AP Literature
Mrs. Hoerauf
Writing the Poetry Analysis Précis
Definition:
The poetic précis is a highly structured four sentence paragraph that records the essential elements of a poem, including the name of the
poet, the context of the delivery, the theme or meaning of the poem, the stylistic elements of development, the overall structure, the
identity of the speaker and his or her attitude towards the subject of the poem. Each of the four sentences requires specific information;
students are also encouraged to integrate brief quotations to convey the author’s sense of style and tone.
Format:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Name of poet, genre and title of work (date and additional publication information in parenthesis); a rhetorically accurate verb (such
as implies, reveals, illuminates, etc.) and a THAT clause containing the theme (meaning) of the poem. Identifying the theme involves
taking everything into account and drawing a conclusion regarding the overall meaning of the poem. Consider: What idea about life
or experience has the poem articulated? What is relevant to the human experience that this poem offers?
An explanation of how the poet develops the theme. This sentence should address elements of style and poetic devices (for example,
figurative language, imagery, sound devices, allusion etc.), listed in chronological order, moving progressively through the poem. Be
sure to consider the title of the poem in your analysis.
(Optional) A statement that identifies the overall structure of the poem. This may be identified through shifts in subject and/or tone,
stanza-form, and sometimes (as in the case of a sonnet, for example) a prescribed rhyme pattern.
A description of the speaker of the poem and the attitude the speaker has towards his or her subject. This may include an explanation
of the tone progression. Poems rarely sound a single note and acknowledging the complexity of tone is indicative of “a mind at
work”.
Example of Poetry Précis for “Penelope” by Dorothy Parker:
Dorothy Parker, in her poem “Penelope” suggests that the archetypal role of women has not changed throughout time and that
what is valued in society are the heroic “manly” feats rather than the trying and tedious “womanly” tasks. She develops this idea by first
alluding to Odysseus’s wife Penelope from The Odyssey in the title of the poem; second, by personifying the sun and the breeze that lead
her husband on his journey; third, by describing a glorious image of him as he metaphorically “ride[s] the silver seas” and “cut[s] the
glittering wave”; fourth by contrasting the image of him on his journey with her daily tasks; and lastly, by using the symbolic bleaching of
the linens of her bed as a reference to her chastity. Although the speaker of the poem, the wife who has been left behind, seems admiring
of her husband’s feats in the first stanza, the description of her daily duties suggests that she is dissatisfied with her position and that she is
resigned to the fact that it will not change.
Penelope
In the pathway of the sun,
In the footsteps of the breeze,
Where the world and sky are one,
He shall ride the silver seas,
He shall cut the glittering wave.
I shall sit at home and rock;
Rise, to heed a neighbor’s knock;
Brew my tea, and snip my thread;
Bleach the linen for my bed.
They will call him brave.
Dorothy Parker
Example of Poetry Précis for “The School Children” by Louise Gluck:
In the poem “The School Children” Louise Gluck illuminates that the stereotypical “first day of school” scene is a day that brings feelings
of sickening worry and dread for all mothers, feelings that are brought on by a sense of helplessness as the mothers are forced (by society)
to release their children into what they know is a dangerous world. She reveals this common truth by first referring only to the “school
children” in the title of the poem leaving the reader to discover that the poem is in fact not about the children but, surprisingly, about the
feelings of their mothers. She also uses the symbolism of the shore, enjambment, and biblical and war allusions to accentuate the
separation of mothers and children in order to heighten the helplessness of the mothers’ situation. The speaker of the poem is rather a
collective voice that represents the general feelings of all mothers. The tone of the maternal voice begins as one of remorse for releasing
their children into a world of corruption, but slowly that tone descends into one of despair with the knowledge that they cannot control
what influences their children, a recognition that seems to cause them much inner turmoil.
The children go forward with their little satchels.
And all morning the mothers have labored
to gather the late apples, red and gold,
like words of another language.
And on the other shore
are those who wait behind great desks
to receive these offerings.
How orderly they are--the nails
on which the children hang
their overcoats of blue or yellow wool.
And the teachers shall instruct them in silence
and the mothers shall scour the orchards for a way out,
drawing to themselves the gray limbs of the fruit trees
bearing so little ammunition.
Louise Gluck