1) Who is the speaker and to whom is he addressing?
2) What is the dramatic context of the poem? (setting, time, place, situation)
3) What is the core theme of the poem? Are there any subtexts?
4) What is the speaker’s rhetorical stance (the speaker’s attitude or opinion)? What is the speaker’s motivation for writing the poem? For example, William Blake in “The Chimney Sweeper” writes poems that confront the child labor situation at that time in history (in England).
5) How does the language of the poem contribute to its meaning?” For example: How does the poet use diction or sentence structure/syntax? In Macbeth by Shakespeare ( written in iambic pentameter), he states, “Life’s but a walking shadow.” That’s a rather poetic way of saying, “Life is short.”
6) How is the poem organized? A sonnet? A villanelle? Free verse? Couplets? (refer to the Poetry Vocabulary list in the beginning of the course for help).
7) How do the patterns of rhyme, rhythm, or free verse impact the poem?
8) What is your response and reaction to the writing? A solid reflection on this increases your percentage.
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