2022
AP
®
English Literature
and Composition
Sample Student Responses
and Scoring Commentary
Inside:
Free-Response Question 1
• Scoring Guidelines
• Student Samples
• Scoring Commentary
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2022 Scoring Guidelines AP® English Literature and Composition
© 2022 College Board
Question 1: Poetry Analysis 6 points
In Richard Blanco’s poem “Shaving,” published in 1998, the speaker writes about the act of shaving. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written
essay, analyze how Blanco uses literary elements and techniques to develop the speaker’s complex associations with the ritual of shaving.
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.
AP® English Literature and Composition 2022 Scoring Guidelines
© 2022 College Board
Reporting
Category
Scoring Criteria
Row A
Thesis
(0–1 points)
0 points
For any of the following:
• There is no defensible thesis.
• The intended thesis only restates the prompt.
• The intended thesis provides a summary of the issue with no apparent or
coherent claim.
• There is a thesis, but it does not respond to the prompt.
1 point
Responds to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation
of the poem.
Decision Rules and Scoring Notes
Responses that do not earn this point:
• Only restate the prompt.
• Make a generalized comment about the poem that doesn’t respond to the
prompt.
• Describe the poem or features of the poem rather than making a claim that
requires a defense.
Responses that earn this point:
• Provide a defensible interpretation of the speaker’s complex associations
with the ritual of shaving.
Examples that do not earn this point:
Restate the prompt
• “The poet develops the complex associations with shaving through the use of
several literary techniques.”
• “In his poem ‘Shaving,’ published in 1998, Richard Blanco presents a speaker
that writes about the act of shaving and his complex relationship with it.”
Do not relate to the prompt
• “The loss of a parent is a difficult one, something that many people have to
deal with as they get older.”
Describe the poem or features of the poem
• “Blanco’s poem is made up of three stanzas that talk about shaving. He uses
figurative language to convey many of his ideas.”
Examples that earn this point:
Provide a defensible interpretation
• “In the 1998 poem ‘Shaving,’ Richard Blanco employs the literary technique
of stream of consciousness to show how the simple act of shaving inspires
complex associations with the father he barely knew.”
• “The poem links the speaker’s daily ritual of shaving new growth to the
cycles of regeneration in nature and then ultimately to his father, whom he
starts to see reborn in himself.”
• “Blanco uses vivid imagery and the presentation of the narrator’s thoughts
to reveal how the act of shaving connects the narrator to his father, who
seems to have died young, which then reminds the narrator of his own
mortality.”
Additional Notes:
• The thesis may be more than one sentence, provided the sentences are in close proximity.
• The thesis may be anywhere within the response.
• For a thesis to be defensible, the poem must include at least minimal evidence that could be used to support that thesis; however, the student need not cite
that evidence to earn the thesis point.
• The thesis may establish a line of reasoning that structures the essay, but it needn’t do so to earn the thesis point.
• A thesis that meets the criteria can be awarded the point whether or not the rest of the response successfully supports that line of reasoning.
AP® English Literature and Composition 2022 Scoring Guidelines
© 2022 College Board
Reporting
Category
Scoring Criteria
Row B
Evidence
AND
Commentary
(0–4 points)
0 points
Simply restates thesis (if
present), repeats
provided information, or
offers information
irrelevant to the prompt.
1 point
EVIDENCE:
Provides evidence that is
mostly general.
AND
COMMENTARY:
Summarizes the evidence
but does not explain how
the evidence supports the
student’s argument.
2 points
EVIDENCE:
Provides some specific, relevant
evidence.
AND
COMMENTARY:
Explains how some of the
evidence relates to the
student’s argument, but no line
of reasoning is established, or
the line of reasoning is faulty.
3 points
EVIDENCE:
Provides specific evidence to
support all claims in a line of
reasoning.
AND
COMMENTARY:
Explains how some of the
evidence supports a line of
reasoning.
AND
Explains how at least one
literary element or technique
in the poem contributes to its
meaning.
4 points
EVIDENCE:
Provides specific evidence to
support all claims in a line of
reasoning.
AND
COMMENTARY:
Consistently explains how the
evidence supports a line of
reasoning.
AND
Explains how multiple literary
elements or techniques in the
poem contribute to its meaning.
