1. How to read and analyze poetic forms, elements, and meanings
Poetry Explication
How to read and analyze poetic forms, elements, and meanings

2. 1-Identify the Speaker Who is “telling” the poem?
What sort of narrator are they?
What has their life been like?

3. 2-Listen to the poem Alliteration Assonance Consonance Onomatopoeia
Find examples of auditory elements:
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Onomatopoeia

4. 3-Describe Form & Structure
What type of verse?
Rhyme scheme or not? If so, what type?
How many stanzas?
Identify quatrains, refrains, couplets, etc.
Is there parallelism?
What is the meter (syllables per line)?

5. 4-Find Imagery and Figurative Language
Find examples of language that appeals to the 5 senses (imagery)
Find examples of figurative language:
Similes, metaphors, personification
Is the poem an extended metaphor?
Hyperbole, allusions, idioms, etc.

6. 5-Paraphrase & Respond
Restate the speaker’s experiences and feelings in your own words
What happened in the poem? Did it tell a story?
What are the themes of the poem?
What is the speaker trying to say to his/her audience?

7. Cite your source
And stuff