{~ÌææÏ~}
13-03-2008, 02:06 AM
HOW TO UNDERSTAND A POEM
Read the poem twice, the second time aloud.
1. Who is the speaker? Is the poet speaking for him or herself or speaking in the role of another person or possibly an animal or thing?
2. What does the language of the poem reveal about the speaker? Is it formal, informal, colloquial? Why?
3. Determine the primary audience. Who is the speaker addressing?
4. What is the tone (mood)? Does the tone remain constant or does it change? How does that change in tone contribute to the overall meaning?
5. What is the subject? How does the speaker feel about it? Write down the words the poet uses to express these feelings.
6. Briefly paraphrase the poem (rewrite in your own words).
7. What is the time setting - hour of day, season, present, past, or future era?
8. What is the place setting-outdoors or indoors, rural or urban, state, nation?
9. What images are created by the poem (what do you "see")? Write down the words that help create the images.
10. Are there words that evoke sensations: sound, touch, smell, taste, hunger, thirst, etc.? Write down those words.
11. What words or allusions are new or puzzling to you? Write down words you don't understand. Define or explain these words as they are used in the poem. Consider the effects.
12. What is the poet's purpose? What feeling or insight is he or she expressing?
13. What words are used in surprising and imaginative ways? What are their connotations (abstract meanings)?
14. Is there any unusual order of words in a sentence? What would be the usual order?
15. What figurative language is used? What things are being compared, personified, or symbolized? What is the effect of each figure of speech? Note any metaphors or similes.
16. What is the sound pattern of the poem? Does the poet use devices such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance and parallelism. How are these devices used in the creation of meaning?
17. What is; the structure of the poem? How many lines are in a stanza? What is the rhyme scheme, if any? Is there a refrain? How does the structure add to the meaning?
18. What is the shape of the poem on the page? Has the poet chosen an unusual shape? If so, why?
19. Is the poetry lyric, narrative, dramatic, or a combination? How do you know?
20. Read the poem again aloud carefully and with expression.
21. What does your experience with the poem mean to you? How do you feel about it? What did you learn from it?
~~~~Types of poetry~~~~Blank verse
Free verse
Narrative
Elegy
Limerick
Sonnet
Ballad
Concrete
Ode
Lyric
Blank verse is a form of verse, which is written in iambic pentameter and is not rhymed.
Free verse is a poem that does not have any fixed meter, rhyme, or line length. The rhythm may vary from line to line or within a line. The verse is called "free" because the poet is free to change the patterns or to use no pattern at all. Much twentieth-century poetry is written in free verse.
Narrative poetry that tells a story and organises its action according to a sequence of time. The story may be true or it may be imagined.
Elegy is a formal poem, often written as a lament for a departed friend of respected person. The poet usually sets forth his or her ideas about death or some other serious subject.
Limerick is a humorous, five-line poem, usually in anapaestic rhythm: the first, second, and fifth lines have three feet and rhyme with each other; the third and fourth lines have two feet and rhyme with each other. Limericks usually tell of the actions of a person.
Sonnet : a lyric poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter following one of several possible rhyme schemes. The two main types of sonnet are the Italian and the English.
Ballad: a narrative poem, usually containing much repetition and often a repeated refrain. Ballads were originally folk songs that passed on from age to age. Ballads often tell of a single dramatic episode such as the sinking of a ship or a fight over a beautiful woman.
Concrete: poetry that conveys meaning through its visual shape on the page. Concrete poem have been written in the shapes of wing, trees, falling rain and even the motion of a person swimming laps in a pool.
Ode: a poem on an exalted theme, expressed in dignified, sincere language, serious in tone, and usually in praise of something of somebody.
Lyric: a short poem expressing the internal and emotional thoughts of a single speaker. Lyrics are usually an expression of the poet's feelings about a person, an object, an event or an idea.
~~~~Comprehending Poetry~~~~Purpose
The poet wishes to express a theme, which will help him/her understand life.
The poet wishes to immortalise an instant in time.
The poet wishes to describe a scene.
The poet wishes to tell a story.
The poet wishes to experiment with specific, accepted poetic form.
~~~How to understand a poem~~~
read the poem 2-3 times and understand its purpose;
recognize its dominant image -- what "mental picture" do you get in your mind?
what " building blocks" is the author using? Figures of speech, rhyme or rhythm.
establish the theme -- what is the author trying to tell the reader.
ThemePoems, like words of fiction and drama, have themes. Because poem usually are much briefer than other forms of writing, the theme sometimes appears throughout the poem. At other times, the poet does not introduce the theme until late in the poem, often as a contrast to or an expansion upon ideas already resented.
Do not confuse the theme of the poem with subject of the poem. The theme is the main idea of the poem, not merely the topic tha6t the poet addresses.
