Poetry Analysis Review

Remember that poetry is a different type of writing than the pieces you may normally encounter in literature. In the past modules, you read fictional short stories and nonfiction texts that appear in what scholars call "prose" form. Review the differences between verse and poetry below:

 

You might be familiar with some kinds of figurative language in the vocabulary, but you can review some of the most used literary devices in the video below:

Structure of Poetry

Remember that poetry does not appear in paragraph form like prose works; poetry has a different structure. Poetry is organized by lines and stanzas.

Poetic Rhyme

Along with a certain stanza structure, many poems have a rhyme scheme. Recall that the rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming words that comes at the end of each line of poetry.

Notice that each word that rhymes at the end of the line of poetry receives the same letter. Then, you write the letters in order to determine the rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme of Sonnet 138 is: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

The rhyming of words at the ends of lines is called end rhyme; however, there are other types of rhyme that occur in poetry. View the video below to learn about the various types of rhyme that can appear in poetry:

Poetic Rhythm

Remember that poems also have rhythm and when you speak, your voice inflection places emphasis, or stress on certain syllables. The syllables that do not receive the emphasis and are unstressed. The pattern of stressed and unstressed sounds that each word makes is called "poetic feet" and creates the rhythm, or meter.

The process of "scansion", or identifying the syllables that receive stress, or emphasis, and the syllables that do not receive the stress, or emphasis, determines the rhythm of a poem. Review the video below for how to determine poetic feet through stressed and unstressed syllables (also known as scansion):

The chart below will remind you of the names of different line lengths based on the number of poetic feet in poetry

Number of Feet Per Line (Number of stressed or unstressed syllables sets)	Name of Line Length
One Feet	Monometer
Two Feet	Dimeter
Three Feet	Trimeter
Four Feet	Tetrameter
Five Feet	Pentameter
Six Feet	Hexameter
Seven Feet	Heptameter

Let's also review the different patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables in lines of poetry:

Poetry Analysis

Remember that once you understand the literary devices, rhyme, and rhythm, you are ready to fully analyze poetry through the TPCASTT method. Oftentimes, using the TPCASTT method for analyzing poetry will give you a clear idea of what the poem is about and help you understand the theme of the poem. Review the steps of the TPCASTT analysis below:

View the video for a review of the TPCASTT analysis review below:

Poetic Terms Review

Let's review the Poetic Terms below.

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