The Elements of Poetry A iPoetny lRevflew Types of Foems
Lyric:
Subjective, reflective poetry with reguiar rhyme scheme and meter which reveals poet's thoughts and feelings to create a singe, unique impressionMatthew Arnold, "Dover Beach" William Blake, "The Lamb," "The Tiger" Emily Dickinson, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" Langston Hughes, "Dream Deferred" Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" Walt Whitman, "Out of the Cradle Endiessly Rocking"
Narrative:
non-dramatic, objective verse with regular rhyme scheme and meter which relates a story or narrative. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Kubla Khan" T.S. Eliot, "Journey of the Magi" Gerard Manley Hopkins. "The Wreck of the Deutschland" Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "IJlysses"
Sonnet:
a
rigid 14*line verse form, with variable structure and rhyme scheme according to type: a. Shakespearian (English) --- three quatrains and concluding couplet in iambic pentameter, rhyming abab cdcd efe:[ gg or abba cddc effe gg. The Spenserian sonnet is a specialized form with linking rhyme abab trcbc cdcd ee. Robert Lowell, "Salem" William Shakespeare, "Shall I compare Thee?" b. Petrarchian (Italian) --- an octave and sestet, between which a break in thought occurs. The traditional rhyme scheme is abba abba cde cde (or -cdcdcd). John Milton, "On His Blindness" John Donne, "Death, Be Not Proud"
Ode:
elaborate lyric verse which deals seriously with a dignified theme John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian l--lrn" Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind" William Wordsworth, "Ode: Intimations of Immortality"
Blank Verse: unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter Robert Frost, "Birches" John Milton, "Paradise Lost" Theodore Roethke, "l Knew a Woman" William Shakespeare, Macbeth Robert Frost, "Mending Wall"
Free
Verse:
unrhymed lines without regular rhythm \r,/aii Whitinan, "The Last Invccaiio;i" Wiiliam Carlos Williams, "Rain," "The Dance" Richard Wilbur, "Juggler"
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Epic:
a long, dignified narrative poem which gives the account or race.
of a hero important to his nation
Lord Byron, "Don Juan" John Milton, "Paradise Lost" Homer, "The Illiad," "The Odyssey"
Dramatic
Monologue:
Elegy:
lyric poem in which the speaker addresses himself to persons around him; his speech deals with a dramatic moment in his life and manifests his character. Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess" T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred hufrock" a
a poem of lament, meditating on the death of an individual-
W.H. Auden, "ln Memory of W.B. Yeats" John Milton, "Lycidas" Theodore Roethke, "Elegy for Jane" Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "In Memoriam A.H.H."
Ballad:
simple, narrative verse which tells a story to be sung or recited: the folk ballad is anonymously handed down, while the literary ballad has a single author. John Keats, "La Belle Dame sans Merci" Edward Arlington Robinson, "Richard Cory" William Butler Yeats, "The Fiddler of Dooney"
Idylh
lyric poetry describing the life of the shepherd in pastcral, bucolic, idealistic terms. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Idylls of the King" William Wordsworth, "The Solitary Reaper"
Yillanelle:
French verse form, strictly calculated to appear simple and spontaneous;five tercets and a final quatrain, rhyming aba aba aba aba aba abaa. Lines 1, 6, 12, 18 and 3 ,9 , 15 , 19 are refrain.
Theodore Roethke, "The Walking" Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"
Light Verse:
general category of poetry written to entertain, such as lyric poetry;epigrams, and limericks. it can also have a serious side as in parody or satire. Vachel Lindsay, "The Congo" Lewis Carroll, "Jabberwocky"
Haiku:
Japanese verse in three lines of
five, seven, and five syllables, often depicting a delicate
image. Matsuo
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Basko,
The lightening flashes! And slashing through the darkness, A night-heron's screech.
Limerick:
humorous nonsense-verse in five anapestic lines rhyming aabba. a-lines being trimeter and b-lines dimeter. Edward Lear There was an old man at the Cape Who made himself garrnents of crape When asked "Wiil they tear?" He replied "Here and there, But they keep such a beautifu! shapel"
Meter
Meter is poetry's rhythm, or its pattern of siressed and unstressed syliables. Meter is measures in units af feet;the five basic kinds of metric feet are indicated below. Accent marks indicate stressed ( ) or unstressed ( ) syllables.
