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 favourite 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.
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 don't 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 16th century). An etymological
dictionary like the Oxford English Dictionary can help you find out more about
the history of a particular word.
Use an encyclopaedia or the Internet to look
up people and places mentioned in the poem. These allusions may be a key to the poet's 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 you've 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.
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 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 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)
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 speaker's 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?).
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 don't 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 poet's 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 doesn't
look rational from the outside, but it makes emotional sense.
A very controlled structure may tell you a
lot about the poet's 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?
6. SOUND AND RHYTHM
Poetry is rooted in music. You may have
learned to scan
poetry-to break it into
accented/unaccented syllables and feet per
line. There are different types of meter, like
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.
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 does 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 .
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. If you have specific
problems or poems to consider, come to The Learning Centre, speak to your
teacher, or ask at the library for books that will help.
***
Now that you have considered some of the key
elements of the poem, it is time to step back and decide what the poem means as a whole. To do this, 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? 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?
Step 1: Research
Research the author to understand the poem’s context. The period of time the author lived in and the author’s personal experiences often influence their writing.
Determine the form of the piece, whether it is a fixed poem that follows a specific structure or written in free verse.
TIP
Look for breaks in the form. Poets break a poem's form to emphasize a word or a line.
Read the poem and break down the meter, or the stressed and unstressed syllables of each line. Notice if stressed words have significance.
TIP
Read the poem several times, and take notes on particular words or phrases that stand out.
Identify how the poet uses devices of sound such as rhyme, repetition, assonance, and alliteration.
Look for devices of sense, such as figures of speech, metaphors, similes, visuals, and symbolism. Determine the meanings of these devices in the poem.
Determine the speaker of the poem, and the tone of the piece. Notice if the poet is speaking from personal experience or from another point of view.
Form a thesis, or an argument for the meaning of the poem using what you’ve observed.
