10 Points of Poetry Analysis

S.Schaffer

1. Title What does the title denote/connote? What is the titles relation to the poem? Does it have semantic possibilities (different meanings)? Are there any allusions (references to other texts) in the title? 2. Epigraph Is there an epigraph (an introductory few lines set off from the beginning)? How does it relate to the poem as a whole? What other work of literature does the epigraph refer to, paraphrase, or quote from? 3. Atmosphere, Tone and Voice What is the general atmosphere or mood of the poem? What is the feeling the speaker has about what he/she is talking about (tone)? How does the speaker in the poem present himself/herself (voice)? To what extent is implied meaning detached from or close to what the speaker means to say; for example, is there irony)? Be sure you dont assume the persona in the poem, the voice, is the same as the real author, although sometimes knowing the real authors personal history will help you unravel one level of meaning in the poem. Is the poem didactic? What lesson or moral does it teach? 4. Setting Is there a more or less definite location for the events of the poem? If so, how is it appropriate for the subject, and does it help express or develop the theme? Is there a specific time or occasion for the poem, and how is it important? Does the poem deal with the past, present, future or a combination? What is the importance of history/the past in the poem?

5. Language How would you describe the word choice or vocabulary (diction)? Is it formal, colloquial (informal, slang), romantic, etc. or a combination? What kinds of imagery (language which appeals to any of the five senses in its description) do you find? What figures of speech or literary devices are employed? (Consider metaphor, simile, irony, symbols, personification, pun, etc.) How do these fit into the poem and what do they mean? Are any of these (e.g., irony, symbolism) sustained throughout the poem? 6 Sound Is there rhyme in the poem? Are there any other devices of sound in the poem (alliteration, consonance, assonance, euphony, cacophony, etc.)? Is there a rhyme scheme (arrangement or pattern of rhyming words)? Why has the author chosen to use the rhyme/devices of sound and how do they relate to the content? Some kinds of rhyme: beginning rhyme - rhyme at the beginning of two successive lines crossed rhyme - words in the middle of two successive lines rhyme end rhyme - rhyme at the end of two successive lines eye rhyme - rhyming words which give the eye the impression of rhyme, but are not pronounced identically (forth, worth) feminine rhyme - two or more syllables rhyme (rhyming, chiming) identical rhyme - repetition of the same word internal rhyme - rhyming words within one line of poetry light rhyme - when one of a pair of rhyming syllables is unstressed (knee, courtesy) masculine rhyme - single syllables rhymed (spear, year) monorhyme - all rhymes in the poem have the same sound near rhyme - rhyming words which have a similar but not exactly identical ending sound (peer, pare) reverse rhyme - in rhyming words, the first consonant and vowel are the same, but the final consonant is changed (yum, yuck) single rhyme - single syllable masculine rhyme (stuff, rough) true rhyme - rhyming words with identical ending sounds (steer, fear); most rhyme is true rhyme

Some rhyme schemes: couplet - aa bb cc closed couplet - two rhyming lines in which the sense/sentence is complete heroic couplet - rhyming pair of iambic pentameter lines open couplet - two rhyming lines in which the sense/sentence is carried on past the second line to the one(s) following it triplet - aaa bbb ccc tercet - three lines with linked rhyme between stanzas (e.g., aba bcb cdc ded etc.; this type of tercet is called terza rima) quatrain - four lines (quatrain with alternating rhyme scheme = abab; quatrain with enclosing rhyme scheme = abba) quintain - five lines quintet - ababb sexain - six lines septet - seven lines rhyme royal - ababbcc octet - eight lines ottava rima - abababcc Spenserian stanza - ababbcbcc dizain - ababbccdcd quatorzain - 14 lines blank verse - unrhymed iambic pentameter free verse - no fixed rhythm or rhyme scheme
5.

Allusions and Genre Does the poem contain allusions to other works of art, and if so, what are they and how do they relate to the poem? Is the poem an example of lyric (short poem), epic (long poem, usually follow a journey of a hero) or dramatic poetry (essentially a play with dialogue between characters), which are the three main broad categories of poetry? Is the poem an example of a particular genre of poetry? Does this genre of poem have a particular form? (see #9)

Some examples of poetic genres: ballad - song/poem that tells a story carpe diem poem - a poem which encourages seizing the day

elegy love poem ode

pastoral poem

- a poem of mourning, usually about the death of an individual or a lament for some tragic event. - poem concerned with love - a poem written for a particular occasion; sometimes this is a public occasion, like a Kings birthday, and other times it is written for a private occasion, and is more meditative in tone - poetry concerned with the lives of shepherds

There are many other poetic genrestoo many to name hereas well as poetic genres associated with certain literary movements (e.g., imagism, symbolism, metaphysical poetry, etc.) and genres associated with certain poetic forms (see #9 below).
6. Rhythm and Meter Are traditional metrical patterns used? Does the poem contain caesuras, which are mid-line pauses? Does the poem contain end-stopped lines, lines which end with some form of punctuation, or run-on lines (enjambment), lines with no punctuation at the end? Is the poem free verse, with no fixed rhyme scheme or meter? Is there a non-traditional rhythm produced by some other means (by typography or how the poem is typed on the page, use of white space on the page, close repetition of similar sentence structure, etc.)? What connections can you make between rhythm in the poem and content (connections between the rhythm of the poem and what its about)?

