INTERPRETING POETRY
WHAT IS POETRY?
Poetry is often considered
mystical or spiritual. It has been
called “the most intimate and volatile form of literary discourse” that can
deepen “our capacity for personhood, our achievement of humanity.” Poetry also “conveys heightened forms of
perception, experience, meaning, or consciousness in heightened language.” (Brogan, 938) As a “heightened mode of
discourse,” poetry exhibits “intensified speech” by using conventions that are
considered defining characteristics. (Hirsch, 27)
ELEMENTS OF POETRY
DICTION
Diction refers to the poet’s choice of words. Poets are sensitive to the subtle shades of
meanings of words, to the possible double meanings of words, and to the
denotative and connotative meanings.
Poets often choose words that contribute to the poem’s meaning on both a
denotational and a connotation level.
Denotation: the object or idea that the word represents;
the dictionary meaning
Connotation: the subjective, emotional association that a
word has for one person or a group of people.
Wordplay: double meanings and puns.
SYNTAX
Syntax is sentence structure, the way words go
together to make sentences. Poets often invert the normal word order so that
they can make a sentence rhyme, to fit a metrical pattern, or to emphasize an
idea. Further difficulties arise because
sentences are so long that we forget how they begin. Another challenge occurs when words are left
out or marked by eccentric punctuation.
Independent clauses: simple sentences
Complex sentences: sentences containing independent and
subordinate causes. Subordinate clauses begin
with relative pronouns (that, what, which, who), subordinating conjunctions
(because, since, although, whereas, once, wherever, etc.) and prepositions.
CHARACTERIZATION, POINT OF VIEW, PLOT, SETTING AND
THEME
Poetry shares many elements with other genres such as
drama and fiction. Many of the questions
you ask yourself with short stories and novels you can apply to poetry. Poems do not always offer a “story” in a
conventional sense, but action may be implied, a place or time may be
important, and characters may dramatize the key issues of the poem.
Point of View
According to T.S. Eliot, in any poem there is always
a speaker, “I” of the poem. The first
voice is the voice of the poet talking to himself (or to nobody). The second voice is the voice of the poet
addressing an audience, whether large or small.
The third is the voice of the poet when he is saying, not what he would
say in his own person, but only what he can say within the limits of one
imaginary character addressing another imaginary character. (Eliot, 96)
Steps for interpreting these aspects of a poem:
1.
Paraphrase the
poem. This helps you understand every
sentence or, at least, the major sections of the poem.
2.
Identify the
speaker of the poem. Underline the words
and phrases that help characterize the speaker and bring out the speaker’s
concerns. Describe in detail the traits
of the speaker and of any other characters in the poem.
3.
Describe the situation
of the poem: where is the speaker? What
time of day is it? What season of day is it?
What historical occasion is the speaker writing about?
4.
List the external
and internal conflicts of the poem.
5.
Stat the issues
that concern the speaker. Explain the
speaker’s ideas. Note any changes in the
speaker’s mood or ideas as the poem progresses.
6.
Describe the
speaker’s tone (angry, lyrical, hopeful, bitter, sarcastic, sorrowful,
etc.). Note any changes of tone.
7.
Is the poet’s
attitude different from the speaker’s attitude?
8.
Relate the poem’s
title to its themes.
9.
Explain any
allusions in the poem.
IMAGERY
Descriptive Language
Imagery represents the descriptive passages of a
poem. Imagery causes the reader to
become experientially involved in the subject matter of the poem. The poet often uses descriptive imagery to
underscore other elements in a poem, such as tone, meaning, and
characterization. All of the senses can
be engaged (touch, visual, motion, sound, thermal/temperature)
Figurative Language
A second
consideration about imagery refers to the muse of language that is a conscious
departure from normal or conventional ways of saying things. “Rhetorical” figures of speech refer to
unusual rearrangements of normal word order done convey a specific idea or
image.
