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Reading and Analyzing Poetry  <http://www.readingmatrix.com/reading/reading_literature.html#analyzing>

Students often claim that they don't read poetry because they dislike it, they don't understand it, and in some cases, even fear it. For the most part, this is because they have a very traditional idea of what poetry is. Another reason students avoid reading poetry is because they have not developed the strategies that can help make sense of poetry. The following guidelines will help you to better understand poetry, and perhaps even develop an appreciation for poetry.

Initial Reading
Read a poem with a pencil in your hand. You should write in the margins; react to it; get involved with it. Circle important, striking, or repeated words. Underline difficult or confusing words, lines, and passages. Try to read through the poem several times both silently and out loud. Remember, poetry is 'written song'. Reading the poem aloud will also enable you to notice things you may not otherwise recognize.

Examining the Subject of the Poem

Consider the title of the poem carefully. What does it tell you about the poem's subject, tone, and genre? You might make a prediction about the poem based on the title. After having read the poem, you will want to come back to the title in order to consider further its relationship with the poem. What is your initial impression of the poem's subject? Try writing out an answer to the question, "What is this poem about?"-and then return to this question throughout your analysis. This is a very important question and you must return to it again and again and this will assist you with theme and content. You must also consider some basic elements such as characters, setting, and point of view? What is the author's attitude toward his or her subject? Is it serious? Satiric? Ambivalent? Hostile? Humorous? Detached? Witty? What is the poem's basic situation? What is going on in it? Who is talking and to whom? Under what circumstances? Is it a dialogue, a monologue, or a letter? What is the narrative structure of the poem? Are there flashbacks? Is a story being told? Where? About what? Is something--tangible or intangible--being described? Once you have considered these questions, try to identify what in the poem helps you to answer these questions. In other words, what specifically can you point to in the poem to support your answers?

Because a poem is highly compressed, it may help you to try to unfold it by paraphrasing the poem aloud, moving line by line through it. If the poem is written in sentences, can you figure out what the subject of each one is? The verb? Try to unravel any complex sentence structures. Is the poem built on a comparison or analogy? If so, how is the comparison appropriate? How are the two things alike? How different? Does the poem appeal to a reader's intellect? Emotions? Reason? How does the poem affect you as a reader?

Considering and Analyzing the Context of the Poem

Remember, literary works are not created in a vacuum. When someone writes something, he or she does so in a context. This context includes the writer's feelings, beliefs, past experiences, goals, needs, and physical environment. Context therefore influences the writer. You might want to consider broader contexts such as biographical socio-cultural, political, psychological, and historical contexts for example. Are there any allusions to other literary or historical figures or events? How do these add to the poem? How are they appropriate? At what time period was this written? Where? What events were taking place at that time? What was society like at that time? What do you know about this poet? About the age in which he or she wrote this poem? About other works by the same author?

Understanding the Form of the Poem

Consider the sound and rhythm of the poem. Is there a metrical pattern? If so, how regular is it? Does the poet use rhyme? What do the meter and rhyme emphasize? Is there any alliteration? Assonance? Onomatopoeia? How do these relate to the poem's meaning? What effect do they create in the poem? Are there divisions within the poem that might be marked by stanzas or by shifts in subject? Consider the narrative structure of the poem. Does perspective shift? Do the above parts relate to each other? How are they appropriate for this poem? How are the ideas in the poem ordered? Is there a progression of some sort? From simple to complex? From past to present? From one place or setting to another? Is there a clear beginning, middle and end? Is there a climax of any sort? What are the form and genre of this poem? What should you expect from such a poem? How does the poet use the form? Also remember that a writer may choose to use a particular form because it best helps him/her to get the overall message or theme of the poem across. Form and meaning can therefore have an important relationship.

Examining Word Choice of the Poem

A good poet uses language very carefully; as a good reader you in turn must be equally sensitive to the implications of word choice. Even if you are only the slightest bit unsure about the meaning of a word, look it up in a good dictionary. If you are reading poetry written before the twentieth century, learn to use the Oxford English Dictionary, which can tell you how a word's definition and usage have changed over time. Be sure that you determine how a word is being used--as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb--so that you can find its appropriate meaning. Also consider various possible meanings of a word and be alert to subtle differences between words. What mood is evoked in the poem? How is this accomplished? Consider the ways in which not only the meanings of words but also their sound and the poem's rhythms help to create its mood. Is the language in the poem abstract or concrete? How is this appropriate to the poem's subject? Are there any consistent patterns of words? For example, are there several references to flowers, or water, or politics, or religion in the poem? Look for groups of similar words. Does the poet use figurative language? Are there metaphors in the poem? Similes? Is there any personification? Consider the appropriateness of such comparisons. Try to see why the poet chose a particular metaphor as opposed to other possible ones. Is there a pattern of any sort to the metaphors? Try to identify as many literary devices as possible and consider how these devices where used to help get the writer's message across to you. You may wish to consult a Glossary of Literary Terms as well.

Reading Short Stories and Novels

Becoming familiar with the terminology used to describe the parts of a story/novel may assist you in better understanding the story itself.

Short Story and Novel Elements

PLOT
Plot is the sequence of incidents or events which comprise a story. Most plots have a number of common features:

Protagonist: the central character in the conflict
Antagonist: the force(s) or people against the protagonist
Conflict: The story begins with some problem or conflict.

There are four types of conflict:

1. character versus nature
2. a character versus other characters
3. a character versus a social or economic situation
4. a character versus him/herself

Exposition: introduces the characters, the setting, and the situation

Initial incident: the first happening that sets the main characters in action

Rising action: the series of happenings in the story that build suspense

Climax: the point of highest interest or excitement in the story that will determine how everything turns out

Falling action: the events after the climax

Denouement/Resolution: the resolution of the conflict, for better or worse, or by beingaccepted or seen in a different way. Sometimes there is a happy ending and sometimes a sad one, depending on the author's view of reality and the point he/she is trying to make.

CHARACTER

1.Characterization: The author can describe a character in a number of ways:

1. tell the reader directly
2. by the character's actions
3. by the character's words
4. by what the character says about himself
5. by what other characters do or say

2. Character Types

1. Round character: A round character has many traits, and it could take a full essay to fully analyze and describe the character.
2. Flat character: We don't learn much about a flat character, so he/she can be summed up in a sentence or two.

POINT OF VIEW
This refers to the perspective of the narrator

1. Omniscient: the narrator can see into the minds of all characters; written in third person
2. Limited Omniscient: the narrator can see into the mind of one or more characters (but not all of them); written in third person
3. First Person: the narrator is a character in the story; written in first person
4. Objective: the narration is like a camera and records only what it sees; written in third person

THEME
This is the controlling purpose or central idea of the story. The theme of a story dramatizes an idea and it is usually expressed as a statement. Usually stories have two purposes: to entertain or to dramatize a statement about life or the human experience. Sometimes a theme can be a lesson or moral of a story. Remember, that some stories are simply meant to entertain and therefore not all stories have a theme.

General Reading Strategies <http://www.readingmatrix.com/reading/reading_strategies.html>

Reading strategies indicate how readers conceive of a task, how they make sense of what they read, and what they do when they don't understand. Such strategies are used by the reader to enhance reading comprehension and overcome comprehension failure. We use reading strategies so that we are more effective and efficient as readers. The following is a list of some reading behaviors or reading strategies successful readers use when reading.