Poetry
"Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful."
Rita Dove
"Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful."
Rita Dove
a. Read a poem more than once (more than twice, at least three times!). In the first reading avoid becoming entangled in words or lines that you don’t understand. Instead, give yourself a chance to take in the entire poem before attempting to unlock the meaning.
b. Keep a dictionary by you and use it even on words you think you know, you may discover a new meaning.
c. Read so as to hear the sounds of the words in your mind. Poetry is written to be heard: its meanings are conveyed through sound as well as through print. Every word is therefore important.
d. Practice reading poems aloud. Pay attention to punctuation.
e. Paraphrase the poem as you read line by line to determine whether you understand what happens in it.
f. Don’t expect to discover a definitive meaning. Many poems do not resolve all the ideas, issues or tensions in them.
g. Annotate the poem by asking yourself the following questions:
1. How does this poem mean? What elements of poetry can you identify?
Who is the speaker of the poem? (Don’t assume the speaker is the author; often it is a created character.)
What is the tone of the poem? Does the tone shift?
What imagery is used?
2. What is the central purpose of the poem?
3. By what means is the purpose of the poem achieved?