Rachelle Chew

HOW TO ANALYZE A POEM 1. TO BEGIN Read the poem all the way through at least twice. Read it aloud. Listen to it. Poetry is related to music, so the sound is important. You listen to your favorite CDs many times; the principle is the same. It takes time to fully appreciate and understand a work of art. Make a note of your first impressions or immediate responses, both positive and negative. You may change your mind about the poem later, but these first ideas are worth recording. Read through at least twice. You will have to read a poem multiple times before even attempting to approach it for deeper meanings. Give yourself a chance to thoroughly and fully experience the poem. 2. LITERAL MEANING AND THEME Before you can understand the poem as a whole, you have to start with an understanding of the individual words. Get a good dictionary. Look up, and write down, the meanings of: words you dont know words you sort of know any important words, even if you do know them. Maybe they have more than one meaning (ex. bar), or maybe they can function as different parts of speech (ex. bar can be a noun or a verb). If the poem was written a long time ago, maybe the history of the word matters, or maybe the meaning of the word has changed over the years (jet did not mean an airplane in the 16thcentury). An etymological dictionary like the Oxford English Dictionary can help you find out more about the history of a particular word. Use an encyclopedia or the Internet to look up people and places mentioned in the poem. These allusions may be a key to the poets attitudes and ideas. As you pay attention to the literal meanings of the words of the poem, you may see some patterns emerging. These patterns may relate to the diction of the poem: does the poet use street talk or slang, formal English, foreign language phrases, or jargon? Your goal, now that youve understood the literal meanings, is to try to determine the theme of the poem the purpose the poet has in writing this poem, the idea he wants to express. In order to discover the theme, however, you need to look at the poem as a whole and the ways the different parts of the poem interact. Be open to interpretation. Give it a chance. For example, William Carlos Williams poem The Red Wheelbarrow is often dismissed as cryptic, confusing, and ultimately unknowable. But being open to the poets intentions can lead you to some interesting ideas and questions (in this case, what is important to life? Why has the poet written the poem? What are they trying to say? What ideas are they using? Is it an emotional response to something thats happened? Is it trying to get an emotional response from the reader? Is it portraying a message or opinion on a subject or event?

When was the poem written? What were the historical, political, philosophical, and social issues of that time? Does that change your understanding of the poems theme? Did poets during that time period follow particular style? Is the poem consistent with the literary conventions of that era? How is it inconsistent? 3. TITLE Start your search for the theme by looking at the title of the poem. It was probably carefully chosen. What information does it give you? What expectations does it create? (For example, a poem called The Garden of Love should cause a different response from the one called The Poison

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Tree.)Does the title tell you the subject of the poem (ex. The Groundhog)? Does the title label the poem as a specific literary type? (ex. Ode to Melancholy; Sonnets at Christmas) If so, you should check what characteristics such 2 forms have and discuss how the poet uses the rules. Is the title an object or event that becomes a key symbol? (see Language and Imagery) Dont forget to take this into consideration. Readers often skip over a poems title, which may contain important clues for understanding the piece. Often the title is an introduction that can guide you; for example, Langston Hughes Mother to Son immediately lets you know who the speaker of the poem is and to whom she is speaking. 4. TONE Next you might consider the tone. Who is peaking? Listen to the voice. ? Is it a man or a woman? Someone young or old? Is any particular race, nationality, religion, etc. suggested? Does the voice sound like the direct voice of the poet speaking to you, expressing thoughts and feelings? Is a separate character being created, someone who is not necessarily like the poet at all (a persona)? Is the speaker addressing someone in particular? Who or what? Is the poem trying to make a point, win an argument, move someone to action? Or is it just expressing something without requiring an answer (ex. A poem about spring may just want to express joy about the end of winter, or it may attempt to seduce someone, or it may encourage someone to go plough in a field. What is the speakers mood? Is the speaker angry, sad, happy, cynical? How do you know? This is all closely related to the subject of the poem (what is the speaker talking about?) and the theme (why is the speaker talking about this? What is the speaker trying to say about this subject?). Who is the speaker? Remember not to confuse the poet with the speaker of the poem. More often than not, the speaker is a character, just like in a novel or a play. Determining who the speaker is will help you approach the work more easily. What is the subject of the poem? Who is speaking? Who is the narrator speaking to? What are the different emotions and feelings of the narrator or poet? What is the mood or atmosphere of the poem (e.g. sad, angry, etc.)? How has the poet used different poetic techniques to show these attitudes and feelings?

