Here are our top five tips to overcome the first world struggle of analysing poems.
- Don’t take everything literally
Most of the time, writers have turned to poetry precisely to let their creativity and expression run free, without the traditional limits of narrative logic. In order to analyse a poem effectively, the first step is to understand that poems are mainly figurative or metaphorical, usually focused on capturing a feeling or the intensity of an emotion, which cannot be adequately described using ‘normal’ language.
- Structure and form
The starting point for strong analysis of a poem is its structure and form. As the vehicle through which the actual content and message of the poem is being conveyed, the use (or subversion) of a sonnet, elegy, or dramatic monologue form, for example, adds significant meaning to that message. Structure and form can also include overarching patterns of language such as verse, prose, enjambment, rhyming scheme, or meter, that clearly characterise the poem as a whole.
- Not just any techniques, but poetic techniques
It follows that analysing a poem well means prioritising techniques that are distinctly used in poetry. This means using, for example, the term anaphora, rather than repetition. Of course this does not mean relegating analysis of symbolism, allusions, and metaphors altogether, but strong analysis of a poem will be able to demonstrate an understanding that it is a poem and not just any text.
- Macro to micro techniques
As with any English text, strong analysis of a poem needs to flow and progress, rather than stating the same concept over and over. Focusing on structure and form techniques is a good habit to get into, because they can make up the ‘macro-techniques’ that you start analysis with. You start with this umbrella technique and then going deeper into that technique with more specific examples, such as an example of anaphora within the sonnet form. Going from broader to more specific techniques is a way of ensuring that the notion of giving in-depth analysis is built into your essay.
- A conceptual anchor
Many poems have a central metaphor, symbol, or motif that extends throughout the poem, such as the swans in Yeats’ Wild Swans at Coole. If you can identify this kind of anchor in the poem, identify where the depiction of that object or thing changes, which will reflect a deeper concept- such as the poet’s change in perspective, optimism or pessimism.
