Twenty-One More Poems for AP English

The selections within this listing represent frequently taught poets and poems in AP English Literature and Composition. 

For each of the twenty-one poems or poetic forms for AP Literature and Composition, students and teachers will find a link to the poem and multimedia resources. These include EDSITEment lessons as well as EDSITEment-reviewed websites that discuss the poem, the poet, and its context. Media incorporated in these resources include audio clips and video as well as primary source documents and photographs, along with other useful tools such as timelines. They offer both the content and skills needed to support student success in AP English Literature and Composition.

EDSITEment also offers a Literary Glossary of terms cross-referenced with EDSITEment lessons. It serves as a ready reference for students as they work through the lesson activities and prepare for the AP examination.

1. W. H. Auden, “The Shield of Achilles”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Academy of American Poets
• Audio “The Shield of Achilles” from the Poetry Foundation
• "The Shield of Achilles” from Modern American Poetry  

2. Elizabeth Bishop, “One Art”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• On “One Art” from Modern American Poetry
• Spotlight on Elizabeth Bishop from Annenberg Learner Voices and Visions

3.  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• “Kubla Khan” from Representative Poetry Online
• “Kubla Khan; Or, A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment” from Victorian Web
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge from Victorian Web

4. Hart Crane, “To Brooklyn Bridge”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation  
• Hart Crane from Modern American Poetry
• Spotlight on Hart Crane from Annenberg Learner Voices and Visions

5. Emily Dickinson, “Because I could not stop for Death” (479)

• The Poem (with audio option)
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• "Because I could not stop for Death" from American Icons
• Elegy and Eros: Configuring Grief from the Poetry Foundation
• On 712 [“Because I could not stop for death”] from Modern American Poetry
• Spotlight on Emily Dickinson from Annenberg Learner Voices and Visions 

6. John Donne, “Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• A Brief Guide to Metaphysical Poets from the Academy of American Poets
• “Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud” from Representative Poetry Online

7. H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), “Eurydice”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• Lesson 2: “The Metamorphoses” and Modern Poetry: A Comparison of Mythic Characters
• H(ilda) D(oolittle) from Modern American Poetry

8. Rita Dove, “Parsley”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• Rita Dove from Modern American Poetry
• Rita Dove: “‘Looking Underneath’ History,” by Renee, H. Shea, (p. 9–13) from AP English Literature and Composition Classroom Resources

9. Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask
• On “We Wear the Mask” from Modern American Poetry  

10. Robert Frost, “After Apple Picking”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• On “After Apple Picking” from Modern American Poetry
• Spotlight on Robert Frost from Annenberg Learner, Voices and Visions

11. Robert Herrick, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• Carpe Diem: Poems for Making the Most of Time from American Academy of Poets
• Cavalier Lyrists: Robert Herrick from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature at Bartleby.com
• “To Virgins, to Make Much of Time” from Representative Poetry Online

12. A. E. Housman, “To an Athlete Dying Young”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• A. E. Housman from Victorian Web
• Death in Poetry: A.E. Housman's “To an Athlete Dying Young” and Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”
• “To An Athlete Dying Young” from the Housman Society

13. Robert Lowell, “For the Union Dead”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Academy of American Poets
• On “For the Union Dead” from Modern American Poetry  
• The Massachusetts 54th Regiment: Honoring the Heroes
• Spotlight on Robert Lowell from Annenberg Learner Voices and Visions 

14. Claude McKay, “If We Must Die”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from Poetry Foundation  
• Constrained to Honor: A Discussion of “If We Must Die” (audio) from Poetry Foundation
• On “If We Must Die” by Modern American Poetry
• Protest, s.v. poetry, The Making of African American Identity: Vol. 3, 1917-1968, America in Class, from The National Humanities Center 

15. Edgar Allen Poe, “The Raven”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from Poetry Foundation  
• Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Biographers
• The Philosophy of Composition from Poetry Foundation  
• “The Raven”: Primary Source Set from Digital Public Library of America

16. Sylvia Plath, “Lady Lazarus”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• On “Lady Lazarus” from Modern American Poetry
• Spotlight on Sylvia Plath from Annenberg Learner Voices and Visions 
• Video: “Lady Lazarus” and the Received Form from the Academy of American Poets

17. Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• “My Papa’s Waltz” (audio) from the Academy of American Poets
• Theodore Roethke from Modern American Poetry

18. Wallace Stevens: “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• On “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” from Modern American Poetry
• Thirteen Ways of Reading a Modernist Poem
• Spotlight on Wallace Stevens from Annenberg Learner Voices and Visions 
• The Wallace Stevens Walk from the Academy of American Poets

19. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”

• The Poem (with audio option)
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• Alfred Tennyson's “Ulysses” from Victorian Web
• “Ulysses” from Representative Poetry Online

20. Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• Elegy and Eros: Configuring Grief from the Poetry Foundation
• Literature of the Civil War
• “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (1865) from the Whitman Archive

21. William Wordsworth, “The World is Too Much With Us”

• The Poem
• About the Poet from the Poetry Foundation
• Observations Prefixed to Lyrical Ballads (1800) from the Poetry Foundation
• William Wordsworth from Victorian Web
• Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes from Romantic Circles