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📚AP English Literature
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📚AP English Literature

FRQ 1 – Poetry Analysis
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Each FRQ type tests specific skills taught in particular units. Here's why certain units appear for each question type:

This mapping reflects College Board's exam structure - each FRQ type tests specific skills that are taught in particular units.

Practice FRQ 1 of 491/49
1. In Sarojini Naidu's poem "To a Buddha Seated on a Lotus," published in 1905, the speaker addresses the Buddha and reflects on the human condition. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Naidu uses literary elements and techniques to convey the speaker's complex perspective on the divide between mortal suffering and divine peace.
In your response you should do the following:
  • Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation.
  • Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning.
  • Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
  • Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.
To a Buddha Seated on a Lotus
Lord Buddha, on thy Lotus-throne,
With praying eyes and hands elate,
What mystic rapture dost thou own,
Immutable and ultimate?
5
What peace, unravished of our ken1,
Annihilate from the world of men?
The wind of change for ever blows
Across the tumult of our way,
To-morrow's unborn griefs depose
10
The sorrows of our yesterday.
Dream yields to dream, strife follows strife,
And Death unweaves the webs of Life.
For us the travail2 and the heat,
The broken secrets of our pride,
15
The strenuous lessons of defeat,
The flower deferred, the fruit denied;
But not the peace, supremely won,
Lord Buddha, of thy Lotus-throne.
With futile hands we seek to gain
20
Our inaccessible desire,
Diviner summits to attain,
With faith that sinks and feet that tire;
But nought shall conquer or control
The heavenward hunger of our soul.
25
The end, elusive and afar,
Still lures us with its beckoning flight,
And all our mortal moments are
A session of the Infinite.
How shall we reach the great, unknown
30
Nirvana of thy Lotus-throne?
Source: Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, 1905
1 ken: range of knowledge or understanding
2 travail: painful or laborious effort
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Free Response Question Practice

This practice environment simulates the AP AP English Literature Free Response Questions section. Here are some guidelines:

  • Read each question carefully before responding. Pay attention to command verbs like "identify," "explain," "analyze," or "evaluate."
  • Use the timer to practice time management. You can pause, restart, or hide the timer as needed.
  • Mark for Review if you want to come back to a question later.
  • Your responses are saved automatically as you type. You can also use the drawing tool for questions that require diagrams or graphs.
  • Use the toolbar for formatting options like bold, italic, subscript, and superscript.
  • Navigate between questions using the Previous and Next buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Tip: Answer all parts of each question. Partial credit is often available, so even if you are unsure, provide what you know.