AP4
The Classic Essay—Example
Read the poem by Dylan Thomas below carefully. Notice that the poem is divided into
two stanzas, and that the second stanza reapplies much of the first stanza’s imagery.
Write a well-organized essay in which you discuss how the poet’s use of language,
including his use of repetition, reflects the content and tone of the poem.
In My Craft or Sullen Art
In my craft of sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labor by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.
[Hint: Before you begin to consider the repetition mentioned in the essay instructions,
get the answers to the questions that let you write a classic essay. What does the poem
say literally? Put it in your own words. What does the poet say about his “craft or sullen
art”?]