20 Tips for your Poetry Analysis Test
Strategies to Help You Improve and Achieve
your Best Results on the Test
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #1
Answer all of the assigned
questions. Do not leave any
question blank or unanswered!
There will be two short answer
questions and one paragraph
response question on the test.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #2
Make sure that you understand the
definition of tone and theme, and
that you review the definitions for
the various figurative language
forms that we studied in class. If you
are confused, ask questions!
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #3
Read the poem carefully, and more
than once, before you begin
answering the test questions. Make
sure that you understand what the
poem is about before you start to
write.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #4
Upon your first and second reading
of the poem, underline/highlight
words and lines that you think are
important. Write directly on the test
paper. This will help you when you
are referring back to the poem for
quotations.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #5
Make sure that you are answering what
the question is asking. Do not get offtopic. You only have 37 minutes to write
the test. Use part of the question to
begin your response in order to help you
focus on what information you should
be including in your answer.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #6
Ensure that your answers are detailed,
thoughtful, and that you support all of
your points with direct evidence from
the poem (quotations). Do not simply
refer to the line – You must include a
quotation in quotation marks to prove
your points for each question.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #7
Pay attention to how many marks each
question is worth (5 marks or 10 marks),
and from that, plan how much
information to include (5 points for a
question worth 5 marks and 10 points
for a question worth 10 marks), and
how much time you should spend on
each question.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #8
When deciding how much time you
should spend on each question,
consider that a 10 mark question
should take you approximately 1214 minutes, and a 5 mark question
should take you approximately 7-9
minutes.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #9
Do not use personal pronouns in
your responses. This is not a time for
personal reflection. This is a time to
be analytical! Be objective in your
word choice and demonstrate your
ability to be a keen critical thinker.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #10
You do not need to cite your
quotations on the test. For a typed
evaluation like a formal paragraph
or a literary essay, this is required,
but on a test with distinct time
constraints, citations are not
required.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #11
Bring a dictionary with you in case
you struggle with some of the
vocabulary in the poem. You are
allowed to use this during the test,
but you are not allowed to use your
class notes. However, dictionaries
will not be provided for you.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #12
Be sure to choose the best possible
tone descriptor to indicate how the
speaker of the poem feels about
his/her subject matter and/or the
reader. Do not make up words.
Make sure that you can support
your chosen tone descriptor with a
quotation from the poem.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #13
Remember to refer to the theme of
the poem in more than one word. If
you think that the poem is about
love, consider what kind of love is
being discussed, and what key
message the speaker is attempting
to convey to the reader about love.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #14
It is not enough to simply identify an
example of figurative language
without explaining how and why it is
used in the poem. Remember to
analyze the purpose and effect of
each figurative language device
that you examine on the test.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #15
Double-space your responses on
the foolscap paper (long, lined
paper) provided in class. Do not
forget to do this on the test,
because it enables me to write
you more legible feedback.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #16
Answer all questions on the
foolscap paper provided,
number your pages, put your
name on all of the paper you
use, and put your pages in the
correct order upon submission.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #17
Place the poem’s title in
quotation marks, according to
proper formatting. For example,
Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If”…
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #18
Lead into your quotations
thoughtfully! Do not just plunk them
in your answers because you know
that you need to use quotations.
Provide context – i.e. This is proven
in the poem when the speaker
says, “…” (transition carefully)
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #19
If you have any time remaining in
the test after you have finished the
questions, proofread your writing
for errors prior to submission. Look
for spelling mistakes, punctuation
errors, missing words, etc.
Poetry Analysis Test Tip #20
Stay calm and do your best. You
have had a lot of practice
analyzing poetry over the course
of this unit. You can do this!