Is the speaker the poet or a specific persona? How is the speaker involved in the poem? Is the speaker an omniscient narrator or casual observer? Does the speaker refer to himself/ herself in the 1st person? Is the speaker from an identifiable time period? How does knowing the historical context of the poem change your understanding of the speakers attitude? How is the tone of the poem developed through the language used to create imagery? How does diction influence the understanding of the tone? Does the tone change as the poem progresses? Is it consistent at the beginning and ending of the poem? 5. STRUCTURE How is the poem organized? How is it divided up? Are there individual stanzas or numbered sections? What does each section or stanza discuss? How are the sections or stanzas related to each other? (Poems dont usually jump around randomly; the poet probably has some sort of organization in mind, like steps in an argument, movement in time, changes in location or viewpoint, or switches in mood.) If there are no formal divisions, try breaking down the poem sentence by sentence, or line by line. The poets thinking process may not be absolutely logical, but there is probably an emotional link between ideas. For example, you might ask a friend to pass mustard for a hotdog and suddenly be reminded of a summer romance and a special picnic. It doesnt look rational from the outside, but it makes emotional sense. A very controlled structure may tell you a lot about the poets attitude toward the subject. Is it a very formal topic? Is the poet trying to get a grip on something chaotic? A freer poetic form is also worth examining. What is appropriate or revealing about the lack of structure?

Rachelle Chew
What is the conflict or point of tension in the poem? Is there an external or internal conflict? Physical, spiritual, moral, philosophical, social, etc? How is the tension in that conflict developed with poetic elements? Is it resolved? Structure: Does the poem follow a formal poetic structure such as a sonnet, haiku, sestina, ode, blues poem, etc.? If so, what are the characteristics of that form? How does it deviate from that form? Stanza and Lines: Are stanzas and lines consistently the same length? Do they follow a particular pattern? Are there any stanzas, lines, words, or that diverge from the pattern? Rhyme Scheme: Does the poem follow an identifiable rhyme scheme corresponding to a specific poetic form? What kind of rhyme is used internal or end rhyme, slant or true rhyme, etc.? Is it consistent or scattered throughout? If not, where does the rhyme change or appear and why? What is the overall purpose or effect of the rhyme scheme? Enjambment: How are lines broken? Are they broken before a grammatical or logical completion of a thought to create an enjambment? Or are they end-stopped, breaking after the completion of a sentence or other grammatical pauses? How does the use of enjambment create a duality of meaning in the lines? Verbs: Are verbs active or passive? What tense does the poet use? Is it consistent? How does tense consistency (inconsistency) affect the passage of time within the poem? Sentence Structure: Does the poet use complete sentences, fragments, or a combination of both? Is there a pattern? How does the poets sentence choices contribute to the understanding of the poem? Within the sentence, is the word order natural or grammatically irregular? Punctuation: How is punctuation used or not used? Is it consistent with grammatical conventions? What effect does the punctuation create on how the poem is read? How does it affect the speed? Where are the pauses? Does the poet use italics, bold fonts, dashes, or any other uncommon fonts or punctuation devices? If so, why? 6. SOUNDS AND RHYTHM Poetry is rooted in music. You may have learned to scan poetry-to break it into accented/unaccented syllables and meter line. There are different types of meter, like 3 iambic pentameter, which is a 5-beat line with alternating unaccented and accented syllables. You can use a glossary of literary terms to find a list of the major types of meter. Not all poems, however, will have a strict meter. What is important is to listen to the rhythm and the way it affects the meaning of the poem. Just like with music, you can tell if a poem is sad or happy if you listen carefully to the rhythm. Also, heavily stressed or repeated words give you a clue to the overall meaning of the poem. Does the poem use "special effects" to get your attention? Some words take time to pronounce and slow the reader down (ex. "the ploughman homeward plods his weary way" echoes the slow plodding pace). Other words can hurry the reader along (ex. "run the rapids"). If you are unfamiliar with the terms alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia, you can look them up and see if they apply to your poem-but naming them is less important than experiencing their effect on the work you are examining. Does your poem rhyme? Is there a definite rhyme scheme(pattern of rhymes)? How does this scheme affect your response to the poem? Is it humorous? Monotonous? Childish like a nursery rhyme? Are there internal rhymes (rhymes within the lines instead of at the ends)? If you read the poem aloud, do you hear the rhymes? (They could be there without being emphasized.) How does the use of rhyme add to the meaning? Certain poetic forms or structures are supposed to follow specific "rules" of rhyme and meter (ex. sonnets or villanelles). If you are studying a poem of this type, ask yourself if the poet followed the rules or broke them-and why. Different parts of a poem may have different sounds; different voices may be speaking, for example. There are lots of possibilities. No matter what, though, the sound should enforce the meaning.

