Poetry: Resources and Suggestions
AP Literature and Composition
Some thoughts about poetry:
1. A poem exists in time – is read, experienced, spun out – like a piece of music.
2. A poem would be dull if it gave away everything at once, with no gradually growing awareness or surprises for the
reader. The full truth is meant to appear only by the end.
3. By the end, everything falls into place for the reader. Remembering or half-remembering the earlier lines, the reader
sees the whole thing at once – not in time – just as the listener “sees” the whole melody or song as it is complete. In
this respect the poem exists statically as well, like a painting or statue.
4. A good poem is not only good in time, as it unfolds – a good trip – but falls into place as a coherent whole with some
kind of human sense.
5. “Right” interpretations are always the result of both analysis and comparison. What are the parts, how are they related,
and why do they occur in this order and in this style? How does this thing resemble and differ from other things in its
general category, including any conceivable paraphrase or translation of it into other words, and how does any given
part of it differ from similar parts in similar works?
How to Explicate a Poem
Method #1:
Tips for reading poetry:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Rephrase the poem in your own words. What does the paraphrase reveal about the poem’ subject and central
themes? What is lost or gained in your paraphrase of the poem?
Consider the poem’s voice. Who is the poem’s speaker? How would you characterize the poem’s tone? Is the poem
ironic?
Study the poem’s diction, and look up unfamiliar words in a dictionary. How does word choice affect your reaction to
the poem? What do the connotations of words reveal about the poem? What level of diction is used? Is dialect used? Is
word order unusual or unexpected? How does the arrangement of words contribute to your understanding of the
poem?
Examine the poem’s imagery. What kind of imagery predominates? What specific images are used? Is a pattern of
imagery present? How does imagery enrich the poem?
Identify the poem’s figures of speech. Does the poet use metaphor? Simile? Personification? Hyperbole?
Understatement? Metonymy or synecdoche? Apostrophe? How do figures of speech affect your reading of the poem?
Listen to the sound of the poem. Are rhythm and meter regular or irregular? How do rhythm and meter reinforce the
poem’s central concerns? Does the poem use alliteration? Assonance? Rhyme? How do these elements enhance the
poem?
Look at the poem’s form. Is the poem written in closed or open form? Is the poem constructed as a sonnet? A
sestina? A villanelle? An epigram? A haiku? Is the poem an example of concrete poetry? How does the poem’s form
help to communicate (or reinforce) its ideas?
Consider the poem’s use of symbol, allegory, allusion, or myth. Does the poem make use of symbols? Allusions?
How do symbols or allusions support its theme? Is the poem an allegory? Does the poem retell or interpret a myth?
Identify the poem’s theme. What central theme does the poem explore? What other themes are examined? How are
the themes expressed?
Method #2:
(with thanks to Betsy Draine of the University of Wisconsin-Madison)
A good poem is like a puzzle--the most fascinating part is studying the individual pieces carefully and then putting them back
together to see how beautifully the whole thing fits together. A poem can have a number of different "pieces" that you need to
look at closely in order to complete the poetic "puzzle." This sheet explains one way to attempt an explication of a poem, by
examining each "piece" of the poem separately. (An "explication" is simply an explanation of how all the elements in a poem
work together to achieve the total meaning and effect.)
1. Examine the situation in the poem:
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•
•
•
Does the poem tell a story? Is it a narrative poem? If so, what events occur?
Does the poem express an emotion or describe a mood?
Poetic voice: Who is the speaker? Is the poet speaking to the reader directly or is the poem told through a fictional
"persona"? To whom is he speaking? Can you trust the speaker?
Tone: What is the speaker's attitude toward the subject of the poem? What sort of tone of voice seems to be
appropriate for reading the poem out loud? What words, images, or ideas give you a clue to the tone?
2. Examine the structure of the poem:
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•
•
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•
Form: Look at the number of lines, their length, their arrangement on the page. How does the form relate to the
content? Is it a traditional form (e.g. sonnet, limerick) or "free form"? Why do you think the poem chose that form for
his poem?
Movement: How does the poem develop? Are the images and ideas developed chronologically, by cause and effect, by
free association? Does the poem circle back to where it started, or is the movement from one attitude to a different
attitude (e.g. from despair to hope)?
Syntax: How many sentences are in the poem? Are the sentences simple or complicated? Are the verbs in front of the
nouns instead of in the usual "noun, verb" order? Why?
