1. Two Levels of Reading Warm-Up
The literal level. This is what you get from simple paraphrasing. It is literally what a piece says, a picture shows, a singer sings.
The symbolic level. This is when the reader develops and understanding of the larger abstract concepts of a piece.
This requires the reader to not only know what is said, but why it is said in the way it is said as well.
While reading symbolically is often a difficult task for students, it is something we do all the time without thinking about it.
On a piece of paper, describe the picture above twice:
Describe the object as if you were describing it to someone who has never seen one before. Use specific, concrete language in the description.
Describe the object in terms of what it represents to those who see it and know what it is. How do people feel when they see this object?

2. Everything in a Poem is Bigger than it Appears
Everything in a poem represents more than one thing. A poem may discuss a simple oak tree, but you can be sure if the poem is worth your time, that oak tree stands for something bigger at the same time.

3. Poetry is the Language of Symbols
Always remember that poetry is a tool of writing.
This tool’s job is to discuss “truths” about life and the world in symbolic terms using concrete imagery.
If poetry is a tool, like a hammer, it needs to be used to do the correct job.
Saying that a poet is just describing what he sees, or saying how he feels is like using a hammer to drive a screw…you can do it, but in doing it you become a hack.

4. Art is Never Accidental
In the real world we often find coincidence; however, the first step to becoming a serious student of art is to accept the difference between art and life. Great art does not happen by accident.

5. Starry Veil

6. Five Poetic Elements

7. Five Elements to Look For…
Metaphors/Similes: comparison of two dissimilar things with the aim of making one of the items clearer. (A simile uses the words “like” or “as.”)
Imagery: words which appeal to the five senses. Often used in poetry to make an abstract idea concrete.
Paradox/Oxymoron: two seemingly contradictory statements which reveal a truth. (An oxymoron simply does not reveal the truth.)
Hyperbole: a massive overstatement.
Personification: describing inanimate or inhuman things in living or human terms.

8. Writer Versus Speaker
The speaker is the narrator of the poem. All the rules that apply to the narrator of a story apply to a poem.

9. Space in a Poem
“White Space”—refers to the space on the page which the poet has decided to leave blank. This can be as important to the overall feel of the poem as the words, metaphors, imagery, or any other poetic element.