THE ANALYSIS OF

POETRY
 POETRY
Poetry (from the Greek "ποίησις", poiesis, a
"making") is a form of literary art in which
language is used for its aesthetic and evocative
qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent
meaning.
Poetry may be written independently, as discrete
poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts,
as in poetic drama, hymns or lyrics.
A.The Nature of Poetry
Poetry may well be the oldest of literary forms, for
certainly a great deal of the oldest literature of which we
have written records is in verse. Yet today, poetry is
regarded as the most difficult and sophisticated of all
literary forms. This perception may very well stem from
the fact the poetry is different from everyday speech. It
is a lot shorter yet says much more. It is more musical
that other type, hence it require that it be read aloud to
be better appreciated.
 When reading poetry it is necessary that one stop and think
from time to time or its meaning is implied and suggested in
the carefully chosen words. The poet therefore chooses the
words he uses in a poem not only for the meaning but also for
the sound that may suggest an idea or emotion: for poetry is
not just idea or emotion, but a feeling and attitude about this
idea or emotion.
A poem as utterance somehow always has a speaker and
usually a listener too. The implied speaker is called the
persona and the implied or direct listener is called addressee.
Poetic diction is the term
used to refer to the linguistic
style, the vocabulary, and the
metaphors used in the
writing of poetry.
Connotation and Dennotation
Connotation
are that the word
suggest beyond it
expresses its overtones
of meaning.
Dennotation a word may
be used in different senses,
but for each sense, the word
refers to an object, idea ,
action or quality.
 “The Sun Rising” is a
famous poem by John Donne which
uses the sun to demonstrate the
relationship between denotation and
connotation.
“Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and
through curtains, call on us?”
A.Imagery is a language that
appeals to the senses. It refers
to words and phrases that create
vivid sensory experiences to the
reader. It also appeal to the
senses of smell, hearing, taste,
and touch. In poetry, the use of
imagery adds rhythm and
beauty to the lines of a poem.
 The Loon
by Lew Sarett
A lonely lake, a lonely shore,
A lone pine leaning on the moon;
All night the water-beating wings
Of a solitary loon.
With mournful wail from dusk to dawn
He gibbered at the taunting stars,—
A hermit-soul gone raving mad,
And beating at his bars.
What mood does the poet create through
his use of imagery?
still, lonely, sorrowful
How does the imagery affect your
emotions?
I feel sad when I picture the
desolate scene and hear the bird
struggling alone.
SOUND AND STRUCTURE
1.Tone Color
The effects of tone color
defend on repetition. This
tone color may be repetition
of single sound, or word or of
phrases or sentence.
Alliteration
the repetition
of accented
sound that
begin words.
Assonance Back, break, break,
repetition of On they cold gray stones, O
Sea!
vowel sounds at And I would that my
the beginning, tongue could utter
middle or end of The thoughts that arise in
at least two words me
in a line of poetry.
Consonance is dreary and weary,
sometimes called napping and
slant rhyme. It is tapping
general term for the
effect produced by
The Raven
the repetition of
accented consonant Edgar Allan Poe
sounds.
 Rhyme repetition of sound at the ends of words. A
rhyme is said to be masculine if the rhyming portion
of the words is a single syllable sound as in cry, buy,
face, race. It is said to be feminine if the rhyming
portion is more than one syllable as in sorrow,
tomorrow, cunning and running. Rhyme usually comes
at the end of a line and follows a set of pattern or
scheme. It is indicated by the letters or alphabets being
the first rhyming word, b the second, c the third and so
on.
My hearts leaps up when I behold a
A rainbow in the sky; b
So was it when my life begun; c
So it is now I am a man, c
So be it when I grow old a
Or let me die! b
The child is the father of the Man: c
And I could wish my days to be d
Bound each to each my natural piety. d