Punctuation: What kind of punctuation is in the poem? Does the punctuation always coincide with the end of a
poetic line? If so, this is called an end-stopped line. If there is no punctuation at the end of a line and the thought
continues into the next line, this is called enjambement. Is there any punctuation in the middle of a line? Why do you
think the poet would want you to pause halfway through the line?
Title: What does the title mean? How does it relate to the poem itself?
3. Examine the language of the poem:
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•
•
•
•
Diction or Word Choice: Is the language colloquial, formal, simple, unusual?
Do you know what all the words mean? If not, look them up.
What moods or attitudes are associated with words that stand out for you?
Allusions: Are there any allusions (references) to something outside the poem, such as events or people from history,
mythology, or religion?
Imagery: Look at the figurative language of the poem--metaphors, similes, analogies, personification. How do these
images add to the meaning of the poem or intensify the effect of the poem?
4. Examine the musical devices in the poem:
•
•
•
Rhyme scheme: Does the rhyme occur in a regular pattern, or irregularly? Is the effect formal, satisfying, musical,
funny, disconcerting?
Rhythm or meter: In most languages, there is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a word or words in a
sentence. In poetry, the variation of stressed and unstressed syllables and words has a rhythmic effect. What is the
tonal effect of the rhythm here?
Other "sound effects": alliteration, assonance, consonance repetition. What tonal effect do they have here?
Has the poem created a change in mood for you--or a change in attitude? How have the technical elements helped the poet
create this effect?
Additional information that may prove helpful…
Major Types of Poems
1. Sonnets
• 14 line poem usually written in iambic pentameter
• Focuses on one subject
• Two types = Shakespearean/English or Petrarchan/Italian
• Petrarchan sonnet has two parts –
o 8 line octave with rhyme scheme abba abba
o 6 line sestet with a rhyme scheme cdecde or some variation
o The volta, or turn, occurs between the octave and the sestet
o Octave usually presents a problem, idea or question and the sestet solves or answers it
•
Shakespearean rhyme scheme = ababcdcdefefgg
§ Three quatrains and one couplet
§ couplet amplifies, restates or reverses the poem’s theme or ideas
See pages 917 – 922 in your textbook for additional information on the sonnet and examples
2. Narrative Poetry
• the narrative poems tells a story
• it can be brief or long (epic)
• usually objective
• told by a speaker detached from the action
• contains regular rhyme scheme
3. Lyric Poetry
• brief poem that expressed personal emotions and thoughts of a single speaker
• speaker is not necessarily the poet
• can be used, expressed in other forms such as the sonnet, ode and haiku
• NOT narrative
4. Dramatic Monologues
• poem told by one speaker about a significant event
• speaker reveals in his own words the dramatic situation in which he is involved
• speaker demonstrates his character through the poem
• speaker addresses a listener who does not engage in dialogue but helps to develop the speech
• speaker’s revelation of his own character may be unintentional (negative)
• the reader can see the implications of what the speaker says/admits
• Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” are two famous examples
5. Ode
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Poetry characterized by a serious topic and a formal tone
No standard pattern
Lengthy lyrical poems
Often include lofty emotions written/conveyed in a dignified style
Typical topics = truth, art, freedom, justice and the meaning of life
Often written for public publication, reading
Use of apostrophe is common (especially with the Romantic poets i.e. “Ode to the West Wind”)
6. Villanelle
• 19 lines
• Divided into 5 tercets (five groups of three lines) and 1 quatrain
• Rhyme scheme aba aba aba aba aba abaa
• Line 1 is repeated to form line 6, 12 and 18
•
•
•
Line 3 is repeated to form line 9, 15 and 19
A very structured poem – why would someone use it? Think about irony!
Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is a famous villanelle
7. Sestina
• 39 lines divided into 6 six-line stanzas and a 3 line concluding stanza called an envoy
• Words are repeated from the first stanza’s end lines in the other stanzas endlines.
• Very demanding fixed form!
• Elizabeth Bishop’s “Sestina” appeared on a previous AP multiple choice section
• Consider the repetition of words – what words are emphasized and why?
Rhythm
English, unlike some other languages, depends largely for its meaning on the varying emphasis, or stress, that we put on parts of
words (syllables).
Both words and sentences depend upon stress-variation. For example, in the words “swallow bacon sandwiches” we stress the
first syllable of each word” SWAllow BAcon SANDwiches.
In the simple sentence “I want to go” the meaning changes according to where we put the stress:
I want to go.
I want to go.
I want to go.
