Close Reading Poetry to Understand Meaning and Tone:
For each of the poems we read this week, as well as your poetry out loud poem- please answer the following questions to
help in aiding comprehension. Please write legibly and in complete sentences. Be sure to provide line numbers in MLA
format ie. (Ryan, L7)
Language and Tone
Language
1.
2.
Literal definition of ‘important’ words- pick at least 5 words to focus on- write definitions for these
i. Begged: To ask for charity.
ii. Die: To pass from physical life.
iii. Clenching: To hold fast
iv. Confidence: assurance or self-reliance
v. Sickening: causing sickness or disgust.
Which words have positive or negative connotations? Pick at least three words and explain.
i. Sickening: Negative, because a lot of bad things happen when people get sick.
ii. Unanswerable: Negative, because it holds the unknown/ positive because it could be full of surprises.
iii. Separately: Negative, Alone, loner, left out.
3.
What images do the words call to mind? Pick at least 5 words and explain
i. Drum: Brings sound
ii. Traveling: Memory
iii. Back seat: Memory of riding in a back seat
iv. Clenching: Angry, frustrated.
v. Desert: Hot sun
4.
What emotions do these words evoke? Pick at least 5 words and explain.
i. Drum: despair because she is slowly dying and feels less and less alive.
ii. Traveling: car sick, because you would be in a car for a very long time.
iii. Back Seat: Not in control and want to help, but cant.
iv. Clenching: Upset, scared, desperate, because she has nothing left to do other than opening her hand.
v. Desert: Lonely.
Figurative Language
5.
6.
7.
What comparisons are made in this poem? Find at least 5 and explain.
i. (Line)6-7 “My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.”
ii. (Line)2 “I felt the life sling out of me.”
iii.(Line)3 “A drum in the desert.”
iv. (Line)5 “Watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern.”
v. (Line)16 “Still lying in the backseat behind all my questions.”
What forms do the comparisons take? Find at least 5 and explain.
i. “My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.” Imagery
ii. “I felt the life slide out of me” personification/metaphor
iii. “A drum in the desert” Imagery/metaphor
iv. “Watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern.” Imagery
v. “Still lying in the backseat behind all my questions.” Metaphor
What is the effect of the comparisons? Find at least 5 and explain.
i. “My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.” Metaphor, provides an image in your head to connect
with the poem more.
ii. “I felt the life slide out of me” she is dying.
iii. . “A drum in the desert” Help you understand the loneliness she feels and her frustration.
iv. “Watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern.” Feels sick about the thought of being lonely.
v. “Still lying in the backseat behind all my questions.” She is telling us that she is thinking in the backseat why
everyone she knew left her.
Tone
8.
Is the tone formal or informal? Explain with at least 5 pieces of evidence from the text.
i. Tommy-(Line 11) When you can no longer make a fist (line 17) Clenching and opening one small hand. Formal
because it’s a repeated idea
ii. Informal because the poem is easy to understand and does not follow a structure.
iii. (Line 2) Life sliding out of me. Informal
iv. Informal because it didn’t have a metrical rhythm.
v. The poem has no rhymes therefore it is informal.
9.
What tone of voice feels appropriate when you read the poem aloud? Find at least five examples explaining your
answer.
i. 3rd because the pauses after each line.
ii. 2nd because he was subtle.
iii. 1st because it has a dark depressing tone.
iv. 1st WORST because it was bad.
v. 3rd because of what he said something that I missed
10. Does the poem contain colloquial language or slang? Find at least 2 examples.
i. yes, Tampico, sea port in eastern Mexico.
ii. Yes, the fact that they’re talking shows an intimate conversation with her parents.
Sound Elements
Rhythm and Meter
11. Does this poem display a regular metric patter? Yes or no and why do you think the author chose this?
12. If so, what find of metrical feet does the poem employ, if not how is a sense of rhythm created? Explain with 3
examples from the poem.
i.
ii.
iii.
Rhyme
13. Does the poem include end rhymes? Do they follow a rhyme scheme? What do you think the author chose to
write the poem this way?
14. Are there any internal rhymes? Why or why not?
15. Are the poems rhymes exact rhymes or slant rhymes? Provide at least three examples.
i.
ii.
iii.
16. What words or ideas are emphasized through the use of rhyme? Provide at least three examples.
i.
ii.
iii.
Other Sound Devices
17. When I read aloud, what words or sounds are most prominent? Provide at least three examples.
i.
ii.
iii.
18. What ideas or emotions do these sounds echo or reinforce? Provide at least three examples.
i.
ii.
iii.
64 points total per poem.
X2=128 points possible
Select two poems from poetry out loud.org. Conduct the analysis above for the poems. Please be sure one poem is pretwentieth century.
Due Monday November 3, 2014