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POETRY ANALYSIS
A Quick Reference Guide
When analyzing a poem, it is often best to structure your answer into two key categories:
Theme and meaning, including symbolism and imagery; and
Poetic genre and Technical structure, including rhyme, rhythm and meter.
Usually the meaning is more important, and needs much elaboration, so many people find that it helps
(especially when writing an examination) to discuss the technical aspects first, to "get them out of the way"
so the rest of the allotted time period may be taken up with an interpretation of the meaning.
When stating your views on anything in analysis, you must be very careful to make sure to explain
yourself. This is usually done by quoting (or, if this is impossible, making reference to) a passage in the
piece which illuminates your viewpoint. Then elaborate upon this passage and how it proves your stance.
For example, it is not enough to define irony and then quote a line. You must show how this line is indeed
ironic.
Symbolism
One chief way of conveying theme is through the use of symbolism, the concrete representation of an
abstract concept. These objects or persons are so universal that they have a meaning in themselves, and so
when they are used within a poem or piece of prose, they bring that meaning to the piece. For example, one
commonly used symbol for peace is the dove, and so when one flies over a battlefield we may take this as a
symbol of a ceasefire, that peace is on its way. If the dove is shot down, we may take this as a symbol of the
shattering of hope for peace.
Sometimes it is more difficult to find the meaning behind certain symbols. The mention of a unicorn, an
Irish freedom fighter or a mythological figure might take a little more specialized knowledge or research to
discover the full significance of the poem.
POETRY ANALYSIS A Quick Reference Guide–Span. 301– 2
Characterization
Although characterization often takes a much less important role in poetry than in prose, it may
nevertheless be an integral component in the analysis of a poem dealing with a story (a ballad, for example)
or a particular person whose needs and motivations should be understood in order to gain a full
appreciation of the poem.
Title
One of the most important parts of any piece of literature is the title. It often forms a cohesive "banner"
under which the main idea of the piece is conveyed. Is the title indicative of a struggle, or of the human
condition, or is it symbolic of something else? Is it sarcastic or satiric or humorous, or is it fully serious? Is
it simply a descriptive title (one that simply states the object or person described in the poem)? Why did the
author choose this particular title?
Epic (épica)
An epic poem is usually a very long poem of several thousand lines relating the story of a hero and his
struggle against impossible odds. This is one of the oldest forms of poetry, and was usually recited orally by
professional storytellers or singers over several nights, often at a court or feasting table. In fact, the oldest
poem in any modern European language is the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) epic Beowulf.
Lyric (lírica)
A lyric is traditionally fairly short, between four and sixty lines, and usually expresses the feelings and
thoughts or a single speaker in a personal and subjective fashion. The range and variety of lyric verse is
immense, and lyric poetry composes the bulk of all poetry. If the poem is not narrative or dramatic (which
usually follow the other genres given here), it is probably a lyric poem. Most poems fall into the general
categories of love, lamentation (sadness) and the pastoral (dealing with the natural world).
Sonnet (soneto)
A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter (see Meter). For high school purposes, they are
usually divided into two main types:
Petrarchan, or Italian Sonnet
This sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) rhyming ABBAABBA and a
sestet (six lines) rhyming CDECDE or CDCDCD. This octave develops a
thought, and the sestet is a comment on it, a completion of it, or a volta ('turn')
on the idea. This is the most common type of sonnet.
Shakespearean, or Elizabethan Sonnet
This type of sonnet derives its name from the many sonnets composed by
William Shakespeare in this form. It is composed of three quatrains (four lines
each) rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF, each one with a different idea building
upon the one before it, and of a couplet (two lines) rhyming GG, with the
conclusion.
Blank Verse
Blank verse consists of unrhymed five-stress lines, properly iambic pentameter (see Meter). Much of the
poetry of Milton, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the Romantics were composed in blank verse. For example:
POETRY ANALYSIS A Quick Reference Guide–Span. 301– 4
Technical Structure
Technical structure, or simply just form, is conveyed through an analysis of several things, including
rhyme, rhythm, meter and poetic genre (sometimes -- confusingly -- also referred to as form). Although the
technical structure of most poems is usually less important than the discussion of theme, it is nonetheless an
integral part of analysis, as well as often being more difficult, due to the confusion of terms and endless
jargon of literary critics. Don't be surprised if different books label a poem to be different forms, or to see
one critic use a term with a completely different meaning than that of another critic. However, play it safe...
the terms and examples that follow are well-defined even within the circle of critics. Not every poem has
every element; this would be improbable, if not impossible. If you cannot reasonably find an element, don't
go chasing ghosts: it probably isn't there.
Remember that:
verse has many meanings, and is often best reserved as meaning "poetry in general";
use line to mean a particular line of the poem, as in "we see in line 43 that...";
use stanza to mean a collection of lines separated by a blank line, as in "the third stanza
discusses the representation of the Holy Grail as the modern ideal." It is often much the same as a
paragraph in prose, and usually concentrates on one main idea.
Rhyme (rima)
Although most people are familiar with rhyme, it may be formally defined as the use of words in which
there are similarities in an accentuated vowel and the consonants that accompany it. It is said to have two
chief functions:
it echoes sounds and is thus a source of artistic satisfaction. There is pleasure in the sound
itself and in the coincidence of sounds, and this is associated with music, rhythm and beat;
it assists in the actual structure of verse, organizing it and opening and concluding the
sense. It is thus used to 'bind' the verse together.
Although rhyme is often thought of as being at the end of a line, it may be anywhere, such as in the middle
of a line, e.g., "For this very jest among all of the rest." In this case, this is called an internal rhyme.
When analyzing rhyme, mention the rhyme scheme by labelling the end of each line with a letter, using a
new one every time that you come across a new rhyming sound. For example:
As Robin Hood in the forest stood, ...............A
All under the greenwood tree, .......................B
There he was ware of a brave young man, .....C
As fine as fine might be. ................................B
If you were pressed for time, and did not have the opportunity to either label the poem on the page, or write
out the lines, you could say that this poem follows an ABCB rhyme scheme which varies in every stanza.
Keep in mind that not everybody who speaks (or spoke) English uses the same pronunciation. In Scottish
poetry for example, as in medieval poetry, vowels are often pronounced quite differently, and if we were to
read the poem aloud, we would not actually rhyme the words (e.g., "Little John" and "my son", "is taken"
and "is slain"). Whenever you analyze a poem not from our time and area, look carefully for evidence that
words rhyme, such as the fact that most of lines do contain a particular pattern of rhyme.
Rhythm
Rhythm is defined as the movement or sense of movement communicated by the arrangement of stressed
syllables and by the duration of the syllables. It usually depends on the metrical pattern (see the following
section). This is rather a broad definition, and it is often very difficult to analyze rhythm in a poem. You can
sometimes think of it in terms of music, and how the words fall in 'beats'.