Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Method #1:
4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Rephrase the poem in your own words. What does the paraphrase reveal about the poem subject and central themes? What is lost or gained in your paraphrase of the poem? Consider the poems voice. Who is the poems speaker? How would you characterize the poems tone? Is the poem ironic? Study the poems diction, and look up unfamiliar words in a dictionary. How does word choice affect your reaction to the poem? What do the connotations of words reveal about the poem? What level of diction is used? Is dialect used? Is word order unusual or unexpected? How does the arrangement of words contribute to your understanding of the poem? Examine the poems imagery. What kind of imagery predominates? What specific images are used? Is a pattern of imagery present? How does imagery enrich the poem? Identify the poems figures of speech. Does the poet use metaphor? Simile? Personification? Hyperbole? Understatement? Metonymy or synecdoche? Apostrophe? How do figures of speech affect your reading of the poem? Listen to the sound of the poem. Are rhythm and meter regular or irregular? How do rhythm and meter reinforce the poems central concerns? Does the poem use alliteration? Assonance? Rhyme? How do these elements enhance the poem? Look at the poems form. Is the poem written in closed or open form? Is the poem constructed as a sonnet? A sestina? A villanelle? An epigram? A haiku? Is the poem an example of concrete poetry? How does the poems form help to communicate (or reinforce) its ideas? Consider the poems use of symbol, allegory, allusion, or myth. Does the poem make use of symbols? Allusions? How do symbols or allusions support its theme? Is the poem an allegory? Does the poem retell or interpret a myth? Identify the poems theme. What central theme does the poem explore? What other themes are examined? How are the themes expressed?
Method #2:
(with thanks to Betsy Draine of the University of Wisconsin-Madison) A good poem is like a puzzle--the most fascinating part is studying the individual pieces carefully and then putting them back together to see how beautifully the whole thing fits together. A poem can have a number of different "pieces" that you need to look at closely in order to complete the poetic "puzzle." This sheet explains one way to attempt an explication of a poem, by examining each "piece" of the poem separately. (An "explication" is simply an explanation of how all the elements in a poem work together to achieve the total meaning and effect.)