A Guide to Reading and Interpreting Poetry

Poetry is highly compressed language, but still uses

punctuation and complete sentences, as well as sound and Prose consists of words in their best order.
rhythm. Poets work to strip out all the extemporaneous Poetry consists of the best words in the best order.
words writers usually include as glue between the essential - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
words and that give us context about meaning. While the
language’s compression may make the poem seem difficult Annotating the Poem
to understand, most poems are, in the end, interpretable. Annotating literature means taking careful, extensive
notes on any important plot or character clues, themes,
It’s best to approach a poem systematically in an academic and use of literary devices (rhyme, allusion, alliteration,
reading. Treat the poem as if it is a puzzle to be sussed out, irony, metaphor, etc.), as well as your personal responses
or travel luggage waiting to be unpacked. While one may to the work—noting the author’s tone, intended audience,
read poetry outside of school simply for pleasure, in speaker, etc.—and how you react or think about it.
academia, we are attempting to construct defendable
interpretations, which means we are attempting to agree In the analysis of a poem, remember to consider “who is
as a community on the most complete meaning of the speaking to whom,” “when and where is the poem taking
poem being read and discussed. place,” and “what is topic being discussed,” and “what is
the primary purpose—to persuade, to instruct, to inform,
The most beloved and enduring poetry does not abandon to reflect, to discover, and/or to entertain?”
literal meaning in its focus on figurative language, sound
rhythm and imagery. The most successful poems actually The only really difficult thing about a
blend somehow both literal and figurative meaning in a poem is the critic’s explanation of it.
way that is difficult to explain but resonates with us - Frank Moore Colby
nonetheless—it’s actually the tension between the two that
builds meaning. Writing the Literary Explication/Analysis
When writing an explication paper, we essentially write
Let’s follow the system listed here to annotate and out a detailed interpretation of a work of literature,
interpret a poem’s most likely meaning. particularly of shorter work like poetry. This type of essay
looks at all aspects of a poem—its surface meaning, as well
When you read and understand a poem, as its underlying tone and themes, any and all use of
comprehending its rich and formal literary devices and their influence on the poem. We will
meanings, then you master chaos a little. be writing many timed poetry analysis papers during the
- Stephen Spender year. To write with expertise, you’ll need to know the
following terms. Define them in your journal.
Reading the Poem
1. Read the poem through 1-3 times and see how much of General Vocabulary (setting, character, tone, diction,
the author’s meaning you can immediately grasp. Ask narrative, pacing, dialogue, monologue, point-of-view,
yourself:
Who is speaking? Verse (poem, couplet, epiphany, invocation, mimesis, muse,
Who is the audience? octave, persona, poetic license, pun)
What is the topic?
Meter (beat, caesura, enjambment, foot, iambic pentameter,
Where and when is the action taking place? refrain, stanza)
What is motivating the speaker?
2. Then, go back through the poem, line by line. Define all Rhyme (alliteration, assonance, consonance, euphony,
the images and symbols, if necessary referring to outside cacaphony, eye-rhyme, half-rhyme, internal rhyme, masculine
reference works or to other poems by the same author. rhyme, feminine rhyme, true rhyme)
3. If you are still having difficulty understanding the
poem, consider “translating” each line into prose. Or Figurative language (allegory, allusion, ambiguity, anaphora,
substitute simpler words for the more difficult ones. You apostrophe, conceit, connotation, denotation, contrast, dead
metaphor, dramatic irony, sophoclean irony, tragic irony,
may need a dictionary. extended metaphor, hyperbole, implicit or submerged metaphor,
4. When you understand all the basic words and ideas in image, invocation, irony, cosmic irony, litotes, metaphor,
the poem, reread the poem a few more times and pull it all metonymy, mixed metaphor, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, pathetic
back together again. fallacy, parallelism, personification, romantic irony, sarcasm,
simile, socratic irony, symbolism, synecdoche, synaesthesia,
Interpreting the Poem transferred epithet, trope, verbal irony)
1. Look at the title—it’s often as important as any line.
2. Follow the punctuation like a road map. Types of Poems (ballad, blank verse, burlesque, didactic,
3. Look for symbols, allusions and other clues to meaning. dramatic monologue, elegy, emblematic, epic, epigram, epitaph,
eulogy, free verse, haiku, limerick, lyric, ode, prose poems,
4. Identify tone (based on diction) and any ambiguities. sonnet, villanelle)
5. Read first for literal meaning, and then for
metaphorical meaning. Poetry is the renewal of words, setting them free,
6. Look for recurring words, ideas, sounds. and that’s what a poet is doing: loosening the words.
7. Pay close attention to the closing lines. - Robert Frost
 Sets of questions to ask that will help you access 2. Speaker and Tone: Who is the speaker (age, sex,
the meaning of a poem and talk/write about it: personality, frame of mind, tone of voice)? Is the
speaker defined fairly precisely or is the speaker
Set #1 simply a voice meditating. Does the speaker seem fully
aware of what he or she is saying, or does the speaker
The following questions will direct you towards developing an unconsciously reveal his or her personality and values.
