Poetry
How to Read, Analyze, and Understand
Poems (and other texts)
Students will learn to identify the poetic
elements used by poets to help create
meaning in poetry.
Students will learn to identify the
structural elements of poems that help
“shape” meaning and convey feelings.
Students will use biographical information
to make connections between the poet and
the poems (and other texts).
Annotate and Analyze
•ANALYZE each poem even if you aren’t positive of
the meaning, literary elements, or significance of
the words.
•Use the blank spaces on each page to ANNOTATE
the texts by making comments, asking questions,
drawing illustrations, and showing your thoughts
and ideas as you read each poem.
•Identify any problems or important questions with
a “?” symbol.
•Identify any significant insights or elements with
a “!” symbol.
•Use the dictionary and other resources to define
unknown words.
“Mother to Son”
by Langston Hughes (page 136)
Read the poem and make annotations.
Listen to the poem and make additional
annotations.
Highlight in one color the words/phrases that the
speaker uses to describe her life.
Highlight in a second color the advice the speaker
gives to her son or the things she wants him to do.
The speaker is using a dramatic monologue (where
the speaker addresses a silent listener) to respond
to a question.
A. What question might her son have asked her to
prompt such an answer?
B. What message (theme) is Langston Hughes
trying to share with the reader?
“Those Winter Sundays”
by Robert Haden (page 192)
Read the poem and make annotations.
Listen to the poem and make additional annotations.
Highlight in one color the words/phrases that the
speaker uses to describe his father.
Highlight in a second color the words/phrases the
speaker uses to describe the setting.
Highlight in a third color the words/phrases the
speaker uses to describe himself.
C. How would you characterize the relationship
between the speaker and his father?
D. What message is Robert Hayden trying to share
with the reader?
*IMAGERY – create an illustration for the three most
vivid images the poet created through his words.
“Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark”
by Sandra Cisneros (page 192)
Read the short story and make annotations.
Listen to the short story and make additional
annotations.
Highlight in one color the words/phrases that the
narrator uses to describe her father.
Highlight in a second color the words/phrases the
author uses to provide details about the narrator.
E. How does the death of the family member affect
both the narrator and her father?
F. What message (theme) is Sandra Cisneros trying
to share with the reader?
Literary Response
Based on your analysis and
interpretation of the texts, which best
represents the relationship you have
with your parent, guardian, or family?
Defend your claim/thesis with text details
and text support.
Elaborate on your ideas and provide
examples to clearly convey your
connections.
Cite specific words, phrases, or lines that
connect to your ideas and thoughts.
The Structure of a Paragraph
Sample Structure of a Basic Paragraph
INDENT
1. Topic SENTENCE
2. Supporting Detail SENTENCES
3. Concluding SENTENCE
Highlight the PERIODS at then end
of each of the sentences with a
LARGE PURPLE DOT.
How many sentences did you compose for your
paragraph?
How many sentences do you think would be
required for a QUALITY PARAGRAPH
RESPONSE?
10+ independent clauses
*compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences
count as multiple sentences
Highlight all specific
Text Details in YELLOW.
Highlight your Topic/Introductory
SENTENCE in RED.
Highlight your Supporting
Detail/Body SENTENCES in BLUE.
Highlight your Conclusion
SENTENCE in GREEN.
Author’s Purpose
What Does The Poem
Actually Mean?
Analyzing a poem gives you a better
understanding of how the poet used words,
language, poetic/literary elements, and
structure to give meaning to the poem.
The next step is to explain how effectively
the poet used these elements to convey his
or her thoughts and feelings.
Be prepared to make strong and clear
connections between and among the poems
and other texts you have read.
Meet the Writer page 136
Langston Hughes (1902–1967)
A Lonely Child
Langston Hughes was a lonely child who moved often and felt distant from his
parents, who eventually divorced. His father tried to discourage his son’s
“impractical” dream of being a writer by sending him to study engineering at
Columbia University in New York City. Unhappy at college, Hughes left school and
joined a ship’s crew, sailing to Europe and Africa. He later graduated from Lincoln
University in Pennsylvania and held a variety of jobs to support his writing: He was a
cook, sailor, launderer, doorman, and busboy.
A Place in the City
Hughes is chiefly associated with Harlem, in New York City. In the 1920s, Hughes was
a key figure in the movement of African American art and writing known as the
Harlem Renaissance. His most creative work was done at his typewriter, near a thirdfloor rear-apartment window overlooking a Harlem backyard. There he wrote both
stories and poetry, often using dialect and slang to capture the everyday voices of
ordinary people.
" I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere
you want to go, if you really want to go."
Meet the Writers page 192
Robert Hayden (1913-1980)
Originally named Asa Bundy Sheffey, Robert Hayden was
passed between his parents and foster parents, who
eventually changed Sheffey's name to their own. Hayden's
bad eyesight kept him from participating in sports, and he
turned to books instead. As a young adult, Hayden joined
the Federal Writers' Project, a government program
supplying jobs to out-of-work writers during the Great
Depression. In the years he worked for the project, Hayden
researched the historical roots of the Underground Railroad
in Michigan and other aspects of African American history.
Meet the Writers page 192
Sandra Cisneros (1954– )
Sandra Cisneros grew up as the only daughter in a family
with seven children. Her father believed that daughters
should worry only about getting husbands. Cisneros
struggled in school, but a teacher encouraged her to write;
and after graduating from college and earning her master’s
degree, Cisneros wrote The House on Mango Street, the
book for which she is best known. Cisneros eventually
showed her father one of her stories that had been
translated into Spanish. He was so thrilled that he asked,
“Where can we get more copies of this for the relatives?”
Biographical Approach
What obstacles did each
writer need to overcome in
the effort to be accepted and
successful?
How are these details
conveyed through each
writer’s text?