Want to know how to analyse a poem in a few simple steps? Here are the tried and tested methods every budding English Lit student has to know.
Knowing how to analyse a poem can feel impossible at times – language is hard enough as it is without thinking about caesuras, stanzas and metre! Luckily, though, poetic analysis often isn’t as tricky as it seems.
As a private tutor myself, I have talked countless struggling students through analysing tricky poems, from language, form and structure to the intricacies of essay-writing. Here are my top tips for dealing with this pesky art form!
This article is all about how to analyse a poem.
How to Analyse a Poem
Poetic Language
Luckily, most language features in poems are very similar to the ones you’ll find in a story. That means similes, metaphors, personification and the like.
However, the one big difference is sound effects. Poetry was written to be read out loud, so sound effects, like alliteration and onomatopoeia, are incredibly important. Before I elaborate on this, though, you should know a few key words. These are all different types of alliteration, which you absolutely don’t need to know to get high marks (at GCSE, at least), but which I like to use. You’ll need these to understand my explanations, even if you don’t use them yourself!
Plosive
Please be aware that this list isn’t exhaustive – it just shows the words I like to use!
Some More on Poetic Alliteration…
Anyway, a fantastic example of poetic alliteration comes from ‘Dulce et decorum est‘, by Wilfred Owen, which is one of my favourite poems of all time. The first line goes like this:
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks
Read that line out loud and listen to the dark plosive sounds, which drag down the poem and make it feel incredibly slow, mimicking the slow trudging of soldiers through cloying mud.
Another Wilfred Owen poem is called ‘Exposure‘. Here are some other great examples of alliteration from Exposure.
Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces
Listen to those chilly fricative sounds that echo the sound of shivering soldiers! Another quote from that same poem goes like this:
Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence
Here, the sibilance evokes the sound of bullets whistling through the wind.
Sound effects in poetry, however, apply to more than just alliteration. You can talk about the sounds of individual words. For example, in ‘Dulce et decorum est’, Owen describes the soldiers as ‘blood-shod’. Say that word out loud and listen to the heavy ‘b’ and ‘d’ sounds. To me, these weighty plosives slow down the pace of the poem (like the trudging of soldiers, perhaps!).
This level of detailed analysis is impressive to examiners, so if you can, have a go!
Poetic Structure
On the other hand, poetic structure is completely different from story structure, and it’s almost always neglected in English essays. In fact, structure is the very thing that makes a poem a poem, so it’s definitely important! You will not be able to reach the highest marks in poetry essays without discussing structure at least a few times.
When it comes to structure, there are six aspects you have to consider:
- Stanza length
- Line length
- Rhyme scheme
- Rhythm and metre
- Caesuras
- Enjambment
That’s a lot of jargon, so let me just clarify a few things.
Stanza
Poetic structure is incredibly detailed, so if you would like some more detail, have a look at this article:
The Ultimate Guide to Poetic Structure
If you want the TL;DR, think about whether the structure is strict and controlled or loose and free. How does this affect the poet’s message?
Poetic Form
Poetic form is tricky to talk about, and, to be honest, it’s rarely completely necessary. The exceptions to this rule are 1) if you are writing a very long, detailed essay (A-level coursework or higher!), or 2) if it’s extremely relevant.
Possible poetic forms include the haiku, the limerick and the sonnet, though most of these are not covered in much detail until university level.
Having said that, there is one important form you should know, and it’s the sonnet. Sonnets are fourteen lines long and have a strict internal rhythm and rhyme scheme, though different sonnets follow different schemes. Honestly, it’s incredibly confusing, but if you are interested, have a look at this VERY extensive Wikipedia page. I know, I know – Wikipedia shouldn’t be trusted, but, as I say, it’s very extensive!
Anyway, if your poem as fourteen lines, a rhyme scheme and some sense of rhythm, it’s probably a sonnet. The thing to be aware of is that sonnets are normally about love (think Shakespeare – ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’, for example!). If your poem is a sonnet but isn’t about love, ask yourself why. Is it ironic, or tragic? That’s for you to decide!
Conclusion
So there we have it! The ultimate guide to how to analyse a poem, from language to structure to form. I hope it helps!
This article was all about how to analyse a poem.
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