AP English Literature
Techniques for Analyzing and
Understanding Poetry
How to Analyze a Poem for Easier Understanding I. Read the poem aloud.
II. Ask and answer the following questions about the poem? a. Title: What does the title suggest about the poem?
b. The speaker: Identify the speaker and provide evidence (lines from the poem) that proves your assertion.
c. Vocabulary: Write down and look up the definition of any words you do not know.
d. Setting and Situation: Describe the setting and the situation of the poem. Provide evidence.
e. Form: What is the form of the poem? For example, is it a ballad or a sonnet or a narrative poem? How does the form of the poem impact meaning?
f. Subject and Theme: Identify the subject of the poem and the theme (meaning). Subject is the specific topic, theme is the idea that the poem explores. Subject is usually obvious, theme must be inferred. War is a subject; theme is what the poet says about the subject. (For example, “War is sometimes a necessary evil.” OR “War is repulsive and ugly and reveals man’s inherent inhumanity to man.”
III. Paraphrase: Prepare a paraphrase of the poem, which is a restatement of the poem in prose form, in your own words.
Go through the above process BEFORE writing a formal analysis of a given poem. But the above process does NOT in and of itself constitute formal literary analysis! It is note taking for the essay, not the essay itself. You will go through the poem line by line, stanza by stanza, in order to help you figure out what it communicates and how it gets that "message" across -- how the poem "works." But your essay should NOT be a line-by-line or stanza-by-stanza analysis, which would result in confused organization and painful repetition. Organize your essay according to the logic of what you have to say about the poem's "meaning" and how that meaning is communicated through the poem's formal characteristics.
The formal analysis of a poem should begin with an introduction which identifies the poem's central "message" (your THESIS) AND alludes to HOW FORM CONTRIBUTES TO MEANING -- the ways in which the formal elements you noticed when doing your preliminary, line-by-line analysis help the poet communicate his or her "message." In the body of your essay, you will demonstrate the validity of your thesis AND show how the poem's formal characteristics contribute to its "meaning," citing specific textual evidence in support of EACH STEP in your argument. Include only observations which are related to your interpretation of the poem.
Poetry Drill
1. Read the poem aloud twice.
2. Identify the rhetorical stance (SOAPS Tone) Speaker
Occasion Audience
Purpose – is the purpose of the speaker the same as that of the author? Subject
Tone
3. Identify the literal level of meaning Paraphrase aloud/written Consider implication of title 4. Identify key examples of diction
Look up unfamiliar words
Look at sound devices, i.e., alliteration, assonance, consonance, etc. Consider rhyme and repetition
Is the language euphonious or cacophonous? Identify ambiguous words or phrases
Categorize the diction Check for allusions 5. Identify key details
Identify sensory details – which senses are engaged? 6. Identify imagery
Categorize the imagery
Look for repetition or extensions of images 7. Reread the poem.
Reconsider the subject – What is the subject of the poem at and beyond the literal level? Reconsider SOAPSTone.
Write a tentative thesis that explains the relationship between thematic and the technical levels of the poem.
8. Characterize the language (formal, jargon, etc.) 9. Identify syntactical patterns
Identify rhetorical devices (schemes and tropes) Identify patterns of emphasis or repetition 10. Identify rhythm and meter
11. Reconsider relationship between theme and technique
How to Compare/Contrast Poetry Using the PEE Method
Write a good introduction and a strong thesis. Don’t add any extra “fluff” for the timed writing portion. For the body of the paper, following the format below might help to make sure you have the evidence and analysis you need.
(If you need an acronym, it’s PEE. I know, it could be better, but this is what we have.)
1. POINT: Make a point about the poem. 2. EVIDENCE: Use a quote that supports that point.
3. EFFECT: Write a statement/comment explaining the effect on meaning.
Prompt: Compare the way the poets explore the parent/child relationship in “Catrin” by Gillian Clarke and “Follower” by Seamus Heaney.
Example Introduction:
Both “Catrin” and “Follower” deal with the relationships between parent and child. In “Catrin” the mother speaks in the poem, exploring the “love and conflict” in their relationship. In “Follower,” Seamus Heaney explores the relationship and connection he has with his father and the change in the dynamic of the relationship as they both have aged.
Example PEE paragraph:
“Unlike Seamus Heaney, Gillian Clarke speaks directly to her child, Catrin. She says in the very first line that “she can remember you, child”; the effect of this is to draw us into the poem, as if we are the daughter, and we are being spoken to.”
