5 Important Factors to Consider When Analyzing a Poem
Poetry is a big part of literature and should be hailed for its beautiful language with images built into it to pepper the ideas with poetic splendor. It conveys some message to people or reflects the mood of the poet.
Analyzing a poem demands creativity, imagination, a keen eye for detail, and a latent understanding of the poem’s inner layers of meaning.
General texture of the poem.
A single reading would not be enough to understand the meaning of a poem. Several readings are required to understand the message, general texture, and meaning of the poem. It is advisable to read aloud first, take a second look, and then read slowly to understand the meaning of the words. Without understanding the general tone and meaning of the poem, it is difficult to understand the message it conveys.
tone and mood
It may be melancholy, happiness, elation, lonely musings, or sorrow or regret; the mood of the speaker or the poet has to be fixed in order for the poem to be interpreted in those lines.
Style
Patterns make a poem effective for reading. It also helps make the poem easier to understand.
Imagery is the wonderful language that picturesquely describes the poet’s thoughts and presents us with the world he wants to outline.
Figures of speech like simile, metaphor portrayed in a poem should be noted to appreciate the beauty of the poem and the imagination of the poet. At the same time, the symbolic meaning they convey must be interpreted in a suitable language to give a fine touch to the analysis of the poem.
Issue
Poetry normally does not convey the theme directly and is very subtle in conveying the theme through words and picturesque scenes with hidden meanings. Rarely does one find poems that are direct in their message. Through repeated readings, one can understand the theme of a poem. A search for the cultural background or personal details of the poet could help a person to pin down the topic easily.
Becoming familiar with many of the poet’s other works will increase your awareness of the poet’s recurring themes and preferences. For example, when a student examines a poem by Emily Dickinson, she would be able to put her thoughts on death in better perspective if she had known about her other poems.
Symbols and repetitive words
Certain words can be repetitive with a specific meaning in a context. For example, the symbolic words in Robert Frost’s poems are the transmitters of the poet’s philosophy of life, as in ‘After picking apples’, ‘Road Not Taken’ or ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’.
Conclusion
It is a general understanding of a poem with an innate poetic sensibility that would help a person to decipher the poet’s language in the right sense and decode his message convincingly. Getting guidelines from teachers and tutors would help students to analyze assigned poems effectively and get fabulous scores.
Online English tutors are a great help for students to analyze poems with complex structure. His expert skills in reading between the lines to select the inner meanings of a poem to help students take a correct position when analyzing a poem. It would be a great exposure for the students if they access online tutoring services for critical analysis of the poems in their homework.