Some of you may be having difficulty getting started with your poetry analysis. Let me give you a place to start. This is just a 1, 2, 3 guideline and not a required process.
Poetry Analysis Steps
1. Read the poem several times.
2. Define any unknown words including possible allusions.
3. Identify:
a. Sound Devices: the rhyme scheme, alliteration, consonance, assonance
b. Figurative Language: metaphors, simile, hyperbole, personification
c. Other Poetic Devices: symbolism, irony, allusion
4. Identify the tone of the poem. What diction supports your answer?
5. Identify the point of view. Who is the speaker(s) of the poem? Who is the audience?
6. What is taking place in the poem? (action or ideas)
7. What is the central purpose of the poem? (theme)
In our post this week please feel free to ask your classmates their opinion about lines in the poetry you have chosen to analyze. If a line, sound device, or poetic device is confusing you, please, use this week as an opportunity to glean wisdom from your classmates. Basically, instead of ME asking YOU a question feel free to ask your classmates a question about your poetry assignment. I will read all of your questions to make sure they get answered. You are still responsible for two blog posts this week. The first, to ask a question and the second, to answer a question posed by your classmates.
I can't figure out the poem form for The Chambered Nautilus. The only one it seems to match up with is romanticism, but all of our poems are supposed to be from the Romantic period. Are they all going to be romanticism in their form? If not, what form is The Chambered Nautilus?
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this answers your question, but isn't the poem form a 'cinquain' since it has five stanzas?
Deletehttp://www.poemofquotes.com/articles/poetry_forms.php
DeleteThey will not all be romanticism even though they are from the Romantic period.... romanticism does not refer to the "literary movement". It refers to the "topic or theme" of the poem. While romanticism does apply in your particular selection there are other forms I would refer to for this poem. It is possible that the poem fits more than one form. Nick- a cinquain ONLY has five lines in it. Each line serves a different purpose.
DeleteUmmm...for some reason our computers won't load the poetry forms page any more.
DeleteI can't get on the website either. It's possible this website is connected to the government shutdown. My librarian friend told me many of her "go to" websites are not working. :( Google Poetry Forms for a list. I found several.
DeleteRomanticism seems like the best fit.
DeleteDoes the poem 'The Guy in the Glass' (AKA 'The Man in the Mirror') count as a romantic poem? It was originally published in 1934, but was actually found a bit earlier, scrawled anonymously on the wall of a prison... (dramatic scary music)
ReplyDeletePublished in the 1800's only. Cool that it was scrawled on a wall in a prison.... There's a story there!
DeleteIn the poem, "Work Without Hope" by Samuel Coleridge, I'm pretty sure it's a couplet, but I can't quite understand the meaning. I'd pick a different poem, but I find it interesting. Is it sad or good (Or just an observation)?
ReplyDeleteSam Waters
Not sure what the question is on this one Sam?
DeleteThe poem sounds sad to me. I read that Coleridge often had bouts of severe depression and had a difficult time meeting responsibilities, like deadlines. Perhaps, he wrote this poem during one of his bouts. It sounds as if maybe he is lamenting his inability to do productive work, because of his irresponsibility.
DeleteI think that's a great analyze Hannah. But I might argue that hes not only lamenting laziness but that everything he does is useless and all his efforts to create meaning and hope are foiled. This fits better with the depression theory.
DeleteIt seems to me that this poem is about a lack of purpose. The first stanza talks about how all of the creatures in nature go about their business, while the author sits and does nothing productive. Coleridge says, "And Winter slumbering in the open air,
DeleteWears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!" It seems like the author is trying to portray that everything has a dream and a purpose except for himself. And without hope and purpose, why work?
What is the "group theme"? Is it the theme of that particular poem or the general theme of all the poems I'm analyzing?
ReplyDeleteI'm not completely sure about this, but I'm guessing that it is the general theme of all the poems being analyzed.
DeleteI thought it was the theme of that particular poem.
