AP Literature
Mrs. Hoerauf & Mrs. Keskes
Writing the Poetry Analysis Précis
Definition:
The poetic précis is a highly structured 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, and answers the prompt. Sometimes, the précis will touch on the overall structure and the identity
of the speaker including his or her (changing) attitude towards the subject of the poem.
Format:
1. 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.
2. 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. This can be more than a sentence if needed.
3. (Optional) 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”.
4. A statement that definitively answers the prompt. About half of the time, the prompt will ask about the
attitude of the speaker.
Example of Poetry Précis for “Icarus” by Edward Field:
Write an essay in which you analyze how Field employs literary devices in adapting the Icarus myth to a
contemporary setting.
Edward Field, in his poem “Icarus,” reveals the tragedy of unfulfilled dreams by reimagining the mythological
figure of Icarus as “that nice Mr. Hicks” and places him in the bustling and oxymoronic reality of the modern
world. Field employs techniques of content (contrast and irony) and of how the content is shaped (anaphora
and figurative language) to develop this juxtaposition between myth and reality. The mythological figure of
Icarus is immersed in an alienating and unrelenting twentieth century setting, shaping this work as an even more
tragic story for the protagonist than his death in myth had been.
Example of Poetry Précis for “Penelope” by Dorothy Parker:
Write an essay discussing how the poet uses literary techniques to reveal the speaker’s attitudes about the role
of husbands and wives.
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, in her poem “Penelope” suggests that the burden of heroism is not only adopted by the
hero but also by those that support that hero. She develops this idea by first alluding to Odysseus’s wife
Penelope from The Odyssey in the title of the poem, by personifying the sun and the breeze that led her husband
on his journey, by using visual imagery when describing Odysseus, 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.