Foot iambic Trochaic Anapestic Dactyllic Spondaic
Type of Metric
Accent/StressExamptre ba-loon so-da
con-tra-dict ma-ni-ac man-made
Metricai units are the building blocks of lines of verse: lines are named according to the number of feet they contain:
Number of Metric
foot two feet three feet four feet five feet six feet seven feet eight feet
Feet
one
Type of Line monometer dimeter trimeter tetrameter pentameter hexameter heptameter octometer (rare)
Scansion is the analysis of these mechanical elements within a poem to determine meter. Feet are marked off with slashes ( / ) and accented appropriately ( -stress, -unstress). Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" is scanned here: Because / I could / not stop / for Death He kind- / ly stopped / for me The car- I riage held / but just / our-selves And Im- / mor-tal- / ity.
The feet in these lines are iambic ( ). The first and third Iines have four feet and can be identified as iambic tetrameter. The second and fourth lines, with three feet each, are iambic trimeter. Therefore, the basic rneter is iambic tetrameter. t
r,i,-:_
_,. .-- _t-_ ivietric c-ieet iiiake up iines, wiricir rrrakc up stanzas. A stanza is io a poet whai a paragraph is io a narrative. Stanzas are identified by the number of lines they contain:
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Number of
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 (or
Lines
Type of Stanza couplet tercet
quatrain cinquain sestet septet
more)
octet (octave) x-lined stanza
Other Metric Terms: foot with unstressed, stressed, unstressed syllables
(
amphibrach:'
a
anacrusis:
an extra unaccented syllable at the beginning of a line before the regular meter begins
) as Chicago.
"Mine / by the right / of the white / election" (Emily Dickinson)
foot with stressed, unstressed, stressed syllables
(
) as attitude.
amphimacer:
a
catalexis:
an extra unaccented syllable at the ending of a line after the regular meter ends (opposite of anacrusis)
"I'll tell / you how / the sun I rose" (Emily Dickinson)
caesura:
a pause in the meter or rhythm of a line. Flood-tide below me! ll I see you face to face! (Walt Whitman: "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry")
enjambement :a run-on line, one continuing into the text without a grammatical break. Green rustlings, more-than-regal charities Drift cooly from that tower of whispered light. (Hart Crane: "Royal Palm")
Rhyme:
Rime
oid spelling of rhyme, which is the repetition of like sounds at regular intervals, empioyed inVersification, the writing of verse.
End Rhyme: rhyme occuring at end of verse line; most common rhyme form.
I was angry withmy friend, i told my wrath, my wrath di^d end. (William Blake, "A Poison Tree")
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Internal
Rhyme
Rhyme:
Scheme:
rhyme contained within a line of verse. The splendorfalls on castle ural/s And snowy summits old in story: The long light shakes across the lakes And the wild cataract leaps in glory. (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Blow, Bugle. Blow") pattern of rhymes within a unit of verse; in analysis, each end rhyme-sound is represented by a letter. a Take, O take those lips away, b That so sweetly were forsworn; And those eyes, the break of day, a b Lights that do mislead the morn: But my kisses bring again, bring again; c c Seals of iove, but seal'd in vain, seal'd in vain. (William Shakespeare, "Take, O Take Those Lips Away")
Maseuline Rhyrne: rhyme in which oniy the iast, accented syllable of the rhyming words correspond exactly in scund; most common kind of end rhyme. She walks in beauty like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect andher eyes: Thus mellowed to thattender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies. (Lord Byron, "She Walks in Beauty") Feminine
Rhyme:
rhyme in which two consecutive syllables of the rhyme-words correspond, the first syllable carrying the accent; double rhyme. Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying, O the pain, the bliss of dying! (Alexander Pope, "Vital Spark of Heavenly Flame")
Half Rhyme (Slant Rhyme):
imperfect, approximate rhyme.
