ANALYZING

POETRY
Prepared by: MR. RICHARD JOHN G. LUGTU, LPT
Crossing the Bar by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Sunset and evening star
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar
When I put out to sea

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundaries deep
 Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell
When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot and face
THE ELEMENTS
IN ANALYZING
POETRY
 GENRE
What type of poem is it? Is it a
cinquain, haiku, lyric, narrative,
elegy, sonnet, epic, epistle?
Different genres have separate
attributes, purpose, and emphases.
 VOICE
Who is the speaker? What point of view does the
speaker communicate? Is the speaker involved in
the action or reflection in the poem? What
perspective (social, intellectual, political) does
the speaker show?What do the voice and
perspective of the speaker tell about the world
the poem is in?
THESIS
What is the poem about? What are the
obvious and less obvious conflicts? What
are the key statements and relationships
of the poem? Does the thesis give an
indication of the tone of the poem:
historical, social, and emotional?
STRUCTURE
What is the poem’s formal
structure? (number of meters,
stanzas, rhyme scheme)? What is
the ‘thematic structure’
(the plot)
SETTING

What type of ‘world’ is the poem

set in? Are the time and place
concrete? Tonal? Connotative?
Symbolic? Allegorical?
IMAGERY

What images does the poem

use? What is the physical
setting or metaphors used?
KEY STATEMENTS

What direct or indirect

statements are made?
SOUND
How does the sound, both
rhythm and rhyme (if applicable),
contribute to the poem?
LANGUAGE USE

What kind of words are used? Do

the words have double meanings?
Are there connotations? Puns? Or
ambiguities?
ALLUSION

Does the poem have a

meaning from another
work?
QUALITIES THAT EVOKE THE READER

What a sort of learning or

experience does the
poem give its reader?
IDEOLOGY

What values and basic

ideals of the world are
expressed?