Title: Ponder the title before reading the poem
Paraphrase: Translate the poem into your own words
Connotation: Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the
literal level
Attitude: Observe both the speaker’s and the poet’s attitude (tone).
Shift:
Note shifts in speakers and attitudes
Title: Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive
level
Theme: Determine what the poet is saying
TITLE
 Look at the title an attempt to predict what the poem will
be about.
 Example:
“The Red Wheelbarrow”
William Carlos Williams
so much depends
upon a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
PARAPHRASE
 Paraphrase the literal meaning or “plot” of the poem. A true
understanding of the poem must evolve from comprehension of “what’s
going on in the poem.”
Example:
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
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.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
CONNOTATION
 For poetry, connotation indicates that students should examine
any and all poetic devices, focusing on how such devices
contribute to the meaning, the effect, or both of a poem.
Students may consider imagery (especially simile, metaphor,
personification), symbolism, diction, point of view, and sound
devices (alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhythm, and rhyme).
Example: From “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath
Not God but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through.
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.
ATTITUDE
 Having examined the poem’s devices and clues closely, you are
ready to explore the multiple attitudes that may be present in the
poem. (Tone)
Example: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
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.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
SHIFTS
 Rarely does a poet begin and end the poetic experience in the same
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place. Discovery of a poet’s understanding of an experience is critical
to the understanding of a poem. Trace the feelings of the speaker from
the beginning to the end, paying particular attention to the conclusion.
Look for the following to find shifts:
1. Key words (but, yet, however, although)
2. Punctuation (dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis)
3. Stanza division
4. Changes in line or stanza length or both
5. Irony (sometimes irony hides shifts)
6. Effect of structure on meaning
7. Changes in sound (rhyme) may indicate changes in meaning
8. Changes in diction (slang to formal language)
 "I'm nobody! Who are you?" by Emily Dickinson
 I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be
somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!
TITLE
 Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive
level.
THEME
 Identify the theme by recognizing the human
experience, motivation, or condition suggested by the
poem.
 “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who
favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, 5 I think I know
enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also
great And would suffice.