Reading and Analyzing Poetry Objective: To enable you to feel more comfortable and confident when approaching poetry.

Fear of Poetry It’s a real thing. The official diagnosis is verseophobia and it sadly strikes 2 out of every 3 AP Lit students. The symptoms vary from mildly sweaty palms to severe night terrors and uncontrollable bladder. We all need to work together to strive for a cure for this debilitating disease. Won’t you support our cause?

Multiple Readings One step toward the cure of verseophobia is to realize that poems, like songs, can mean different things to different people – your response to the poem is important. Another step toward the cure of verseophobia is to read a poem more than once. Don’t try to assess a poem’s total purpose or effect after just one reading (just like with songs).

Let’s start by simply reading and responding Read “A Noiseless Patient Spider” to yourself. Now I’d like someone to volunteer to read it aloud. What are your first responses to the poem?

Focused Questions Now let’s answer a couple of more focused questions: 1. What is the first stanza about? 2. What happens in the second stanza? 3. What do the spider and the speaker have in common? Write your responses and we’ll share out.

My responses to these questions In the first stanza, the speaker is simply watching a spider cast out its web. In the second stanza, there is a comparison made between the speaker and the spider. The speaker’s mind is constantly casting out filaments of thought, trying to make connections that will last. Both the speaker and the spider are isolated, surrounded by space, and constantly trying to make necessary connections.

Can you identify with the speaker at all? Re-read the poem one more time and recall your own experiences that the poem might bring to mind. Haven’t we all had quiet, solitary moments where we search for meaningful connections in our lives?

Now let’s read the other three poems Read all three to yourself, then I’ll ask for volunteers to read aloud Select ONE of the three poems and probe it a bit to discover your response to it.

Answer these questions to guide your thinking What is the main idea of the poem? You may want to look at the ideas of each individual stanza. What feelings, attitudes and insights are expressed? How can the poem be related to your life experiences?