How to Analyze a Poem

Step 1

Have your students read the poem once to themselves and then audibly, all the way through, at LEAST twice. Feel free to play a recording of the poem or exhibit a video of someone reading the poem, too. Thereafter, talk to your class about their first understanding and instantaneous reactions, both optimistic and pessimistic. Also, talk about the poem's pattern and tempo. For illustration, are the lines short and means to be read slow? Or, does the poem move rapidly, and if so, why?

Step 2

Speculate about the title and how it associates to the poem. Titles often furnish significant indications about what is at the essence of a piece. Similarly, a title may work ironically or in opposition to a poem. Questions to talk about and consider are:

• Does the title immediately change how you think about it?
• Does the poem’s title paint a picture that gives a specific time frame, setting or action?
• Does it imply multiple possibilities?

• Step 3

  Understanding the speaker is at the centre of a poem may help the piece appear more tangible to students because they’re able to imagine a person behind the language. Questions to consider are:

  • Who “tells” the poem?
  • Does the poem give any clues about the speaker’s personality, point of view, age, or gender?
  • Who is the speaker addressing?
  • Does the speaker seem attached or detached from what is said?

  • Step 4

    After talking about the speaker, it’s important to address the attitude or mood the poem is attempting to convey. Some can be brooding or grieving; others may have a song-like cadence and rhyme. Discuss the attitude each speaker or characters give off. Moreover, talk about if there are places where the poem's tone may switch and why. This is also a good time to talk about syntax and the effect certain words have on us.

  • Step 5

    Since you discussed figurative language, mood, setting, and speaker—there’s no better time than to apply what you’ve learned line-by-line. Paraphrasing may seem pretty self-explanatory. However, keep in mind this is not about skipping lines or condensing. Instead you should lead students line-by-line and translate figurative language or unclear phrases into simpler terms that will not get in the way of analyzing the poem later on.

  • Step 6

    Last but not least, it's time to get to the core of what the poem is about by identifying its theme. The theme of a poem relates to a universal truth, issue, or conflict. To determine the theme, look over all of your analysis and connect the dots:

    • What is the subject?
    • Who is the speaker?
    • What situation are they in?
    • How do they feel about the subject?
    • What is the mood?