English 115:

Introduction to
Literature

SECTION 5 | SUMMER, 2021

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 Review

•What are the elements of poetry?

• How do we analyze a poem?
• What is alliteration?
• What is assonance?
© Adila M. Jahan, 2021
 What is poetry analysis?
Poetry analysis is examining the independent elements of a poem to
understand the literary work in its entirety. Analyzing poems line by line
allows you to break poems down in order to study their structure, form,
language, metrical pattern, and theme. The purpose of literary analysis is to
interpret the meaning of a poem and appreciate it on a deeper level.
Poetry involves different elements like language, rhythm, and structure.
Together, they tell a story.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 Theme: Poetry often conveys a message through figurative language.
The central idea and the subject matter can reveal the underlying theme
of a poem.

Language: From word choice to imagery, language creates the mood

5 Things to and tone of a poem. The way language is arranged also impacts the
rhythm of a poem.

Consider Sound and rhythm: The syllabic patterns and stresses create the
metrical pattern of a poem.
When
Analyzing Structure: The framework of a poem’s structure affects how it is meant
to be read. A poet sculpts their story around stanzas, line breaks, rhyme
patterns, punctuation, and pauses.
Poetry
Context: The who, what, where, when, and why of a poem can help
explain its purpose.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 How to Analyze a Poem?

Read the poem. The first time you approach a poem, read it
to yourself. Go through it slowly, appreciating the nuances
and details you might miss when reading it quickly.
Examine the title of the poem and how it relates to the
meaning of the piece.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 How to Analyze a Poem?
Read the poem again, this time aloud. Given its rhythmic
patterns, poetry is designed to be read aloud. As you read a poem
aloud, listen to how the words and syllables shape the rhythm. It
can also help to hear someone else read the poem. Listen to how
the words flow from line to line, where the breaks are, and where
the stress is placed.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 How to Analyze a Poem?
Map out the rhyme scheme. You will notice right away if a poem
has a rhyme scheme or is written in free verse (without a rhyme
scheme or regular meter). Map out the rhyming pattern by
assigning each line a letter, giving lines that rhyme the same letter.
See if there is a distinct pattern and a formal rhyme scheme.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 How to Analyze a Poem?

Determine the form of the poem. In your poem analysis,

note what type of poem you are reading based on the
elements you have examined. For example, if a poem has
three quatrains (four-line stanzas) followed by a couplet, the
poem is a sonnet.
.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 How to Analyze a Poem?

Study the language in the poem. Poets make deliberate word choices to
craft their poems. Examine each word and its significance in the line and the
poem. How does it contribute to the story? If there are words you do not
know, look them up. See how the poet plays with language through the use of
metaphors, similes, and figurative language. Note any literary devices used,
like alliteration and assonance, that help sculpt the poem’s language.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 How to Analyze a Poem?

Study the content of the poem. Go through the language of the

poem, look at the content and message of the piece to uncover the
theme.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

Use poetry goggles to analyze poetry

Step 3
Step 1 Step 2 • Look for the poetry devices such as
• Look at the • Look for repetition. imagery, mood, tone, viewpoint,
structure of the theme, metaphor, simile, figurative
poem. language, alliteration, and assonance.

Step 5
Step 4 Step 6
• Support the purpose
• Purpose of the through details found • Meaning of the
poem. in the poem. poem.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 Formula of a thesis statement of a poem
In title of the poem by name of the author/poet , the poem has the
theme of write your theme here .This is supported by quick points
(no more than 2 words per point) that you will expand in the body
paragraph, this works to prove that write the purpose of the poem
here. These devices work by displaying write the meaning of the
poem.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

 Activity 1
Directions: Read the poem, The Road Taken by Robert
Frost. Then analyze the poem using the poetry goggles.
Then write a thesis statement using the formula.

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The Road Not Taken
BY ROBERT FROST
© Adila M. Jahan, 2021
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
 Activity 2

Directions: Read the following sonnet, Sonnet 130: My Mistress’

Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun by William Shakespeare. Then
analyze the poem using the poetry goggles. Then write a thesis
statement using the formula.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021

Sonnet 130: My Mistress’ Eyes
Are Nothing Like The Sun by My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
William Shakespeare Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.

© Adila M. Jahan, 2021