How To Analyze A Poem

Whether you’re doing it for class, or just for fun, here are some useful tips for analyzing a poem:

Form
It’s important to understand what type of poem you’re dealing with. Just knowing whether a poem is a sonnet or a sestina, a limerick or a haiku, can give you loads of information about the poem without even reading its context.

Rhyme scheme
Now move your focus from the shape of the poem to the words. First note whether or not the poem follows the traditional rhythmic structure of its form. For example, traditional sonnets were written in iambic pentameter (where the emphasis is on every other syllable, with five emphases per line: daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM). If the poem follows it consistently, you then know that it is a solid example of the tradition of the times from which the form comes. If it doesn’t, then there is a reason for it. By altering the form, the author is saying something. You’ll have to use the poem’s context to figure out what.

Literary devices
There are a myriad of literary devices for poets to use in order to liven, intensify, and beautify their verse. It will take time and more then a few readings to pick them all out. The most commonly used, which you are most likely to find in any poem, are metaphor and simile. Take note of each one you find and study them not only in the context of the poem, but of the time it was written and of the author’s other works. Quite often the theme of the poem resides within its metaphors (for example, love as a star in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 supports the poem’s theme of love eternal and unshakeable).

Other common literary devices include alliteration and assonance. While alliteration (the same sound at the beginning of a word, like “really rainy”) is easy enough to catch while reading, assonance (the same sound in the center of a word, especially with vowels, like “cheese and peas”) is easier found when read aloud. Ask yourself why the author made these stylistic choices, and how they improve or support the poem.

Recurring images
Going hand in hand with simile and metaphor, imagery is a powerful component to any poem. Poems are worded pictures; therefore the image the words create in our minds is the essence of the poem itself. If one image (for example, the streets in T.S. Eliot’s “Preludes”) appears more than once throughout the poem, then clearly it is important. Images, like metaphors and similes, link to the theme (or themes) of the poem.

Themes
The theme is the heart of the poem, the purpose, the reason why it was written. Why did the author write this poem? Does it convey a message? Is it an explanation, a consideration, a question? Most poems have at least one “universal” theme, such as Love, Life or Death.

Title
The title is the reader’s first impression of the poem, therefore its importance cannot be denied. Some titles will reveal the theme of the poem, or at least the subject. Some titles are the first line of a poem (or, in rare cases, the last line, as in Joseph Stroud’s “And I Raised My Hand In Return”). If the poem has no title, again, ask yourself why.

Speaker
The speaker of the poem is not the author. Even when there is no written “I”, the author is never considered the direct speaker. Always, the author’s internal “I” is once, twice, or three times removed from the “I” of the poem. Think about whose voice the author has chosen to represent this poem (an anonymous narrator? a young boy? a seagull?). How would the poem be different through another speaker?

Author
Lastly, it’s always a good idea to read a biography of the author. As they teach in anthropology, no one is a true “outsider” to their own culture. We are influenced by the people, ideas, and values that surround us. Consider the time period when the author was alive, the current literary and poetic fad of the day, and the author’s own personal experiences. They will help put the poem (particularly any political or social issue poems) into helpful context.


Remember- poetry interpretation is highly subjective and, often, largely personal. There is no “right” or “wrong” answer, though some arguments are certainly stronger than others. As long as you can “prove” your point by pointing out specific passages, literary devices, etc., then your analysis holds weight.