The foot: The basic rhythmic unit, a group of syllables containing at least one stressed syllable, is called a foot. All words in English contain at least one stressed syllable. Traditional meter makes use of the natural stresses in words and poets place the words in lines of poetry in such a way as to make a pattern out of the natural stresses in words. To scan a line of poetry with a traditional metrical pattern (scansion is the act of finding the pattern of stressed syllables in traditional poetry and identify the type and number of feet per line), mark stressed syllables with a and unstressed syllables with a . Traditional rhythm in poetry written in English is usually either a duple rhythm (using metrical feet with two syllables) or a triple rhythm (using metrical feet with three syllables).

Types of traditional poetic feet: iamb - two syllables; second syllable stressed; ; the words unite and defeat are iambs; called iambic meter; this is the most popular meter in poetry written in the English language trochee - two syllables; first syllable stressed; ; the words formal and writer are trochees; called trochaic meter spondee - two syllables; both stressed; ; the words upkeep and padlock are spondees; called spondaic meter anapest - three syllables; the last syllable stressed; ; i.e., the words picturesque and matinee are anapests; called anapestic meter dactyl - three syllables; the first syllable stressed; ; i.e., the words massacre and durable are dactyls; called dactylic meter Meter:
A poet writes a line of traditional poetry fitting words on the line in such a way that the natural stresses in words form a pattern. The line of poetry will use one particular kind of foot and have a specified number of these feet in a line. Iambic pentameter is thus a poetry which contains five iambs per line: True wit is Nature to advantage dressed (Alexander Popes Essay on Criticism)

Terms for meter (the number of feet per line): monometer - one foot per line dimeter - two feet per line trimeter - three feet per line tetrameter - four feet per line pentameter - five feet per line hexameter - six feet per line heptameter - seven feet per line octameter - eight feet per line nonameter - nine feet per line decameter - ten feet per line

Regular and irregular lines: In traditional poetry, when there are deviations from regular or perfect lines, the poet has done this to vary the rhythm and to produce a particular poetic effect (e.g., if a poem is talking about someone having too much to say, for instance, the poet might purposely make the line too long). Lines which are perfect (contain the number of syllables and stresses in the established pattern) are generally called regular lines; lines which deviate from an established pattern of syllables and stresses are generally referred to as irregular lines. Poets may base their poetry on one type of foot but vary the number of syllables and stresses in each successive line (in other words, the whole poem may be irregular but tend toward use of a particular type of foot/feet). Poets also employ poetic license to alter words so that they fit a line: contraction or elision, for instance, is the leaving out or slurring of a syllable in order to make a regular metrical line (twere instead of it were). A line ending with a stressed syllable has a masculine ending. A line ending with an unstressed syllable has a feminine ending.
7. Structure and Form Does the poem have any obvious structural divisions? If no divisions are apparent, upon closer examination, does the poem fall naturally into parts? Are the lines arranged in sections or stanzas (a strophic poem)? Or are there no stanzas, just lines in one large block (a stichic poem)? If strophic, is the stanza pattern repeated, or does the form vary? Does the poem have a whole stanza which is repeated several times (a refrain)? Does the poem have the shape of an identifiable object? How does it look on the page? Consider the reasons for where lines begin and end and how white space on the page is used if the poem is written in free verse. Do the initial letters of each line make a word or words when read downwards (an acrostic poem)? Is the poem an example of some kind of traditional form, such as a sonnet? What is the connection between the form used and the content of the poem?

Some forms of poetry: concrete poetry - a poetry which presents each poem in a different shape. It

haiku

pattern poetry prose poem

sestina

sonnet

villanelle

may thus use typography to produce visual poetry, as pattern poetry does, but it may also present poetry which is on a page, glass, wood, stone, steel and other materials. - a Japanese form consisting of seventeen syllables in three lines of five, seven and five syllables respectively, expressing a single image, idea or feeling. - the lines of this kind of poem are arranged to represent a physical object and suggest shape and even motion or mood. - a poem which is written in prose instead of poetry. This kind of poetry straddles the line between poetry and fiction. Elizabeth Smarts By the Rivers of Babylon I Sat Down and Wept is a good example. - six stanzas of six lines apiece with an envoi of three lines. The rhyming scheme requires that the same six end words occur in each stanza but in a different order according to a fixed pattern. Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop is a good example. - a 14 line poem, composed of an octave (the first eight lines) and sestet (the final six lines). Within the poem, usually at the end of the octave or the beginning of the sestet, there is a volta (a turn or change in thought). There are different types of sonnets, each with their own typical rhyme scheme: the major types are Petrarchan (abbaabba and cdecde or cdcdcd), Spenserian (ababbcbccdcdee) and Shakespearean (ababcdcdefefgg). This is a very popular form and Shakespeare wrote many sonnets. - five three-lined stanzas or tercets and a final quatrain. The first and third lines of the first tercet recur alternately in the succeeding stanzas as a refrain and form a final couplet. Dylan Thomas Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night is a famous example of a villanelle.

There are many other poetic formstoo many to name here. Particular poetic forms are sometimes associated with particular movements in literature/poetry.

10. Interpretation, Analysis and Theme

What are the meanings of the poem? What themes does the poem suggest? Does the poem teach a lesson, have a particular social or political agenda or any other kind of manifest message? How are all of the elements in #1 through #9 above connected to one another? How do they all support the content and thereby produce meaning? Try to work out a consistent interpretation of the poem, one that accounts for as many of #1 through #9 as possible.

Remember that poetry isnt mathematical in the sense that theres not necessarily one right answer. Every individuals reading of a poem inevitably will be just that: individual. Your teacher will be receptive to various interpretations of any given poem as long as these interpretations reflect some critical thinking, insight and originality and are supported with appropriate evidence from the poem.