Important Stages

As daunting as they may appear, poems are NOT the enemy! Let’s walk through some important stages in analysing a poem.

(a)              Subject – i.e. what is the poem about?

(b)             Tone – i.e. getting a sense of how the poet feels about his/her subject matter (poet’s attitude)

(c)              Mood – i.e. effect created by the poem

(d)             Theme – i.e. what is the main idea behind the poem?

(e)              Poet’s Purpose – i.e. did he achieve his goal?

(f)                Technical Construction – i.e. techniques the poet uses to show the intent, meaning, effect of poem.

Let’s expand on these main headings some more!