Poetry

• POETRY: Reading, Responding, Writing

© 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.

 Before You Read
• Poems can be complex and support multiple
meanings; they also may affect different
readers in different ways. But developing
specific, systematic reading habits and skills
can make you more confident in and
satisfied with your interpretations.

© 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. 2

 POETRY ASSUMPTIONS
Readers of poetry often bring with them
many related assumptions:
•That a poem is to be read for its "message,"
•That this message is "hidden" in the poem,
•The message is to be found by treating the
words as symbols which naturally do not
mean what they say but stand for something
else,

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• You have to decipher every single word to
appreciate and enjoy the poem.

There are no easy ways to dispel these biases. Poetry is

difficult because very often its language is indirect. But
so is experience - those things we think, feel, and do. The
lazy reader wants to be told things and usually avoids
poetry because it demands commitment and energy.
Moreover, much of what poetry has to offer is not in the
form of hidden meanings.

© 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. 4

 Reading Poetry
• Read the poem (many students neglect this
step).
• Identify the speaker and the situation.
• Feel free to read it more than once! Read
the sentences literally.
• Use your prose reading skills to clarify what
the poem is about.
• Read each line separately, noting unusual
words and associations.
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• Look up words you are unsure of and struggle
with word associations that may not seem
logical to you.
• Note any changes in the form of the poem
that might signal a shift in point of view.
• Study the structure of the poem, including its
rhyme and rhythm (if any).
• Re-read the poem slowly, thinking about what
message and emotion the poem
communicates to you.

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 Analyzing a Poem
• Poems become more accessible when we
approach them systematically and learn to
ask the right questions. Some useful
preliminary questions involve thinking
about the role of title, situation, speaker,
and traditions in a poem.

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 Things to Consider
• subject, theme
• context
• form: style, structure
• language: poetic and literary devices
• personal response to the poem

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 ATMOSPHERE / MOOD
• The atmosphere that pervades a literary
work with the intention of evoking a certain
emotion or feeling from the audience. In
drama, mood may be created by sets and
music as well as words; in poetry and prose,
mood may be created by a combination of
such elements as SETTING, VOICE, TONE
and THEME.

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• The moods evoked by the more popular
short stories of Edgar Allen Poe, for
example, tend to be gloomy, horrific, and
desperate

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