Your first reading should be treated as an introduction to the poem. Instead of trying to understand the full meaning and form of the poem, you only need to briefly familiarize yourself with it.
If there are any commas or periods in the poem, you should view them as pauses. Pause after each comma or period when you read the poem out loud. Punctuation is important and put in the poem intentionally by the poet for a reason. If there are any line breaks in the poem, where there are spaces or gaps between lines or words, take the breaks as a pause. Slow down when you read the line breaks and leave pauses when required. Depending on the popularity of the poem, you might be able to find an audio recording of the poet or another individual reading the poem aloud. You can listen to such recordings, but read along silently as you do instead of listening passively.
Consider if the poet uses rhyme in the poem. Does the poem rhyme at the end of each line? Every other line? You may try noting the rhyme scheme of the poem to help you determine the form. The rhyme scheme can help you determine the form of the poem. For example, a blank verse poem will have unrhymed lines. A couplet will have two lines with or without a rhyme, and a tercet will have three line stanzas with or without a rhyme.
For example, the poem “Digging” by Seamus Heaney begins with two lines together, a couplet, followed by a three line stanza and then a four line stanza. The two line couplet comes in again later in the poem as part of a pattern. [5] X Research source
Rhyme refers to the repetition of end sounds between words, for example, “house” and “mouse”. It can occur within lines or at the end of two separate lines. Onomatopoeia refers to a word that sounds like the noise it mimics, for example, “a bee that buzzes. ” Alliteration is the repetition of a beginning consonant sound, for example, “a scrap heap. ” Assonance is the repetition of a vowel sound anywhere within a word, for example, “picnic. ” Consonance is the repetition of a vowel sound at the end of multiple words, for example, “flip-flop. ” Metaphor is the comparing of one thing to another, for example, “I am a sad bird. ” Simile is comparing one thing to another using “like” or “as”, for example, “I am like a lonely bird on a wire. ”
You may read examples of a certain poetic form to confirm that the poem is of that form. Or you may look up the characteristics of a certain form to make sure you are correct.
Sometimes the title will describe who the speaker or intended audience of the poem is, for example, a poem with the title “For Mother” or “To My Lover. ” Other times, the title may describe the subject, genre, or tone of the poem, for example, the title “Sonnet 18” or “Digging. ”
You can usually identify the speaker without careful analysis, but if you aren’t sure, don’t worry about it for now. Just make sure you understand what type of speaker is in the poem when you start analyzing the meaning of the poem.
You may also want to look up possible synonyms for that word using a thesaurus. After defining that word, plug the definition or synonym into the poem and re-read the line with that meaning. You can apply this same practice to phrases or proper nouns you don’t know, but defining the meaning of these elements may require additional research in other texts or online.
For example, you may have a poem that has a humorous tone and a light mood, such as the poem “Dirty Face” by Shel Silverstein. [10] X Research source Or you may read a poem that has a more sinister or ominous tone, such as “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. [11] X Research source
You may do research on the context of the poem using other texts, scholarly journals, or online sources. You can also consider when the poem was published and use this date to help situate it within the history of poetry and writing.
For example, you may notice that the poem repeats the same line over and over again throughout the poem, such as “only this and nothing more. ” You may then consider why the poet repeats this phrase throughout the poem. Often, the phrase will relate back to a specific theme or idea in the poem.
You may also notice if the poem does not have any time based ordering and instead seems ordered by another organizing idea, such as scraps of conversation in the poem or the use of another theme. For example, maybe the poem has a water-based theme, with the poet describing an ocean in one line and shallow pond in the next. Or maybe the poem has a theme of lost love, and each stanza explores a moment of lost love for the speaker.
For example, you may sum up the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe with the sentence: This poem is about the speaker’s fear and terror of death, personified in the raven at the door. Do not be too concerned about having the right reading of the poem. Poetry is meant to be subjective and your interpretation of the poem could be just as right as someone else’s interpretation. You have the freedom to read the poem as you see fit, as long as you use evidence in the poem to support your reading.
You may also ask a colleague at work or at your university for some perspective on the poem. You may approach a colleague in a class on poetry and ask them for their opinion, as they may be more familiar with reading and interpreting poetry.
When you bring the poem into your poetry group, you may start the discussion by talking about your interpretation of the poem as well as your thoughts and impressions of the piece. Then, you may ask the group to share their own ideas about the poem as part of a discussion.
