Students will learn how to properly analyze a poem through the "four pillars" of literary analysis:  diction, imagery, language, and syntax.  They will also learn how poets use various poetic devices – such as alliteration/consonance/assonance, rhyme/rhythm/meter, and parallel structure -- to create mood, establish tone, and convey theme.  Students will also learn how to structure an AP Poetry Analysis essay by using the rhetorical framework of Hegel’s dialectic.

I have a B.A. in English from Dartmouth College and an M.A. in Education from Stanford University.  For the past thirty years, I have taught in a wide variety of educational settings -- from a private school on Maui, Hawaii, to a Catholic school in Portland, Oregon, to an inner-city charter school in Springfield, Massachusetts.  Most recently, I taught freshman and senior English at the Winter Sports School in Park City, Utah, where I also served as the school's Director of Curriculum and Instruction.  I left WSS in 2021 to start my own curriculum development company -- Literary Focus, Inc. -- and hope to use Outschool as a way to continue teaching students on a part-time basis.

While it is not required, students are encouraged to read the poem and complete the study guide before attending class.  The more familiar students are with the poem, the more in-depth we can go in our analysis.  

Since this is a single-day class, there are no formal assessments.  If students would like to write an AP Poetry Analysis essay, however, I encourage them to enroll in one of our four-week classes studying a novel or play.  We start those classes by analyzing a poem with a related theme to the novel or play we are reading.  Students will have the option of writing an AP Poetry Analysis essay and receiving individual feedback during scheduled writing conferences each week.

50 minutes per week in class, and an estimated 0 - 1 hours per week outside of class.