Analyzing Poetry

Analyzing Poetry Searching for Meaning

What does it mean? Often we struggle to determine what a poem really means. It is always hard to say for sure what the poet is trying to convey. While the message of the poet may be important, the message you receive from the poem, regardless of intent, is also important. What something means to you, doesn’t mean the same to others.

Transactional Analysis How many of you have re-read a book or poem? Did you receive a different message from either? Did certain parts seem more important or interesting? As our lives and experiences change, it gives new meaning to different works of art. What may have been about love once, may be about pain or hurt when you read it again. Depending on our own experiences, the meanings of poems can change form person to person

Analyzing Poetry When we are analyzing poetry, it is important to take steps to help us understand what the poet is really trying to say. Poems often use figurative language, and we must decipher what possible meanings the poem can hold. This makes poetry more than just words on a page, it gives these words meaning that every human being can relate to.

Helpful Steps to Analysis Title- Ponder the title before reading the poem List words and phrases that seem important or stand out Paraphrase- translate the poem into your own words Connotation- contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal Attitude-observe both the speaker and the poet attitude (tone) Shifts- note shifts in speaker and in attitudes Title- re-examine the title again, this time on an interpretative level Theme- determine what the poet is saying

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, • And sorry I could not travel both • And be one traveler, long I stood • And looked down one as far as I could • To where it bent in the undergrowth; • Then took the other, as just as fair, • And having perhaps the better claim, • Because it was grassy and wanted wear; • Though as for that the passing there • Had worn them really about the same, • And both that morning equally lay • In leaves no step had trodden black. • Oh, I kept the first for another day! • Yet knowing how way leads on to way, • I doubted if I should ever come back. • I shall be telling this with a sigh • Somewhere ages and ages hence: • Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— • I took the one less traveled by, • And that has made all the difference. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Title- Ponder the title before reading the poem List words and phrases that seem important or stand out Paraphrase- translate the poem into your own words Connotation- contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal Attitude-observe both the speaker and the poet attitude (tone) Shifts- note shifts in speaker and in attitudes Title- re-examine the title again, this time on an interpretative level Theme- determine what the poet is saying

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest; So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare Title- Ponder the title before reading the poem List words and phrases that seem important or stand out Paraphrase- translate the poem into your own words Connotation- contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal Attitude-observe both the speaker and the poet attitude (tone) Shifts- note shifts in speaker and in attitudes Title- re-examine the title again, this time on an interpretative level Theme- determine what the poet is saying

i carry your heart with me(i carry it inmy heart)i am never without it(anywherei go you go,my dear; and whatever is doneby only me is your doing,my darling)i fearno fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i wantno world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)and it's you are whatever a moon has always meantand whatever a sun will always sing is youhere is the deepest secret nobody knows(here is the root of the root and the bud of the budand the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which growshigher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars aparti carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) i carry your heart by E.E. Cummings Title- Ponder the title before reading the poem List words and phrases that seem important or stand out Paraphrase- translate the poem into your own words Connotation- contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal Attitude-observe both the speaker and the poet attitude (tone) Shifts- note shifts in speaker and in attitudes Title- re-examine the title again, this time on an interpretative level Theme- determine what the poet is saying

There is a place where the sidewalk endsAnd before the street begins,And there the grass grows soft and white,And there the sun burns crimson bright,And there the moon-bird rests from his flightTo cool in the peppermint wind.Let us leave this place where the smoke blows blackAnd the dark street winds and bends.Past the pits where the asphalt flowers growWe shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,And watch where the chalk-white arrows goTo the place where the sidewalk ends.Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,For the children, they mark, and the children, they knowThe place where the sidewalk ends. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein Title- Ponder the title before reading the poem List words and phrases that seem important or stand out Paraphrase- translate the poem into your own words Connotation- contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal Attitude-observe both the speaker and the poet attitude (tone) Shifts- note shifts in speaker and in attitudes Title- re-examine the title again, this time on an interpretative level Theme- determine what the poet is saying

But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreamsHis shadow shouts on a nightmare screamHis wings are clipped and his feet are tiedSo he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings withA fearful trill of things unknownBut longed for still and hisTune is heard on the distant hillFor the caged bird sings of freedom. • A free bird leaps on the backOf the wind and floats downstream Till the current ends and dips his wing In the orange suns raysAnd dares to claim the sky.But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cageCan seldom see through his bars of rageHis wings are clipped and his feet are tiedSo he opens his throat to sing.The caged bird sings with a fearful trillOf things unknown but longed for stillAnd his tune is heard on the distant hill forThe caged bird sings of freedom.The free bird thinks of another breezeAnd the trade winds soft throughThe sighing treesAnd the fat worms waiting on a dawn-brightLawn and he names the sky his own. I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou Title- Ponder the title before reading the poem List words and phrases that seem important or stand out Paraphrase- translate the poem into your own words Connotation- contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal Attitude-observe both the speaker and the poet attitude (tone) Shifts- note shifts in speaker and in attitudes Title- re-examine the title again, this time on an interpretative level Theme- determine what the poet is saying

I went down to the river,I set down on the bank.I tried to think but couldn't,So I jumped in and sank.I came up once and hollered!I came up twice and cried!If that water hadn't a-been so coldI might've sunk and died.But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!I took the elevatorSixteen floors above the ground.I thought about my babyAnd thought I would jump down.I stood there and I hollered!I stood there and I cried!If it hadn't a-been so highI might've jumped and died.But it was High up there! It was high!So since I'm still here livin',I guess I will live on.I could've died for love--But for livin' I was bornThough you may hear me holler,And you may see me cry--I'll be dogged, sweet baby,If you gonna see me die.Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine! Life is Fine by Langston Hughes Title- Ponder the title before reading the poem List words and phrases that seem important or stand out Paraphrase- translate the poem into your own words Connotation- contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal Attitude-observe both the speaker and the poet attitude (tone) Shifts- note shifts in speaker and in attitudes Title- re-examine the title again, this time on an interpretative level Theme- determine what the poet is saying

Analyzing Poetry