This business of stress is quite complicated because we are capable of voicing quite subtle shades of emphasis to achieve subtle
shades of meaning. The patterns of stress position and variation are what we mean by “the natural rhythms of ordinary speech,”
and by common consent there are limits to the liberties we can take with them.
Different stressed syllables can be marked like this:
/
indicates a strongly stressed syllable
u
indicates an unstressed syllable or a lightly stressed syllable
We frequently speak in a more or less regular rhythm without being particularly aware of it.
Here’s an ordinary sentence:
I had a go on Kevin’s bike and smashed it up against a bus.
Its natural stresses go like this:
U/ u/ u / u
/
u
/
u / u /
u /
I had a go on Kevin’s bike and smashed it up against a bus
As you can see, it follows a regular sequence of light, heavy, light, heavy stresses. It divides into eight similar units:
U/
u/
u /
u
/
u
/
u /
u/
u /
I had ⎪ a go⎪ on Kev⎪in’s bike ⎪and smashed it up⎪ against⎪ a bus
We can even arrange it into two equal lines of four units each, like this:
U/
u/
u /
u
/
I had ⎪ a go⎪ on Kev⎪in’s bike ⎪
u
/
u /
u/
u /
and smashed⎪ it up⎪ against⎪ a bus
This may not sound much like the poetry you expect, but it happens to have almost exactly the same rhyme as two of the most
famous lines of poetry in English literature:
U/
I wan
u
/
der’d lone
U /
That floats
u /
on high
u
/
ly as
u /
o’er vales
u
/
a cloud
u /
and hills
The fact that the tragedy of Kevin’s Bike and William Wordsworth “The Daffodils” happen to be rhythmically near-identical
illustrates a couple of important points.
First, no matter how complex or “artificial” a poem’s form may seem, its basic structural device – the ordering and variation of
stresses – is taken from ordinary speech. Second, a poem is an artifice, and so we accept that poets manipulate language in
certain ways. But there are limits to the extent that a poet can interfere with natural speech rhythms. We can allow Wordsworth
to shorten (elide) “over” into “o’er,” but if he were to overturn the stress-order of the lines, we would be unable to read it that
way.
This rhythm “de DOM de DOM” sounds silly when it is stressed in an exaggerated way. In a sensible reading of a poem,
rhythm is more subdued. It operates as what W.B. Yeats called “a ghostly voice.” In poems that do have an underlying rhythm
of some sort, the deviations from that rhythm, and the variations in it, are as at least as important as the rhythm itself. But,
obviously, you are not going to spot these deviations and variations unless you have already “got” the rhythm. Therefore one of
the things that the ear inside your head should be able to do is crank up the rhythm, so to speak, by simplifying and overemphasizing it.
Metrics and Metrical Verse
Meter, or metre, means measure. Metrical verse, therefore, is verse which can be measured. What this means is that in a metrical
poem, the lines consist of a number of rhythmical units which can be counted. “Kevin’s Bike" and Wordsworth’s “The
Daffodils” are both metrical.
Rhythmical units are called feet. Afoot nearly always has one stressed syllable and one or more unstressed syllables. Feet differ
from one another according to how many syllables they have and where the stress comes. Each kind of foot has its own peculiar
name:
The iamb is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one: u /
U /
u /
u /
To be ⎪ or not⎪ to be
The trochee is the iamb in reverse, a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable:
/u
/
u / u
Stop it ⎪ Lois
The anapest has two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable: u u /
U u /
u u
/
Decompose ⎪ in the ground
The dactyl is the reverse of the anapest, a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables: / u u
/ uu
/ u u
Parachute ⎪ gracefully
Iambic and trochaic feet are called double measures because they have two syllables.
Anapestic and dactylic feet are called triple measure because they have three syllables.
In metrical verse, lines have a certain number of feet. Such lines also have names that make sense when you do the math!
A two foot lines is a dimeter
A three foot line is a trimeter
A four foot line is a tetrameter
A five foot lines is a pentameter
A six foot line is a hexameter
A seven foot line is a septameter
Most metrical lines in English have three, four, or five feet. By putting together the kind of foot used and the number of feet
used, you get what is called a metrical description of a line. For example, in the following two lines the first is an anapestic
trimester and the second is an anapestic dimeter.
U u
/
u u /
u
u /
I have come ⎪ to the bor⎪ders of sleep.
U u /
u u /
The unfath⎪omable deep.
