Analyzing Poetry: Structure, Speaker, Diction, Tone, Syntax, Imagery, Figurative Language,, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Poetry

Download Analyzing Poetry: Structure, Speaker, Diction, Tone, Syntax, Imagery, Figurative Language, and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Poetry in PDF only on Docsity! L3 Understanding Poetry (July 2011; ASC/EngRead) Page 1 Writing Handout L-3 Understanding Poetry When reading poetry, it is important to evaluate and interpret the message of the poem.  An evaluation is a judgment, a set of opinions about a literary work based on a thoughtful consideration of it. Your evaluation of a poem is based upon how good you think the poem is and how much significance the poem has for you. Your opinion or evaluation of any poem also depends upon your interpretation of it. Evaluation depends upon interpretation, for your judgment of a poem depends on how you understand it.  An interpretation is an explanation of the meaning or significance of something. When interpreting a poem, you should identify the elements of the poem by asking yourself the following: Who is the speaker? Why did the poet choose those specific words? How are those words used? What images are conveyed through those words? Elements of Poetry Structure – the formal pattern of organization Speaker – the voice we hear in it Diction – the selection of words Tone – the voice we hear in it and its implied attitude toward the subject Syntax – the order of the words Imagery – the details of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch Figurative language – nonliteral ways of expressing one thing in terms of another Rhyme, assonance, and alliteration – the sound effects Rhythm – the pattern of accents we hear in the poem’s words, phrases, lines, and sentences Theme – the controlling idea or implied meaning within a work When interpreting a poem, you should focus on the following elements:  Structure A poem is typically made up of lines and stanzas. The lines of the poem create stanzas, a group of lines of verse forming a separate unit within a poem. In many poems, each stanza has the same number of lines and the same rhythm and rhyme scheme. As you read each stanza, look for the different elements of poetry which are discussed in this handout. Analyzing a poem stanza by stanza makes the task of interpretation less daunting. Robert Frost Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. 1st Stanza L3 Understanding Poetry (July 2011; ASC/EngRead) Page 2 My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.  Speaker, Diction, and Tone The speaker is who we hear when we read or hear a poem. The words the speaker uses (diction) set the tone of the poem. The tone is the speaker’s implied attitude toward the subject. The tone of the poem is determined by analyzing the words the author chooses. You must consider the denotation and connotation of each word. Denotation is the basic, most specific meaning of a word. Connotation is an implied additional meaning of a word. For example, in Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowing Evening,” the denotation of the word sleep in the last two lines is “the natural, periodically recurring physiological state of rest.” However, sleep also carries the additional connotation of death. When reading a poem, you must consider both the connotation and denotation of the words.  Syntax A poet uses syntax, the arrangement of the words, to express meaning and convey feeling. Speakers who repeat themselves, break off abruptly in the midst of a thought, or reverse the standard order of the words, for example, reveal something about how they feel. For example, in Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowing Evening,” the word order of the first line is inverted: Whose woods these are I think I know. The normal order would be: I think I know whose woods these are. In the normal order, emphasis falls on what the speaker knows or thinks he knows. However, in the word order used by Frost, emphasis falls on “the woods,” which are more important than what the speaker knows or thinks he knows. Additionally, Frost’s arrangement of words (syntax) has more rhythm than the normal word order, which reads like a casual statement. 2nd Stanza 3rd Stanza 4th Stanza L3 Understanding Poetry (July 2011; ASC/EngRead) Page 5 My Papa’s Waltz The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother’s countenance Could not unfrown itself. The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle. You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt. Interpretation for My Papa’s Waltz My Papa’s Waltz has four stanzas; each stanza has four lines. The speaker is the son. A father and son are wildly dancing, not literally waltzing, around the house as the mother looks on. She has a frown on Papa has been drinking; is this a concern to the son? Does this mean the waltzing was not enjoyable? Or was it fun even though it was not easy? “romped” = boisterous play; why not “waltzed” or “danced”? “countenance” = facial expression; is the mother happy, angry, approving, disapproving? “battered” = result of violence or just well-worn from a manual labor type job? “beat time on my head” = painful, affectionate, or just a way of keeping the musical beat? “caked hard by dirt” = father has a blue-collar job? Just came home from work? “Clinging” how? – Fearfully? Joyfully? Lovingly? “Unfrown” says something about mom’s feelings. Is she angry or is she simply being tolerant because she sees her son having fun? Dad’s clumsiness (due to drinking or boisterous play?) results in son’s ear rubbing against his belt buckle. Accidental or intentional? (Son is only a small boy. Perhaps he is waist high, and his ear is at his father’s belt buckle.) “papa” = an affectionate term for the speaker’s father – “papa” “Waltz” = a slow, smooth dance Was the son afraid or enjoying himself? The father’s way of “tucking” his son into bed at night? “slid” = why not “crashed” or “fell”? L3 Understanding Poetry (July 2011; ASC/EngRead) Page 6 her face, probably because the dancing has resulted in kitchen pans sliding off the shelf or perhaps she does not like boisterous play in the house. However, she does not ask them to stop, so perhaps she tolerates their wild dancing because she knows they are enjoying each other’s company. The dance is somewhat rough; the pans slide off the shelf and the son’s ear is scraped on the father’s belt buckle. The roughness could be because the father has been drinking or because the dancing is actually boisterous play. The father keeping a steady rhythm by beating time on the boy’s head can be interpreted as affection, rough play, or simply as a way to keep the musical beat for their dancing. The boy is described as “clinging” to his father’s shirt as the father “waltzes” him off to bed, but the language does not clarify whether the clinging is out of terror – or whether it reflects the affection between father and son. The tone of the poem is nostalgic; the boy, now a man, is remembering the ritual he had with his father. The rhyme and high-spirited rhythm of the poem do not give any indication that the son’s fear or the father’s drinking are of great concern; on the contrary, the poem more likely reflects the fond memories that the son has of his father. Practice Exercise Sylvia Plath [1932-1963] Mirror I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful – The eye of a little god, four cornered. Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. It is pink with speckles. I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers. Faces and darkness separate us over and over. Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me, Searching my reaches for what she really is. Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands. I am important to her. She comes and goes. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish. [1961] 1. Who is the speaker of the poem? a. a woman c. a girl b. a mirror d. a fish L3 Understanding Poetry (July 2011; ASC/EngRead) Page 7 2. How many stanzas are in this poem? a. 1 c. 18 b. 2 d. 3 3. Which line from the poem is an example of personification? a. It is pink with speckles. b. I think it is a part of my heart. c. I am important to her. d. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. 4. What is implied by the line “in me she has drowned a young girl?” a. The woman’s daughter has died. b. The woman has committed a murder. c. The woman has died. d. The woman has lost her youth. 5. Which line from the poem indicates that a mirror does not make judgments? a. I am not cruel, only truthful. b. Now I am a lake. c. Whatever I see I swallow immediately. d. I am important to her. 6. “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.” Preconceptions are a. unbiased facts. b. reflections. c. opinions formed in advance. d. mistaken ideas or views.