How to Interpret a Poem
music
art
Artists use color and line to
create a beautiful painting.
Musicians use rhythm and sound
to capture a mood or convey feeling
In the same way, poets use various literary techniques to convey the
sense, or meaning of a poem and to convey mood and feeling.
These techniques include choice of the speaker, sound, imagery and
figurative language.
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You should learn to think about all these
techniques so that when you interpret a poem
you will be able to show the connection
between the techniques of the poem and its
meaning.
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The SPEAKER or voice of the poem. Sometimes
the speaker is the poet him/herself and
sometimes the speaker is a character or a
thing the poet has created him/herself .
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The SOUND DEVICES a poet might use such as
onomatopoeia or alliteration.
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RHYME (the repetition at regular intervals of
similar or identical sounds) and RHYTHM (the
pattern created by arranging stressed and
unstressed syllables).
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A poem’s IMAGES may appeal to one or more senses.
Sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, internal feelings
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metaphor
simile
personification
be done in five easy steps…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Read the poem silently to yourself.
Reread the poem aloud.
Read the poem again silently to yourself.
Decide what you think the poem is about. If
you have no idea, paraphrase the poem line
by line to help you figure it out.
Identify the poetic devices

Does the poem focus on the actions of a
character?
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Does the poem describe something?
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Does the poem focus on an idea? A feeling?
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What emotional response does the poem
seem to call up in you?
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After your first emotional response to the poem, on
what does the poem cause you to reflect?
The Poem
The Activity
Four Little Foxes
By Lew Sarett
Speak gently, Spring, and make no sudden sound
For in my windy valley, yesterday I found
New-born foxes squirming on the ground –
Speak gently.
Walk softly, March, forbear the bitter blow;
Her feet within a trap, her blood upon the snow,
The four little foxes saw their mother go –
Walk softly.
1. Read the poem silently to yourself.
Make a note of the vocabulary you don’t
understand.
2. What is this poem about?
3. Does the poem focus on the actions
of a character?
4. Does the poem describe something?
5. Does the poem focus on an idea? A
feeling?
Go lightly, Spring, oh, give them no alarm;
When I covered them with boughs to shelter them from harm, 6.What emotional response does the
The thin blue foxes suckled at my arm poem seem to call up in you?
Go lightly.
Step softly, March, with your rampant hurricane;
Nuzzling one another, and whimpering with pain,
The new little foxes are shivering in the rain –
Step softly.
7.After your first emotional response to
the poem, on what does the poem cause
you to reflect?
8. What poetic devices do you see in
this poem? Use the chart to help you.
Selection of
Speaker
Sound
Who is speaking? Examples:
What is his/her
Rhythm
attitude?
Rhyme
Imagery
What images are
created to
appeal to our
senses?
Sight:
Personification
Sound:
Taste:
Alliteration
Figurative
Language
Touch:
Metaphor
Internal Feelings: Simile
Four Little Foxes
By Lew Sarett
Speak gently, Spring, and make no sudden sound;
For in my windy valley, yesterday I found A
New-born foxes squirming on the ground – A
Speak gently. B
A
Walk softly, March, forbear the bitter blow;
Her feet within a trap, her blood upon the snow,
The four little foxes saw their mother go –
Walk softly.
Go lightly, Spring, oh, give them no alarm;
When I covered them with boughs to shelter them from harm,
The thin blue foxes suckled at my arm Go lightly.
Step softly, March, with your rampant hurricane;
Nuzzling one another, and whimpering with pain,
The new little foxes are shivering in the rain –
Step softly.
Imagery
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Analyze a poem in 3 easy steps.
Just remember to P.E.E.!
P.E.E. stands for:
Point
Evidence
Explanation
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At your table, interpret
“Oranges” by Gary
Soto.
Read the poem silently to yourself.
2. What is this poem about?
3. Does the poem focus on the actions
of a character?
4. Does the poem describe something?
5. Does the poem focus on an idea? A
feeling?
6.What emotional response does the
poem seem to call up in you?
7.After your first emotional response to
the poem, on what does the poem
cause you to reflect?
8. What poetic devices do you see in
this poem? Use the chart to help you.
The Poem
The Activity
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What is the topic of the first line?
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The first sentence must make it clear what the
paragraph will be about.
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For example: At the beginning of “Oranges,”
the speaker explains that he has a vivid
memory about the first time he walked with a
girl: he was 12 years old, it was very cold and
he had two oranges in his pocket. The poet
uses imagery to create these pictures in the
readers’ heads.
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What words or phrases or events prove or
illustrate your point?
The next sentence should give evidence from the
text. It must relate directly to your point!
For example: This was a clear memory as he
creates clear images such as, “December. Frost
cracking beneath my steps, my breath before me,
then gone, as I walked toward her house, the one
whose porch light burned yellow night and day”.
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What does the author want the reader to think or
feel by using those words?
Explain how the evidence illustrates or proves
your point.
For example: The use bright colors such as
‘orange’ and ‘yellow’ against the background of a
winter landscape appeals to our sense of sight,
creating a very clear image of how cold it
actually is. In addition, the speaker describes his
breath ‘before him’, meaning when he breathes
he can see his breath. All these images create a
clear picture that is was a cold day this boy
walked with a girl.
At the beginning of “Oranges,” the speaker explains
that he has a vivid memory about the first time he
walked with a girl: he was 12 years old, it was very cold
and he had two oranges in his pocket. The poet uses
imagery to create these pictures in the readers’
heads.This was a clear memory as he creates clear
images such as, “December. Frost cracking beneath my
steps, my breath before me, then gone, as I walked
toward her house, the one whose porch light burned
yellow night and day”. The use bright colors such as
‘orange’ and ‘yellow’ against the background of a winter
landscape appeals to our sense of sight, creating a
contrast which in turn shows a very clear image of how
cold it actually is. In addition, the speaker describes his
breath ‘before him’, meaning when he breathes he can
see his breath. All these images create a clear picture
that is was a cold day this boy walked with a girl.
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The first P.E.E. paragraph used ‘Oranges’.
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Let’s look at Four Little Foxes!
In the poem “Four Little Foxes,” Lew Sarett uses
alliteration and personification to encourage
Spring to take care with the newborn foxes:
Speak gently, Spring, and make no sudden
sound “. Sarett uses alliteration by repeating
the “s” sound at the beginning of four words.
The repetition of this sound imitates how he or
she would like Spring to speak. This example
also shows personification; Sarett recreates the
gentle manner of speaking to encourage Spring
to ‘speak gently’. This helps the reader
understand how fragile newborn foxes are and
how vulnerable they are in the winter months.
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At your tables, use the P.E.E. paragraph
format to write one paragraph about
“Oranges” or “Four Little Foxes”.
In your paragraphs:
◦ Identify the poetic devices and define them.
◦ Give examples of that device being used in the
poem.
◦ Explain why Gary Soto used that device in the
poem.