Poetry analysis

Question 1

What do you look for when analysing a poem?

Answer 1

• Work out what the poem is about
• Identify the form and structure of the poem
• What language is used to create these effects?
• Identify the feelings and attitudes in the poem

Question 2

How do you work out what the poem is about?

Answer 2

• What is the subject
• Look at the narrative voice: first person (I), second person (you), or third person (he/she).
• Who is the poem addressing? (EG: the narrator’s lover, the reader, etc.)

Question 3

How do you identify the form and structure of the poem?

Answer 3

• Is it rigid and regular or loose and irregular?
• Does the poem rhyme?
• Why has the poet chosen this form? What mood/effect does this create?
• How is the poem laid out? Are the lines and stanzas regular/irregular? Does it use enjambment? How does it use punctuation?
• How does the ‘story’ of the poem evolve? How does it change?

Question 4

How do you find what language is used to create these effects?

Answer 4

• How does the language support your comments about mood and tone?
• Look at any language techniques that are used (EG: personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia) what is their effect?
• Focus on how language creates imagery

Question 5

How do you identify the feelings and attitudes in the poem?

Answer 5

• What is the main emotion in the poem and how does it change?
• Does the poet want you to share their feelings? Do they want you to empathise with their feelings?
• How does the poem make you feel?

Question 6

What poetry techniques to look out for?

Answer 6

• Enjambment
• Alliteration
• Dialogue
• Hyperbole
• Irony
• Onomatopoeia
• Personification
• Pathetic fallacy
• Repetition
• Tone
• Imagery

Question 7

What is Enjambment?

Answer 7

When lines run on so a sentence continues beyond the end of a line or stanza

Question 8

What is a stanza?

Answer 8

A set of lines that are grouped together in a poem (like a paragraph). Separated in order to divide and organise a poem.

Question 9

What is alliteration?

Answer 9

Where a sequence of words all begin with the same letter

Question 10

What is dialogue?

Answer 10

A spoken conversation between 2 or more people

Question 11

What is Hyperbole?

Answer 11

Exaggerated statements or claims that aren’t meant to be taken literally

Question 12

What is irony?

Answer 12

A situation in which there is a contrast between expectation and reality

Question 13

What is onomatopoeia?

Answer 13

A word that phonetically resembles the sound that it describes.

Question 14

What is personification?

Answer 14

When a describes a non-human thing as if it were a person

Question 15

What is pathetic fallacy?

Answer 15

The attribution of human emotion to inanimate objects to reflect the mood of the text (like bad weather in a sad text)

Question 16

What is repetition?

Answer 16

The use of the same word or phrase multiple times

Question 17

What is tone?

Answer 17

The type of voice or atmosphere that pervades the poem (EG: sadness, anger, joy, regret, melancholy, etc.)

Question 18

What is the effect of Enjambment?

Answer 18

• To create a sense of urgency, tension, or rising as the reader is pulled from one line to the next. (like a cliffhanger that builds drama)

Question 19

What is the effect of alliteration?

Answer 19

• Grasps the reader’s attention, making them focus on a particular line or section.

Question 20

What is the effect of dialogue?

Answer 20

• Makes the passage more interesting and engaging.
• Reveals knowledge as a process

Question 21

What is the effect of hyperbole?

Answer 21

• Allows the poet to highlight a specific feature or characteristic through extreme exaggeration

Question 22

What is the effect of irony?

Answer 22

• Emphasises themes
• Creates humour
• Adds depth to the message

Question 23

What is the effect of onomatopoeia?

Answer 23

• Gives the poem the added sense of sound, creating immersion and engagement

Question 24

What is the effect of personification?

Answer 24

• Helps the reader connect with parts of the poem that aren’t characters
• Creates imagery and description
• Makes the poem more relatable

Question 25

What is the effect of pathetic fallacy?

Answer 25

• Evoke a specific mood or feeling that reflects the character’s internal state

Question 26

What is the effect of repetition?

Answer 26

• Emphasises a feeling or idea
• Creates rhythm
• Develops a sense of urgency

Question 27

What is the effect of tone?

Answer 27

• Allows the reader to better understand and relate to the speakers attitude to the subject of the poem

Question 28

What is important to look at before the poem? (2 things) (why?)

Answer 28

• The title because it can help understand the overall meaning of the poem
• The context of the poem to understand their influences (don’t worry about this for unseen poems)

Question 29

What is the effect of structure?

Answer 29

• Creates a sense of rhythm and flow or a sense feeling of fragmentation and dissonance (lack of harmony)

Question 30

What is the effect of form?

Answer 30

• Influences how you read the poem and how the poem sounds

Question 31

What is meter?

Answer 31

The arrangement of stressed and one unstressed syllables in a text

Question 32

What is the effect of meter?

Answer 32

• Creates a rhythm in the poem
• Places emphasis on certain words

Question 33

What does iambic mean?

Answer 33

One short syllable followed by one long syllable

Question 34

What is the effect of imagery?

Answer 34

• Draws readers to a sensory experience
• Appeals to our senses