In the mustardseed sun. By full tilt river and switchback sea Where the cormorants scud, In his hoouse on stilts high among beaks (Dylan Thomas, "Poem on His Birthday")
Assonance:
repetition of two or more vowel sounds within a line. Burnt the fire of thine eyes 1\l/illiom
\ritritqrlturuNvt
Rlalze
Ticerr'\ 'r'fhe tttv tt6v,
/
And do I smile-, sr:ch cordia-l light (Emily Dickinson, "My Life Had Stood, A Loaded Gun")
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Consonance:
repetition of two or more consonant sounds within a line. And all is seared with trade; bleared smeared with toil; And wears man's smudge and shares men's smell: the soil (Gerard Manley Hopkins, "God's Grandeur") Love. all alike, no season knows, nor clime-Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. (John Donne, "The Sun Rising")
Alliteration:
repetition of two or more initial sounds in words within a Iine. Bright black-eyed creature, brushed with brown. (Robert Frost, "To a Moth Seen in Winter") He clasps the crag with crooked hands (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Eagle")
Onomatopoeia:
the technique of using a word whose sound suggests its meaning. The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard
(Robert Frost, "Out, Out")
Veering and wheeling free in the open (Carl Sandberg, "The Harbor")
Euphony:
the use of compatible, harmonious sounds to produce pleasing, melodious effect. I knew a woman,lovely in her bones, When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them. (Theodore Roethke, "I Knew a Woman")
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows (Alexander Pope, "Sound and Sense")
Cacophony:
the use of inharmonious sounds in close conjunction for effect; opposite of euphony. Or, my scrofulous French novel On grey paper with blunt type! Simply glance at it, you grovel Hand and foot in Belial's gripe: (Robert Browning, "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister")
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore (Alexander Pope, "Sound and Sense")
Poetic Devices and Figurative Language
Metaphor:
figure of speech which makes a direct comparison of two unike objects by identification ^vI
-.,L.+ir,,ri DUUDtltULlVtt.
^-
All the world's a stage (William Shakespeare, "As You Like It") Elements of Poetry
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Death is the broom I take in my hands To sweep the world clean. (Langston Hughes, "War")
Simile:
a
direct comparison of two unlike objects, using like or asThe holy time is quiet as a nun (William Wordsworth, "On the Beach at Calais")
And like a thunderbolt he falls (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Eagle")
Conceit:
an extended metaphor comparing two unlike objects with pcwerful effect. (It owes its roots to elabcrate analogies in Petrarch and to the Metaphysical poets, particularly
Donne.)
If they
be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two; Thy soui, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do. (John Donne, "Valediction Forbidding Mourning")
Personification: figure of speech in which objects and animals When it comes, the landscape listens,
have human quaiities.
Shadows hold their breath. (Ernily Dickinson, "A Certain Slant of Light")
Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell. (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade")
Apostrophe: addressing a person or personified object not present. Littie Lamb, who made thee? (William Blake, "The Lamb") O loss of sight, of thee I most complain! (John Milton, "Samson Agonistes")
Metonymy:
the substitution of a word which relates to the object or person to be named, in place of the name itself The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his crown. (William Shakespeare, " Hamlet") A cnnttcd chcft ic ceen lcnqlrcl
(Emily Dickinson, "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass")
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Synecdoche: figure of speech in which a part represents the whole object or idea. Not a hair perished. [person] (William Shakespeare, The Tempest)
(
And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their householdlrre [homes] (Thomas Hardy, "The Darkling Thrush")
Hyperbole:
gross exaggeration for effect; overstatement. Love you ten years before the Flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews.
(Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress") Our hands were firmly cemented. (John Donne, "The Ecstasy")
Litotes:
understatement for effect. I am the American heanbreak---
The rock on which Freedom Stumped its toe. (Langston Hughes, "American Heartbreak") {In this personification, Freedom did not just stump its toe, but wos injured permanently.l But she is in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me! (William Wordsworth, "She Dwelt Among Untrodden Ways") lWordsworth deeply loved the woman, and therefore felt deep sorrow not hinted at in these casual lines,f
Irony:
(
the contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning.
a.
verbal irony---meaning one thing and saying another. next to of course god america i iove you\ (e.e. cummings)
b.
dramatic irony---two levels of meaning--what the speaker says and what he means, and what the speaker says and the author means.
I stood upon a high place, And saw, below, many devils Running, leaping, And carousing in sin. f)ne lnnleerl rrn crinnina uy 5r rrrrrrrr6,
And said, "Comrade! Brother! (-stephan Crane, "l Stood l-lpon a High
Place") (
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,
c.
situational irony---when the reality of a situation differs from the anticipated or intended effect; when something unexpected occurs. What rough beast, its hour come round at last Slouches toward Bethehem to be born? (William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming") lThe second coming of Christ is intended, but a rough beast will cowe instead.)
Symbolism: the use of one object to suggest another, hidden object or idea. in Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken," the fork in the road represents a major decision in life, each road a separate way of life. In Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock," "Cupid's flames" symbolizes love. Gerard Manley Hopkins' "The Caged Skylark": "As a dare-gale skylark scanted in a dull cage" symbolizes man's spirit contained within the domains cf society.