Figurative Language
Tropes
(literally “turns”) extend the
meaning of words beyond their literal meaning.
Similes: Using comparative words (like or as), a simile
makes an analogous connection between two items.
Metaphors: Generally, a metaphor is any analogy which
shows similarity between things that are basically different. Specifically, a metaphor is a type of
figurative language that assumes a connection or comparison without using like or as.
Personification: A more indirect analogy, personification
bestows human characteristics to any inanimate object, animal, or abstract
quality.
Extended Metaphor: When a poet carries out a singular analogy throughout
an entire poem, he has written an extended metaphor.
Questions to ask about Imagery:
1.
What senses does
the poet appeal to?
2.
What analogies
does the poet imply or directly state?
3.
Why does the poet
use these particular images and analogies?
How are they significant to the meaning, tone, and effect of the poem?
Analyzing Descriptive Language.
1.
Mark the
descriptive images. For each image, name
the sense appealed to. Characterize the
dominant impression these images make.
2.
Explain the
relationship of descriptive images to the speaker’s state of mind.
3.
Describe how the
descriptive images create a sense of the time of day and season of the year.
4.
Note any
progression in the descriptive images; for example, from day to night, hot to
cold, soft to loud, color to color, slow to fast.
5.
Explain how the
descriptive images help create atmosphere and mood. Slow movements, for example, are conducive to
melancholy, speed to exuberance and excitement.
Analyzing Figurative Language
1.
Mark the similes
in the poem. Underline or circle the
words that signal the comparisons (words such as like, as similar to, resembles.)
Explain the implications of the analogies (that is, what they contribute
to the meaning of the poem.
2.
Mark the
metaphors in the poem. Explain the
implications of the analogies.
3.
Mark any
personification in the poem. Underline the
words and phrases that make the personification clear.
4.
Poets often use
analogies to help make an abstract quality, such as “love” or “beauty” or
“courage.” Name the abstract quality the
poet wants to clarify and the object the poet is comparing it to.
5.
List the senses
appealed to in each analogy. Describe
the dominant sensory impression created by the analogies.
Symbolism
Symbolism appeals to poets
because symbols are highly suggestive. A
symbol is an object that represents an abstract idea or ideas. The most powerful symbols are those that do
not exactly specify the ideas they represent and carry meaning on multiple
levels.
THE SOUND OF POETRY:
MUSICAL ELEMENTS
Rhythm: One of the most naturally pleasing elements
of poetry, rhythm “creates a pattern of yearning and expectation, of recurrence
and difference. It is related to the
pulse, the heartbeat, the way we breathe.
It takes us into ourselves; it takes us out of ourselves. It differentiates us; it unites us to the
cosmos.” (Hirsch, 21)
Meter: All human speech has rhythm, but poetry
regularizes that rhythm into recognizable patterns. These are called meters. Metrical patterns
vary depending on the sequence in which the poets arrange the accented (á) and unaccented (ă) syllables. The unit that
determines that arrangement is the foot;
a foot is one unit of rhythm.
Here are the most used metrical feet:
iamb: ă á (an unaccented syllable followed by
an accented syllable)
trochee: á ă
anapest: ă
ă á (think ¾ time)
dactyl: á ă
ă (think ¾ time)
spondee: á á
Measuring Meter:
The most utilized metrical pattern in English poetry is accentual-syllabic, a pattern based on
the number of stresses and the number of syllables per line. The best known pattern is iambic pentameter,
which consists of five stresses (iambs) and ten syllables. The following are the names of
accentual-syllabic line lengths:
monometer (one foot)
dimeter (two feet)
trimeter (three feet)
tetrameter (four feet)
pentameter (five feet)
hexameter (six feet)
heptameter (seven feet)
octameter (eight feet)
Scanning is
a process where you mark accented and unaccented syllables with symbols.
WORD SOUNDS
Devices using word sounds:
Onomatopoeia: the use of words that sound like what they
mean (“buzz,” “boom,” “hiss,” “pop,” etc.)
