Paraphrasing Notes
1. Paraphrasing is rephrasing – changing the poet’s words for
different, usually more understandable words.
2. Sometimes paraphrasing results in longer, more wordy
lines, sometimes in shorter ones. Be sure your paraphrased
version has close to as many lines as the original.
3. Keep the perspective the same as the poem: “I” is still “I”.
4. EITHER WAY – stick to the literal meaning of the lines;
don’t try to read into the words yet – no symbolism please!
5. If the poem rhymes, DO NOT try to rhyme your
paraphrasing. YOU WILL GO INSANE!
6. Notice how the lines are written. If the poem uses
enjambment (you have to read onto the next line to get
the meaning), your paraphrasing may “bleed” over onto
the next line some.
7. Skip lines between stanzas the same way the poet did. (It
should still look like a poem!)
8. DICTIONARIES ARE OUR FRIENDS! Beware of assuming
you know what a word means. If the usual meaning of a
word doesn’t seem to make sense, look it up!
9. Thesauri are okay, but be sure you know what a word
means before you pick it from a list of synonyms. You want
the words you choose to be fairly exact, so use caution.
10.
REMEMBER – the object in the end is to have a
clearer version of the original poem that maintains stanzas
fairly well.