Imagery:
the use of words to represent things, actions, or ideas by sensory description. Night after Nighr Her purple traffic Strews the and with Opa Bales-Merchantmen--poise upon Horizons-Dip--and vanish like Orioles! (Emily Dickinson, "This is the land Where Sunset Washes")
And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings (Thomas Hardy, "Afterwards") He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ringed with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls. (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Eagle")
Paradox:
a statement which appears self-contradictory, but underlines a basis of truth. Elected silence, sing to me.
(Gerard Manley Hopkins, "The Habit of Perfection") Were her first years the Golden Age; that's true, But now she's gold oft-tried and ever-new. (John Donne, "The Autumnal")
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Oxymoron:
contradictory terms brought together to express a paradox for strong effect. Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feathered raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)
All things counter, original, spare, strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle,dim1 He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise him. (Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Pied Beauty")
Allusion:
to an outside fact, event, or other source. World-famous golden-thighed Pythagoras Fingered upon a fiddle-stick or strings What a star sang and careless Muses heard (William Butler Yeats, "Among School Children" fPythagoras--Greek mathematicfutn; Muses---mythological goddesses af beauty and music]
a reference
In Breughel's great painting, The Kermess, the dancers go round, they go round and around (William Carlos Williams, "The Dance")
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Kevs to Unlockine the Mvsteries of Poetrv Firsl, read the poem two or three times. When trying to understand a complex poem, tr)) tofigure out the various parts in order to solve the puzzle. You do not hsve to look at every aspect
Title Speaker Audience Setting Diction Subject Paraphrase Tone/attitude Purpose
for
each poem.
Ponder the title before reading the poem Determine who (or what) is speaking
To whom is the poem addressed? Is there an aposfiophe? Speculate on the time, place, or occasion Peruse denotative and connotative meanings of words. Abstract or concrete?4.{egative or positive? Look up any words you do not know. What is the topic discussed?
Translate the poem into your own words, rearrange syntax-put subject verb
l*
Observe both the speaker's and the poet's attitude (tone)
What seems to be the author's purpose?
Figurative Language Identify and discuss the effect of figurative devices Allusions Images (visual, auditory, othctory, gustatory, kinesthetic, tactile) Personification Similes Metaphors (slnecdoches, mstonymies, and conceits) Ambiguities, paradoxes, ox)trnorons, irony, hlrperboles, and/or understatements Synesthesia
Sound
devices
Symbolisnl allegory Alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoei4 repetition, euphony, cacophony chiasmus, anaphora
Structure
Meter
u4 (trochaic /u) (anapestic uu/) (dactylic /uu) Monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentamster, horameter, heptameter, octameter, (iambic
Rhyme scheme (abba) Stanza pattern Couplet, tercet, quatrairq quintain (quintet), sestet, septeL octave (octet)
Type of
poem
Shifts
Lyric, narrative, dramatic monologue, epic, elegy, Italian or Elizabethan sonnet, terza,nmq ode, ballad, sestina, villanelle Note shifu (changes) in speakers and in attitudes (Key words: but, yet, nwertheless, however, although)
(Punctuation: dashes, periods, colons, semicolons) (Stanza and paragraph divisions) (Sharp contrasts in diction) What is the relationship between the content and structure?
Opposition Title Themes Meaning
Are two or more ideas being compared or contrastied? (iuxtapositio4 antithesis)
Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level Determine what the poet is saying
Look for multiple or deeper levels of meaning
What questions do you still have? Can you make text to self, text, and world connections?
Kevs to Unlockins th€ MvJterfus of Poetrv First, read the poem two or three times. When trying to understand a complex poem, try tofgurc out the various prts in order to solve the puzzle. You do not hove to look at every aspectfor erch pem. Ponder the title before reading the poem Speaker Determinewho (orwhat) is speaking To whom is the poem addressed? Is there an aposrophe? Speculate on the time, place, or occasion Peruse denotative and connotative meanings of words, Abstract or concretey' negative or positive? Look up any words you do not know. What is the topic discussed? Paraphrase Translate into your own words; reammg€ syntax-put nrbjec't verb ls Tone/attitude Observe both the speaker's and the po€t's aftitude (tone) What seems to be the author's purpose? Figurative Language lde,nti$ and discuss the effect of figurative devices
Title
Audience Sctting Diction Subject
Purpose
Allusions Images (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, kinesthetic, tactile) Personification Similes Metaphors (synecdoches, metonymieq and conceits) Ambiguities, paradoxes, oxFnorons, irony, hyperboles, a_nd,/or understatements Synesthesia
Symbolism, allegory
Sound devices Allitexation, assonan@, consorulnce, onomatopoei4 repetition, euphony, cacophony, chiasmus, anaphora
Stmcture
Meter (iambic u4
(trochaic /u) (anapestic uu/) (dactylic /uu) Monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexanreter, octtamgtetr,
Rhyme scheme (abba) Stanza
pattern
Couplet, tercet, quahain, quinnain (quintet), sestet, s€ptet, Octave
(ocre$
Type of
poem
Shifts
Lyric, narrafive, drarnatic monologue, epic, elegr, Italian or Elizabethan terzarjmZ ode, sestina, ballad) Note shifu (changes) in speakers and in auitudes
sonn€,q
(Key words: buq yeq nwertheless, however, althougb, so, therefore, consequedy) @unctuation: dasheg periods, colons, semicolons) (Stanza and paraglaph divisions) (Sharp contrasts in diction) What is the rtlationship between the content and shucture? Opposition Are two or more ideas being compared or comasted? (iuxapositio4 antithesis) fitb Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive lwel Themes Determine whatthe poet is sayng lllsrning Inok for multiple or deeper lwels of meaning What questions do you still have? Can yor make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections?
