WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
HOW TO ANALYZE A POEM
1. TO BEGIN
Read the poem all the way through at least twice. Read it aloud. Listen to it. Poetry is related to music, so the sound is important. You listen to your favourite CDs many times; the principle is the same. It takes time to fully appreciate and understand a work of art. Make a note of your first impressions or immediate responses, both positive and negative. You may change your mind about the poem later, but these first ideas are worth recording.
2. LITERAL MEANING AND THEME
Before you can understand the poem as a whole, you have to start with an understanding of the individual words. Get a good dictionary. Look up, and write down, the meanings of:
• words you don't know
• words you "sort of know"
• any important words, even if you do know them. Maybe they have more than one meaning (ex. "bar"), or maybe they can function as different parts of speech (ex. "bar" can be a noun or a verb). If the poem was written a long time ago, maybe the history of the word matters, or maybe the meaning of the word has changed over the years ("jet" did not mean an airplane in the 16th century). An etymological dictionary like the Oxford English Dictionary can help you find out more about the history of a particular word.
Use an encyclopedia or the Internet to look up people and places mentioned in the poem. These allusions may be a key to the poet's attitudes and ideas.
As you pay attention to the literal meanings of the words of the poem, you may see some patterns emerging. These patterns may relate to the diction of the poem: does the poet use "street talk" or slang, formal English, foreign language phrases, or jargon?
Your goal, now that you've understood the literal meanings, is to try to determine the theme of the poem - the purpose the poet has in writing this poem, the idea he wants to express. In order to discover the theme, however, you need to look at the poem as a whole and the ways the different parts of the poem interact.
3. TITLE
Start your search for the theme by looking at the title of the poem. It was probably carefully chosen. What information does it give you? What expectations does it create? (For example, a poem called "The Garden of Love" should cause a different response from the one called "The Poison Tree.") Does the title tell you the subject of the poem (ex. "The Groundhog")? Does the title label the poem as a specific literary type? (ex. "Ode to Melancholy"; "Sonnets at Christmas) If so, you should check what characteristics such forms have and discuss how the poet uses the "rules." Is the title an object or event that becomes a key symbol? (see Language and Imagery)
4. TONE
Next you might consider the tone. Who is peaking? Listen to the voice. ? Is it a man or a woman? Someone young or old? Is any particular race, nationality, religion, etc. suggested? Does the voice sound like the direct voice of the poet speaking to you, expressing thoughts and feelings? Is a separate character being created, someone who is not necessarily like the poet at all (a persona)?
Is the speaker addressing someone in particular? Who or what? Is the poem trying to make a point, win an argument, move someone to action? Or is it just expressing something without requiring an answer (ex. A poem about spring may just want to express joy about the end of winter, or it may attempt to seduce someone, or it may encourage someone to go plough in a field.
What is the speaker's mood? Is the speaker angry, sad, happy, cynical? How do you know?
This is all closely related to the subject of the poem (what is the speaker talking about?) and the theme (why is the speaker talking about this? What is the speaker trying to say about this subject?).
5. STRUCTURE
How is the poem organized? How is it divided up? Are there individual stanzas or numbered sections? What does each section or stanza discuss? How are the sections or stanzas related to each other? (Poems don't usually jump around randomly; the poet probably has some sort of organization in mind, like steps in an argument, movement in time, changes in location or viewpoint, or switches in mood.)
If there are no formal divisions, try breaking down the poem sentence by sentence, or line by line. The poet's thinking process may not be absolutely logical, but there is probably an emotional link between ideas. For example, you might ask a friend to pass mustard for a hotdog and suddenly be reminded of a summer romance and a special picnic. It doesn't look rational from the outside, but it makes emotional sense.
A very controlled structure may tell you a lot about the poet's attitude toward the subject. Is it a very formal topic? Is the poet trying to get a grip on something chaotic? A freer poetic form is also worth examining. What is appropriate or revealing about the lack of structure?
6. SOUND AND RHYTHM
Poetry is rooted in music. You may have learned to scan poetry-to break it into accented/unaccented syllables and feet per line. There are different types of meter, like iambic pentameter, which is a 5-beat line with alternating unaccented and accented syllables. You can use a glossary of literary terms to find a list of the major types of meter.
Not all poems, however, will have a strict meter. What is important is to listen to the rhythm and the way it affects the meaning of the poem. Just like with music, you can tell if a poem is sad or happy if you listen carefully to the rhythm. Also, heavily stressed or repeated words give you a clue to the overall meaning of the poem.
Does the poem use "special effects" to get your attention? Some words take time to pronounce and slow the reader down (ex. "the ploughman homeward plods his weary way" echoes the slow plodding pace). Other words can hurry the reader along (ex. "run the rapids"). If you are unfamiliar with the terms alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia, you can look them up and see if they apply to your poem-but naming them is less important than experiencing their effect on the work you are examining.
