Poetry Analysis Worksheet

Name: _________________________________________________ Title of Poem: _____________________________ Poetry Analysis Sheet Use this handout to read and analyze a poem and to uncover the meaning of the poem. 1. What does the title mean? Take a look at the title and reflect (think) on what you think it means: __________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Put it in your own words Read the poem two or three times. You will see something different each time you read the poem. Write a brief summary of the poem in your own words. Highlight or list some of the words (nouns, verbs, phrases) that are important to understanding the poem. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 3. What do you think the poem means? Now think about the meaning of the poem. Remember that some poems have a deeper meaning. Try to answer these questions. Your poem may not need all of these questions. • Who is the subject of the poem? __________________________________________________________ • What are they talking about? _____________________________________________________________ • Why do you think the author wrote the poem? ______________________________________________ • When is the poem happening? ___________________________________________________________ • Where is the poem happening? ___________________________________________________________ • What is the poet’s attitude? _______________________________________________________________ • How does the poem shift from person to person or between different times or places?________________________________________________________________________________ Is there anything else that you would like to note about the poem? __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Most poems tell us about a poet’s understanding of an experience. The beginning will be different from the end. The change may be in feelings, language (slang to formal), or connotation (positive to negative). Explain how these shifts (changes) convey (give/tell/show us) the poem’s message. 4. Poetic devices: Tools of the poet. Identify different poetic devices in your poem. Your poem may only have some of these items. • Simile – comparison using like or as ________________________________________________________ • Metaphor – a direct comparison ___________________________________________________________ • Personification – giving human qualities to nonhuman things ___________________________________ • Imagery – descriptions that appeal to our five senses: Taste_____________________________________________________________________________ Touch____________________________________________________________________________ Sight_____________________________________________________________________________ Sound_____________________________________________________________________________ Smell_____________________________________________________________________________ • 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. Write a short analysis of the poem. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Is there any cultural or historical information about the poem or the poet that you think is important to the poem? Can you explain how this is important? __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________