Poetry Analysis Basics

1. It paints pictures by means of poetic devices such as
figurative language, rhythm and rhyme.
A poem is a composition in verse.

2. Poets and Their Times
• Poets reflect the events and ideas of their times
through poetry.
• Understanding of a poet’s time may lead to an
understanding of his ideas.
• Knowledge of a poet’s background also gives us insight
into his intention.
• Werefer to “schools of poets”:
• The Metaphysical Poets (John Donne)
• The Romantic Poets (Wordsworth)
• TheWar Poets (Rupert Brooke)
• The Humanist Poets (Petrarch)

3. Theme/Main Idea
Form
Diction (WordChoice)
Tone (Attitude)
Imagery
Rhythm
Rhyme
Metre

4.  Narrative Poetry: Ballad, Epic,Allegory, Dramatic
Monologue.
 Lyrical Poetry: Sonnet(Petrarchan, Shakespearean,
Modern), Ode,Elegy.

5. Analysis of Poetry
Theme/Idea
Each poem conveys the messages or intentions of the poet and these may
be explicit (0bvious) or implicit (implied).The theme is the central idea of a
poem.The theme is more than the topic or subject, it is the poet’s opinion of
the subject which is the actual theme.
A poem may be ABOUT love. . .
but the centralTHEME may be that the “loss of love is worse than death.”

6. Analysis of Poetry-Form
A poem is written in a particular
form.
Poems are usually written in lines.
These lines can be grouped into
stanzas.A stanza is similar to a
paragraph in an essay.
Enjambment ( run-on lines ) occur
in poetry where there is no
punctuation at the end of a line.

7. Meter
– Iambic Pentameter
– An Iamb contains one unstressed syllable followed by a
stressed syllable
– Penta means five
– Iambic Pentameter describes a line of poetry that contains
five iambs. Typically, an emphasis mark is made over the
accented syllable when “scanning” poetry.

9. Poetry Techniques
– Metaphors
– Similes
– Onomatopoeia
– Hyperbole
– Alliteration
– Personification
– Assonance
– Paradox
– Oxymoron

10. Metaphor: a comparison in which one thing is said to be another.

11. Symbol: when a concrete image is charged with an
abstract idea.

12. Simile: a comparison of two things using the
words “like” or “as”

13. Irony: an incongruity between the actual result of a
sequence of events and the normal or expected result

14. Alliteration: The use of repeated consonant sounds

15. Personification: giving animal or human qualities to inanimate objects

16. Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds in
poetry

17. Paradox: in which a statement appears to
contradict itself.

18. Analysis of Poetry
Tone (Attitude)
The tone of the poem reveals the poet’s subjective
views and attitude to the reader and to the subject.
Tone contributes to the mood or atmosphere of the
poem.
Some descriptive words for tone:
• Friendly
• Sharp
• Sarcastic
• Ironic
• Angry
• Humorous
• Condescending

19. Analysis of Poetry
Rhyme
 Rhyme depends on sound,not sight.
 Rhyme schemes differ.
 Couplet:Twoconsecutive rhyming lines
 Quatrain: Four-lined stanza.
 Sestet:The last six lines of a sonnet, or a six line
stanza
 Octave: an eight line stanza

20. NARRATIVE POETRY
 The Ballad
 The Epic
 TheAllegory
 Dramatic Monologue
THELYRIC
 Elizabethan/ShakespeareanSonnet
 Petrarchan/ItalianSonnet
 ModernSonnet
 TheOde
 The Elegy

21.  ShakespeareanSonnet
 Also called an EnglishSonnet
 14 Lines
 Three quatrains + rhyming couplet.
 Iambic pentameter.
 Couplet:Ties up the images and feelings and states the
philosophy of the poet.
 Rhyme Scheme: abab cdcd efef gg

22.  ItalianSonnet
 Also called a Petrarchan Sonnet
 Octave (8 lines) + Sestet (6 lines).
 Octave: TheProblem
 Sestet: TheSolution
 Break =Volta
 Octave: abbaabba
 Sestet: cdecde or cdcdc or cddcef.

24. Poetry - Concluding Thoughts
A poet is, before
anything else, a person
who is passionately in
love with language.
(W.H.Auden)
Tohave great
poets, there must be
great audiences.
(WaltWhitman)
Poetry is nearer to vital
truth than history.
(Plato)