Point of View
Poetry can be written from different points of view. The first-person point of view often is used in lyric poems in which the poet explores an original idea. The "I" of the first-person point of view makes the poem more personal. The third-person point of view puts a distance between the poet and the subject of the poem. It seems to be a more intellectual and less emotional way to approach a subject. Figures Of Speech and Sound Devices
Figures of speech are words or phrases that creates a vivid image by contrasting unlike things. Figures of speech have meanings other than its ordinary meaning.
Figures of speech
Simile: a direct comparison between two unlike things that are connected by like, as, or resembles or the verb appears or seems. The purpose of a simile is to give the reader a vivid new way of looking at one of the things.
Metaphor: an imaginative implied comparison between two unlike things. A metaphor is a comparison that suggests one thing is another. The purpose of a metaphor is to give the reader an unusual way of looking at one of the things.
Personfication: a figure of speech in which an animal, an object, or an idea is given human qualities. Poets often use personefication to describe abstract ideas such freedom, truth, and beauty.
Sound Devices Alliteration: the close repetition of the same first sounds in words, usually consonant sounds, at the beginnings of words, it can also occur within words.
Assonance: the repetition of similar vowel sounds within words to emphasize certain sounds and add a musical quality.
Onomatopoiea: the use of words whose sounds imitate, echo, or suggest their meanings. Poets use onomatopoiea to add humour, to reinforce the meaning of a line, or to create an image.
How to analyze poetry
This article attempts to provide a simple way of approaching and analysing poetry. The process discussed has proven to be usefull to many students at school and university level.
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe ********************************ley
I met a Traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half-sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
of the colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Understanding and interpreting poetry often seems very difficult. There are so many rules and ways of interpretation that it seems that only a few can really deal with poetry. This is a popular misconception among many students at college and university. In fact, understanding and being able to analyse poetic works is amazingly easy if a few basic concepts are understood.
The poem that we will use as an example in this article is the famous Ozymandias by ********************************ly. This poem is often prescribed at undergraduate and graduate level. Firstly, the "formula" for understand a poem revolves around the following three basic ideas:
1.What is the Poem about?
2.Why was it written?
3.How has language been used in the poem to express the main intention/s of the poem?
Firstly, read through the poem in its entirety. Do not worry if you do not understand some words or lines. The object here is to get to the gist of the poem. In other words, to form some general idea of what the poem is about. This is called finding the main theme or themes of the poem. If we read through Ozymandias we can clearly see that the poem is about a statue found by a traveller in the desert. Secondly we see the this statue has certain characteristics. It is in a state of ruin. The face of the statue which is still clearly visible does not have a pleasant expression. The Words used , like " wrinkled lip" convey a rather unpleasant countenance. But remember, at this stage we are only looking for the general idea of what the poem is about. As we read on we see that the statue represents a cruel ruler or King who subjugated his people. The King is arrogant and tells those who " look on his works" to be afraid of his power. But where is this powerful and cruel king now? All that remains of him and his works are a few broken pieces of sculpture. Obviously, the king's threatening words are meaningless and without power. We are immediately struck by the irony in this poem. It is ironic that this cruel and arrogant king has now become nothing more than a fragment of stone lost in the desert.
Now that we have an idea of what the poem is about we can begin to deal with the second question: Why was the poem written? This might sound strange, but all literature should have a purpose, even if that purpose is only a beautiful piece of writing. What purpose or message could this poem have for the reader. The poem is about a cruel tyrant who, ironically, is now nothing more than lifeless rock. The poet could be trying to suggest the emptiness of tyrannical power; or how those who think that they are powerful are soon brought to their knees by the process of time. Another possibility is that the poem was written to express the uselessness of temporal and earthly power which will be destroyed in time. These are a few suggestions but always remember that literature is not a definite science. You are allowed to have your own interpretations as long as these interpretations can be supported from the text.
Thirdly, once we have established what the poem is about and have some idea of its purpose, we can then study the poem and look at how the language is used to achieve its meaning.
For example, in the first half of the poem, the poet uses words to create a clear and precise image of the tyrant king: words like" frown", "sneer", " cold command", all produce an image of the old king as a cruel and unfeeling tyrant. These words are called images as they produce a "picture" of the king.
In the second half of the poem the poet uses words to contrast the arrogant speech of the king with the actual reality of his shattered face and lost kingdom. The king shouts out that people should fear him as he has a great and powerful kingdom. But the poet uses language to express the opposite: "Nothing beside remains...." There is only the desert which emphasizes that the arrogance of the king is unfounded and that time has destroyed his kingdom and his power.
The above is a very basic introduction to the poem. But the method suggested can be applied to any poem or even a prose work and hopefully will encourage those who have had difficulty with poetry in the past.
Modernism in Literature: Poetry
Most serious poetry today is still Modernist. The movement is not easily summarize, but the key elements are experimentation, anti-realism, individualism and a stress on the cerebral rather than emotive aspects.
