ENGL 110- Discussion 2
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ReadingandAnalyzingPoetry-1.pptxReading and Analyzing Poetry
How to Read a Poem
With poetry in particular, because of its form and length, it is important to read closely and consider every part.
You will need to read a poem more than once to understand and interpret it.
Read the poem once to understand what is being said at the surface level.
Write a paraphrase of the poem. A line-by-line paraphrase in your own words will not only help you understand the poem, it will force you to read closely and pick up on significant elements of the poem.
Read the poem aloud. In order to appreciate the sound and rhythm of the poem, you need to hear it read aloud.
How to Read a Poem
Reread the poem and focus on these elements:
The speaker: Who is the speaker in the poem? Is there more than one speaker? What do you know about the speaker, including his or her beliefs and attitudes?
The words: Look up unfamiliar words and concepts. A dictionary will help you with words, but for historical references, for example, you will need to consult an encyclopedia. Also, pay attention to the language in the poem. What kind of tone is used? What kinds of words are chosen? In what unique ways are the ideas expressed?
The setting and situation: What is the setting? How is it described? How does the setting relate to the speaker and theme(s) in the poem? Is the setting symbolic? What is the situation in the poem (what is happening)?
The form: How is the poem laid out? Pay attention to the lines and stanzas (similar to paragraphs). A sonnet, for example, is one fourteen-line unit with ten-syllable lines.
The subject and theme: What is the poem about? And, what themes are explored?
Analyzing the Words and Language in Poetry
Syntax refers to the structure of the sentence and how the words are ordered in the sentence. It is important to pick up on unusual and unique structures. For example, line four in Blake’s “Infant Joy” is constructed so that the verb (“am”) is placed after the adjective: “I happy am.” How is the syntax here significant?
A metaphor directly speaks about a thing as though it were something else.
All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players.
A simile speaks about a thing being like/as something else.
I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o’er vales and hills.
Analyzing the Words and Language in Poetry
Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis.
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
An apostrophe is an address to a person or thing that is absent or cannot hear and respond.
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Analyzing the Words and Language in Poetry
Personification is speaking about inanimate objects or abstracts as though they are human (can see, hear, feel, etc.).
The morning comes to consciousness
Of faint stale smells of beer
Antithesis is contrast in words or ideas for emphasis or to create surprise.
A honey tongue, a heart of gall, / Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
Chiasmus is a crossed pattern in a sentence(s) created through contrast.
Ask not what your country can do for you –
ask what you can do for your country.
