(DC) Lesson Topic 5: Analyzing Poetry

Lesson Topic 5: Analyzing Poetry

ATo effectively analyze a poem, we must first read the poem a number of times. Reading it aloud, paying careful attention to the way in which its lines are punctuated, will usually help us to understand it, while alerting us to any special effects created by its rhythms, rhymes, or other sounds.

As we read and reread the poem, we should underline words and phrases that we suspect may be particularly significant. We can make notes in the margins. We must ensure that we fully understand every word used in the poem: no word is there by chance, so consult a dictionary when you are in doubt about word meanings.

Ask questions about the poem to understand it. Then, attempt to say the poem in your own words. Think about what theme you feel the poem is addressing. Decide what figurative language is used.

Let's look at the following poem by Robert Frost. This is a great example of a dramatic poem.

The Runaway

by Robert Frost

Once when the snow of the year was beginning to fall,

We stopped by a mountain pasture to say, "Whose colt?"

A little Morgan had one forefoot on the wall,

The other curled at his breast. He dipped his head

And snorted to us. And then we saw him bolt.

We heard the miniature thunder where he fled,

And we saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and gray,

Like a shadow across instead of behind the flakes.

The little fellow's afraid of the falling snow.

He never saw it before. It isn't play

With the little fellow at all. He's running away.

He wouldn't believe when his mother told him, 'Sakes,

It's only weather.' He thought she didn't know!

So this is something he has to bear alone

And now he comes again with a clatter of stone,

He mounts the wall again with whited eyes

Dilated nostrils, and tail held straight up straight.

He shudders his coat as if to throw off flies.

"Whoever it is that leaves him out so late,

When all other creatures have gone to stall and bin,

Ought to be told to come and take him in."

 

When analyzing a poem, we are looking for figurative language like metaphors, similes--all of the things we have been studying.

What is this poem about?

It is about the speaker seeing a colt's first experience with snow.

• We saw him, dim and gray, Like a shadow across instead--This is a simile.
• And now he comes again with a clatter of stone--This is a metaphor.
• and tail held straight up straight. He shudders--This is alliteration.