Poetry Analysis: How to Analyze a Poem

In a huge array of literary works, poetry can be called the most rational and less susceptible to such a technique as analysis. That is why this task raises most questions among students. Knowledge of the analysis scheme of the poem is necessary for students studying at the Faculty of Philology.

How to analyze a poem

And if earlier such a question was in the shade, then today it is very relevant. Indeed, in modern school programs, the analysis of the poem is required more and more often.

What is the complexity of the work?

The analysis scheme of the poem may be different. In some of them, more attention is paid to form. In others, the emphasis is on the semantic content of the poem. Ultimately, everything will depend on the goal.

The analysis scheme of the poem in the school uses a simpler one. Here, more attention is paid to the images, idea and content. In a university, it is more complex and multidimensional. Students need to focus on types of stanza and rhythms, artistic means and vocabulary.

Despite the fact that a clear outline of the analysis of the poem is given to both school students and university students, nevertheless there is no hard algorithm for performing such a task. After all, the poetic text is quite lively and begins to fade with a unified approach to its analysis and the desire to drive lines into pre-fixed frames.

It’s not easy to apply a poetry analysis scheme. The fact is that destroying the existing harmony of a poetic work is simple. In this case, there is a rupture of the thin fabric of meaning, expressing all the most sacred, said by the author. The perception of lyric works is closely related to subjectivity. That is why the application of the parsing scheme in the analysis of the poem is a real art of understanding the poet.

In addition, the task is much more complicated due to the uniqueness of each individual poetic work. Indeed, for some of them size is important, and for others – the lyrical plot. The tasks of the poet are also different.

So, sometimes a poem is called upon to express the inner state that is characteristic of a lyrical hero. Sometimes, the author seeks to create poetic music or convey philosophical thought to the reader in the form of certain images.

That is why any analysis scheme of a lyric poem is conditional. In this regard, the research text or free commentary can begin from various directions. Ultimately, everything will be dictated by the student’s reasoning logic.

Pre-Writing Key Recommendations

Before proceeding with the execution of the analysis scheme of the lyric poem, you need to decide for yourself why this work is being done. It is worth noting that getting a teacher’s mark is not a suitable goal at all.

If there is a desire to convey the emotions and feelings that arise when reading a poetic work or after that, then do not limit yourself. Everything that is happening on the soul should be transferred to paper.

If you wish, a closer look at the literary aspects of the analysis of the poem should be logical and consistent. In this case, it is important not to deviate from the plan. Rhyme and topic, historical context, as well as the interaction and connection of all these parts should also be considered.

Before applying the scheme of analysis of a poetry in literature, the thesis should be fixed. This is a statement that must either be proved or disproved. The thesis should be repeated every time you consider a new part of the analysis. Only in this case, the result will be complete and holistic.

In the analysis scheme of a poetic work, you can change places, combine them or add your own. The main task in this case is to theoretically correctly and aesthetically beautifully present your own opinion about the text, while trying to fully understand the author.

When writing the poetry analysis, quotes should also be used. It will also bring completeness to the work done. Consider a holistic analysis of the poem.

Title of the work

When considering a poem, it should be indicated first. The name of the author should also be mentioned here. After all, it is worth remembering that the text did not arise on its own. Someone created it. And this someone is very important for us, because he is the author.

Unfortunately, students often skip this item. However, even in the case when the analysis is performed in the form of an essay, the introduction of this information is mandatory. After all, the name of the work is the key to understanding it. And even if it is not, it also gives us food for thought.

History of creation

Each of the poems is written at one time or another. And an indication of such a period is very important for understanding the entire work. After all, something definite happened during these years in culture and in politics, in science and in the sphere of public relations. These events could in any way affect the context of labor in general.

In the same paragraph of the analysis, the history of the creation of the poem is also considered, those facts that are somehow connected with the lyrical plot are highlighted. Sometimes such works have initiations. This is also worth mentioning.

Understanding this point during the analysis will allow to find out the place that the poem takes in the poet’s work. It should be mentioned when and where it was first published.

Genre

The scheme of artistic analysis of the poem certainly contains this point. It is important to determine the genre of a poetic work. It can be an ode or elegy, a satire or a madrigal, etc. In this case, one should justify his conclusions.

After this, it is necessary to give answers to questions about what place this genre occupies in the poet’s work and whether it is typical for him. The literary movement to which the creator belongs is also distinguished. For example, a poem can be written in the traditions of asceticism or futurism, modernism, realism, romanticism, etc.

Subject

The next point of analysis is the selection of the basis of a given text. This is the theme of the work. With its definition, students sometimes have certain difficulties. To begin with, it is customary to indicate the main topic, choosing the most suitable option from several traditional ones.

For example, it may be a description of the landscape or a story about friendship. The topic can also be philosophical and love, civil, etc. It is advisable to provide a description of the main motives of the work, which may be enmity and loneliness, longing and exile, meeting and disappointment.