Read the poem twice, the second time aloud.
1. Who is the speaker? Is the poet speaking for him or herself or speaking in the role of another person or possibly an animal or thing?
2. What does the language of the poem reveal about the speaker? Is it formal, informal, colloquial? Why?
3. Determine the primary audience. Who is the speaker addressing?
4. What is the tone (mood)? Does the tone remain constant or does it change? How does that change in tone contribute to the overall meaning?
5. What is the subject? How does the speaker feel about it? Write down the words the poet uses to express these feelings.
6. Briefly paraphrase the poem (rewrite in your own words).
7. What is the time setting - hour of day, season, present, past, or future era?
8. What is the place setting-outdoors or indoors, rural or urban, state, nation?
9. What images are created by the poem (what do you "see")? Write down the words that help create the images.
10. Are there words that evoke sensations: sound, touch, smell, taste, hunger, thirst, etc.? Write down those words.
11. What words or allusions are new or puzzling to you? Write down words you don't understand. Define or explain these words as they are used in the poem. Consider the effects.
12. What is the poet's purpose? What feeling or insight is he or she expressing?
13. What words are used in surprising and imaginative ways? What are their connotations (abstract meanings)?
14. Is there any unusual order of words in a sentence? What would be the usual order?
15. What figurative language is used? What things are being compared, personified, or symbolized? What is the effect of each figure of speech? Note any metaphors or similes.
16. What is the sound pattern of the poem? Does the poet use devices such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance and parallelism. How are these devices used in the creation of meaning?
17. What is; the structure of the poem? How many lines are in a stanza? What is the rhyme scheme, if any? Is there a refrain? How does the structure add to the meaning?
18. What is the shape of the poem on the page? Has the poet chosen an unusual shape? If so, why?
19. Is the poetry lyric, narrative, dramatic, or a combination? How do you know?
20. Read the poem again aloud carefully and with expression.
21. What does your experience with the poem mean to you? How do you feel about it? What did you learn from it?
~~~~Types of poetry~~~~Blank verse
Free verse
Narrative
Elegy
Limerick
Sonnet
Ballad
Concrete
Ode
Lyric
Blank verse is a form of verse, which is written in iambic pentameter and is not rhymed.
Free verse is a poem that does not have any fixed meter, rhyme, or line length. The rhythm may vary from line to line or within a line. The verse is called "free" because the poet is free to change the patterns or to use no pattern at all. Much twentieth-century poetry is written in free verse.
Narrative poetry that tells a story and organises its action according to a sequence of time. The story may be true or it may be imagined.
Elegy is a formal poem, often written as a lament for a departed friend of respected person. The poet usually sets forth his or her ideas about death or some other serious subject.
Limerick is a humorous, five-line poem, usually in anapaestic rhythm: the first, second, and fifth lines have three feet and rhyme with each other; the third and fourth lines have two feet and rhyme with each other. Limericks usually tell of the actions of a person.
Sonnet : a lyric poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter following one of several possible rhyme schemes. The two main types of sonnet are the Italian and the English.
Ballad: a narrative poem, usually containing much repetition and often a repeated refrain. Ballads were originally folk songs that passed on from age to age. Ballads often tell of a single dramatic episode such as the sinking of a ship or a fight over a beautiful woman.
Concrete: poetry that conveys meaning through its visual shape on the page. Concrete poem have been written in the shapes of wing, trees, falling rain and even the motion of a person swimming laps in a pool.
Ode: a poem on an exalted theme, expressed in dignified, sincere language, serious in tone, and usually in praise of something of somebody.
Lyric: a short poem expressing the internal and emotional thoughts of a single speaker. Lyrics are usually an expression of the poet's feelings about a person, an object, an event or an idea.
~~~~Comprehending Poetry~~~~Purpose
The poet wishes to express a theme, which will help him/her understand life.
The poet wishes to immortalise an instant in time.
The poet wishes to describe a scene.
The poet wishes to tell a story.
The poet wishes to experiment with specific, accepted poetic form.
~~~How to understand a poem~~~
read the poem 2-3 times and understand its purpose;
recognize its dominant image -- what "mental picture" do you get in your mind?
what " building blocks" is the author using? Figures of speech, rhyme or rhythm.
establish the theme -- what is the author trying to tell the reader.
ThemePoems, like words of fiction and drama, have themes. Because poem usually are much briefer than other forms of writing, the theme sometimes appears throughout the poem. At other times, the poet does not introduce the theme until late in the poem, often as a contrast to or an expansion upon ideas already resented.
Do not confuse the theme of the poem with subject of the poem. The theme is the main idea of the poem, not merely the topic tha6t the poet addresses.
