Southern New Hampshire University
HUM-200: Applied Humanities
Module 1 Study Guide
Five Strategies for Analyzing a Poem
1. Don’t Be Intimidated
Experience the poem with an open mind.
Poetry is largely subjective and depends on the reader’s interpretation. Most good
poetry has that quality: It leaves something for the reader to interpret.
It is the reader’s job to adapt to the work in question – not for the work to adapt to
the reader. This is especially true if the poem is unusual, or from antiquity.
2. Read The Poem Aloud
Don’t try to understand a poem immediately – just let the words sink in. You
might bump into images, sounds, and ideas, but just concentrate on what’s there.
Don’t rip into the poem with an agenda.
Take note of what you don’t understand. That may include unfamiliar words,
shifts in the narrative, or parts of the poem that appear to be missing. You might
need to look up definitions and research the poet or the poem.
3. Establish Context
Poetry is not math. We’re not looking for “the answer” but instead are seeking to
be perceptive. How do we reach our interpretation of what the poem means or is
doing? By spending time with the poem, making new discoveries during a second
or third read, and understanding its context.
Try to locate the poem in terms of where and when it was written. If that
information isn’t provided, look for clues in the poem itself. Does the language
seem antiquated, like dialogue from a Shakespeare play, or does it feel more
modern? The better we can place a poem, the better of our chances
comprehending it.
4. Identify Key Aspects
Go back to the poem. Who is speaking? Who is the audience? Is there a message
that can be gleaned from a few prominent lines? Does the poet use repetition to
solidify ideas or phrases?
Do the stanzas (poetry’s paragraphs) or lines (poetry’s sentences) appear to be
connected? Does the poet use enjambment (running a line onto the next line or
even the next stanza) to keep the poem rolling?
5. Form An Impression
Assume that every choice in the poem is deliberate – that the poet meant to capitalize
this word or that one, that the spacing is intentional and the syntax (the sequence of
words) is too. Why make those choices? As readers, we are supposed to “land” on
certain moments?
Go back to the poem again and consider scribbling notes as you read. Start to piece
together your impressions. Remember that there are no right answers, but there may
be better answers. We learn by doing, and like anything else, analyzing poetry takes
practice.
Strategies for Listening to Music
1. Contextual Listening
Music is not created in a vacuum. Rather, it is very much a product of the cultural and
historical environment in which it was created. Contextualized listening invites the
listener to gather information about the genesis of the work and view it in light of that
information. Doing this can deepen your understanding, illuminate why the composer
used the chosen musical tools to create the sounds you are hearing, and alter your
perception of the piece. To do contextualized listening, some fact-finding is necessary. A
good way to start is by exploring a piece’s compositional, cultural, and historical contexts
while searching for the answers to the questions below.
Compositional Context
Who composed this work?
Why did the composer write this work?
Is the music meant to tell a story? If so, how does knowing the story influence
your interpretation of the music?
If the piece has lyrics, how do the lyrics and music work together to exert an
emotional impact?
Cultural Context
How does this work reflect the society in which it was written?
How was the piece shaped by the standards and technological limitations of its
time and place?
What was the impact of this piece at the time it was written?
Historical Context
Does this piece reflect a more general artistic movement? If so, which one,
and how?
Why has this piece withstood the test of time?
Was this piece fairly conventional for its time, or did it push boundaries?
Is this piece still relevant today? If so, how and why?
2. Analytic Listening
Play a song you really like right now. As you listen to the song, write down what it is
about the song you like. If the song has lyrics, perhaps they influence your opinion of the
song, but what else attracts you? Try to pinpoint exactly which elements appeal to you
and describe them as precisely as you can. What you may have noticed is that it can be
quite difficult to write about music without having the necessary vocabulary to identify
the elements of the music. Part of being able to listen on a deeper level requires
knowledge of some basic terminology that defines the fundamental elements of music.
Knowing how to describe musical elements can help you analyze the way music is
constructed. These six basic characteristics will you get started:
1. Timbre
This element of music describes the distinctive quality of a particular
instrument or voice. Timbre is how you can tell the difference between a
guitar and a piano or identify the voice of your mother versus that of your
sister over the phone.
2. Texture
Texture refers to the layers of musical sound. Most music has more than one
layer. Texture involves how many layers there are and how those layers are
functioning. Not every instrument or voice you hear is necessarily its own
layer. For example, the punk rock band Green Day has four members: a
vocalist/guitarist, a second guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer. In a typical
Green Day song, the vocalist/guitarist provides the melody with his voice,
which is the layer that most clearly draws our ears. The guitarists and the
bassist all play the harmony on their instruments, a second layer that supports
but does not distract from the melody. The drums (and to a certain extent, the
bass) provide an additional layer, the rhythm, that creates energy and drive.
3. Pitch
Pitch refers to the relative “highness” or “lowness” of a musical sound.
Understanding pitch helps when describing layers of music. Melody is a series
of pitches arranged in a linear fashion, one after the other, whereas harmony is
a series of pitches that occur simultaneously.
4. Rhythm
Rhythm has two meanings in music. At its most basic level, it refers to the
relative duration of a pitch. Therefore, all musical sounds have rhythm
because they all exist in time. In the vernacular use of the term, rhythm more
commonly refers to a rhythmic pattern. Often the simplest rhythmic patterns
are the most memorable.
5. Dynamics
This term refers to the relative “loudness” or “softness” of a musical sound.
Most modern recorded music does not have significant differences in dynamic
levels within a song, because producers have edited the recording to balance
the amplitude, largely so that you don’t have to keep adjusting the volume on
your radio or headphones. In sheet music, however, sounds to be played
loudly are indicated with the letter f (which stands for forte, the Italian word
for “strong”), and sounds to be played quietly are indicated with the letter p
(which stands for piano, the Italian word for “soft”).
6. Form
In music, form refers to how the musical sections are organized. A lot of
popular music has several sections that might repeat throughout the song
(such as the verses and the chorus), and many also have a contrasting section
called the bridge.
3. Performance Elements
Are the performers skilled? An unskilled musician can certainly have a strong impact
on the audience’s perception. However, it is important to remember that even a skilled
musician can have an “off” night or make mistakes.
How does the performer’s interpretation of the written work affect the
performance? The same piece of written music can sound very different when
performed by different musicians. For this reason, listening to multiple recordings of the
same work can provide a more complete understanding of the composition.