analysis of a poem. Not all the questions apply to all poems, What is your attitude toward this speaker?
but many will apply to many poems. 3. Audience: To whom is the speaker speaking? What is
the situation, including time and place? Sometimes it’s
In the Nature of Poetry, Donald Stauffer states that poetry is to someone specific, sometimes it’s just the reader
exact, intense, significant, concrete, complex, rhythmical, and who “overhears” the speaker.
formal. 4. Consider the structure of the poem. Does it proceed
in a straightforward manner, or at some point, does
Whenever possible, always read a poem aloud, softly, then
loudly, then with the volume and tone that reflect your
the speaker reverse course, alter tone or perception?
perception of the poem’s effect. What do you make of the shift? Is the poem in
sections? Compare and contrast those sections—do
1. What does the title state literally and what does it they shift tone, or group in rhymes? Are they tidy little
imply? stanzas, or do the ideas, patterns overflow into the
2. Who is the speaker, the author or the persona or next set of lines?
a. Repetitive—common in lyrics, where a single
character created by the author?
state of mind is repeated throughout the poem.
3. What is the setting in time and space?
b. Narrative—common in lyrics in which there is a
4. What images does the poet create? sense of advance that comes to an end.
5. How does the poet arouse the reader’s five senses c. Logical—A poem in which the speaker sets up
(sight, sound, taste, touch, smell)? an argument and presents evidence. Common
6. Where is the central, charged image of the poem? devices in logically structured poems: verbal
7. Where does the poet use figures of speech? irony usually presented via understatement,
8. Does irony—verbal, situational, or dramatic—have a litotes, overstatement, hyperbole, paradox.
function in the poem? 5. What is the poem about? Is it chiefly psychological or
9. Is paradox a device used in the poem? philosophical? Is the theme stated explicitly (directly)
10. Does the poet employ symbolism? or implicitly? State the theme into a sentence. What is
11. Does the poet make use of objective correlatives lost by reducing the poem to a statement of theme?
(subjective suggested by an object?) 6. How do you characterize the language? Is it colloquial
12. How does sound echo sense? slang, public speech, especially rich in figurative
13. Why does the poet use alliteration? devices, elevated? Do certain words have rich and
14. Why does the poet employ the devise of allusion relevant associations to other words? Do they define
(historical, literary, religious, mythological?) the speaker or the theme or both? What is literal’ what
15. Does the poet employ the device of personification? is figurative?
16. What is the effect of the poet’s use of contrast and/or 7. What role does sound play in the poem? Consider
comparison of elements in the poem? alliteration, assonance, consonance, cacophony,
17. Does the poet set up analogies and parallels? rhyme, repetition. If there are off-rhymes (like home
18. Where does the poet use techniques for emphasis and come), what effect do they have on you? Do they
(punctuation, enjambment, caesura and line- add a note of tentativeness or uncertainty? If there are
endings)? unexpected stresses or pauses, what do they represent
19. Are there refrains in the poem (patterned repetition of about the speaker? What is the effect on you?
phrases and lines)?
20. Is the poem written in bank verse or free verse? Set #3
21. Of what type is the poem and example: lyrical, ode,
amatory, pastoral, devotional, metaphysical, 1. Does the poem imply a story of some sort, or a report
allegorical, symbolic, elegiac, introspective, of an event, say a love story, or is it a response to
meditative, romantic, satirical, narrative, dramatic nature or some other human condition? If it is a story,
monolog or other)? what is the beginning, middle, and end?
22. Is the poet’s approach generally subjective or 2. Is there a shift in tone at any point? IS the change
objective? communicated by diction, syntax, metrical shifts?
23. What are key words or phrases in the poem? 3. If the poem has a title (other than a number or the
24. How does the poet make use of denotation and first line of the poem), what are the implications of it.
connotation in the handling of diction (word choice)? 4. Are there clusters of patterns of imagery—religious,
25. What is the tone of the poem? economic, or images drawn from nature? How do they
26. What is the poet’s attitude toward the elements in the contribute to the poem?
poem? 5. Is irony used? To what effect?
27. Is the poet deliberately employing the technique of 6. How does connotation help establish meaning—using
ambiguity? the word ‘Dad’ instead of ‘Father’, for example.
28. Does the poet make use of the technique of 7. What are the implications of syntax—simple, complex,
understatement (implication) or overstatement compound, fragments etc. What about the use of
(hyperbole)? polysyndeton and asyndeton? Loose sentences vs.
29. How does the poet use external context and internal periodic sentences vs. telegraphic? What does it imply
context to create implications? of the speaker?
30. What thematic elements are developed (love, time, 8. Do metrical variations occus, and if so, what is their
mutability, seize the day)? significance?
9. Do rhyming words have some meaningful connection?
Set #2 Consider the clichés ‘moon’ and ‘June,’ ‘love’ and
‘dove.’
1. What is your response to the poem on first reading? 10. What are the implications of the appearance of the
Did parts of it please you, displease you, shock you, poem on the page—for example, of an indented line, or
puzzle you? Does your investigation into word of the stanzaic pattern?
meanings change or modify your response?