I'm a quick study, apparently

And now, on to being horrid at poetic analysis. I did manage to improve in the later practice sections, which bodes well.

Anyway, onto the list of things I absolutely positively must do:

• Beef up on poetic devices and terms
• Focus on finding and sticking to the theme
• Learn to make sense of the logical leaps necessary to answer certain questions
• Treat everything more objectively
• Give myself time to think about things

Generally speaking, learning exact definitions makes up most of this list. Once I understand exactly what a question is asking when it talks about 'theme' as opposed to 'subject' as opposed to 'motif,' I can be more confident in my answers, and not feel like I'm blindly guessing in the dark. Frankly, I'm astonished I correctly answered most of the questions regarding meter. I don't know the difference between a lyric or elegiac poem, and I have no idea what masculine and feminine rhyme are, and there are a lot of nuances to the word 'theme' that escape me completely. Getting those down pat will be 90% of the battle, with the other ten being attitude. While I will always think it is kind of evil to ask a subjective question on an objective test, I need to learn to shut myself up and pick the most likely option, which may not necessarily dovetail with my own opinion. Even though I may not think that the man who is writing about his dead daughter buried in a blanket of snow is particularly hopeful, the English Literature AP test writers obviously do. The last bullet I have will help me with that as well. I have a horrible habit of rushing through standardized test style things; it's a combination of hubris and dislike that often leads me to make stupid mistakes. If I can force myself to slow down and actually give questions some serious thought, it will save me from 'doh' moments. 

28/50

Better than a 50% at least, if barely.

     It seems patently unfair to ask questions involving tone in a multiple choice format, especially when dealing with literary analysis. I will let them make me wrong on all things concerning literary terms I didn't know, poetry forms I didn't know, and nuances of language that I wasn't sure how to look for, but the minute I get dinged a point for having the audacity to say that it was night time and not sunrise in a piece that mentions the moon, I get tetchy. I also take issue with the idea that a poem involving death and the separation of lovers is allowed to be 'sanguine' simply based on the fact that their love will last. It's still death, and loneliness. Sure, John Donne is confident in their love continuing past the realm of the living, but he is still left behind, and it still involves death. In the long run though, this is probably how I would do on any other AP style test before I took the course. I'm not particularly worried yet- it might take whips and chains to get me to abandon the stubborn impulse to disagree with common analysis, but it will happen eventually.

Cheers!