Decision Rules and Scoring Notes
Typical responses that
earn 0 points:
• Are incoherent or do
not address the
prompt.
• May be just opinion
with no textual
references or
references that are
irrelevant.
Typical responses that earn
1 point:
• Tend to focus on
summary or description of
the poem rather than
specific details or
techniques.
• Mention literary
elements, devices, or
techniques with little or
no explanation.
Typical responses that earn
2 points:
• Consist of a mix of specific
evidence and broad
generalities.
• May contain some simplistic,
inaccurate, or repetitive
explanations that don’t
strengthen the argument.
• May make one point well but
either do not make multiple
supporting claims or do not
adequately support more
than one claim.
• Do not explain the
connections or progression
between the student’s claims,
so a line of reasoning is not
clearly established.
Typical responses that earn
3 points:
• Uniformly offer evidence to
support claims.
• Focus on the importance of
specific words and details
from the poem to build an
interpretation.
• Organize an argument as a
line of reasoning composed
of multiple supporting
claims.
• Commentary may fail to
integrate some evidence or
fail to support a key claim.
Typical responses that earn
4 points:
• Uniformly offer evidence to
support claims.
• Focus on the importance of
specific words and details from
the poem to build an
interpretation.
• Organize and support an
argument as a line of reasoning
composed of multiple
supporting claims, each with
adequate evidence that is
clearly explained.
• Explain how the writer’s use of
multiple literary techniques
contributes to the student’s
interpretation of the poem.
Additional Notes:
• Writing that suffers from grammatical and/or mechanical errors that interfere with communication cannot earn the fourth point in this row.
• To earn the fourth point in this row, the response may observe multiple instances of the same literary element or technique if each instance further contributes
to the meaning of the poem.
AP® English Literature and Composition 2022 Scoring Guidelines
© 2022 College Board
Reporting
Category
Scoring Criteria
Row C
Sophistication
(0–1 points)
0 points
Does not meet the criteria for one point.
1 point
Demonstrates sophistication of thought and/or develops a complex literary
argument.
Decision Rules and Scoring Notes
Responses that do not earn this point:
• Attempt to contextualize their interpretation, but such attempts
consist predominantly of sweeping generalizations (“Human
experiences always include …” OR “In a world where …” OR “Since the
beginning of time …”).
• Only hint at or suggest other possible interpretations (“While another
reader may see …” OR “Though the poem could be said to …”).
• Make a single statement about how an interpretation of the poem
comments on something thematic without consistently maintaining
that thematic interpretation.
• Oversimplify complexities in the poem.
• Use complicated or complex sentences or language that is ineffective
because it does not enhance the student’s argument.
Responses that earn this point may demonstrate sophistication of thought or
develop a complex literary argument by doing any of the following:
1. Identifying and exploring complexities or tensions within the poem.
2. Illuminating the student’s interpretation by situating it within a broader context.
3. Accounting for alternative interpretations of the poem.
4. Employing a style that is consistently vivid and persuasive.
Additional Notes:
• This point should be awarded only if the sophistication of thought or complex understanding is part of the student’s argument, not merely a phrase or
reference.
Sample 1A
1 of 3
Sample 1A
2 of 3
Sample 1A
3 of 3
Sample 1B
1 of 2
Sample 1B
2 of 2
Sample 1C
1 of 1
AP
®
English Literature and Composition 2022 Scoring Commentary
© 2022 College Board.
Visit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org.
Question 1
Note: Student samples are quoted verbatim and may contain spelling and grammatical errors.
Overview
For Question 1, the poetry analysis question, students were asked to read Richard Blanco’s poem
“Shaving” and respond to the following prompt:
I
n Richard Blanco’s poem “Shaving,” published in 1998, the speaker writes about the act of
shaving. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Blanco uses
literary elements and techniques to develop the speaker’s complex associations with the
ritual of shaving.
In
a timed-writing situation and with an unfamiliar text, students were expected to complete three
tasks successfully. They were expected to:
• read the poem carefully,
•
a
nalyze the speaker’s complex associations with the ritual of shaving, and
•
w
rite a well-written response based on that analysis.