This is an iambic pentameter
U / u / u /
u /
u
/
If mu⎪sic be⎪ the food⎪ of love ⎪play on
For deeply interesting and mysterious reasons (which we won’t go into here) iambic pentameter is by far the most common
meter in English poetry. Iambic rhythms seem to be more natural to an English speaker. It seems that is more natural for us to
go “de DOM” (iambic) than “DOM de” (trochaic). Trochees seem to interfere with the language more than iambs do; they
seem more pushy and intrusive. Police cars wail trochaically! For whatever reason, it is likely that if you come across a line of
verse which has ten syllables, that line is an iambic pentameter. And perhaps because iambic pentameters are so common, poets
tend to use them very flexibly – they add a syllable here and there, for instance.
The business of working out metrical patterns in feet is called scansion or scanning.
Variations in Meter
In almost all metrical verse there will be a good deal of variation within the prevailing meter. These variations are often called
metrical substitutions. Some metrical substitutions are more common than others. The two most frequently employed are:
1.
2.
swapping one foot in a line for a different kind of foot
cutting a foot short
Example of 1: On Shakespeare’s tomb in Stratford there’s this little iambic verse:
Good friend, for Jesu’s sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man who spares these stones
And curst be he who moves my bones.
Assuming that Shakespeare wrote this himself, he clearly wanted an arresting, direct opening (I’m talking to you!), so he
substitutes a double-stress foot for the first iamb:
/
/
u /
u
/
u /
Good Friend, ⎪ for Je⎪ su’s sake ⎪ forbear
This replacing of an iamb with a double-stress foot is so common that this has its own name; it’s called a spondee. It draws
attention to the words where it takes place, which is what metrical variations almost always do.
Example of 2: Cutting a foot short is called catalexis. This usually happens to feet that end with an unstressed syllable (trochees
and dactyls). Here is a very well-known example:
/ u
/ u
/ u
/
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
It is a sequence of four trochees (a trochaic tetrameter) with the last unstressed syllable missing. Most trochaic lines have this
final syllable snipped off. The main reason for this is rhyme. “Looking” and “hooking” rhyme, whereas “standing” and
“walking” do not, even though all four words end in –ing. If, therefore, you want to end a line with a strong true rhyme, a
stressed syllable is what is called for. In “The Tyger” this rhyme is important because it is one of the ways Blake sets up a very
strong four-beat rhythm, almost like a hypnotic chant with which he conjures up the vision of the tiger. The strength of this
beat is reinforced by the repetition of “Tyger” and the repetition of the “b” sound in “burning bright.” If the missing syllable of
the last trochee was put back:
Tyger! Tyger! burning brightly
The line loses an awful lot of punch and goes limp at the end. Not only that but it poses a very tricky problem as far as rhyme is
concerned:
Tyger! Tyger! Burning brightly
In the forests, lit up nightly…??!!
ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH
LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION
AP Exam Poetry Essay Questions (1971 – 2004 )
1971
Poem: “Elegy for Jane” (Theodore Roethke)
Prompt:
1972
Write an essay in which you describe the speaker's attitude toward his former student, Jane.
Poem: “The Unknown Citizen” (W.H. Auden)
Prompt: In a brief essay, identify at least two of the implications implicit in the society reflected in the poem. Support your
statements by specific references to the poem.
1973/1975/1984
1974
NO POEMS
Poem: “I wonder whether one expects...” (No poet given)
Prompt: Write a unified essay in which you relate the imagery of the last stanza to the speaker’s view of himself earlier in
the poem and of his view of how others see poets.
1976
Poem: “Poetry of Departures” (Philip Larkin)
Prompt: Write an essay in which you discuss how the poem's diction (choice of words) reveals his attitude toward the two
ways of living mentioned in the poem.
1977
Poem: “Piano” [2 poems with the same name] - (D.H. Lawrence)
Prompt: Read both poems carefully and then write an essay in which you explain what characteristics of the second poem
make it better than the first. Refer specifically to details of both poems.
1978
Poem: “Law Like Love” (W.H, Auden)
Prompt: Read the poem and the write an essay discussing the differences between the conceptions of “law” in lines 1-34
and those in lines 35-60.
1979
Poem: “Spring And All” (William Carlos Williams)/”For Jane Meyers” (Louise Gluck)
Prompt: Read the two poems carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you show how the attitudes towards the
coming of spring implied in these two poems differ from each other.
Support your statements with specific references to the
texts.
