Reading Poem: Six Steps to Understanding
Read the poem aloud from beginning to end. Then read the poem aloud six more times, observing each of the items listed below in a separate reading. After considering these, you can begin to interpret meaning, and finally to evaluate the poem.
1. Action/Events: What is the subject of the poem? What happens? What are the events? When and for how long do events take place? Does the poem focus on certain things happening in the past, others in the present, and still others in the future? What is the relationship between these events?
2. Images/Forms: What images do you see as you read the poem? Does the poet use images as contrasts or opposites? What comparisons or similarities does the poet emphasize? Does he or she employ figurative comparisons such as simile, metaphor, paradox, or personification to develop ideas?
3. Speakers/Sounds: Who are the people in the poem? Who is the speaker, narrator, or persona? What is his or her attitude? Excluding the reader, to whom does he or she speak? How does this person answer the speaker, or does the speaker address a listener who does not respond? If the poet uses dialogue, who is speaking and what words are spoken? How does the poet employ repetition? What poetic devices, such as rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, or onomatopoeia do you hear?
4. Structure/Type: How is the poem organized? Does the poem break into parts by ideas or by stanzas? How do key words indicate important changes in thoughts or ideas? Does the poem conform to conventions expected in certain types of poems such as sonnet, ballad, elegy, ode, or dramatic monologue?
5. Culture/Context: What references to culture are made? What social knowledge is assumed or referred to? What allusions to science, history, art, literature, or music does the poet use? What is the setting of the poem, including both time and place?
6. Connotation/Denotation: What is the title of the poem? How does the poem appear on the page? What words does the poet use that might have several levels of meaning? Do any words or details function in unusual or unexpected ways? What atmosphere is established in the poem? Where does the poet use irony? What is the tone of the poem?
M.Bowman 2011