What is Poetry Analysis?
Poetry analysis involves examining the multiple meanings, forms, and techniques within a poem. It goes beyond simple reading to explore the deeper layers of meaning, emotional impact, and artistic craftsmanship. Through careful analysis, we can better appreciate how poets use language to create vivid imagery, evoke emotions, and convey complex ideas.
Why Study Poetry?
- Develops critical thinking and close reading skills
- Enhances appreciation for language and its creative use
- Provides insights into different cultures, historical periods, and human experiences
- Improves writing skills and expressive abilities
Key Elements of Poetry
Form & Structure
The physical arrangement of the poem, including line length, stanza patterns, rhyme schemes, and overall shape. Forms include sonnets, haikus, free verse, and more. The structure contributes to the poem's meaning and emotional impact.
Sound Devices
Elements that appeal to the ear, including rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia. These create musicality and enhance the emotional resonance of the poem.
Imagery & Figurative Language
The use of descriptive language (imagery) and figures of speech like metaphors, similes, personification, and symbolism to create vivid mental pictures and convey abstract ideas.
Tone & Mood
The attitude of the speaker toward the subject (tone) and the emotional atmosphere created for the reader (mood). These are conveyed through word choice, imagery, and sound devices.
Analysis Techniques
Step 1: Initial Reading
Read the poem multiple times to get a general sense of its content, tone, and emotional impact. Note your initial reactions and any questions that arise.
Step 2: Examine Form and Structure
Analyze how the poem is organized. Look at line breaks, stanza divisions, rhyme scheme, and meter. Consider how these structural elements contribute to meaning.
Step 3: Identify Literary Devices
Look for and analyze imagery, metaphors, similes, symbolism, personification, and other figures of speech. Consider how these devices create meaning and enhance the poem's impact.
Step 4: Explore Theme and Meaning
Identify the central ideas, messages, or themes of the poem. Consider how the title, language, and literary devices contribute to these themes.
Step 5: Analyze Context
Consider the historical, cultural, and biographical context of the poem and its author. How might these factors influence the poem's meaning?
Famous Poem Examples
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Analysis
"The Road Not Taken" is one of Frost's most famous poems, exploring themes of choice, individuality, and the consequences of our decisions. The poem uses extended metaphor, with the two roads representing life choices.
- Structure: Five stanzas of five lines each, with a consistent rhyme scheme (ABAAB).
- Imagery: The yellow wood, diverging roads, and fallen leaves create a vivid autumnal setting.
- Symbolism: The roads symbolize life's choices; the "one less traveled by" represents individualism.
- Theme: The poem reflects on how our choices shape our lives and identity.
Sonnet 18
By William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Analysis
Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 is a celebration of the timeless beauty of the beloved, using the power of poetry to immortalize that beauty. It follows the structure of a traditional Shakespearean sonnet.
- Structure: 14 lines in iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
- Figurative Language: Extended metaphor comparing the beloved to a summer's day, with personification of death and time.
- Theme: The power of poetry to transcend time and preserve beauty and love.
- Tone: Admiring, passionate, and confident in the lasting power of art.
Interactive Exercises
Exercise 1: Identify Literary Devices
Read the following excerpt and identify instances of imagery, metaphor, simile, personification, and any other literary devices.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
— Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
Exercise 2: Analyze a Poem
Read the following poem and write a brief analysis, focusing on its theme, structure, and use of literary devices.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
— Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into that good night" (excerpt)
Additional Resources
Recommended Readings
- The Norton Anthology of Poetry - A comprehensive collection of poems from different periods
- How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch
- Understanding Poetry by Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren
Online Resources
- Poetry Foundation - Extensive collection of poems, articles, and resources
- Poets.org - Features poems, poet biographies, and educational materials
- Academy of American Poets - Resources for poetry teachers and students