1. LitHacks and Poetry

2. “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem   
and hold it up to the light   
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem   
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room   
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski   
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope   
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose   
to find out what it really means.

3. READ: The Poem as a Whole “to waterski across the surface”
What is this text about?
After an initial reading, consider the following things about the poem as a whole:
Genre/Form: What kind of poem is it?
Theme: What is the poem basically about?

4. Genre/Form Refers to the poem’s type or basic form/structure.
Epic: long poem on heroic subject
Sonnet: short poem of lines, with a “turn”
Ode: lyric poem in the form of an address to someone or something
Lyric: short poem that expresses personal emotions; often uses “I”

5. Subject/Theme
Does the poem deal with any big themes like love, death, war, or peace?
What are the most important concepts that are addressed in the poem?
What is the poem’s literal content?

6. RE-READ: Parts of a Poem “walk inside a poem’s room”
How does this text create meaning?
Poems are made up of stanzas, which are literally “rooms.”
Each stanza can be broken into smaller parts:
Diction, Syntax, and Punctuation
Figurative Language
Imagery and Symbolism
Tone
Characterization, Point-of-View, Plot, and Setting
Sound
Line

7. Diction, Syntax, and Punctuation
Diction refers to word choice. Syntax refers to the order of the words.
Why are certain words chosen over others?
Does the poem use wordplay such as double- meanings or puns?
Does the poem employ irregular syntax or punctuation?

8. Figurative Language Also known as “figures of speech.”
Metaphor: comparison between two unlike things
Simile: comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as"
Metonymy: one thing stands for something else that is closely related to it (For example, using the phrase "the crown" to refer to the king would be an example of metonymy.)
Synecdoche: a part stands in for a whole (For example, in the phrase "all hands on deck," "hands" stands in for the people in the ship's crew.)
Personification: a non-human thing is endowed with human characteristics
Litotes: a double negative is used for poetic effect (example: not unlike, not displeased)
Irony: a difference between the surface meaning of the words and the implications that may be drawn from them

9. Imagery and Symbolism
Imagery: the collection of images within a literary work. Used to evoke atmosphere, mood, tension. For example, images of crowded, steaming sidewalks flanking streets choked with lines of shimmering, smoking cars suggests oppressive heat and all the psychological tensions that go with it.
Symbol: related to imagery. It is something which is itself yet stands for or means something else. It tends to be more singular, a bit more fixed than imagery. For example, in Doris Lessing's story, "A Woman on a Roof," a red bathing suit symbolizes woman's freedom and independence from externally imposed standards of behavior.

10. Tone Designates the mood and effect of a work.
Is the poem’s tone serious, sad, sentimental, cynical, etc.?

11. Characterization and POV
Characterization: the author's expression of a character's personality through the use of action, dialogue, thought, or commentary by the narrator or another character. In a poem, the main “character” is the speaker.
Point of View: the vantage point from which the author presents action of the story. Who is the speaker? The voice and thoughts of one character/speaker? Does the author change point of view in the story? Why?

12. Plot and Setting
Poems, especially long poems, often have plots and settings like stories.
Plot: the events that make up a narrative.
Setting: the place (social situation, physical place, and/or time) in which a narrative takes place.

13. Sound “press an ear against its hive”
Refers to elements of a poem that utilize sound.
Sound comprises:
Rhyme
Rhythm and Meter
Onomatopoeia
Alliteration
Assonance and Consonance

14. Rhyme
Many poems have a rhyme scheme, the repetition of a rhyme throughout a poem.
Types of rhyme:
End Rhyme: Rhymed words appear at the ends of lines.
Perfect Rhyme: The words are in complete aural correspondence. An example would be: Certain and Curtain.
Forced Rhyme: An unnatural rhyme that forces a rhyme where it should not otherwise be.
Slant Rhyme: The words are similar but lack perfect correspondence. Example: found and kind, grime and game.
Internal Rhyme: the rhyme comes in the middle of the line rather than the end.

15. Rhythm and Meter
Rhythm is the pulse of a poem and meter refers to the organization of rhythm.
Many traditional poetic forms use regular rhythm and meter. The most common is iambic pentameter, which has 10 syllables and five stresses.
Free Verse: poetry without meter.
Blank Verse: Metered poetry without end rhymes.

16. Onomatopoeia The use of words that sound like what they mean.
Examples:
Buzz
Boom
Hiss
Fizz
Pop

17. Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Example:
“The woeful woman went wading Wednesday”

18. Assonance and Consonance
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds
Consonance: the repetition of final consonant sounds; opposite of alliteration
Examples:
“O, how the groans opened my own ears.” (assonance)
“The beast climbed fast to the crest.” (consonance)

19. Line
Stanzas are made up of individual lines that contain the aforementioned characteristics.
Sometimes, poetic lines use enjambment, which means the continuance of a phrase from one line to the next so that there is no pause at the end of a line.

20. INTERPRET What is my overall assessment of the poem?
What theoretical or historical assumptions can I pull out of it?
Cultural Context: When was the poem written? Is the poem’s meaning or form affected by cultural context?
Allusion: Does the poem seem to allude to any pertinent events, persons, ideas that you don’t know?

21. Cultural Context “hold it up to the light”
How does the poem you are looking at relate to the historical context in which it was written?
These considerations may take you out of the realm of literature altogether and involve finding out about philosophy, history, religion, economics, music, or the visual arts.

22. Allusion
A reference to historical events and people, mythological and biblical figures, and to other works of literature.
Are there events, persons, or texts mentioned in the poem that you don’t know? If so, make sure to look them up in a scholarly source.

23. REFLECT
What steps might I need to repeat in order to improve my reading?
What kinds of further research do I need to do?