1980
Poem: “One Art” (Elizabeth Bishop)
Prompt: Write an essay in which you describe how the speaker's attitude toward loss in lines 16-19 is related to her attitude
toward loss in lines 1-15. Using specific references to the text, show how verse form and language contribute to the reader's
understanding of these attitudes.
1981
Poem: “Storm Warnings” (Adrienne Rich)
Prompt: Write an essay in which you explain how the organization of the poem and the use of concrete details reveal both
its literal and its metaphorical meanings. In your discussion, show how both of these meanings relate to the title.
1982
Poem: “The Groundhog” (Richard Eberhart)
Prompt: Write an essay in which you analyze how the language of the poem reflects the changing perceptions and emotions
of the speaker as he considers the metamorphosis of the dead groundhog. Develop your essay with specific references to the
text of the poem.
1983
Poem: “Clocks and Lovers” (W.H. Auden)
Prompt: Write a well-organized essay in which you contrast the attitude of the clocks with that of the lover. Through careful
analysis of the language and imagery, show how this contrast is important to the meaning of the poem.
1985
Poem: “There Was A Boy” (William Wordsworth)/”The Most of It” (Robert Frost)
Prompt: These two poems present encounters with nature, but the two poets handle those encounters very differently. In a
well-organized essay, distinguish between the attitudes (toward nature, toward the solitary individual, etc.) expressed in the
poems and discuss the techniques that the poets use to present these attitudes. Be sure to support your statements with specific
references.
1986
Poem: “Ogun” (EK. Braithwaite)
Prompt: Read the poem. You will note that it has two major sections that are joined by another section lines 21-26. Write
an essay in which you discuss how the diction, imagery, and movement of verse in the poem reflect differences in tone and
content between the two larger sections.
1987
Poem: “Sow” (Sylvia Plath)
Prompt: Read the poem. Then write an essay in which you analyze the presentation of the sow Consider particularly
how the language of the poem reflects both the neighbor's and the narrator's perceptions of the sow and how the language
determines the reader's perceptions. Be certain to discuss how the portrayal of the sow is enhanced by such features as diction,
devices of sound, images, and allusions.
1988
Poem: “Bright Star” (John Keats)/”Choose Something Like a Star” (Robert Frost)
Prompt: Read the following two poems very carefully, noting that the second includes an allusion to the first. Then write a
well-organized essay in which you discuss their similarities and differences. In your essay, be sure to consider both theme and
style.
1989
Poem: “The Great Scarf of Birds” (John Updike)
Prompt: Write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poem's organization, diction, and figurative language
prepare the reader for the speaker's concluding response.
1990
Poem: Soliloquy from Henry IV, Part II (Shakespeare)
Prompt: In the soliloquy, King Henry laments his inability to sleep. In a well-organized essay, briefly summarize the King's
thoughts and analyze how the diction, imagery, and syntax help to convey his state of mind.
1991
Poem: “The Last Night that She lived...” (Emily Dickinson)
Prompt: Write an essay in which you describe the speaker’s attitude toward the woman's death. Using specific references
from the text show how the use of language reveals the speaker's attitude.
1992
Poem: “The Prelude” (William Wordsworth)
Prompt: In the passage below, which comes from William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem “The Prelude,” the
speaker encounters unfamiliar aspects of the natural world. Write an essay in which you trace the speaker's changing responses
to his experiences and explain how they are conveyed by the poem's diction, imagery, and tone.
1993
Poem: “The Centaur” (May Swenson)
Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you discuss how such elements as language,
imagery, structure, and point of view convey meaning in the poem.
1994 Poems: “To Helen” (Edgar Allan Poe) / “Helen” (H.D.)
Prompt: The following two poems are about Helen of Troy. Renowned in the ancient world for her beauty, Helen was the
wife of Menelaus, a Greek King. She was carried off to Troy by the Trojan prince Paris, and her abduction was the immediate
cause of the Trojan War.
Read the two poems carefully. Considering such elements as speaker, diction, imagery, form, and tone, write a wellorganized essay in which you contrast the speakers' views of Helen.
1995 Poem: “The Broken Heart” (John Donne)
Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze how the speaker uses the varied imagery
of the poem to reveal his attitude toward the nature of love.
1996 Poem: "The Author to Her Book" (Anne Bradstreet)
Prompt: Read carefully the following poem by the colonial American poet, Anne Bradstreet. Then write a well-organized
essay in which you discuss how the poem’s controlling metaphor expresses the complex attitude of the speaker.
1997 Poem: "The Death of a Toad" (Richard Wilbur)
Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain how formal elements
such as structure, syntax, diction, and imagery reveal the speaker’s response to the death of a toad.