R
eading the poem involves more than simply understanding individual words and describing what
happens. Students were expected to view the text specifically as a poem, recognizing literary
elements and techniques used in the context of poetry, and then analyze how those techniques are
used to shape the poem and its meaning. For example, in “Shaving,” students might have noticed
the three-part structure of the poem; the repetition of “I” and “I am not shaving”; the use of similes;
the role of dashes and the type of content they highlight; or the length of the sentences, with lines
sometimes ending in commas (and sometimes not). They could also question the role of the father in
the poem and note that the poem, despite its title, is about more than “Shaving.”
A
nalyzing the poem means taking the relevant elements that students identified in their reading and
thinking about how the parts function collectively to create the meaning of the work as a whole. In
this case, students needed to consider how the identified elements develop the speaker’s complex
associations with the act of shaving. The word “complex” here reminds students to look for and
explore the shifting, contradictory, or paradoxical aspects of the poem. Identifying important aspects
of the poem and thinking through their relationship to the work as a whole leads students to a
defensible interpretation.
W
riting a well-written response means demonstrating a variety of skills. Students were asked to
establish a thesis that shows understanding of the speaker’s complex associations with the act of
shaving. They were asked to build this argument with specific, relevant evidence from the poem and
through their own commentary that explains the connection between their argument and the
evidence. The more successful responses built a line of reasoning that connects ideas and shows the
relationships between them. A well-written response is more than grammatically correct writing, and
it should be noted that students were not expected in the timed-writing situation to write a polished,
revised essay.
AP
®
English Literature and Composition 2022 Scoring Commentary
© 2022 College Board.
V
isit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org.
Question 1 (continued)
Sample: 1A
Score: 1-4-1
Ro
w A: Thesis (0–1 points): 1
The response earned the point in Row A through its presentation of a defensible thesis, located at
the
beginning of the essay: “In Richard Blanco’s ‘Shaving,’ the elaborate use of similes and the idea
of shaving itself as a metaphor for fatherly traces in the narrator’s memories portrays that life is
fragile and silently slips by, just like the miniscule unperceivable growth of whiskers or a beard, and
that while such changes are often overlooked, one instance in life can allow one to perceive such
changes, as those are essential to the identity of an individual.” The thesis is insightful and presents
a complex interpretation of the poem.
Row
B: Evidence and Commentary (0–4 points): 4
The evidence and commentary in this essay build a line of reasoning around the idea of the passage
o
f time and how shaving connects to it. The response provides a wide range of specific evidence and
examines Blanco’s use of several literary techniques in order to build this interpretation. The essay
analyzes Blanco’s simile comparing “the formation of the beard” to “‘silent labor, ... like ocean steam
rising to form clouds, or the bloom of spiderwebs each morning’” and comments that this figurative
language “serves to portray such growth of hair as unperceivable.” The same paragraph describes
Blanco’s depiction of “the circulation of water from the ocean to the sky” as “a symbol for the
passage of time and the idea of aging and life.” The response shifts from an examination of the
“ethereal and calm perception of hair growth to the sudden death of the father,” which is developed
through a consideration of the image of “‘tiny snips of black whiskers swirling in the drain—dead
pieces of the self.’” The response comments on this evidence with the argument that “the act of
shaving acts as a symbol of combatting with the continual nature of time.” The essay points out the
irony of the narrator’s father’s death, “caused by the unperceivable passage of time,” and argues that
the act of shaving “not only acts as a reminder of the father’s death, but also of the impermanance of
life and how even the slow growth of hair—like the slow progression of time—can be halted
instantly.” The essay further argues that Blanco’s description of shaving is an extended metaphor
“for the ability to reflect and ‘stop’ one’s perception of time” and presents the use of eyes as
synecdoche, “as eyes are typically associated with perception and perspective.” The student also
astutely notes that in stanza 3, the “repetition of the same similes as stated in the beginning of the
poem indicate that to the narrator, the act of shaving brings him back to the past, where everything
seemed calm and tranquil” and “acts as an indication of the cyclical nature of life.” Consistent and
perceptive commentary clearly connects the student’s apt choices of specific evidence to the thesis
and develops the line of reasoning. This response earned 4 points in Row B.
