How To Analyse A Poem

Poetry Analysis Support: tes.com/teaching-resource/poetry-analysis-suppo…

How to analyse a poem – in six steps:
tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-analyse-a-poem…

Analysing a poem can be tricky. Before you analyse a poem in detail, it is important to read through the poem several times. Try to read the poem aloud, because poems can often have a range of sound devices that can alter the poem's meaning.

Once you've read through the poem, you can start analysing the poem's content.
Here are six steps to help you to analyse a poem:

Step 1: Subject. What is the poem about and why?
Step 2: Theme. What are the recurring ideas and topics?
Step 3: Tone. How would you describe the mood of the language?
Step 4: Imagery. What literary devices are used and what do they signify?
Step 5: Form. Why the poet has chosen this structure?
Step 6: Feeling. What are the different emotions being conveyed?

How do you analyse a poem? The prompts are a supportive tool, intended to encourage further analysis and interpretation.

If you found this helpful, you may wish to check out Poetry Essay app. It provides you with a range of writing frames to help you stich a poetry essay together. Alternatively, please visit poetryessay.co.uk for some other free resources – such as posters, poetry annotations and planning templates – to assist your analysis of poetry.

Poetry Essay app unfortunately is no longer supported, since iOS 11.

For daily poetry news and essay support, please visit: poetryessay.co.uk