William Wardsworth
 B. Repetition of Words
The simplest and clearest example of tone color is
the repletion of a word. Though it may become
wearisome. It is on one of the most effective in poetry.
If you take a look at the example by E.A.Poe you
would notice that the repeated word “rapping” and If
you read the whole text of The Raven there are quite a
number of words that are repeated.
 C. Repetition of Sentences or Phrases
In a device known as
anaphora, a group of words
or sentences is repeated for a
particular effect.
Jessica: In such night
Did this be fearfully o’ entrap the daw
And saw the lion’s shadow ere himself
And ran dismayed away.
Lorenzo In such night

Stood Dido with a willow in her hand

Upon the wild sea bank, and waft her love
To come again to Carthage.
William Shakespeare. Merchant of Venice
2. Meter the pattern of
stressed and unstressed
syllables in poetry.
 Table of Metrical Feet
Name of Foot Pattern of
Accent
Iambi/Iambic
Trochee/Trochaic
Anapest/Anapestic
Dactyl/Dactylic
Spondee/Spondaic
 Table Line of Lengths
Name of Feet Measure
/Line
One foot Monometer
Two feet Diameter
Three feet Trimeter
Four Tetrameter
Five Pentameter
Six Hexameter
Seven Heptameter
1. Iambic (the noun is iamb or iambus): a lightly stressed
syllable followed by a heavily stressed syllable u /
u / u / u / u / u /
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
u / u / u / u / u /
The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea. –

Thomas Gray, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"

2. Anapestic (the noun is anapest): two light
syllables followed by a stressed syllable u u /
u u / u u / u u / u u /
The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold
u u / u u / u u / u u /
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold.

--Lord Byron, "The Destruction of Sennacherib"

 3. Trochaic (the noun is trochee): a stressed
followed by a light syllable / u
/ u / u / u / u / u
"There they are, my fifty men and women."

--Robert Browning, "One Word More"

 4. Dactylic (the noun is dactyl): a stressed syllable
followed by two light syllables syllables: / u u
/ u u / u u“
Éve, with her basket, was
/ u u / u u
Deep in the bells and grass." --
Ralph Hodgson, "Eve"
 Metrical Feet by Samuel Coleridge

Trochee trips from long to short

From long to long in solemn sort
Slow spondee stalks; strong foot yet ill able
Ever to run with the dactyl trisyllable.
Iambics march from short to long.
With a leap and a bound the swift anapests
throng.
Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling,
Give me autumnal fruit ripe and red from the orchard,
Give me a field where the unmow'd grass grows,
Give me an arbor, give me the trellis'd grape,
Give me fresh corn and wheat, give me serene-moving animals
teaching
content,
Give me nights perfectly quiet as on high plateaus west of the
Mississippi, and I looking up at the stars,
Walt Witman
Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun
 Structure
1.The manner in which words are
arranged and fit together.

a.Word Order- The arrangement of

words. Something, poets deliberately
arrange words in the unnatural order
to achieve an effect.
 A narrow Fellow in the Grass
Occasionally rides -
You may have met him? Did you not
His notice instant is –
A Narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
EMILY DICKINSON
b. Syntax in the formation of phrases and
sentences, poets may fracture syntax for a desired
effect. The passage below simply means “And
why does the best hope sown not bloom?” yet
somehow it does seem to mean what the poetic
line means
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
HAP
Thomas Hardy
c. Ellipsis leaving out a certain words
results in both economy and peculiar
effect. Missing in the second line the
verse below are the words “in which”
(my captain lies); and on the third “
Who has (fallen cold and dead).
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! My Captain!
WALT WHITMAN
 d. Pactuation or the
lacks of it also provide
meaning clues.
 anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did.
"anyone lived in a pretty how town."
ee. Cummings
anyone lived in a pretty how town
2. The organization of the parts in a
complex entity to form a whole

A Narrative poem tells a story.