Row
C: Sophistication (0–1 points): 1
The response addresses the complexities and tensions within the poem and employs a consistently
p
ersuasive style as evidenced in this sentence found in the conclusion: “The fact that shaving can, in
a ‘split second’ revert the narrator to where ‘roses drink and clouds form’ indicates the power of the
act of shaving to seemingly stop the passage of time and allow the narrator to reflect on him self.”
The essay earned the sophistication point in Row C.
AP
®
English Literature and Composition 2022 Scoring Commentary
© 2022 College Board.
V
isit College Board on the web: collegeboard.org.
Question 1 (continued)
Sample: 1B
Score: 1-3-0
Ro
w A: Thesis (0–1 points): 1
This essay responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis presented in the introductory paragraph:
“Al
though slightly saddened by his father’s death, he [the speaker] becomes understanding about
how quickly things vanish right before us.” This response earned the point in Row A.
Ro
w B: Evidence and Commentary (0–4 points): 3
The essay provides specific evidence, and the commentary explains how some of that evidence
s
upports a line of reasoning that focuses on the ephemeral nature of life. In paragraph 2, the
response considers lines from stanza 1 of the poem and argues that they demonstrate “that the
growth of hair is something that happens right before our eyes, but it is a process so quiet, we do not
often realize it.” Paragraph 3 concentrates on the significance of Blanco’s use of the line
‘“remembers him in a masquerade of foam’”; the student argues that the line “shows that the speaker
is reminiscent of his father, and only recently realizes how quickly his life passed before him” and
“alludes to the speaker having the regret of not realizing how quickly good things can vanish.” In
paragraph 4, the response suggests, “The speaker, however, comes out enlightened” and uses the
lines “‘most understand(s) the invisibility of life’” and “‘the intensity of vanishing’” as evidence of
this enlightenment. The essay concludes with the argument that “the speaker has also come to terms
with his father’s passing.” The commentary provided throughout the essay, while apt, is also terse; a
line of reasoning is established, but the student does not explain how all of the evidence supports it.
The essay contains implicit references to imagery and flashbacks; however, it does not address
specific literary elements found in the poem. This response earned 3 points in Row B.
Row C: Sophistication (0–1 points): 0
This response did not meet the criteria for the point in Row C because it oversimplifies the
co
mplexities in the poem: “This also establishes the theme of the poem, that things can occur &
disappear without a moment’s hesitation or single notice.” Additionally, the student’s attempt to
situate the interpretation within a broader context (“In real life, things often come & go, often times
so fast, we do not even notice”) falls into the realm of sweeping generalization.
Sample: 1C
Score: 1-1-0
Ro
w A: Thesis (0–1 points): 1
The thesis for this essay is found at the beginning of the response: “In Richard Blanco’s poem
‘
Shaving’, Blanco uses literary elements and techniques such as metaphor in order to show us how
fast life passes and the changes that occurs without even realizing it. Some times, we focus too much
on doing something that we don’t even pay attention to the things that we have at the moment.
Forgetting that one day we can loose it.” The thesis presents a defensible interpretation and,
therefore, earned the point in Row A.
Ro
w B: Evidence and Commentary (0–4 points): 1
The response offers slight evidence and simplistic commentary. No line of reasoning is established.
T
he response presents one piece of evidence which consists of lines 3–9 of the poem, and while the
AP
®
English Literature and Composition 2022 Scoring Commentary
Question 1 (continued)
essay identifies a metaphor within the lines, no explanation of the specific metaphor or its
s
ignificance is provided. The commentary puts forth generalizations such as “This evidence reveals
that things can change from one day to another, some times what we see as a normality can turn into
something unsual or unexpected for you and many other people.” The essay also contends that
“when you are doing something that you really enjoy, you lose track of time and don’t even have
time to check on and ask about other people lives,” but this point seems tangentially related to the
thesis. This essay earned 1 point in Row B.
Row C
: Sophistication (0–1 points): 0
This response did not earn the sophistication point in Row C because it oversimplifies complexities
i
n the poem; for example, “when you concentrate too much on your own things you don’t care about
other people business.” The essay does not demonstrate sophistication of thought or develop a
complex literary argument.
© 2022 College Board.
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College Board on the web: collegeboard.org.
