Poetry Analysis Worksheet

Poetry Analysis Worksheet 

Working through these questions will help you better understand a poem or a song used as poetry. We are NOT going to study the history of poetry or specific types of poems, and the poets we read will be relatively contemporary.
1. What does the title mean?
Take a look at the title and reflect on what it means. (You will need this for the introductory paragraph.)

2. Put it in your own words
Read the poem two or three times; make sure you take the time to read the poem aloud. You will see something different each time you read the poem. Write a brief paraphrase of the poem. Highlight or list some of the words (nouns, verbs, phrases) that are important to understanding the poem.

3.Now think about the meaning of the poem, not just the obvious meaning of each word but what they mean beyond the literal. Do these words suggest something else?
Answer these questions and provide evidence—lines, words, phrases from the poem--for your answers:
• Who is the speaker of the poem?
• What is he/she talking about?
• Why do you think the author wrote the poem?
• When is the poem happening and where is the poem happening—what is the context?
• What is the poet’s attitude or tone in the poem? 
• How does the poem shift from person to person or between different times or places
Most poems tell us about a poet’s understanding of an experience so the beginning will be different then the end. The change or shift may be in feelings, language (slang to formal), or connotation (positive to negative). Explain how these shifts convey the poem’s message.

4. Poetic devices—we are looking at only the most common:
Identify different poetic devices and how they convey the poem’s message.
• Simile – comparison using like or as
• Metaphor – a direct comparison
• Personification – giving human qualities to nonhuman things
• Tone – what emotion does the speaker use as he talks
• Point of view – who is the telling the poem
• Imagery – creating pictures with words
• Alliteration – repeating the same letter

5. Theme
Identify the theme (central idea) of the poem. How does the theme convey the poem’s message?
6. Look at the title again
Now look at the title again. Do you now have a different interpretation of the title?

7. Begin writing your analysis
Start with the introductory paragraph. It should contain the title, the author, and an explanation of the writer’s position as well as the significance of the title. Include a brief overall statement of the meaning of the poem. This will lead you into the body of the analysis. In the body of the analysis, discuss how the poem was written, which poetic devices were used, the tone, the poet’s attitude, and the shift of the poem from the beginning to the poet’s ultimate understanding of the experience in the end. Add your interpretation of the poem.

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