1. 3460 Session 2: Ways of Reading
Session Aims
Introduce close reading of poems
Introduce formal analysis of poems
Form
Metrics
Rhyme
Fields of meaning
Poetic devices
Ruben Darío, “Yo persigo una forma”

2. 3460: What to look for in a poem?
Form
What is on the page?
How is it organised or divided up?
Verses
Lines
Line length
Note: you do not even need to understand the words yet.

3. 3460: What to look for in a poem?
Metre
How long are the lines?
Read the poem out loud:
Does it move quickly or slowly?
Does it have a regular beat or not?
Count the syllables
Remember: elision of final/initial vowels
Final stressed syllable + one = syllable count
Count the stresses:
Accented words, nouns, pronouns and verbs
How are they distributed?

4. 3460: What to look for in a poem?
Rhyme
Compare last two syllables of lines
Spanish assonance counts as rhyme
What patterns can you detect?

5. 3460: What to look for in a poem?
Syntax
How are sentences organised?
How do they relate to the lines of verse or verses?
Is the syntax straightforward, or more complex than everyday speech?

6. 3460: What to look for in a poem?
Lexical
Describe the register (implicit social and intellectual level) of the language
What groups or fields of related words can you detect? Can these be divided up at all?

7. 3460: What to look for in a poem?
Poetic devices
Use of e.g.
metaphor
metonym
synecdoche
allusion
symbol
imagery,
synaesthesia
hyperbaton
Etc…

8. 3460: Darío, “Yo persigo” What more can you say about the poem now?
For next week:
In groups, choose one of the essays (Barthes, Calvino or Todorov)
Read it carefully, discuss it and be prepared to answer the following questions:
What is the piece’s basic argument?
What examples does the piece give?
Do you agree with the author? Why?