Follower by Seamus Heaney
My father worked with a horse-plough, His shoulders globed like a full sail strung Between the shafts and the furrow. The horse strained at his clicking tongue. An expert. He would set the wing And fit the bright steel-pointed sock. The sod rolled over without breaking. At the headrig, with a single pluck Of reins, the sweating team turned round And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground, Mapping the furrow exactly. I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake, Fell sometimes on the polished sod; Sometimes he rode me on his back Dipping and rising to his plod. I wanted to grow up and plough, To close one eye, stiffen my arm. All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow round the farm. I was a nuisance, tripping, falling, Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling Behind me, and will not go away. Catrin by Gillian Clarke
I can remember you, child, As I stood in a hot, white Room at the window watching The people and cars taking Turn at the traffic lights. I can remember you, our first Fierce confrontation, the tight Red rope of love which we both Fought over. It was a square Environmental blank, disinfected Of paintings or toys. I wrote All over the walls with my Words, coloured the clean squares With the wild, tender circles Of our struggle to become Separate. We want, we shouted, To be two, to be ourselves. Neither won nor lost the struggle In the glass tank clouded with feelings Which changed us both. Still I am fighting You off, as you stand there
With your straight, strong, long Brown hair and your rosy, Defiant glare, bringing up
Poetry Explication
A poetry explication is a relatively short analysis which describes the possible meanings and relationships of the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem. Writing an explication is an effective way for a reader to connect a poem's plot and conflicts with its structural features.
Part I: Outline/Analyze the Poem
1. Title:
2. Dramatic Situation: Speaker- Addressee- Occasion-3. Subject:
4. Images, Figures of Speech, Literary Devices: 5. Tone:
6. Structure: 7. Rhyme Scheme: 8. Title Symbolism: 9. Theme:
10. Diction:
Part II: How to Write the Explication
1. Meaning: Briefly summarize the poem, and include a statement about the meaning of the poem. This is your central idea. This is your opening paragraph.
2. Considering the outline/analysis you did, which elements will you include in your analysis? Choose the elements most significant to meaning. These details will become the body paragraphs of your explication. For example: “The speaker begins by contrasting the circumstances of warfare with those of peace. …his speech reveals that is common and ordinary – a person, ‘one of the people – who enjoys drinking in a bar…”
3. In each of the body paragraphs, you should be reinforcing your central idea about meaning.
4. Conclusion: Restate your major idea and leave the reader with a sense of closure.
5. To avoid unnecessary uses of the verb "to be" in your compositions, the following list suggests some verbs you can use when writing the explication:
Tropes and Schemes
In classical rhetoric, the tropes and schemes fall under the canon of style. They dress up otherwise mundane language: we are persuaded by the imagery and artistry because we find it entertaining. Note: Some examples from "Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student" by Edward P. J. Corbett.
Trope: The use of a word, phrase, or image in a way not intended by its normal signification. Scheme: A change in standard word order or pattern.
Tropes and schemes are collectively known as figures of speech. The following is a short list of some of the most common figures of speech.
Anaphora: A scheme in which the same word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. Example: "I will fight for you. I will fight to save Social Security. I will fight to raise the minimum wage."
Anastrophe: A scheme in which normal word order is changed for emphasis. Example: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
Antithesis: A scheme that makes use of contrasting words, phrases, sentences, or ideas for emphasis (generally used in parallel grammatical structures). Example: " Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities."
Apostrophe: A scheme in which a person or an abstract quality is directly addressed, whether present or not. Example: "Freedom! You are a beguiling mistress."
Hyperbole: A trope composed of exaggerated words or ideals used for emphasis and not to be taken literally. Example: "I've told you a million times not to call me a liar!"
Irony: A trope in which a word or phrase is used to mean the opposite of its literal meaning. Example: "I just love scrubbing the floor."
Litotes: A trope in which one makes a deliberate understatement for emphasis. Example: Young lovers are kissing and an observer says: "I think they like each other."
Metaphor: A trope in which a word or phrase is transferred from its literal meaning to stand for something else. Unlike a simile, in which something is said to be "like" something else, a metaphor says something is something else. Example: "Debt is a bottomless sea."
Metonymy: A trope that substitutes an associated word for one that is meant. Example: Using "top brass" to refer to military officers.
Oxymoron: A trope that connects two contradictory terms. Example: “Bill is a cheerful pessimist.”
Personification: A trope in which human qualities or abilities are assigned to abstractions or inanimate objects. Example: “Integrity thumbs its nose at pomposity.”
Simile: A trope in which one states a comparison between two things that are not alike but have similarities. Unlike metaphors, similes employ "like" or "as." Example: "Her eyes are as blue as a robin's egg."
Language of Poetry
1. Assonance emphasizes repetition of vowel sounds within words.
2. Cacophony is a harsh combination of sounds.
3. Ode is a poem devoted to praising a person or thing.
4. Alliteration occurs when the sound of the first letter of a word is repeated within a line or passage.
5. Paradox is a statement with seemingly contradictory ideas.
6. A stanza is a division in a poem that is composed of two or more lines.
7. Quatrain is four lines in a stanza.
8. Couplet is two lines in a stanza.
9. Iambic pentameter is ten syllables in a line, with each foot having an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
10. Allusion is a reference to a known person, place, thing, event, idea or historical event.
11. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in two or more syllables, words, or lines.
12. Apostrophe is when a poet interrupts the narrative to directly address somebody not present.
13. Euphony is a pleasant, soothing combination of sounds.
14. Metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things.
15. Epic is a book length narrative poem.
16. Diction is word choice.
17. Simile is comparing two unlike things using like, than, as, or similar comparative words.
18. Personification is giving human qualities to non-human things.
19. Onomatopoeia is when the sound of a word is the same as the sound it represents.