(,, Westphal2007
Last Minute Advice for AP Lit Tips for the Test: 1.Your most important job is to identifu the deeper meaning of thepassage/poem. 2. See #1. 3. Next in importance is to tell the reader how the author does this. (This is where your literary devices come into play. They are important only in terms of the deeper meaning you are describing in #1.) 4. ldentifying a literary device is okay, as long as you explain how the device supports the analysis (How does the personification enlighten the meaning?) Don't just point and name; explain why the writer used it. READ FOR MEANING FIRST AND APPLY LITERARY TERMS TO MEANING LATER. 5. Use details and quotations to support the ideas-what are examples from the passage/poem that show what you are trying to say? 6. Many AP readers say over and over again that students don't always read the prompt, nor do they take the time to fully understand the passage. A few extra minutes studying these can pay off in the end when your essay is focused on the prompt. 7. Write to express, not impress. Clear writing is better than writing that tries to sound smart. 8. lf the passage/poem is difficult, the prompt may be very simplistic. A complicated or multi-step prompt can indicate a pretty easy piece of literature. 9. Answer.all the parts of the prompt. 10. The sound, the meter, or the structure of a poem are important only in terms of how it relates to meaning. MEANING lS WHAT MATTERS. 11. Use the information in the prompt to help you frame your essay. You may be asked to write about point of view explicitly, or you may be given the option of talking about any literary device. Let the prompt guide your analysis. 12. lntroductions: You are not graded on how well you write your introduction. Write an introduction that is short and to the point, but also one that gets at the main ideas and begins your analysis. Don't just restate the prompt. The readers will read the same essays for seven days; they know what the prompt says. 13. And the conclusion: Be sure to conclude your essay, but a sentence or two to wrap up your ideas (restating your main point of the essay) is adequate 14. Remember you are writing to a particular audience. Your aUdience may be a very old, wrinkly, cranky utrmarried teacher who can only read with strong reading glasses. Keep your writing style academic and your handwriting neat. Write in clear and concise sentences, make paragraph indentations obvious, and use good transitions between ideas. 15. Address the author by his/her last name. lf you are not sure of the gender (and be careful!), refer to the author with general phrases, such as "the author" or use his/her last name. 16. Have I told you to read the prompt carefully? 17. Don't oversimplify a work by saying it is about one limited concept (The Awakening is about infidelity or Our Town is about life and death, or The Taming of the Shrew is about male dominance). Literature is complicated and (as many of you like to point out) can have many different and complex interpretations. 18. Avoid plot summary. Many prompts will tell you this explicitly, but be sure that you spend more of your essay analyzing how and why something is meaningful, and use details to prove thatwhat you are saying is valid. 19. See your prose and poetry prompt in terms of a bubble. Don't bring in other historical/cultural commentary to your essay. Just analyze the prompt in terms of the information from which you can infer on the page. 20. Many students think that any literary language prior to that of their own is "Old English." Do not make that assumption. Shakespeare is not Old English. 21. Use the names of the characters, especially if they are listed for you in the prose prompt. lf you cannot remember the names of characters for the third prompt, you may want to choose another text about which to write. 22. Don't misspell key words used in the prompt (names, devices, etc.) 23. Let your writing shine with ideas and insights. The essays that earn tl^ie higher scores expand to deeper thinking and a wider perspective. 24. A poorly written essay can receive a score no higher than a 3.
