Introduction to poetry (also known as literary analysis boot camp)

“I’ll know it when I see it.” n Poetry is hard to define—for our purposes, it’s everything that isn’t prose or drama. n The next slides will show you what we’ll be focusing on in our poetry discussions.

Diction n This means WORD CHOICE. Writers choose their words very carefully, and a good reader pays close attention. n Look at your handout. The poem by Emily Dickinson uses very specific diction. What is implied by her word choice? Look at capitalization and spelling, too.

Things to look at: n What is capitalized? Why do you think it was capitalized? n What is NOT capitalized that might have been? What does this tell you? n What words have connotations beyond their literal meaning?

Syntax n SYNTAX is the order in which words appear and how the words are arranged on the page. n Look again at the Dickinson poem, this time focusing on syntax. What word orders are unexpected or significant?

Structure n STRUCTURE looks at the poem as a whole. This is where we’ll talk about rhythm, rhyme schemes, stanzas, etc. n Look at Dickinson again. What divides her stanzas? Summarize their main ideas. n Use letters to show her rhyme scheme. n Look at the LINE BREAKS. The words poets use to end or begin lines can be significant to analysis.

e e cummings n Read the poem all the way through. Don’t make any notes this time. n Look at the compound words cummings created. (This is diction, by the way) n What other significant word choices do you see?

cummings, continued n Look at the way things are phrased. (What are we doing now? SYNTAX!) n Look for parallel structures, repetition, inverted syntax, and line breaks. n Look at punctuation. n How is this poem structured? Are the stanzas equal in length? Is there a rhyme scheme? How does this fit the idea of the poem?

TP-CASTT This is a basic analysis tool. Write it down. n T—Title. Ponder it before reading. n P—Paraphrase. Translate the poem into your own words, one sentence per stanza. n C—Connotation. Find meaning beyond the literal n A—Attitude. Figure the tones of both the author and the speaker. n S—Shifts. Find the changes in the speaker’s attitude. n T—Title. Again, but on an interpretative level. n T—Theme. Summarize what the poet is saying in one complete sentence. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “Neutral Tones,” “Some Days”

Your Assignment: n TP-CASTT on three poems n Marginal notes (extensive, please!) on three poems n For ALL poems assigned: a one- sentence statement of theme AND a question. Prufrock, “Some Days,” “Neutral Tones”—TP-CASTT “That the Science of Cartography is Limited,” “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” and “Nightclub”—marginal notes