How To Analyse Poetry

[WriterAtTheSea]

It's not at all obvious to a lot of people. Sad but true.

Analysing a poem without reading it aloud is like analysing a symphony from the manuscript - you miss so much.

You have a VALID point. We should keep in mind that often poetry was written to be performed or read aloud. It is enormously helpful in finding its interpretation.

[dyingflame]

It's not at all obvious to a lot of people. Sad but true.

Analysing a poem without reading it aloud is like analysing a symphony from the manuscript - you miss so much.

what about the critical appreciation part of my upcoming a level exam? I will have an unseen poem to crit- and if I read it aloud I get thrown out of my exam room! And no, I don't want to whisper. I think that reading a poem silently gives a slightly different take on it, that's all- a take which is not very technical in terms of rhythm etc but more general and personal.

[Anthony Furze]

Aaaaah the voices in the head...if you ve read alot of poetry, and more importantly heard a lot of poetry, you ll get a voice in the head to read any poem to you.

Note it very carefully-is it the voice of someone you know?

What sort of voice is it?

Then think: why this voice?

It may help with response. Id recommend you practice,dyingflame, before your unseen.

All the best and good luck!

[Lily Adams]

I was taught TP-CASTT.

Title: Ponder the title before reading the poem

Paraphrase: Translate the poem into your own words

Connotation: Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal level

Attitude: Observe both the speaker’s and the poet’s attitude (tone).

Shifts: Note shifts in speakers and attitudes

Title: Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level

Theme: Determine what the poet is saying

To analyze tone, my teacher taught me DIDLS!

Carefully observe the passage's

Diction
Imagery
Details
Language
Syntax

That could also be used for short stories, etc. but I love the way it sounds. We did DIDLS in English today, mommy!

[sea moraine]

here's some steps you could follow =)

1. find the prose statement, or the literal interpretation of what the poem is trying to convey.

2. paraphrase each stanza into simpler wording (or a more prose-style)

3. determine character, tone, setting, plot - and analyze them (what they're trying to demonstrate)

4. search for technical judgements (ie. schemes, tropes, sound values, sound patterns, diction, rhyme, form, structure)

5. find the biographical information of the author and see how it applies to the poem (or explains a possible reason why the author might have written about a particular theme)

[Anthony Furze]

How about we do an example poem, to show how it works?

[ktd222]

Oh that's too much! You're making reading poetry seem like homework. When I read a poem there is no set list I follow which delves me into the poem. It's whatever peculiarities about the poem strikes me first. I go from there. Not all the of what's mentioned on those lists are needed to understand what's happening in a poem. And like I say if it seems like homework, then my dog ate it.

[sea moraine]

well i guess in high school, analyzing/reading poetry is pretty much homework which shouldn't be the way poetry is treated at all, but i guess the teachers never really think of it that way do they =3

[ktd222]

well i guess in high school, analyzing/reading poetry is pretty much homework which shouldn't be the way poetry is treated at all, but i guess the teachers never really think of it that way do they =3

Well I guess in a school setting the purpose is to teach students to identifying theme, subject, tone, etc. And I guess in that respect - what a better learning source than poetry - because it requires you to read so carefully, if students are able to identify such things in poems, they can pretty much extrapolate that knowledge over to any other written medium, since in poetry each word and word order can carry so much meaning that if one can identify such things in poems, they should have no trouble identifying such things in other written sources.
It's just when I read a poem with the purpose of checking off things on a list, I get bored halfway and quite. That is not the way to read poetry in my view.

[chasestalling]

don't unless one plans to make a career out of it.

[kilted exile]

Ok, this is related to another discussion in the "dream deferred" thread about needing to know historical/cultural details to understand the full meaning of a poem. To me this would seem to be one of the most important things to know with regards to understanding any work. A couple of examples would be "Out of Avernus" by Crichton Smith & "address from Beelzebub" by Burns.

Due to Smith's work still being under copyright I cant post the poem in its entirity, however I will post some parts of it (from ASLS website around 7/8ths of way down the page)

And now I bear

my quivering leaf
as an angel might
on the new found earth

or the gift of a rose.
So out of the gross
dark of Avernus

I freely bear
my gift of a leaf

from my renaissance
this light bright leaf.

Now this poem refers to the end of the poets mental illness, although it works on other levels as well. My point is that without knowing that Avernus was a lake that the Romans believed led to Hades and the Underworld the imagery is not as strong.

With regards to Burn's poem, here, I think it is also necessary to understand the way the Scottish social structure was at the time to understand the meaning of this poem.

[Virgil]

Ok, this is related to another discussion in the "dream deferred" thread about needing to know historical/cultural details to understand the full meaning of a poem. To me this would seem to be one of the most important things to know with regards to understanding any work.

I agree Kilt. Most people find poetry to be baffling, but really what they are usually missing is the full context of the poet. Poetry is a much more personal art, and one can't help not explaining. The explanation would ruin the poem.

[deflux]

Geez, how to analyze poetry? Haha there must be thousands of ways of doing so. Well, what I do is read the poem over and over and annotate my opinions of things i see. I usually go over each stanza one by one and look for any symbols that i may be missing.

[ktd222]

I agree Kilt. Most people find poetry to be baffling, but really what they are usually missing is the full context of the poet. Poetry is a much more personal art, and one can't help not explaining. The explanation would ruin the poem.

What? Explanations do not ruin a poem, any poem. It is a way see the poet at work.

[Virgil]

What? Explanations do not ruin a poem, any poem. It is a way see the poet at work.

ktd, I was referring to the poet explaning inside the poem. The absence of giving full details within the poem is why it seems to baffle readers.