Poetry Explication
The Art of Examining and
Analyzing Poetry
Begin by Examining the title
• What images come to mind?
• Examples:
“The Chimney Sweepers” by William Blake
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William
Wordsworth
“A Hillside Thaw” by Robert Frost
“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost
Examining the title (cont’d)
• What emotions come to mind?
• Examples:
“Never Try to Trick Me with a Kiss” by Sylvia Plath
“O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman
“In the Moonlight” by Thomas Hardy
“When You are Old” by William Butler Yeats
“The Promise of the Morning Star” by Amy Powell
Ask yourself…
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Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
• Who is the speaker?
• Who does the speaker address?
• What conflicts or themes does the poem
present, address, or question?
• What happens in the poem? Is there a
“plot”?
• Where is the speaker? Physical
location?
• When does the action occur?
• Why does the speaker feel compelled to
speak? What is the motivation?
Speaker/Persona
• Who is doing the talking?
• The speaker is the character or persona created
by the poet
• Describe the speaker
• Who does the speaker address?
• What is the conflict?
• Where is the setting?
• When does the poem take place?
• Why does the speaker address the listener?
Literary Devices in Poetry
• Rhyme Scheme
-pattern of rhyme throughout the poem
• Alliteration-repetition at the beginning
-Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers
• Assonance-repetition of vowels
-Fleet feet sweep by sleeping Greeks
• Consonance-repetition of consonants sounds within
the word
-Rap rejects my tape deck, ejects projectile
The Importance of Word Choice
• The words the poet selects and the way
they are phrased can alter the meaning of
the poem
• Connotation- the association we make
with words
-Let’s give it a try…
-Again?
• Allusions- references to other works or
events outside the poem
• Imagery- how does the poet appeal to the
senses?
Figurative Language
• Metaphor- comparison of two unrelated things
• Simile- comparison using “like” or “as”
• Personification- inanimate objects given human
characteristics
• Symbolism- an object comes to represent
something else entirely (example: Hamlet
projects, “The Youngest Doll”)
• Hyperbole- an exaggeration is made for
emphasis (example: “I’ve told you a million times
to clean your room”)
• Imagery- when a word or phrase that appeals
directly to the reader’s senses
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor -Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now -For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
Example 1:
There once was a big brown cat
That liked to eat a lot of mice.
He got all round and fat
Because they tasted so nice.
Example 2:
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
Say the first thing that pops in your
head when you hear the word…
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lemonade
school
wheelbarrow
melancholy
lifesaver
money
crabs
brilliance
prom
paradise
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bug
fireworks
embarrassment
mine
creep
hope
umbrella
garlic
ring
sunset
blue
shoelace
demand
glass
I like to chat all the time
I am very helpful in an emergency
I often play games with my owner
I sometimes interrupt when my owner is busy
I can drop a beat in the middle of the street
I feel important because I go everywhere my owner
goes…
What am I?
A CELL PHONE!
Imagery Example
What senses do the following lines appeal to?
“Stainless blue sky,
jubilant voices of children
stumbling through the alphabet,
village greybeards strolling to the temple…”