Poetry Analysis SSTV-MIDST Jennifer A. Bennett Sanderson High School Raleigh, North Carolina Wake County Public School System

Student/Reader’s Role First job: to interpret and analyze—do not attempt to evaluate (judge)! Second job: to discuss not just the “what” but the “Big So What” Not enough simply to identify Must analyze What effect/s does it create? Drive your point all the way home!

SSTV Speaker—who is telling the poem? The voice that delivers the words of the poem Story—what is literally happening in the poem? The poem’s subject Tone—speaker’s attitude toward the story? Vehicles—what literary devices does the poet use to drive meaning and tone across to the reader?

Vehicles Metaphor Imagery Diction & Syntax Structure Title What literary and rhetorical devices does the poet use to drive meaning across to the reader? Metaphor Imagery Diction & Syntax Structure Title

Vehicles: Metaphor Figurative language—the language of comparison Similes Metaphors Personification Analogies To what does the poet compare things in the poem? What effects do the comparisons have on the reader? What tone do the comparisons convey?

Vehicles: Imagery How does the poet use language to appeal to one or more of the reader’s physical senses? Visual Aural Tactile Olfactory Gustatory What effects do these images have on the reader and the work as a whole? “The Big So What!”

Diction & Syntax Diction: word choice—what effects do particular words have on the work and the reader, considering both their literal and implied meanings? Denotation Connotation Syntax: word arrangement—what effects do particular grammatical choices/patterns make on the work and the reader?

Structure Patterns that create form within the poem: Repetition of clauses, phrases, other grammatical structures Rhythm Rhyme Line breaks Stanzas How do these patterns help communicate meaning and tone in the poem?

Title Always consider the significance of the title. They often do more than declare the subject of the poem. Good titles can be vehicles to present— irony symbolism foreshadowing Titles can also reveal tone or set mood.