Does your poem rhyme? Is there a definite rhyme scheme (pattern of rhymes)? How does this scheme affect your response to the poem? Is it humorous? Monotonous? Childish like a nursery rhyme? Are there internal rhymes (rhymes within the lines instead of at the ends)? If you read the poem aloud, do you hear the rhymes? (They could be there without being emphasized.) How does the use of rhyme add to the meaning?
Certain poetic forms or structures are supposed to follow specific "rules" of rhyme and meter (ex. sonnets or villanelles). If you are studying a poem of this type, ask yourself if the poet followed the rules or broke them-and why.
Different parts of a poem may have different sounds; different voices may be speaking, for example. There are lots of possibilities. No matter what, though, the sound should enforce the meaning.
7. LANGUAGE AND IMAGERY
Every conclusion you have drawn so far has been based on the language and imagery of the poem. They have to be; that's all you have to go on. A poem is only words, and each has been carefully chosen. You began by making sure you understood the dictionary meanings of these words (their denotative meaning). Now you have to consider their visual and emotional effects, the symbols and figures of speech (the connotative meaning).
Look for the concrete pictures, or images, the poet has drawn. Consider why these particular things have been chosen. If an owl is described, does that set up a mood, or a time of day? If a morning is called "misty", what specific effects does that have? Are certain patterns built up, clusters of words that have similar connotations? For example, descriptions of buds on trees, lambs, and children are all pointing toward a theme involving spring, youth and new birth.
Symbolism is also often used in a poem. A symbol is an event or a physical object (a thing, a person, a place) that represents something non-physical such as an idea, a value, or an emotion. For example, a ring is symbolic of unity and marriage; a budding tree in spring might symbolize life and fertility; a leafless tree in the winter could be a symbol for death.
Poets use techniques and devices like metaphors, similes, personification, symbolism and analogies to compare one thing to another, either quickly and simply ("He was a tiger") or slowly over a stanza or a whole poem .
Work out the details carefully. Which comparisons are stressed? Are they all positive? How are they connected? A description of birds flying could have any number of meanings. Are the birds fighting against the wind? Soaring over mountains? Circling a carcass? Pay close attention and pick up the clues.
Poems, like music videos and movies, employ a series of images and symbols to build up mood and meaning. You need to take time to feel the mood and think about the meaning. If you have specific problems or poems to consider, come to The Learning Centre, speak to your teacher, or ask at the library for books that will help.
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Now that you have considered some of the key elements of the poem, it is time to step back and decide what the poem means as a whole. To do this, you need to synthesize (combine) the separate parts of your analysis into one main idea--your idea about what the poet is trying to say in this poem.
What is the poet trying to say? How forcefully does he or she say it and with what feeling? Which lines bring out the meaning of the poem? Does the poet gradually lead up to the meaning of the poem or does he or she state it right at the beginning? The last lines of a poem are usually important as they either emphasize or change the meaning of the poem. Is this so in the poem that you are analyzing?
Step 1: Research
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Research the author to understand the poem’s context. The period of time the author lived in and the author’s personal experiences often influence their writing.
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Step 2: Determine the form
Determine the form of the piece, whether it is a fixed poem that follows a specific structure or written in free verse.
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TIP
Look for breaks in the form. Poets break a poem's form to emphasize a word or a line.
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Step 3: Break down the meter
Read the poem and break down the meter, or the stressed and unstressed syllables of each line. Notice if stressed words have significance.
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TIP
Read the poem several times, and take notes on particular words or phrases that stand out.
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Step 4: Identify devices of sound
Identify how the poet uses devices of sound such as rhyme, repetition, assonance, and alliteration.
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Step 5: Identify devices of sense
Look for devices of sense, such as figures of speech, metaphors, similes, visuals, and symbolism. Determine the meanings of these devices in the poem.
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Step 6: Determine speaker
Determine the speaker of the poem, and the tone of the piece. Notice if the poet is speaking from personal experience or from another point of view.
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Step 7: Form a thesis
Form a thesis, or an argument for the meaning of the poem using what you’ve observed.
Research the author to understand the poem’s context. The period of time the author lived in and the author’s personal experiences often influence their writing.
Step 2: Determine the form
Determine the form of the piece, whether it is a fixed poem that follows a specific structure or written in free verse.
TIP
Look for breaks in the form. Poets break a poem's form to emphasize a word or a line.
Step 3: Break down the meter
Read the poem and break down the meter, or the stressed and unstressed syllables of each line. Notice if stressed words have significance.
TIP
Read the poem several times, and take notes on particular words or phrases that stand out.
Step 4: Identify devices of sound
Identify how the poet uses devices of sound such as rhyme, repetition, assonance, and alliteration.
Step 5: Identify devices of sense
Look for devices of sense, such as figures of speech, metaphors, similes, visuals, and symbolism. Determine the meanings of these devices in the poem.
Step 6: Determine speaker
Determine the speaker of the poem, and the tone of the piece. Notice if the poet is speaking from personal experience or from another point of view.