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7. LANGUAGE AND IMAGERY Every conclusion you have drawn so far has been based on the language and imagery of the poem. They have to be; that's all you have to go on. A poem is only words, and each has been carefully chosen. You began by making sure you understood the dictionary meanings of these words (their denotative meaning). Now you have to consider their visual and emotional effects, the symbols and figures of speech (the connotative meaning). Look for the concrete pictures, or images, the poet has drawn. Consider why these particular things have been chosen. If an owl is described, does that set up a mood, or a time of day? If a morning is called "misty", what specific effects do that have? Are certain patterns built up, clusters of words that have similar connotations? For example, descriptions of buds on trees, lambs, and children are all pointing toward a theme involving spring, youth and new birth. Symbolism is also often used in a poem. A symbol is an event or a physical object (a thing, a person, a place) that represents something non-physical such as an idea, a value, or an emotion. For example, a ring is symbolic of unity and marriage; a budding tree in spring might symbolize life and fertility; a leafless tree in the winter could be a symbol for death. Poets use techniques and devices like metaphors, similes, personification, symbolism and analogies to compare one thing to another, either quickly and simply ("He was a tiger") or slowly over a stanza or a whole poem (an extended metaphor like this is called a conceit). Work out the details carefully. Which comparisons are stressed? Are they all positive? How are they connected? A description of birds flying could have any number of meanings. Are the birds fighting against the wind? Soaring over mountains? Circling a carcass? Pay close attention and pick up the clues. Poems, like music videos and movies, employ a series of images and symbols to build up mood and meaning. You need to take time to feel the mood and think about the meaning. There are no useless words. Poets select each and every word carefully. None should be dismissed. Images and symbols all have a purpose in the overall meaning of the poem. Structure (What form is it? Sonnet, narrative? Ballad, Lyric? How many stanzas? How many lines per stanza?) Syntax (What's the sentence structure like? Flowing? Choppy? Is there a regular rhyme scheme?) Lexis (What kind of language is in the poem? Language of death, love, courtship, war, revenge, etc.) Imagery (What images does the poet use? Similes, metaphors, etc.) Tone (What is the voice of the poet/narrator/persona like? Sad, happy, retrospective, introspective, elegiac? How does the poet do this?) What are the different poetic techniques that the poet has used to show the attitudes and feelings in the poem? How has the poet shown these feelings through form and structure (e.g. rhyme, rhythm, line length, stanza length, etc.)? How has the poet used poetic devices to show these feelings (e.g. metaphors, similes, caesura, enjambment, alliteration, juxtaposition, personification, etc.)?

Word Choice: How would you characterize the poets word choice? Is it formal, conversational? Does the poet use a specific dialect for the speaker? Meaning: What are the connotations and denotations of particular words? Are certain words repeated? Are they abstract or concrete, literal or metaphorical? Rhythm: Does the poem have an identifiable rhythm arranged in the meter (iambs, spondees, trochees, dactyls, etc)? How many syllables are in each line? Does it follow a pattern? What syllables

Rachelle Chew
are stressed and unstressed? How does alliteration, assonance, or consonance enhance the rhythm and musicality of the poem? Visuals and Sensory: Are the images literal or figurative, abstract or concrete? What sensory experiences are evoked? Are certain images repeated? Metaphor: Does the poet use metaphors to make comparisons and express images or abstract ideas? Is there an extended metaphor? What is the effect of the metaphors on the tone and theme of the poem? Symbolism: Are certain objects or actions developed in the imagery symbolic of an abstract idea? Do these symbols reoccur? Do they help to create an allegory? GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION: Pay attention to punctuation. Most poems use punctuation to help guide the voice of its reader. You need to pay attention because the end of a line is frequently not the end of a sentence. Consider these lines from Robert Frosts Birches: When I see birches bend to left and right Across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boys been swinging in them. If you stop reading or pause at the end of the first line, it will sound broken and unnatural. If you read smoothly through, pausing briefly at the comma and making a full stop at the period, the poem will have its proper conversational tone.

CONCLUSION: You need to synthesize (combine) the separate parts of your analysis into one main idea--your idea about what the poet is trying to say in this poem. What is the poet trying to say? How forcefully does he or she say it and with what feeling? Which lines bring out the meaning of the poem? Does the poet gradually lead up to the meaning of the poem or does he or she state it right at the beginning? How do you feel about the poem? How well does the poet get the message across in the poem? What is the impact of the poem on the reader (refer to the reader, rather than I when talking about the impact of the poem)? Are there any other ways the poem could be interpreted?

The last lines of a poem are usually important as they either emphasize or change the meaning of the poem. Is this so in the poem that you are analyzing?