25. An essay that relies only on summary can receive a score no higher than a 4, and usually less.
Summary has usefulness when it is used to support an analysis. 26. On the open response, the good essay writers employed some of these strategies: a. Chose an uncommon work. b. Began their essays quickly and did not have Trpage introductions. c. Avoided repeating the prompt d. Organized their responses into coherent paragraphs e. Used details from the text to serve their ideas/analysis f. Used transitions so that the readers didn't struggle to create a connection 27.Do notwrite pity notes ("lwas up all nighf'or"l have a cold"). Letyourwriting stand on its own merit. 28. Strive to finish your essay but don't be upset if you cannot finish your conclusion. The readers are told that if an essay is complete, but lacks a conclusion, there is no penalty. 29. Remember that the AP readers understand that you have 40 minutes to write. They will reward you for what you do well.
The TF5-F45T"[ or *'Types Fast" Ate'fhsd AP English Whcn foced wiflr the sotnetinlei dauntinE tosh rf dnaltzing u pDern, you will rieecj 1's keep of tlre.followirrg points in r"aind or risk n signiiiccrnt misreodingl
,ajl
Tifte Si6ynine thq filie before rcodin4 ihe poem. Sornelimes lhe title will give ycu.a chre rrbort lhe crrnteni' of the paem. Iir lome ccsee the title hill gi,i€ yrlu cruiiol lnfolrtrjf le n )irat will ,felp 1.u1.l,unde1sjoqd a majar ldeo 'rriirhin the poen. Fcr exnmpie, in Anne Brodsfreel s pacra 'An Artthor tp t le.r Baok." tha titlu helps
you'.lndercic,ntl tl''e call'ilsJling r.elophor,
Poraphrase i\rcphiuse'tha lilelul cciirjri wllhin,tlie peern. At 11ie puinl, r'esis1 the ur"ge lo Jurnp 1o ilrterpreln$ien, 4 fsiiiJrc to onderotflnd n[-.,:t hugpens iitcro:ly inevilobly lerds to an interFrative mirungerstondirtq, Fui ex,un-.ple, John DcruraS pcen'n lluledirtion: Fcrtrjdding itlourqlriS" ir ctroui a mori itho is tqruirg fc.r c lcrrg 13,;p, buf if it is rend oe a paerrr cbout't irxn, dyiilg,,$lren o misr.eriding a( thi f'aeitl os n whole js ihr.vi?ulile.
gpeakar lilho is,ths,speclr*t rtn lhis poemi Reme$bei to clwcys dirting[ish spreler! tramthefiat.'In *(orfla:ctsses tn- tm the rpecler rnci Foe? nigli be ihe sa$c, os in on nutcbiagrophi;nl prcrn, trt n
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Figurctive Lcnguage Fv.lrnirc,llrr,poem,far: lcng;uoge tbal is not used'iileroily, Thisl{,Qui,j inciucie; bui is cerriainiy
tct liniied
tc, litvra4u dlvices such ,:l irauSe'ry, sy.nbclism. rnetrphcr, litctes, allusic'n, the ef iecl r.f' sound de*iiceg ' irililerotion. cnrlr,qtop*sic, c$.so0crndr:, cQfl$oncrce.i rl".yrne), cnd crry other. davices used itr c non-liferoi filBnnef'.
4ttituda { ?'i?l/F
g}
Tcne, a1+4ning lhq speoleris:'aTTT,fVbE torvor.r{s,l{ie $VBJFCT g{,'the pcetru o-{ cauisc, lhis mggns.,i:li,r! yrxr.inust r'!ioca:.rr tfe'sribject rif thc poarir. tn somrl casos lt *ill l:a rt
{ittitrldes:of c,qi'riactets:qth.' ll1rln'tlre,
Shif*s t{ole shift:t,in spgcler nnd ni{itudp, Shif}s c-un br-'r'inCicglP"cl in { nwrber cf raE'.s inrlutling the. uccasi,:n bf pletn (tinra'ond phca); !tn-y turn nords (but; yafl,,pinciucilol (dqshe1. periocii,,,4olcqsi;gicJ:,stonzo dir.ieians, clinnges in o 4ucstion
ir
linl otslcltzc langth,
and onything else
thcf indirc?es thqf scmething hcs
chunqed or
b*ing nrcwerecj.
Title E"crair'i;: f he 1ftie,qgnin, lh!s:titne on un inferpretive |eva-l.
t
hene First lisr *lhat lhe poen', ir cboul {srrhjee,l.}, rhen dster.nriire whot fhe pr'e} is s