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the
beginning of words or at the beginning of accented syllables.
Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds followed by
the different consonant sounds.
Consonance: the repetition of final consonant sounds that
are preceded by different vowel sounds.
Consonance is the opposite of alliteration which features initial
consonance sounds.
Rhyme: the repetition of accented vowels and the
sounds that follow. There are subcategories
of rhyme:
masculine rhyme:
the rhymed words end with a stressed syllables.
feminine rhyme: the rhymed words end with one or more
unaccented syllables
internal rhyme: the rhymed words are within the line
end rhyme: the rhymed words appear at the ends of lines
approximate
rhyme: the words are close to
rhyming
Analyzing Word Sounds
1.
What sound
devices does the poet use?
2.
Why does the poet
use them?
3.
How do they
establish the poem’s tone, atmosphere, theme, setting, characterization, and emotional
qualities?
4.
Underline
instance of alliteration, assonance, and consonance in the poem. Explain the relationship between these
devices and the sense of the lines where they occur.
5.
Circle rhymed
words. Explain similarities and
contrasts the rhymed words underscore.
6.
Circle words that
have meaningful attractive sound qualities.
7.
When the sounds
of a poem are harsh and grating, the effect is called cacophony. When they are pleasing and harmonious, the
effect is called euphony. Underline
instances of cacophony or euphony.
8.
Describe any
sound devices in the poem that catch you by surprise.
STRUCTURE
Structure is
the way the whole poem is organized and put together. Poets give structure to their poems in two
overlapping ways: by organizing ideas
according to a logical plan and by establishing a pattern of units.
Lines: Poetry is organized in lines while prose is
divided into paragraphs. They use various criteria for choosing line
lengths. The best known criterion is
meter – the number of feet per line.
Enjambment: A decision poets face is whether to end-stop
or encamp their lines. Enjambment is the
continuance of a phrase from one line to the next so that there is no pause at
the end of the line. An end-stopped line
has a definite pause at the end. Enjambed
and end-stopped lines create different effects.
Enjambed lines read more naturally, like someone speaking. Even in poems with end-rhymes, when you read
aloud a poem with enjambed lines you don’t hear the rhyme.
Blank Verse:
A line form that is always enjambed is blank verse. The sentences run from line to line as if the
lines don’t exist.
Stanza: Stanzas in a poem typically resemble one
another structurally. The have the same
number of lines, length of lines, metrical patterns, and rhyme schemes. They are physically separated by a
space. Poems with stanzas are strophic; those that don’t are stichic.
Rhyme scheme:
Any pattern of end rhyme is a traditional method of organizing
stanzas. Rhyme scheme refers to that
pattern. Poets can create any rhyme
scheme, but they often work instead within the confines of already established
poetic structures.
The Sonnet:
The most famous fixed form in English, sonnets consist of fourteen lines
of iambic pentameter. A Shakespearean
sonnet rhymes abab/cdcd/efef/gg and
has a structural division of three quatrains and a couplet. A Petrarchan
sonnet rhymes abbaabba in the octave
and cdecde in the sestet. Each kind of
sonnet has a turn, a point in the poem at which the poet shifts from one
meaning or mood to another. The turn in
the Shakespearean sonnet occurs between lines 12 and 13. In the Petrarchan sonnet the turn occurs
between the octave and the sestet.
The Ballad:
Defined as “a song, transmitted orally, which tells a story,” (Abrams,
18), ballads feature intense conflicts, emotional and melodramatic narratives,
and are condensed retelling of portions of the whole story.
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Ed. Alex
Hirsch, Edward. How to
Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry.
San Diego:
Harcourt, 1999.
Preminger and T.V.F.
Brogan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
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Eliot, T. S. “The Three
Voices of Poetry.” On Poetry and Poets. New York: Octagon Books,
1975, 96 – 112.
