Poetry “Wheel”
Notes before we begin:
O Refer to any author by his or her last name
O The speaker isn’t necessarily the poet
O A poem that tells a story is a “narrative
poem”
Content
Style
The “wheel”
Title
Theme
Context
Speaker/PoV
Audience
Diction
Form/Structure
Syntax
Imagery
Figurative Lang.
Symbolism
Sound
Irony
Allusion
Tone
Title/Theme/Context
O Title - Literal or symbolic? Suggested meanings?
Length, punctuation, capitalization
O Theme
O How not to state a theme:
O “The theme of this poem deals with a character
who is destroyed by money.”
O “This poem is about human desires.”
O How to state a theme:
O “Vice seems more interesting than virtue but
turns out to be destructive.”
O “the vanity of human desires”
O Context
O Relevance of context? Effect on theme?
O Effect on conventions of genre? (i.e. Shakespeare
didn’t write in free verse)
Speaker/PoV and Audience
O The poet or a specific persona?
O PoV?
O What assumptions can you make about the
speaker?
O age, gender, class, emotional state, etc.
O Relevant to poem’s content?
O Identified audience?
O Language influenced by audience?
Diction
O Classify and explain:
O denotative vs. connotative (dead vs. passed away)
O concrete vs. abstract
O monosyllabic vs. polysyllabic
O positive vs. negative (slender vs. skinny,
determined vs. stubborn)
O colloquial (dialect) / informal / formal
O cacophonous vs. euphonious
O Repeated words?
Form/Structure
O form correspond to theme?
O follow a formal poetic structure (i.e. sonnet,
haiku, blues poem, etc.)?
O If so, what are the characteristics of that form?
How does it deviate from that form?
O divided into stanzas? any reason stanza breaks?
O stanzas and lines consistently the same length?
follow a particular pattern? any stanzas, lines, or
words that diverge from the pattern?
Syntax
O Enjambment or end-stopped lines? Effects of
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
this?
Caesura? Effects?
Use of punctuation – effects on pacing?
Uncommon fonts? Bolded? Italicized? Why?
Active or passive sentences?
Consistent verb tense?
complete sentences, fragments, or combination
of both? pattern?
word order natural or grammatically irregular?
Imagery
O literal or figurative? abstract or concrete?
sensory experiences evoked? repeated
images?
O Figurative Language
O simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole,
metonymy, synecdoche, understatement
O comparisons express images or abstract
ideas?
O effect on tone and theme?
O Symbolism? recurring?
Sound
O Identifiable rhythm? Syllables in each line?
O
O
O
O
Pattern? Stressed or unstressed syllables?
Alliteration, assonance, consonance,
onomatopoeia? How do these enhance
rhythm and musicality?
Identifiable rhyme scheme? Results?
Consistent or inconsistent?
What kind (exact, etc.)? Effects?
Irony/Allusion
O Irony
O Does irony reveal or hide anything?
O Paradox? Oxymoron? (insert “you’re an
oxymoron” joke here)
O Allusion (You absolutely need to know these
before the IOC! Maybe a surprise quiz (that
was just announced in advance)?)
O Are there any? What are they? Effects?
O Similarity of reference? Effects?
Tone
O Is the tone positive or negative? What are
the words that describe it most accurately?
O Does the tone change as the poem
progresses? Is it consistent at the beginning
and ending of the poem?
O How do literary devices influence tone?