Let’s go over this again.

ASSIGNMENT: You are analyzing four poems. You may pick one long poem worth 3 + a short poem, or two medium poems, or four short poems. Your choice. The poetic devices you find depend on the poem you choose; hence, my tendency to throw Edgar Allan Poe out the window and chew the carpet when you suggest Where the Sidewalk Ends. Your assignment must have the following:

POETIC DEVICES

If you have a long poem, you need to find more poetic devices than if you have three short poems. Example: One short poem = five poetic devices with up to 10 examples of each. A poem worth 2 points = 10 poetic devices with up to 10 examples each. A poem worth 3 points = 15 poetic devices with up to 10 examples each. ANYWAY YOU LOOK AT IT, YOU ARE FINDING 20 POETIC DEVICES WITH UP TO 10 EXAMPLES OF EACH. 

PARAGRAPH ON AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY

You are NOT to simply copy out a biography of the poet. You are to find multiple biographies of the poet and then look at the poem and see what is autobiographical in the poem. Why did the author write that poem? What elements of the poem reflect the author’s personal life? Example: In Daddy, Sylvia Plath references her father’s death, her time in the asylum, her husband’s unfaithfulness. Example: In Disembarking in Quebec, Margaret Atwood writes about feeling like an alien when seeing the Canadian landscape. In real life, it was the opposite. Atwood’s whole family lived in the woods when she was a child. The few times she went into the city, she felt like an alien there.

A poem worth 1 = one paragraph of 15 sentences. A poem worth 2 = two paragraphs. A poem worth 3 = three paragraphs. ANYWAY YOU LOOK AT IT, YOU ARE FINDING WRITING FOUR PARAGRAPHS ON THE AUTHOR’S LIFE REFLECTED IN THE POEM.

PARAGRAPH ON CONTENT AND MEANING

In this paragraph you will be looking at how the poet uses form (type of poem,) structure, tone and atmosphere, imagery, and poetic devices to communicate meaning. 

A poem worth 1 = one paragraph of 15 sentences. A poem worth 2 = two paragraphs. A poem worth 3 = three paragraphs. ANYWAY YOU LOOK AT IT, YOU ARE FINDING WRITING FOUR PARAGRAPHS ON THE AUTHOR’S LIFE REFLECTED IN THE POEM.

 ALL POETRY ASSIGNMENTS ARE NOW DUE BY 3:20 TUESDAY JUNE 3.

How to Analyze a Poem: EXAMPLES

Here’s an example of how to analyze a poem: Analysis of IT IS DANGEROUS TO READ NEWSPAPERS

Here’s another example of how to analyze a poem: Analysis of  DISEMBARKING AT QUEBEC

 

Poetry Assignment

Hello, Sunday snoopers. Glad you showed up. 

Here’s an OVERVIEW OF THE POETRY ASSIGNMENT. You are to do the following:

1. Choose four poems that have depth, length, and a lot of poetic devices.
2. Find five examples of poetic devices and for each poetic device, find as many as there are. If you are doing a single poem and there are 47 examples of metaphor, only give eight. If you do not find eight examples of any one poetic device, give as many as there are. (This is why you are picking poems carefully. If you don’t have enough poetic devices, the poem you chose does not match the criteria. Remember my hiking boots to a wedding analogy.) 
3. Look up the poet’s background. Write about how the poet’s background is reflected in the poem. (15 sentence paragraph)
4. Write an analysis of the poem. An analysis has nothing to do with how you feel about the poem or interpreting the poem. It is looking at facts about the poet, how the poem is structured, the poetic devices in the poem, and the content of the poem. The key word to remember is “facts.” (15 sentence paragraph)

CHOOSING A POEM: If you still don’t have four poems selected, go to the Poetry Foundation and look under Poems & Poets at the top. Another good source is Poetry.org . Once you find your poet and poem, you can easily find information on the internet. Remember NOT to go to disreputable sites. DO NOT go to Yahoo Answers. Go to university sites or ask me and I’ll help you find information. Never, ever, ever, ever go to a site where people write in saying “My teacher wants me to write an essay on …” or “I think this poem means …” Poems are deciphered, not guessed at.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When you were choosing the poems, I told you longer poems would be worth two or three “points.” Do not forget that if you are doing a poem worth two, you will do ten examples of poetic devices and two paragraphs for Background and two paragraphs for Analysis. If you pick a poem worth three “points,” you will have three paragraphs for Background and three paragraphs for Analysis. 

FURTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember you are not writing about your feelings about the poem AT ANY POINT. Don’t say it’s an important poem or a famous poem. Just analyze it. What is the poet saying and how does he/she use language and poetic devices to get the meaning of the poem across? Facts. Facts. Facts. 

HOW TO ANALYZE A POEM

Here is what you do, step by step:

1. Read the poem.
2. Underline all of the words that you don’t understand or think would have major significance. Look them up in the dictionary and write down the meaning.
3. If there is a word or phrase that seems to have a particular connotation, write down the connotation or make a note to find out the connotation.
4. Look up the author’s background. Find out when he/she wrote the poem. Are there references to the time period in the poem? If so, look up the time period. 
5. Reread the poem. Write down what you think it means, now that you understand more about the author and time period.
6. Go through the poem, looking for poetic devices. Underline them and categorize them as I’ve done in the sample, below.
7. Now reread the poem again. Write down what you think it means, now that you understand more about the poetic devices.
8. Reread your notes on the author’s bio and time period; reread your notes on the poetic devices; reread the poem.
9. Now write your analysis.

Click here for A SAMPLE ANALYSIS of a poem.

Click here to review the POETIC DEVICES.