"Poetry Study" Goals

1. Learn (a lot) more poetry terms
2. Practice reading/interpreting sonnets
3. Get better at identifying the speaker of a poem
4. Learn the different types of poems
5. Practice figuring out the main theme

The poetry multiple-choice practice section showed me that I lack both knowledge and understanding when it comes to poetry. On quite a few of the problems, I couldn't even figure out what most of the answers meant. It was also difficult for me to interpret what the poems were actually trying to say (and, for whatever reason, the sonnet is what tripped me up the most). I would get caught up on certain words or phrases, and couldn't look at the poem as a whole. Finally, I consistently missed questions relating to the identification of the speaker, which I think also relates to not being able to view the poem as a whole.

Diagnostic Test Reflection

My first crack at Peterson's AP English test can easily be summed up in two words: epic failure. What really tripped me up was the fact that about half of the questions were about poetry. The problem with that? I hate poetry, avoid it whenever I can, and can't make sense of it to save my life. I've always thought poetry is rather pointless, too, so it frustrates me that there would be such a strong emphasis on it on the test. Besides that, the rest of the questions were fairly easy and straight-forward. Clearly poetry (as usual) is going to be the hardest thing for me this coming year.