1998 Poem: "It's a Woman's World" (Eavan Boland)
Prompt: The following poem was written by a contemporary Irish woman, Eavan Boland. Read the poem carefully and then
write an essay in which you analyze how the poem reveals the speaker's complex conception of a "woman’s world."
1999 Poem: "Blackberry-Picking" (Seamus Heaney)
Prompt: Read the following poem carefully, paying particular attention to the physical intensity of the language. Then write a
well-organized essay in which you explain how the poet conveys not just a literal description of picking blackberries but a
deeper understanding of the whole experience. You may wish to include analysis of such elements as diction, imagery,
metaphor, rhyme, rhythm, and form.
2000 Poem: “Siren Song” (Margaret Atwood) / Siren passage from the Odyssey (Homer)
Prompt: The story of Odysseus’ encounter with the Sirens and their enchanting but deadly song appears in Greek epic
poetry in Homer’s Odyssey. An English translation of the episode is reprinted in the left column below. Margaret Atwood’s
poem in the right column is a modern commentary on the classical story. Read both texts carefully. Then write an essay in
which you compare the portrayals of the Sirens. Your analysis should include discussion of tone, point of view, and whatever
poetic devices (diction, imagery, etc.) seem most appropriate.
2001 Poem: “London, 1802” (William Wordsworth) / “Douglass” (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Prompt: In each of the following poems, the speaker responds to the conditions of a particular place and time – England in
1802 in the first poem, the United States about 100 years later in the second. Read each poem carefully. Then write an essay in
which you compare and contrast the two poems and analyze the relationship between them.
2002 Poem: “The Convergence of the Twain” (Thomas Hardy
Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then, taking into consideration the title of the poem, analyze how the poetic
devices convey the speaker’s attitude toward the sinking of the ship.
2003 Poem: “
” (Robert Bridges) / “Eros” (Anne Stevenson)
Prompt: The following poems are both concerned with Eros, the god of love in Greek mythology. Read the poem
carefully. Then write an essay in which you compare and contrast the two concepts of Eros and analyze the techniques used to
create them.
2004 Poems: “We grow accustomed to the Dark” (Emily Dickinson) / “Acquainted with the Night” (Robert Frost)
Prompt: The poems below are concerned with darkness and night. Read each poem carefully. Then, in as well-written essay,
compare and contrast the poems, analyzing the significance of dark or night in each. In your essay, consider elements such as
point of view, imagery, and structure.
Poetry Analysis – Single Poem
_____________________________
Name:
Poem:____________________________________________________
“Pieces” of the poem for
explication:
SITUATION: What is it about and
who is talking?
•
•
•
•
•
Is it a story? About…
Express emotion or describe mood?
Speaker? Reliable?
Audience?
TONE: speaker’s attitude toward subject? (words
and images that help identify tone?)
STRUCTURE: What does it look
like?
•
•
•
•
•
FORM: # of lines, length, arrangement on page,
“traditional” (sonnet, limerick) or “free” form? Shifts?
MOVEMENT: development? Images that develop
chronologically, cause/effect, free association? Is it
circular, or does it move from one attitude to another
(despair to hope?)
SYNTAX: # of sentences? simple or complicated?
Word order? (nouns before verbs or vice versa?
Why?) Parallel structure?
PUNCTUATION: kind? Coincide with end of line
(end-stopped line)? Thoughts continue to next line
(enjambement)? Punc. In middle of line? Why?
TITLE: Means? Relates how?
LANGUAGE:
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•
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DICTION: Colloquial? Formal? Simple? Unusual?
What moods or attitudes are associated with words?
ALLUSIONS: references to something outside
poem?
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: How do these add to
meaning or intensify effect?
• IMAGERY
• METAPHORS
• SIMILES
• ANALOGIES
• PERSONIFICATION
MUSICAL DEVICES:
•
•
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RHYME SCHEME: Regular pattern? Is effect
formal, satisfying, musical, funny, disconcerting?
RHYTHM or METER: What is it (i.e. iambic
pentameter)? What is tonal effect?
OTHER “SOUND EFFECTS”: tonal effects?
• ALLITERATION
• ASSONACNE
• CONSONANCE
• REPETITION
THEME or MOTIF
What is the poet’s message? What is the poem
about?
TONE
What is the tone? Why is it appropriate?
Observations
(WHAT?)
Significance to tone or theme? Is
there irony?
(SO WHAT?)