DeleteI'm pretty sure Paul Revere's Ride is a narrative, but is it an idyll or an epic (two types of narratives)?
ReplyDeleteI would call it an idyll. It seems more fit to describe the poem and its contents.
DeleteHannah, it will be fine to just classify it as a narrative.
DeleteFor one of my poems I am analyzing "The Light Brigade" The rhyming scheme is different in every stanza and there is no identifiable structure. What form do you think it is in?
ReplyDeleteFree form: it is actually a form, and means that it rhymes, but does not have a particular structure.
DeleteSounds like irregular rhyming scheme to me: Rhyming that follows no fixed pattern. (Karlyn, we are focusing on American Poets. Lord Tennyson is British. If you are finished analyzing this poem-I'll accept it for ONE of your poems. The other three must be American Poets).
ReplyDeleteI'm having trouble finding the poetry form for "An Indian Summer Reverie", by Lowell, It's quite long and has a rhyming scheme of ABABCCB. Could it possibly be a narrative poem?
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find anything on Lowell's poem. What other characteristics make up a Narrative poem? If you can argue for it being a Narrative poem I will accept it. Whew- this is hard isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI am having problems figuring out the rhyme scheme for "The grass so little has to do" by Emily Dickinson. The poem does not actually rhyme, so I would say it is blank verse, except that it is not written in iambic pentameter. Any suggestions? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAre you sure the even lines do not rhyme? Look up Ballad Meter. It's not pentameter but it there is a repeating meter pattern.
DeleteThere's a pattern in the stanzas:
Deleteone TWO three FOUR five SIX seven EIGHT
one TWO there FOUR five SIX,
one TWO three FOUR five SIX seven EIGHT
one TWO three FOUR five SIX.
I'm trying to figure out the meaning of "Fate" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I think it's portraying that true beauty comes after toil and pain, but I'm not totally sure. Is that all there is to it, or is there a deeper meaning?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you chose that one! One of my favorite. Why do you think this is the meaning? What lines point you to that? Not saying your wrong but looking for you to justify your answer.
DeleteI think that the poem 'Fate' by Ralph Waldo Emerson could represent the true meaning and value of life. In this poem a man is referenced whose life is slowly deteriorating (Deep in the man sits fast his fate). The man tediously works, plots, and fights in rude affairs. Despite his success (With squires, lords, kings, his craft compares) he has not received joy or fulfillment (Till late he learned, through doubt and fear, Broad England harbored not his peer). This discovery leads him to conclude that there is meaning and value in life found only in God (the genius from its cloudy throne) who has created the past, present, and future. Would you agree?
DeleteWould the poem 'A Noiseless Patient Spider,' by Walt Whitman be considered Free verse, Romanticism or neither? The poem is an extended metaphor referencing nature, the desire for human acceptance and has an emphasis on personal experiences(which is the definition of Romanticism). However, I can't detect a rhyming pattern. Is it possible for the poem to be both?
ReplyDeleteI think it is possible for a poem to have several forms. Is there internal rhyme?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what form "The Last Leaf," by Oliver Wendell Holmes, has? Its verses vary in size.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like it could be burlesque.
ReplyDelete"This is the place. Stand still, my steed,
ReplyDeleteLet me review the scene,
And summon from the shadowy Past
The forms that once have been."
This is an iambic pentameter right?
This is the definition of iambic pentameter: five-beat poetic line: the most common rhythm in English poetry, consisting of five iambs in each line. "The quality of mercy is not strained" is an iambic pentameter. Based on this definition I think this is not a iambic pentameter.
DeleteHey, so I am doing the poem "Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson" in this line she says
ReplyDeleteBecause I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me
The Carriage held but just Ourselves
And Immortality.
Do you think this is about death, or continuing to live?
Stephen, It seems like the subject of this stanza is death if you just look at the first three lines. However, in the last line it talks about immortality being a passenger of the coach, so I think that it is talking about both death and the life that comes after death. I hope this helps!
DeleteThanks that makes a lot of sense.
Delete