How to read a poem

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How to read a poem
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What is close reading

• A close reading or explication is an attempt to
  derive meaning from an analysis of the poems
  individual parts and then relating them back to
  the poem as a whole.
• How is this helpful? Explication is a type of
  critical thinking skill that helps students
  understand a work more deeply and fully.

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Steps for analyzing a poem

• 1. Read the poem silently then out loud
• Reading the poem multiple times helps you
  understand the sounds and patterns of the lines
• Ask questions about Rhyme and rhyme scheme,
  meter, and other auditory devices that may
  contribute to the poems meaning.

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Steps for analyzing a poem

• 2. Paraphrase the poem
• Paraphrasing is putting the poem into your own
  words (stanza by stanza or line by line)
• Paraphrasing will help put the main ideas of the
  poem into focus
• Look up any unfamiliar words in the dictionary

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Steps for analyzing a poem

• 3. Identify speaker and audience.
• Ask questions about the speaker Is the speaker
  male or female? Man or woman? How do you know?
• To whom is the speaker addressing the poem? How
  do you know?

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Steps for analyzing a poem

• 4. Identify the specific setting of time and
  place.
• Ask about the poems revealing of the events or
  actions in terms of setting (time and place)
• Are any of these details delivered concretely or
  do we have to infer based on other details?

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Steps for analyzing a poem

• 5. Consider the poems title.
• Does the poems title give insight to ideas,
  situations, themes that may help shed light to
  the poems specific meanings or ideas?
• Are there any references in the title that may be
  important to know?

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Steps for analyzing a poem

• 6. Consider the poems diction.
• Diction refers to the poets choice of words.
  Often the poet will choose words with multiple
  meanings or words with specific connotations or
  emotional meanings.
• Think about the way a poet uses words or plays on
  words in the poem.

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Steps for analyzing a poem

• 7. Identify any figures of speech.
• Think about the way a poem uses language both
  literally and figuratively.
• Look for examples of metaphor, simile,
  symbolismAsk yourself How do these contribute
  to the poem overall?

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Steps for analyzing a poem

• 8. Identify any ironies.
• When we think of ironies, we think about
  opposites in terms of meanings and language used
  in the poem
• Does the surface level of the language oppose the
  implied meaning? How does this contribute to the
  poems meaning as a whole?

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Steps for analyzing a poem

• 9. Consider the poems tone.
• Think of tone as the writers attitude toward his
  subject, the work, or the audience.
• Identify the tone of the work and ask how this
  tone helps to contribute to the meaning of the
  poem.
• Borrowed from http//www.blinn.edu/brazos/humani
  ties/writingcenter/PDFs/Poetry20Explication.pdf