Only after determining the theme of the work will it be possible to understand its main meaning and subtext. This is an important part of the job. So, the analysis of the poem “Winter Morning” by A. S. Pushkin carried out according to the scheme allows us to determine the theme of the work. It is man and nature, as well as the relationship of his soul with her world. The author gives colorful and reliable images of a winter sunny morning. In this poetic work, they are combined with love motives.

Analysis of composition and plot

The next point of the plan is the development of action and conflict of the poem. It is worth briefly retelling the plot (if any) and highlighting the main events taking place in it.

This must be done, even if only a description of nature is given in the poetic work. In this case, it is indicated that “the hero admires …”. In the lyric-epic genre, the plot, as a rule, is detailed. In lyric poems, by contrast, is noticeably weakened.

Idea

This paragraph follows after clarification of the main theme, motives and development of conflicts of the poetic work. To determine the idea, it is recommended to answer the problematic questions. It is important to determine the essence of the poem and its subtext. The problem, as a rule, is rarely formulated by the author openly. It should be sought in the subtext.

Very often, students cannot catch the difference between an idea and a topic. Some teachers do not draw a clear line between these concepts. It is worth remembering that the topic is exactly what the story is about in this work.

The idea of the poem is what it is written for. It is the idea that the author puts on in poetic form, while inventing specific content. It is she who appears first. The idea in the work plays a major role, determines its form and theme, as well as artistic means.

Mood

The definition of this characteristic is also considered an important point. Students should determine the mood with which a poetic work is written, as well as its changes in the course of the plot. As a rule, the author’s feelings are described in dynamics.

Hero

Its selection is also important in the analysis of the poem. But even among literary scholars there is a different opinion about the boundaries of this concept. Very often, the hero of a poetic work is manifested through emotions. That is why it is completely likened to the author. However, this is not true. The author and the lyrical hero may have a different connection.

Sometimes a lyrical subject stands out. It is believed that the described world is passed through the prism of a fictional “I”. Sometimes a hero is considered a “double” of the author, which helps to reveal his consciousness.

As for philosophical poetic works, it is much more difficult to define a lyrical hero in them. In this case, the foreground is the issue, rather than feelings and emotions.

Composition

To determine it, the text will need to be divided into semantic parts. After that, it’s much easier to determine the plot of the topic, the transformation of mood, to understand the main idea of the poet.

In this case, you should decide on the writing of the stanza. Is it a complete thought, or are several of them expressing it? There is one caveat in this section of the poetry analysis. Separately, one should write about the role played by the last stanza. At the same time, it is indicated how significant it is for revealing the general idea and whether it contains a conclusion.

It is worth noting that not every poem has a pronounced composition. It all depends on the specifics of the text.

Linguistic analysis

After considering all of the points above, the vocabulary used by the author in his work is indicated. The scheme of the linguistic analysis of the poem contains a listing of all literary devices, artistic means and an exact definition of the poetic size.

This paragraph should also indicate the archaisms and neologisms used in the work, occasionalisms, as well as vocabulary (everyday and journalistic, book and everyday).

When conducting an analysis, students are most often limited by the size of the lines of the poem, indicating the use of iamba or chorea, dactyl, anapest or amphibrach.

They also depict his graphic drawing and determine the number of stop units of a poetic work.

Also, schoolchildren indicate trails, which are comparisons and epithets, allegories and personifications, metaphors and hyperbolas.

University students need a more detailed poetry analysis. They should describe in detail those tools that are used in poetic syntax.

To complete the task, it will be necessary to give an indication of intonation figures, including appeal and exclamation, a rhetorical question and anaphora, joint and gradation, parallelism and omission, antithesis and epiphora, insolence and inversion, juxtaposition of opposites and invection.

In addition, according to the requirements of the university, in such an analysis, poetic vocabulary should be described in detail, rhyme (exact, adjacent, masculine) is indicated in detail, rhythm-forming components (end pauses, metric stresses, internal harmonies, etc.) are indicated.

A correctly compiled analysis of the work will allow us to discover in it something new, unnoticed by reading. Also, carrying out such a task will allow to develop literary skills and memory. A similar pattern is a comparative analysis of poems. Only in this case are two works considered that are compared with each other on all the above points.

