Analysing Poetry - Where To Start

Analysing poetry - how to start!

• Highlight the key words from the question, then read the title and the poem carefully thinking about words and phrases that are relevant to the question
• Make sure that you establish what the poem is about and DON T PANIC! Before you begin to think about planning an answer to the question

Next, consider these questions:

• o What are the main ideas of the poem?
• o What is the tone of the poem? (mood)
• o How does the poet feel?
• o How does the poet make you (the reader) feel?
• o What words and phrases from the poem are relevant to the question?
• o Do they include any language or structural devices? If so, highlight them!
• o What is the effect of these language and structural devices on the reader?
• o Why was the poem written?
• o What are the writer s intentions?
• o What is the poem s message?

Language, Structure and Form: what to look for:

lt;/p> Language

Structure

Form

o Similes

o Metaphors

o Alliteration

o Onomatopoeia

o Assonance

o Imagery

o Hyperbole

o Oxymoron

o Personification

o Symbolism

o Repetition

o Stanzas

o Rhyme Scheme (irregular, regular?)

o Rhythm

o Beat

o Iambic Pentameter

o Caesura

o Enjambment

o Rhyming Couplet

o Ballad

o Sonnet

o Free Verse

o Humorous

o Lyrical

o Narrative

o Epitaph

o Dramatic monologue

o Villanelle

Finally, now you are a master of planning: complete the response! There should be at least three sides to give the examiner as much opportunity to give you as many marks as possible.