Poetry analysis is the process of investigating a poem’s form, content, and history in an informed way, with the aim of heightening one’s own and others’ understanding and appreciation of the work.

The words poem and poetry derive from the Greek poiēma (to make) and poieo (to create). That is, a poem is a made thing: a creation; an artifact. One might think of a poem as, in the words of William Carlos Williams, a “machine made of words”. Machines produce some effect, or do some work. They do whatever they are designed to do. The work done by this “machine made of words” — a poem — is the effect it produces in the reader’s mind. A reader analyzing a poem is akin to a mechanic taking apart a machine in order to figure out how it works.

Like poetry itself, poetry analysis can take many forms, and be undertaken for many different reasons. A teacher might analyze a poem in order to gain a more conscious understanding of how the poem achieves its effects, in order to communicate this to his or her students. A writer learning the craft of poetry might use the tools of poetry analysis to expand and strengthen his or her own mastery. And (perhaps the best use of poetry analysis), a reader might use the tools and techniques of poetry analysis in order to discern all that the work has to offer, and thereby gain a fuller, more rewarding appreciation of the poem.

This article begins with an Overview that demonstrates the nature, method, and value of poetry analysis through close reading of three poems. Subsequent sections provide readers with terms and methods that will help them analyze poems on their own.

Poetry in different cultures

This article is focussed on poetry written in English and reflects anglophone culture. Other cultures have other poetic forms and differ in their attitudes towards poetry.

Further reading

• Olderr, Steven. Symbolism: A Comprehensive Dictionary (Jefferson NC: McFarland, 1986) ISBN 0786421274
• Olderr, Steven. Reverse Symbolism Dictionary: Symbols Listed by Subject (Jefferson NC: McFarland, 1992) ISBN 0786421258

References

• Auden, W.H. and Norman Holmes (Eds.) Restoration and Augustan Poets: Milton to Goldsmith. (New York: Viking Press, 1950) ISBN 670010510
• Cummings, E. E. Complete Poems: 1913 — 1962. (New York: Harcouth Brace Jovanovich, 1968). ISBN 0151210608
• Harrison, G. B. (Ed.). Shakespeare: The Complete Works. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1968) ISBN 0155805304
• Hirsch, Edward. How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry. (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999) ISBN 0151004196
• Kennedy, X. J. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Drama, and Poetry. (4th ed.) (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. 1987) ISBN 0673392252
• Roberts, Edgar V. & Henry Jacobs (Eds.). Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing 6th edition. (Upper Saddle Creek, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000) ISBN 0130184012
• Wallace, Robert. Writing Poems. (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1982) ISBN 0316919969

Links

• Glossary of Poetry Terms

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