Step 7: Form a thesis
Form a thesis, or an argument for the meaning of the poem using what you’ve observed.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
SONNETS
We do not know when Shakespeare composed his sonnets, though it is possible that he wrote them over a period of several years, beginning, perhaps, in 1592 or 1593. Some of them were being circulated in manuscript form among his friends as early as 1598, and in 1599 two of them—138 and 144—were published in The Passionate Pilgrim, a collection of verses by several authors. The sonnets as we know them were certainly completed no later than 1609, the year they were published by Thomas Thorpe under the title Shakespeare's Sonnets. Most scholars believe that Thorpe acquired the manuscript on which he based his edition from someone other than the author. Few believe that Shakespeare supervised the publication of this manuscript, for the text is riddled with errors. Nevertheless, Thorpe's 1609 edition is the basis for all modern texts of the sonnets.With only a few exceptions—Sonnets 99, 126, and 145—Shakespeare's verses follow the established English form of the sonnet. Each is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter, comprising four sections: three quatrains, or groups of four lines, followed by a couplet of two lines. Traditionally, a different—though related—idea is expressed in each quatrain, and the argument or theme of the poem is summarized or generalized in the concluding couplet. It should be noted that many of Shakespeare's couplets do not have this conventional effect. Shakespeare did, however, employ the traditional English sonnet rhyme-scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, taken together, are frequently described as a sequence, and this is generally divided into two sections. Sonnets 1-126 focus on a young man and the speaker's friendship with him, and Sonnets 127-52 focus on the speaker's relationship with a woman. However, in only a few of the poems in the first group is it clear that the person being addressed is a male. And most of the poems in the sequence as a whole are not direct addresses to another person. The two concluding sonnets, 153 and 154, are free translations or adaptations of classical verses about Cupid; some critics believe they serve a specific purpose—though they disagree about what this may be—but many others view them as perfunctory.
The English sonnet sequence reached the height of its popularity in the 1590s, when the posthumous publication of Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (1591) was widely celebrated and led other English poets to create their own sonnet collections. All of these, including Shakespeare's, are indebted to some degree to the literary conventions established by the Canzoniere, a sonnet sequence composed by the fourteenth-century Italian poet Petrarch.
The principal topics of twentieth-century critical commentary on the sonnets, however, are their themes and poetic style. Analyses of formal elements in the poems include examinations of the rhetorical devices, syntax, and diction Shakespeare employed here. The multiple and indefinite associations of his words and phrases have proved especially intriguing—and problematic—for scholars as well as general readers. The complexity and ambiguity of Shakespeare's figurative language is also a central critical issue, as is the remarkable diversity of tone and mood in the sequence.
Many of Shakespeare's themes are conventional sonnet topics, such as love and beauty, and the related motifs of time and mutability. But Shakespeare treats these themes in his own, distinctive fashion—most notably by addressing the poems of love and praise not to a fair maiden but instead to a young man; and by including a second subject of passion: a woman of questionable attractiveness and virtue. Critics have frequently called attention to Shakespeare's complex and paradoxical representation of love in the sonnets. They have also discussed at length the poet-speaker's claim that he will immortalize the young man's beauty in his verses, thereby defying the destructiveness of time. The themes of friendship and betrayal of friendship are also important critical issues, as is the nature of the relationship between the speaker and the youth. The ambiguous eroticism of the sonnets has elicited varying responses, with some commentators asserting that the relationship between the two men is asexual and others contending that it is sexual.
Because these lyrics are passionate, intense, and emotionally vivid, over the centuries many readers and commentators have been convinced that they must have an autobiographical basis. There is, however, no evidence that this is so. Nevertheless, there has been endless speculation about what these sonnets may tell us about their creator, and researchers have attempted to identify the persons who were the original or historical models for the persons the speaker refers to and addresses. The fact remains, however, that we do not know to what degree Shakespeare's personal experiences are reflected in his sonnets; nor do we know with any measure of certainty whether the persons depicted in these poems are based on specific individuals or are solely the product of Shakespeare's observation, imagination, and understanding of the human heart.
Contradictions and uncertainties are implicit in Shakespeare's sonnets. Their complex language and multiple perspectives have given rise to a number of different interpretations, all of which may at times seem valid—even when they contradict each other. Few critics today read the sonnets as personal allegory. Indeed, most commentators assert that speculation about what these verses may imply about Shakespeare's life, morals, and sexuality is a useless exercise. The speaker is as closely identified with each reader as he is with the writer who created him. His confused and ambiguous expressions of thought and emotion heighten our own ambivalent feelings about matters that concern us all: love, friendship, jealousy, hope, and despair.
Links to be studied for our seminars:
What is a Sonnet?
Understanding Iambic Pentameter
How to Scan a Poem
Listen to Sonnet XXXIII:
Analyze Sonnet XXXIII:
SONNET 33
SONNET 33
SONNET 33
Listen to Sonnet XXVII:
Analyze Sonnet XXVII:
SONNET 27
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