Writing Workshop Analyzing a Poem

Writing WorkshopAnalyzing a Poem

Assignment

Prewriting

Choose and Analyze a Poem

Write Your Thesis

Gather Supporting Evidence

Organize Your Analysis

Practice and Apply

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Assignment: Write a response to literature in which you analyze the literary elements of a poem.

Analyzing a Poem

What makes you remember a poem? What makes you want to read it again and again or even memorize it? Good poetry puts elements together to make an impact on the reader.

Here’s your chance to write an analysis of a poem. You’ll examine how the poem’s elements combine to convey a theme and an overall effect.

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Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Choose and Analyze a Poem

Find a poem you like that’s about ten to twenty lines long. Make sure it is rich in meaning.

• Re-read poems you have enjoyed before.

• Ask teachers, librarians, friends, and family for suggestions.

• Look for collections of poems in a library or on the Internet.


Sometimesby Thomas S. Jones, Jr.

Across the fields of yesterdayHe sometimes comes to me,

A little lad just back from play—The lad I used to be.

And yet he smiles so wistfully Once he has crept within,

I wonder if he hopes to see The man I might have been.


Re-read the poem several times. Pay close attention to the literary elements. How do they shape meaning and create an effect?

Literary Elements

Speaker: the voice talking in the poem; the narrator of the poem (not necessarily the poet)

Who is speaking in the poem? Is the speaker the poet or a character created by the poet?

The speaker of “Sometimes” seems to be the poet.


Literary Elements

Theme: the meaning, or main idea, of the poem, usually involving some insight into human existence

Does the poem examine some common life experience or problem? Does it suggest solutions or answers?

It explores a common life experience—the loss of freedom and childlike wonder that is part of becoming an adult.


Literary Elements

Tone: the poet’s attitude toward the subject, the audience, or a character

What is the poet’s attitude toward the subject (sarcastic, respectful)? the audience (friendly, hostile)? the characters (sympathetic, cruel)?

The poet’s attitude toward the little boy is positive and tender. In the second stanza, the tone shifts; the speaker is feeling sad, and his attitude toward himself seems to be one of disappointment.


Literary Elements

Stylistic devices: the techniques the poet uses to control language to create certain effects

How does diction, the poet’s choice of key words, influence the poem’s meaning? Does the poet use figurative language, such as metaphors and similes, to make imaginative comparisons? What sound devices, such as rhythm, rhyme, and repetition, does the poet use? What effects do they have on the poem?

The poet uses key words and sound devices to create an initial feeling of freedom. Other key words set up an important shift in tone that helps express the theme.


Identify one or more key literary elements that are essential to understanding the poem’s theme.

Analysis Log

1 Text of poem . . . Line 1 Key Element:

2 Line 2 Key Element:



Analyze the poem line by line, and record your notes in an analysis log.


This analysis log shows an analysis of the poem “Sometimes” by Thomas S. Jones, Jr.

Analysis Log

1 Across the fields of yesterday

Line 1

Diction: “Fields” & “yesterday” = the past was carefree.

2 He sometimes comes to me,

Lines 2–3

Tone: Speaker has friendly attitude toward “little lad.”

3 A little lad just back from play—

Line 3

Diction: “Play” = the lad had a happy childhood.

4 The lad I used to be.

Lines 1–4

Sound Devices: End rhymes and regular meter = rhythmic quality of a children’s song.


Analysis Log

5 And yet he smiles so wistfully

Line 5

Diction: “wistfully” = tone shift to disappointment

6 Once he has crept within,

Repetition: Repeating “s” creates effect like a sigh.

7 I wonder if he hopes to see

Line 6

Diction: “crept” = boy is now hidden within the man

8 The man I might have been.

Lines 7–8

Theme: People do not always live up to their childhood dreams.

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Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Write Your Thesis

Summarize your main idea in a coherent thesis statement—one or two sentences that make the focus of your analysis clear.

In “Sometimes,” Thomas S. Jones, Jr., uses tone, diction, and sound devices to show that people do not always lead the adult lives they envisioned for themselves as children.

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Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Gather Supporting Evidence

In your analysis, include accurate references to the poem.

After each reference, add elaboration: an explanation of how the quotation or detail supports your thesis.

“And yet he smiles so wistfully / Once he has crept within,” (5–6)

These lines suggest the boy is sad to be hidden away inside the man. The man seems to be lamenting the fact that he no longer experiences the world with the wonder and free spirit of a child.


Elaboration shows you understand the poem’s significant ideas and allows you to address

• ambiguities: lines or words that lend themselves to more than one interpretation

• nuances: changes in tone or meaning

• complexities: meanings that are difficult to interpret (problems with no simple solutions, questions with no easy answers)


Record your references (details and quotations) and elaborations in a chart like this one.

Literary Element

Detail or Quotation

Elaboration

Stylistic device: Diction

“Across the fields of yesterday” (1)

The phrase “fields of yesterday” implies that the speaker’s childhood was spent in an open landscape. The line creates a feeling of vastness and gives the sense that all things are possible.


Literary Element

Detail or Quotation

Elaboration

Stylistic device: Tone

“A little lad just back from play–” (3)

The speaker’s attitude toward his boyhood self is positive. He sees this boy as playful and relaxed, and he seems to be fond of the boy.

Stylistic device: Diction and tone

“wistfully” (5) The word “wistfully” signals a shift in tone from happiness to a feeling of sadness or regret.

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Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Organize Your Analysis

Arrange the ideas in your analysis. You can

• arrange the elements in order of importance, beginning or ending with the key literary element that is most important to the poem’s theme and effect

• discuss the key literary elements in the order in which they appear in the poem.

OR

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Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Practice and Apply

Using the instructions in this presentation, choose and analyze a poem. Then, decide on the poem’s key literary elements, write a thesis statement, and gather evidence to support the thesis. Organize your analysis.

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Writing Workshop Analyzing a Poem