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    Poetry Analysis Guide-08

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    caffeine_cindy
    This document provides a guide for analyzing poems with 3 main sections: 1) Discovering the poem's meaning and theme by examining the title, reading the poem multiple times, and identifying the tone, subject, and key ideas. 2) Analyzing the poem's form and structure, including whether it follows a traditional style, its line and stanza structure, rhyme scheme, and meter. 3) Identifying poetic devices used, including sensory language, figurative devices like metaphor and personification, and sound devices like alliteration. The guide also recommends researching the poet's life and historical context.

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    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Poetry Analysis Guide-08

    Uploaded by

    caffeine_cindy
    8K views2 pages
    This document provides a guide for analyzing poems with 3 main sections: 1) Discovering the poem's meaning and theme by examining the title, reading the poem multiple times, and identifying the tone, subject, and key ideas. 2) Analyzing the poem's form and structure, including whether it follows a traditional style, its line and stanza structure, rhyme scheme, and meter. 3) Identifying poetic devices used, including sensory language, figurative devices like metaphor and personification, and sound devices like alliteration. The guide also recommends researching the poet's life and historical context.

    Original Description:

    Questions to guide students in explicating a poem

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    This document provides a guide for analyzing poems with 3 main sections: 1) Discovering the poem's meaning and theme by examining the title, reading the poem multiple times, and identifying the tone, subject, and key ideas. 2) Analyzing the poem's form and structure, including whether it follows a traditional style, its line and stanza structure, rhyme scheme, and meter. 3) Identifying poetic devices used, including sensory language, figurative devices like metaphor and personification, and sound devices like alliteration. The guide also recommends researching the poet's life and historical context.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    8K views2 pages

    Poetry Analysis Guide-08

    Uploaded by

    caffeine_cindy
    This document provides a guide for analyzing poems with 3 main sections: 1) Discovering the poem's meaning and theme by examining the title, reading the poem multiple times, and identifying the tone, subject, and key ideas. 2) Analyzing the poem's form and structure, including whether it follows a traditional style, its line and stanza structure, rhyme scheme, and meter. 3) Identifying poetic devices used, including sensory language, figurative devices like metaphor and personification, and sound devices like alliteration. The guide also recommends researching the poet's life and historical context.

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    Poetry Analysis Guide

    I. Meaning/Theme (and how to read your poem)


    Discover the poem's message to the reader--what was the poet really
    trying to communicate? Use the following questions to help you talk about the
    themes.

    1. Look at the title. What does it mean? How does it contribute to the overall
    meaning of the poem? Can you predict anything about the poem from the
    title?

    2. Read the poem silently and then aloud. Write down all the ideas or thoughts
    the poem gives you. Write down any questions you have about the poem.
    3. Pay attention to the punctuation and use it as you read: commas are a short
    pause, semi-colons are a major pause between connected ideas, colons signal
    something is coming, periods are a major stop, and a dash is an informal way
    of showing a connection between ideas. Read the poem aloud again,
    paying attention to the punctuation and how it influences meaning.
    4. Can you find more than one meaning in the poem?

    5. What is the tone of the poem? What is the speaker’s attitude towards the
    subject of the poem?
    6. What is the theme—what idea is the poet communicating about the subject?
    7. Paraphrase or summarize the poem in your own words. What are the key lines
    —the lines that contribute the most to the meaning of the poem?

    II. Pattern and Form

    1. Is the poem a traditional form or type, such as sonnet, ballad, pastoral, etc?

    2. How many lines does the poem have? Does the arrangement of lines have an
    effect on the meaning such as that in a sonnet?

    3. Rhyme scheme: Is the poem rhymed or unrhymed? If it is rhymed, are


    rhymed words at the ends of the lines or in the middle of the lines? Describe
    the rhyme scheme used, if any.

    4. Meter: When you read the poem, do you notice a particular rhythm or meter?
    Mark the rhythm. and decide if there is a regular pattern. How does the
    rhythm contribute to the meaning of the poem?

    III. Images and other poetic devices

    1. Poets use sensory language--words that appeal to our sight, smell, hearing,
    taste, and touch-- to enhance our experience.
    What words or phrases in the poem appeal to the senses? What effect do
    these words have on the overall effect of the poem?
    2. Words—Look at the connotation of certain key words in the poem. Do any of
    them have meanings beyond the literal meaning?
    Are there any words used in the poem that you will need to define for you
    classmates?

    3. Does the poem contain any of the following poetic devices?

    Cynthia Sinsap The American School of Bangkok


    a. allusion--a reference in one piece of literature to a person, place, or event
    in history, art, or another piece of literature
    b. metaphor--a comparison between two objects without using the words
    "like" or "as." An example is, "A summer is a dark blue hammock slung
    between two pillars of day."
    c. personification--a figure of speech which endows animals, ideas, or
    inanimate objects with human traits or abilities. An example is, "Fog
    nestled sleeping in the valley."If personification appears in this poem,
    identify which human traits are applied to what non-human thing. What
    effect does this have on the reader?
    d. paradox--a statement that seems contradictory yet it is true. An example
    is, "To be great is to be misunderstood" or "Good men must not obey laws
    too well."
    e. simile--a comparison between two objects using words such as "like," "as,"
    or "than." An example is, "The big ram had horns curling like a morning
    glory vine."
    f. symbolism
    g. hyperbole or other devices?

    4. See if the poem contains any of the following sound devices.


    a. alliteration--the repetition of initial consonant sounds like "blooms and
    blows" or "merriment their melody" OR are consonance or assonance
    used?
    b. onomatopoeia--the use of words that imitate sounds like "tinkle, snicker,
    clattered, sizzle"
    c. repetition of words or lines

    III. The Poet


    Read about the life of the poet. Is there anything in the poet’s life that connects
    directly to the poem, a specific event or a person? How does the poem reflect the
    time period in which it was written?

    Please note that these points are NOT necessarily in the order in
    which you should write about them! This is a guide for you to
    gather your ideas and information about the poem.

    Cynthia Sinsap The American School of Bangkok

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