The Process of Analyzing a PoemI. Genre— Possible forms: sonnet, elegy, lyric,

The Process of Analyzing a Poem
Good morning, everyone. Today, we are going to talk about the process of analyzing a poem. The elements of analysis discussed below are designed to help you identify the ways in which poetry makes its meaning, especially its "parts"; they do not give a sense of how one goes about analyzing a poem. It is difficult to give a prescription, as different poems call on different aspects of poetry, different ways of reading, different relationships between feeling, images and meanings, and so forth. Of course, for the sake of argument, I am going to summarize the process of analyzing a poem in eight questions. Let me explain them one by one.
1. What is the genre, or form, of the poem?
[1]Is it a sonnet, an elegy, a lyric, a narrative, a dramatic monologue, an epic, etc. Different forms or genres have different subjects, aims, conventions and attributes. A love sonnet, for instance, is going to talk more about different aspects of human experience in different ways with different emphases than a political satire is, and our recognition of these attributes of form or genre is part of the meaning of the poem.
2. Who is speaking in the poem?
Please remember that if the voice of the poem says "I", that doesn’t mean it is the author who is speaking: it is a voice in the poem which speaks.[2]The voice can be undramatized: for example, it’s just a voice, it doesn’t identify itself; or dramatized: the voice says "I", or the voice is clearly that of a particular persona, a dramatized character. To analyze a poem, we’d better identify the voice. What does the voice have to do with what is happening in the poem? What is its attitude?[3]What is the tone of the voice? How is the voice involved in the action or reflection of the poem?[4]What is the perspective or "point of view" of the speaker? The perspective can be social, intellectual, political, even physical. There are many different perspectives, but they all contribute to the voice’s point of view, which point of view affects how the world of the poem is seen, and how we respond.
3. What is the argument, thesis, or subject of the poem?
What, that is to say, is it apparently "about"? Start with the basic situation, and move to consider any key statements;[5]any obvious or less obvious conflicts, tensions, ambiguities; key relationships, especially conflicts, parallels, contrasts;[6]any climaxes or problems posed or solved or not solved.
4. What is the structure of the poem?
There are two basic kinds of structure, formal and thematic.[7]Formal structure is the way the poem goes together in terms of its component parts: if there are parts—stanza’s, paragraphs or such—then there will be a relation between the parts. For instance, the first stanza may give the past, the second the present, the third the future.
[8]Thematic structure, known in respect to fiction as "plot", is the way the argument or presentation of the material of the poem is developed. For instance a poem might state a problem in eight lines, an answer to the problem in the next six; of the eight lines stating the problem, four might provide a concrete example, four a reflection on what the example implies. There may well be very close relations between formal and thematic structure. When looking at thematic structure, you might look for conflicts, ambiguities and uncertainties, the tensions in the poem, as these give clear guides to the direction of meanings in the poem, the poem’s "in-tensions".
5. How does the poem make use of setting?
[9]There is the setting in terms of time and place, and there is the setting in terms of the physical world described in the poem. In terms of the physical world of the poem, setting can be used for a variety of purposes. A tree might be described in specific detail, a concrete, specific tree; or it might be used in a more tonal way to create mood or associations, with saying the wind blows mournfully through the willows;[10]or it might be used as a motif, the tree that reminds me of Kathryn, or of my youthful dreams;[11]or it might be used symbolically, as for instance an image of organic life; or it might be used allegorically, as a representation of the cross of Christ. Consider this a spectrum:[11]from concrete, tonal, connotative, symbolic to allegorical.
6. How does the poem use imagery?
"Imagery" refers to any sort of image, and there are two basic kinds. One is the images of the physical setting described above.[12]The other kind is images as figures of speech, such as metaphors. These figures of speech extend the imaginative range, the complexity and comprehensibility of the subject. They can be very brief, a word or two, a glistening fragment of insight, a chance connection sparked into a blaze of understanding; or they can be extended analogies, such as Donne’s "conceits" or Milton’s epic similes.
7. Examine the use of language.
What kinds of words are used?[13]How much and to what ends does the poet rely on connotation, or the associations that words have?[14]Does the poem use puns, double meanings, ambiguities of meaning?
8.[15]What qualities does the poem evoke in the reader?
What sorts of learning, experience, taste and interest would the "ideal" or "good" reader of this poem have? What can this tell you about what the poem "means" or is about? The idea is that any work of art calls forth certain qualities of response, taste, experience, value, from the reader, and in a sense "forms" the reader of that particular work. This happens through the subject matter, the style, the way the story is told or the scene set, the language, the images, the allusions, all the ways in which we are called by the text to construct meaning.
Ok. I have outlined eight aspects of analyzing a poem for you. Again, I want to reiterate that these eight questions are not exhaustive, but only tentative in probing into a given poem. With these questions in mind, next time, we shall talk about the symbolism in poems.