How to Analyse a Poem
Close reading – the art of reading ‘closely’, paying attention to details of language and imagery in order to come to the best understanding of texts.
A checklist of the things to consider as you read a poem. Your written analysis of the poem may be structured following this pattern.
Subject or theme. What is the text about? What other information do you have (the writer’s name, literary period, date?)
Speaker and/or situation Whose ‘voice’ do we hear in the text? If it is first-person writing, is it the voice of the author, or are they taking on a role? To whom is the text addressed? What is the situation in which it is set?
Summarise the poem, set up the controlling idea for the essay as a whole.
Form. What is the overall structure of the piece? Is it a recognizable poetic form? Are there any obvious ways in which it can be divided into sections, either by its layout, its meaning, or by changes in the way language is presented at different points?
Ideas and messages. Look for ideas which are embedded ‘below the surface’ of the text. Think about the author’s aims and purposes. Are there any signs of irony or satire?
Tone and atmosphere. How would you describe the writer’s ‘tone of voice’? Is there an atmosphere or feeling which pervades the poem, such as sadness, gloom, or joy? If so, what is it about the writing that creates this effect? ( For example, long sentences, with soft consonant sounds and repeated use of ‘oo’ and ‘o’ vowels, tend to create a sombre effect.)
Imagery. What kinds of visual images or ‘word-pictures’ does the text present? How does the writer use simile or metaphor? Comment both on individual examples and on patterns of images which you notice. Be careful to explain and analyse these examples in terms of their contribution to the overall meaning of the text.
Vocabulary. What do you notice about the individual words and phrases which the writer has chosen? Are there any words that recur? (For example,...