Writing about Poetry
Consider some of the questions offered below.
To answer the first set of questions, pay extremely close attention to details. Look up any words that you do not understand and consider why the poet chose certain metaphors or figures of speech to be used at that position in the poem. The English language has changed over the centuries, so words we use today may have had a slightly different meaning in earlier times.
- Read the poem aloud.
- Who is the speaker? What kind of person is the speaker?
- Who is the audience? Is the poet speaking directly to the reader?
- Why is the poet speaking?
- What is the occasion?
- When and wheredoes the poem occur?
- What is the central purpose of the poem?
- What is the poem about? State the central idea or theme of the poem in a single sentence.
- What is the tone of the poem? How is it achieved?
- Outline the poem so as to show its structure and development. What kind of poem is it (ode, sonnet, dramatic monologue, lyric poem, etc.)? Why is this type of poem an appropriate means to communicate the poet’s theme?
- Summarize the events of the poem.
- Paraphrase the poem.
- Discuss the diction (the word choice) of the poem. Point out words that are particularly well chosen and explain why.
- What kinds of imagery are used? Is there any structure to the imagery?
- Point out any symbols. If the poem is allegorical, explain the allegory.
- Point out examples of metaphor, simile, conceit, personification, metonymy, or any other literary device. Explain their significance and/or appropriateness.
- Point out any examples of paradox, overstatement, understatement, and/or irony. What is their function? Why are they used?
- Point out any allusions. What is their function? Why are they used?
- Point out significant examples of sound repetition and explain their function.
- How is the poem constructed? What are its units of organization (quatrains, paragraphs, couplets, etc.)? How are these units linked together (continued metaphor, pro and con, linked sound patterns, logical syllogism, train of thought, etc.)?
- What is the meter of the poem? Mark each syllable as accented (stressed) or unaccented (unstressed). Divide the lines into feet (two syllable units). Identify the pattern of accented and unaccented syllables along with the pattern of the rhymes. Note any significant variations from those patterns.
- Read the poem aloud again. Determine whether any sounds in the poem relate to topics discussed within the poem (for example, short, choppy syllables with repeated "ee" sounds could relate to a chirping bird discussed in the poem).
- State the form or pattern of the poem (line length, stanza length, number of stanzas, etc.)
- Evaluate the poem. How well did it achieve its purpose? How well did it communicate its central idea or theme?
All of the previous questions lead to your being able to answer convincingly larger analytical questions. After considering some of the above questions, you can start to construct a convincing and persuasive reading of the piece as a whole. This will help you to suggest the significance of the piece in increasing the reader’s understanding of a particular issue, literary process, etc.
- How do all of the poem’s parts (structure, organization, language use, meter, literary devices, etc.) contribute to the effect of the piece of a whole?
- What does the poem do (convert the reader, create shock, nostalgia, or fear, evoke a mood, etc.)?
- If you taught this poem in class, what might you use to introduce and to illustrate it (how a metaphysical conceit works, portrait of the ideal lover, etc.)?
*Adapted from: Perrine, Laurence, Sound and Sense: Introduction to Poetry. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1963. 25.
Use this list of some of the most common poetic devices to guide you in analyzing and in writing poetry.
Sound Devices
- Mimetic: words that suggest their meanings by the sounds that they make (ex: chunk or sleazy)1
- Onomatopoetic: words that imitate their meanings by the sounds that they make (ex: splash or boom)
- Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or more words in a line or phrase (ex: Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore)
- Dissonance: harsh sounds that can be added to a poem through alliteration
- Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds (ex: the wine became the night)1
- Ascend: the vowels in a poem move from low, rich o’s and u’s to short i’s and long e’s.1
- Descend: the vowels move from short i’s and long e’s to low, rich o’s and u’s.1
- Rhyme: two or more words with the same sound
- End rhyme: rhyme that comes at the end of a line of poetry. This is the most obvious rhyme pattern.1 End rhyme often takes over the poem and makes it sound forced and awkward.
- Beginning rhyme: rhyme that occurs in the first syllable of the line1
- Internal rhyme: rhyme that occurs within a line or lines1
- True rhyme: the correlation of sound in the accented syllables of the words and the syllables which follow them (ex: wood and good, eaten and beaten)1
- Eye rhyme: words that look like they rhyme on paper but actually do not when they are read aloud (ex: cough and though)1
- Slant rhyme: rhyme that is imperfect, typically in the vowel sounds (ex: body and bloody)1
- Syntax: word order within a poem. You can alter meaning in a poem by switching around the syntax to create irony or confusion.
The Rhythm of Poetry
- Cadence: the natural sound pattern created by the spoken word1
- Meter: the recurrence of a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables2
- Scansion: the process of examining a poem’s metrical pattern and deviation from the pattern1
- Foot: the basic unit of measure. This is a combination of stressed and/or unstressed syllables1
- Stanza: a certain number of lines grouped together which usually forms a pattern throughout the poem. Common stanza forms are1:
- Couplet: two-line stanza
- Tercet: three-line stanza
- Quatrain: four-line stanza
- Cinquain: five-line stanza
- Sestet: six-line stanza
- Septet: seven-line stanza
- Octave: eight-line stanza
- Punctuation: can be manipulated to change rhythm. Types1:
- End-stopped: when punctuation occurs at the end of a line
- Run-on/enjambment: when there is no punctuation at the end of a line
- Caesura: within a line of the poem; it usually divides a foot and is in the middle of the line.
Other Devices
