Poetry Analysis Essay

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Poetry Analysis Essay
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What does it mean to analyze a poem?

• We are trying to figure out what the theme of the
  poem is
• AND
• How the poet uses literary devices (figurative
  language, imagery, repetition, symbolism, etc) to
  make their point about the theme in the poem

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First things first!

• You have to understand what the poem is about!
• Then, you need to take a look at the elements-
  list them out!
• Figurative language
• Imagery
• Repetition
• Allusion/Symbolism
• Tone/Mood
• Rhyme

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Elements Adding Meaning

• How does the poet use these elements to make
  his/her point?
• For example
• My love is like a bright sun, shining for you
  always (l. 17).
• A simile might be used to get the reader to
  understand the comparison of their love to a
  brightly burning sun.
• Come back to me / Come back to me (ll. 14, 18)
• Repetition might be used to make a point very
  clear to show that they are desperate to get
  their love back.

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Directions

• You are to write an in-depth analysis of a poem.
  Focus specifically on the use of three literary
  devices imagery (smell, taste, touch, sight,
  hear), tone/mood, figurative language (simile,
  metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia,
  alliteration), symbolism, allusion, repetition,
  or rhyme.
• Be sure to include a copy of the poem NUMBER
  THE LINES.

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Introduction

• Attention getter/ hook
• Introduce the title of the poem and poets name
• Explain the overall theme/message
• What is the author trying to tell readers about
  life?
• End with your thesis statement (mention topic and
  attitude).

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Examples of Hooks

• The standard hooks
• Everyone has experienced
• Imagine
• Anecdote (story) The mans heart broke into a
  thousand pieces as she walked away.
• Quote Its better to have loved and lost than
  never loved at all.

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Thesis

• The thesis is the __________ point of your essay!
• SIMPLE THESIS A number of literary devices can
  be found throughout ___s poem, ____.
• But thats too easy you can do better!

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A Better Thesis

• In A Dream Deferred, Langston Hughes uses the
  literary devices of figurative language, tone,
  and diction to show that keeping people from
  achieving their dreams can have destructive
  consequences.
• Introduce the poem/poet, tell what literary
  devices are being used, and explain what theme
  the literary devices are showing the reader.

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Sample Introduction Paragraph

• The mans heart broke into a thousand pieces as
  he watched his former love walk away. Everyone
  has been through heartbreak and Pablo Neruda
  expresses his sadness in the poem, Tonight I Can
  Write. The poem speaks of heartbreak and
  sorrow, of a deteriorated love, but ends with a
  promise to stop loving the woman once and for
  all. Neruda uses a variety of literary devices
  to show the pain and suffering he went through.

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Body Paragraphs

• For each body paragraph, choose a literary
  device
• Imagery, Figurative Language, Tone/Mood, Rhyme,
  Repetition, Allusion, Symbolism
• In each body paragraph, you will give examples of
  your literary device and how it adds
  importance/significance to the meaning of the
  poem.

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Body Paragraphs

• Topic Sentence
• Evidence/Support (lines from the poem)
• Commentary
• Evidence/Support (lines from the poem)
• Commentary
• Concluding Sentence
• YOU MUST ANSWER THIS QUESTION How is the poet
  using this literary device to make his point?

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Elaboration

• How is the poet using this literary device to
  make his point?
• Neruda uses figurative language to make his pain
  understandable to his readers. Personification
  can be seen again and again, as he describes his
  soul calling out to her (l. 23) and the starry
  night crying over the heartbreak (l. 14). By
  using personification, Neruda makes the pain come
  alive, almost as though it is human. He also uses
  another type of figurative language simile. In
  line 37, he states My verses fall to the soul
  like dew to the pasture. He is trying to show
  that his verses, the poem, is helping his soul
  just like dew helps a pasture grow its grass.
  The figurative language brings Nerudas pain to
  the readers attention and lets us understand his
  pain and what he is going through.

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Use Quotes As Evidence

• Neruda expresses his pain by saying my soul is
  not satisfied without her (l.13). He uses this
  personification to show that even his soul is
  alive and wants to be with her.
• Neruda uses end rhyme to emphasize point out
  how difficult it is to forget her, stating
  although she may be far / she is always my
  shining star (ll. 16-17).

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Incorporating Quotes

• For one line wish that we were in his place
  (l.12).
• More than one line So on we worked/ And went
  without the meat (ll. 13-14).
• The familys hunger can be seen when they recall
  so on we worked/And went without the
  meat(ll.13-14).

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Sample Body Paragraph

• Neruda uses figurative language to make his pain
  understandable to his readers. Personification
  can be seen again and again, as he describes his
  soul calling out to her (l. 23) and the starry
  night crying over the heartbreak (l. 14). By
  using personification, Neruda makes the pain come
  alive, almost as though it is human. He also uses
  another type of figurative language simile. In
  line 37, he states My verses fall to the soul
  like dew to the pasture. He is trying to show
  that his verses, the poem, is helping his soul
  just like dew helps a pasture grow its grass.
  The figurative language brings Nerudas pain to
  the readers attention and lets us understand
  what he is going through.

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Conclusion

• How can you relate to this poem? Possibly, give
  examples of how the poem relates to today. End
  with some strong, general advice about life that
  the poet teaches readers.
• Example Everyone has experienced the pain of
  heartbreak. Neruda expresses his pain in Tonight
  I Write because he not only wants his old love
  to know, but for readers to know they are not
  alone.

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Sample Conclusion Paragraph

• Everyone can relate to the idea of heartache. We
  know that Nerudas pain was so hard that he
  decides that he can no longer love this woman, or
  write poems for her. People who experience
  heartbreak know that they must get closure,
  otherwise, the pain keeps going. Neruda writes
  this poem as a way to get rid of his feelings for
  this woman, but at the same time, gives us a
  beautiful poem that we can all relate to.

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Citing a Poem

• ONE LINE (l. 15)
• Multiple lines (ll. 14-16), (ll. 1-2, 6-8)

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Tonight I Can Write by Pablo Neruda

• Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
• Write, for example, 'The night is starry
• and the stars are blue and shiver in the
  distance.'
• The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
• Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
• I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
• Through nights like this one I held her in my
  arms.
• I kissed her again and again under the endless
  sky.
• She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
• How could one not have loved her great still
  eyes.
• Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
• To think that I do not have her. To feel that I
  have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense
without her. And the verse falls to the soul like
dew to the pasture. What does it matter that my
love could not keep her. The night is starry and
she is not with me. This is all. In the distance
someone is singing. In the distance. My soul is
not satisfied that it has lost her. My sight
tries to find her as though to bring her
closer. My heart looks for her, and she is not
with me. The same night whitening the same
trees. We, of that time, are no longer the same.
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Tonight I Can Write by Pablo Neruda
I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I
loved her. My voice tried to find the wind to
touch her hearing. Another's. She will be
another's. As she was before my kisses. Her
voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes. I no
longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love
her. Love is so short, forgetting is so
long. Because through nights like this one I
held her in my arms my soul is not satisfied that
it has lost her. Though this be the last pain
that she makes me suffer and these the last
verses that I write for her.