Point of View
Poetry can be written from different points of view. The first-person point of view often is used in lyric poems in which the poet explores an original idea. The "I" of the first-person point of view makes the poem more personal. The third-person point of view puts a distance between the poet and the subject of the poem. It seems to be a more intellectual and less emotional way to approach a subject. Figures Of Speech and Sound Devices
Figures of speech are words or phrases that creates a vivid image by contrasting unlike things. Figures of speech have meanings other than its ordinary meaning.
Figures of speech
Simile: a direct comparison between two unlike things that are connected by like, as, or resembles or the verb appears or seems. The purpose of a simile is to give the reader a vivid new way of looking at one of the things.
Metaphor: an imaginative implied comparison between two unlike things. A metaphor is a comparison that suggests one thing is another. The purpose of a metaphor is to give the reader an unusual way of looking at one of the things.
Personfication: a figure of speech in which an animal, an object, or an idea is given human qualities. Poets often use personefication to describe abstract ideas such freedom, truth, and beauty.
Sound Devices Alliteration: the close repetition of the same first sounds in words, usually consonant sounds, at the beginnings of words, it can also occur within words.
Assonance: the repetition of similar vowel sounds within words to emphasize certain sounds and add a musical quality.
Onomatopoiea: the use of words whose sounds imitate, echo, or suggest their meanings. Poets use onomatopoiea to add humour, to reinforce the meaning of a line, or to create an image.
How to analyze poetry
This article attempts to provide a simple way of approaching and analysing poetry. The process discussed has proven to be usefull to many students at school and university level.
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe ********************************ley
I met a Traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half-sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
of the colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Understanding and interpreting poetry often seems very difficult. There are so many rules and ways of interpretation that it seems that only a few can really deal with poetry. This is a popular misconception among many students at college and university. In fact, understanding and being able to analyse poetic works is amazingly easy if a few basic concepts are understood.
The poem that we will use as an example in this article is the famous Ozymandias by ********************************ly. This poem is often prescribed at undergraduate and graduate level. Firstly, the "formula" for understand a poem revolves around the following three basic ideas:
1.What is the Poem about?
2.Why was it written?
3.How has language been used in the poem to express the main intention/s of the poem?
Firstly, read through the poem in its entirety. Do not worry if you do not understand some words or lines. The object here is to get to the gist of the poem. In other words, to form some general idea of what the poem is about. This is called finding the main theme or themes of the poem. If we read through Ozymandias we can clearly see that the poem is about a statue found by a traveller in the desert. Secondly we see the this statue has certain characteristics. It is in a state of ruin. The face of the statue which is still clearly visible does not have a pleasant expression. The Words used , like " wrinkled lip" convey a rather unpleasant countenance. But remember, at this stage we are only looking for the general idea of what the poem is about. As we read on we see that the statue represents a cruel ruler or King who subjugated his people. The King is arrogant and tells those who " look on his works" to be afraid of his power. But where is this powerful and cruel king now? All that remains of him and his works are a few broken pieces of sculpture. Obviously, the king's threatening words are meaningless and without power. We are immediately struck by the irony in this poem. It is ironic that this cruel and arrogant king has now become nothing more than a fragment of stone lost in the desert.
Now that we have an idea of what the poem is about we can begin to deal with the second question: Why was the poem written? This might sound strange, but all literature should have a purpose, even if that purpose is only a beautiful piece of writing. What purpose or message could this poem have for the reader. The poem is about a cruel tyrant who, ironically, is now nothing more than lifeless rock. The poet could be trying to suggest the emptiness of tyrannical power; or how those who think that they are powerful are soon brought to their knees by the process of time. Another possibility is that the poem was written to express the uselessness of temporal and earthly power which will be destroyed in time. These are a few suggestions but always remember that literature is not a definite science. You are allowed to have your own interpretations as long as these interpretations can be supported from the text.
Thirdly, once we have established what the poem is about and have some idea of its purpose, we can then study the poem and look at how the language is used to achieve its meaning.
For example, in the first half of the poem, the poet uses words to create a clear and precise image of the tyrant king: words like" frown", "sneer", " cold command", all produce an image of the old king as a cruel and unfeeling tyrant. These words are called images as they produce a "picture" of the king.
In the second half of the poem the poet uses words to contrast the arrogant speech of the king with the actual reality of his shattered face and lost kingdom. The king shouts out that people should fear him as he has a great and powerful kingdom. But the poet uses language to express the opposite: "Nothing beside remains...." There is only the desert which emphasizes that the arrogance of the king is unfounded and that time has destroyed his kingdom and his power.
The above is a very basic introduction to the poem. But the method suggested can be applied to any poem or even a prose work and hopefully will encourage those who have had difficulty with poetry in the past.
Modernism in Literature: Poetry
Most serious poetry today is still Modernist. The movement is not easily summarize, but the key elements are experimentation, anti-realism, individualism and a stress on the cerebral rather than emotive aspects.