There are various types:
 EPIC a long poem about a heroic character that
represents the ideals and aspirations of a people.
It may be folk of unknown authorship or literary-
purposely written by known author and
consciously imitating the earlier heroic form.
BALLAD a shorter form, usually about more
personal conflicts; and it may be popular/folk, or
literary.
METRICAL TALE it is like short
story in verse.
METRICAL ROMANCE it is story
of adventure and love about a
knight and his lady, and is told in
verse.
b. Lyric poems are usually descriptive or
expository where the poet is concerned
mainly with presenting a scene in word,
conveying the sensory richness of his subject
or the revelation of ideas or emotion. Some
types of lyric poetry are:
SONG intended to be sung and may be
sacred and secular.
PURE LYRIC/LYRIC It may be pictorial,
reflective, or deal with varied, emotion and
themes. It has song like qualities.
SONNET a 14-line lyric or iambic pentameter.
It may be Petrarchan, Shakespearean or
Spenserian in rhyme scheme and structural
arrangement of content/theme.
ELEGY a poem for the dead in exalted
tone.
ODE a poem with a sustained emotion
and a dignified language and a tone.
c. Dramatic poetry centers on a
character in conflict with some force
within or outside himself. The different
types are:
DRAMATIC NARRATIVE a story told through the
verse a dialogue of the character and a narrator.
Some popular ballads are told in a suspenseful
dramatic manner.
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE a poem consisting of a
sell revealing speech delivered by one person to a
listener, for instance, R. Browning’s “My Last
Duchess”. Sometimes this is also called dramatic
lyric.
1. Try to figure out the meaning of
the poem.
2. Imagery is a common technique
used by poets to get their meaning
across.
3. Look for symbols.
4. Look at the poet’s choice of words.
5. Determine the voice and tone of
voice of the poem.
6. Determine if the poem has a
storyline.
7. Look for a rhyme scheme.
8. Determine the poem’s structure.
9. Determine the poem’s type.
Figurative
Language
Language employing one
or more figures of speech
(simile, metaphor,
imagery, etc.)
Other Figure of Speech
Simile- it consists of two
different ideas or images
in comparison joined by like
or as.
“My love is like red rose,
that’s newly sprung in
June”
Metaphor- a direct comparison
of two things or ideas with the
meaning implied.
Life is a bound, equivocal
Comes to a bound either to
rend me
Or befriend me, I cannot tell
R. Francis
Personification-giving personal/human
attributes to inanimate objects or ideas
Leaves got up in a coil and hissed
Blindly struck at my knees and missed
 Apostrophe A poetic figure of speech in
which a person or object (animate or
inanimate) is directly addressed.
Pack clouds, away; and welcome day!
With night, We banish sorrow
Sweet air; blow soft; mount, lark aloft
To give my love good morrow
Metonymy a figure of speech in which
the name of one object (person, position)
is used to substitute for another closely
related item. (“the White House” = the
president, staff, whole executive branch)
The crown will have have an heir. (Crown
for Ruler)
Synecdoche the naming of the parts
to suggest the whole.
Show you respect for snowy hair.
(Snowy hair refers to age/old
people.)
Hyperbole- an
exaggeration used
for artistic effect.
Waves Mountain
high broke over
the reefs.
Irony saying the opposite of
what is meant.
To cry like a baby, a fine
way to act for man your age.
Allusion a reference to any
literary, biblical historical
mythological scientific event,
character or place.
Be no doubting. Thomas or
undecided Prince of Denmark.
Antithesis a contrast of words or ideas.
Look like an innocent flower. But be a
serpent underneath.

Paradox a phrase or statement that on

surface seems contradictory, but makes
some kind of emotional sense.
 The screaming sound of silence
pierced my brain.
Litotes a deliberate understatement
used to affirm by negating its opposite.
Even his plain dress, I find him
not all displeasing.
Oxymoron putting together in one statement two
contradictory terms.
Such cruel kindness is your love for me.
Onomatopoeia the formation or use of word as hiss,
buzz, cuckoo having sounds imitates that they
denote.
“The bang of a gun.”
“The hiss of a snake.”
“The buzz of a bee.”
“The pop of a firecracker.
Example of Shape Poems
 i(a
i(a
le
af
fa
ll
s)
one
i
iness

ee. cummings