Poetry Analysis Plan

What mood is becoming decisive for the poem as a whole. Does the author’s feelings change throughout the poem, if so, thanks to what words we can guess about it.
Is there a conflict in the poem? To determine the conflict, identify from the poem words that can conditionally be called positively emotionally colored and negatively emotionally colored, identify keywords among positive and negatively emotionally colored in these chains.
Does the poem have chains of words connected associatively or phonetically (by association or by sound).
In which stanza can the climax be highlighted, is there a denouement in the poem, if so, which one.
Which line makes sense to create a poem. The role of the first line (what kind of music sounds in the poet’s soul when he takes up the pen).
The role of the last line. What words with which he can finish the poem seem to the poet especially significant.
The role of sounds in a poem.
The color of the poem.
The category of time in a poem (meaning past, present, and future).
Category of space (real and astral).
The degree of isolation of the author, is there an appeal to the reader or addressee?
Features of the composition of the poem.
Genre of poem (variety: philosophical reflection, elegy, ode, fable, ballad).
Literary direction, if you can define.
The value of artistic means (comparison, metaphor, hyperbole, antithesis, alliteration, oxymoron).
My perception of this poem.
If there is a need to turn to the history of creation, the year of creation, the significance of this poem in the work of the poet.
Conditions, place. Are there any poems similar to him in the work of this poet, can this poem be compared with the work of another poet.

Example of Poetry Analysis: The analysis of the poem “The Divine Comedy”

“The Divine Comedy” is an immortal work with philosophical meaning. In three parts, the plot of the purpose of love, the death of a beloved and universal justice is revealed. In this article, we will analyze the poem “The Divine Comedy” by Dante.

The Divine Comedy

The story of the creation of the poem

Alighieri Dante worked on the poem from 1307 to 1321. The audience saw the first part of “Hell” and the second “Purgatory” during the life of the poet, but the third part of “Paradise” after his death. The name contains a certain secret, because in those days there was no separation of dramatic works.

Tragedy was considered everything that had a sad beginning and a happy ending, without setting a laughable perception, so the work was called a comedy. Divine – appeared after the death of Dante thanks to superstition and symbolism. The three parts of the poem are the Christian faith in the power and magic of the number three, the Holy Trinity.

General Analysis of the Poem

“The Divine Comedy” by Dante When he goes to Hell, Dante feels that there is justice. Indeed, this is a place in which earthly sinners are punished for their sins with God’s punishment. Being there, the hero no longer looks so confident. If in this analysis we speak of the genre originality of the “Divine Comedy”, then it refers to a medieval poem with the features of a Vision. General issues, it is a matter of philosophical content and the creation of art.

Having made a brief excursion throughout the poem, we can conclude that the work describes the journey of the soul through the afterlife. Hell is a place for sinners, and Paradise shows the hero that love is not a feeling for a particular person, but love for everything in the world, like some kind of power and gift of the gods. You can get acquainted with the plot of all three parts in more detail by reading the summary of “Divine Comedy”.

Analysis of the Composition

The poem consists of three parts, called cantics. Each such cantica has thirty-three songs. Another song was added to the first part, it is a prologue. Thus, the poem has 100 songs. The poetic size is tercin. The main character of the work is Dante himself. But, when reading a poem, it becomes clear that the image of the hero and the real person are not the same person.

Hero Dante – resembles a contemplator who only watches what is happening. He is different in character: quick-tempered and compassionate, angry and helpless. This technique is used by the author in order to show the whole spectrum of emotions of a living person.

Beatrice is the supreme wisdom, a symbol of good. She became his guide to various fields, showing love in all manifestations. And Dante, being captivated by the forces of love, dutifully follows her, desiring to attain heavenly wisdom. In the prologue, we see Dante at the age of 35, who is at the crossroads of his life.

An associative series is being created: the time of year is Spring, he also met Beatrice in the spring, and God’s peace was created in the spring. The animals he encounters on his way are symbolic with human vices. For example, lynx is voluptuousness. Dante shows through his hero and his own tragedy and worldwide. Reading a poem, we see how the hero is discouraged, resurrected, and seeks solace. He also meets sleepy crowds. These people did neither good nor bad deeds. They look lost among two worlds.

Description of the Circles of the Dante’s Hell

When analyzing the poem “The Divine Comedy”, one can see that Dante’s innovation is already encountered when he passes through the first circle of Hell. Together the old poets and infants languish there the best poets. Such as: Verligius, Homer, Horace, Ovid and Dante himself.

The second circle of Hell opens the half-dragon. How many times will he wrap a man with his tail in that circle of Hell and he will fall.

The third circle of Hell is strangled torment, which is worse than earthly ones.

In the fourth circle – the Yids and wasters, whom the author endowed with the epithet “vile”.

In the fifth circle, angry people are imprisoned, to whom no one feels pity. After that, the path opens to the city of devils.

Passing through the cemetery, a path opens into the sixth circle of Hell. It is inhabited by all political haters, among them there are people who burn alive. The most terrible circle of Hell is the seventh. It has several stages. There are killers, rapists, suicides.

The eighth circle is deceivers and the ninth is traitors. With each round, Dante opens up and becomes more realistic, rude and judicious. We see a significant difference in the image of Paradise. It is fragrant, the music of the spheres sounds in it. Summing up the analysis of Dante’s Divine Comedy, it is worth noting that the poem is filled with allegories that allow us to call the work symbolic, biographical, philosophical.