Poetry Analysis Fact Sheet
BASIC DIRECTIONSTitle-- Ponder the title before reading
the poem
Paraphrase-- Translate the poem into your own words
Connotation-- Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the
literal
Attitude--Observe both the speaker and the poet attitude (tone).
Shifts-- Note shifts in speaker and in attitudes
Title-- Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive
level.
Theme --Determine what the poet is saying.
SPECIFIC SUMMARY ANALYSISTitle: Ponder the title before
reading the poem; predict what the poem may be "about."
Paraphrase: Translate the poem into your own words. Focus on one
syntactical unit at a time, not necessarily on one line at a time. Or
write a sentence or two for each stanza of the poem.
Connotation: Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the
literal. What do the words mean beyond the obvious? What are the
implications, the hints, the suggestions of these particular word choices?
Devices: Examine any and all poetic devices, focusing on how
such devices contribute to the meaning, the effect, or both, of a poem.
(What is important is not that you can identify poetic devices so much as
that you can explain how the devices enhance meaning and effect.)
Especially note anything that is repeated, either individual words or
complete phrases. Anything said more than once may be crucial to
interpretation.
Attitude: Observe both the speaker's and the poet's attitude
(tone). Diction, images, and details suggest the speaker's attitude and
contribute to understanding.
Shifts: Rarely does a poet begin and end the poetic experience
in the same place. As is true of most of us, the poet's understanding of
an experience is a gradual realization, and the poem is a reflection of
that epiphany. Trace the changing feelings of the speaker from the
beginning to end, paying particular attention to the conclusion. To
discover shifts, watch for the following: key words: but, yet, however,
although; punctuation: dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis; stanza and/or
line divisions: change in line or stanza length or both; irony: sometimes
irony hides shifts; effect of structure on meaning, how the poem is
"built"; changes in sound that may indicate changes in meaning; and
changes in diction: slang to formal language, for instance, or postive
connotation to negative; the crux, the one crucial part of the work that
stands out, perhaps presenting the complete idea all by itself.
Title: Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive
level.
Theme: In identifying theme, recognize the human experience,
motivation, or condition suggested by the poem. Use this theme chart:
PLOT: A summary of the "plot" or events of a poem written in
a short paragraph form
SUBJECT: Subjects of the poem are listed as words or phrases
THEME: After combining subjects where appropriate, write a
complete sentence identifying what idea the poet or speaker (narrator)
is conveying about each subject.
NOW THE POEM SHOULD BE CLEAR! WRITE THAT INTRODUCTORY
PARAGRAPH : Be sure to include the title, the author, an immediate
explanation of the speaker's position, any title significance, an overall
statement of "meaning," and a clear statement that answers every aspect of
the prompt.
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