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/assonance, rhyme/rhythm/meter, and parallel structure -- to establish tone and convey theme.  If time, 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 English 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.  In 2021 I started an online academic enrichment / professional development nonprofit organization -- Literary Focus, Inc. -- and offer classes on Outschool in the winter and summer months to continue teaching on a part-time basis.