Poetry Seven Questions to Ask Every Poem

Poetry Question ONE Who is thespeaker?

Question Two To whom is the speaker speaking?

Question Three: What is the poet’s tone? (This question always shows up on exams.) Tone is the poet’s attitude. Is it ironic, compassionate, serious, angry, hostile, or self-deprecating ?

Question Four 1. What is the mood or atmosphere of the poem? How does the poem affect me, the reader---is it gloomy, sad, depressed, reassuring?

Question Five What is the theme? What is the main message of the poem?

Question Six  Is there a “pattern” to the poem? A progression? It could be--  Birth to death  Chronology of a story  External to internal  General to specific  Least to most  Night to day

Question Seven  How does diction affect the poem? Think about the words the poet chose—just the right ones. What are the connotations of these words? (This is another of those certainties on college tests). And, within diction, look for:  --symbols  --figurative language  --allusions  --sounds (alliteration, assonance, personification, onomatopoeia)  --concrete imagery

Poetry. Someone’s Mood, Happened Once. Can Never Happen Again, Ever. But, As human beings, We can share that emotion from the words the poet has chosen.

“The Stolen Child” by William Butler Yeats  Come away, o human child  To the water and the wild  For the world’s more full of weeping  Than you can understand

“Metaphor” by Eve Merriam  Blank sheet of paper  A new morning  File away  Light words  Dark words  Who needs a metaphor?  What is a metaphor?

“The Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin  Silver spoon  Man in the moon  Essence of time  Quality time  Just time  No time

“In Flanders’ Fields”  Honor  Military  Loss  Respect  Dedication  Memory

NOW,  Yours…