflict not as a calm debate between reason and imagination but as an assault on the poet’s inner world.

That paragraph works because it moves from phrase to pattern to interpretation.

### How to write strong AP commentary from specific words and phrases

This skill matters most in **Row B: Evidence and Commentary**, which is worth **0–4 points** on the AP poetry analysis rubric. Essays earn stronger Row B scores when they use specific evidence and explain how that evidence supports a clear line of reasoning.

A weak response often does one of three things:

- paraphrases the poem instead of analysing it
- lists devices without discussing effect
- quotes a word but says only that it “shows emotion”

A stronger response does this:

- selects brief, exact evidence
- comments on connotation, placement, contrast, or repetition
- ties the evidence to tone or meaning
- keeps building the same argument

Compare these two comments:

Weak:
The poet uses imagery and diction to show sadness.

Better:
The poet’s diction turns sadness into absence: words such as “vanished,” “silent,” and “no more” do not describe dramatic grief but the quiet disappearance of what once filled the speaker’s life.

The second version names exact words, identifies their common pattern, and explains the emotional quality of the sadness.

Useful sentence stems:

- The poet’s diction in “\_\_\_” suggests...
- The connotation of “\_\_\_” makes the speaker seem...
- By repeating “\_\_\_,” the speaker emphasises...
- The phrase “**_” marks a shift from _** to \_\_\_
- Rather than simply describing **_, the image “_**” implies...
- The unusual syntax around “\_\_\_” delays/emphasises...
- This word choice supports the interpretation that...

You should also avoid one major AP error: equating the speaker with the poet. The poem’s language reveals the **speaker’s** attitude unless the text clearly points elsewhere. This matters in both multiple-choice and FRQ writing.

Another common issue is over-quoting. Students sometimes paste long lines into an essay and leave little room for commentary. The AP exam rewards analysis, not transcription.

A final point: phrase-level analysis does not mean microscopic reading with no larger purpose. Every word-level observation should push the essay’s argument forward. If a detail does not help your interpretation, leave it out.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- Specific words and phrases are a major source of evidence in AP poetry analysis
- Diction means the poet’s choice of words and phrases
- Denotation is a word’s literal meaning, while connotation is its implied or emotional force
- Strong commentary explains why a poet’s exact wording matters, not just what it literally says
- Short quotations are usually more useful than long paraphrased chunks of text
- Tone refers to the speaker’s attitude, while mood refers to the feeling created for the reader
- A shift in diction can signal a shift in tone, perspective, or argument
- A volta is a specific kind of poetic turn, especially common in sonnets
- Syntax affects emphasis, pacing, and the movement of thought in poetry
- Repetition can create cumulative force, obsession, contrast, or emphasis
- Figurative language should be analysed through its exact wording and its effect on meaning
- High-scoring Row B commentary uses precise evidence and explains how it supports a line of reasoning

## Key Terms and Concepts

- diction
- denotation
- connotation
- tone
- imagery
- shift
- volta
- mood
- syntax
- repetition


Poetry III - Specific words and phrases