ways to interpret poems When you read a

ways to interpret poems… • When you read a poem, there a number of ways you can interpret/analyse it. Today, we are going to briefly look at three different ways to analyse a poem.

You can look at: Images 1) Focusing on stanza one, what sort of images does the poet try to create? Is the tone positive or negative? • The poet will create an image in your head. • What picture is built in your mind? • What descriptive words are used? (adjectives) • Which is the most powerful image in the poem? Why?

You can look at: Structure and Features • The way the poem is laid out on the page. • Are there gaps in the poem? • How long are the stanza’s? • What is the rhyme and rhythm of the poem? • What, if anything, is unusual about the way the poem is written? 2) What do you think the indentation of the text represents?

Images: Literary Devices �To create images, poets will often use the following literary devices: �Simile - is a figure of speech comparing two unlike things, introduced with the 3) Look at the poem as a word ‘like’ or ‘as’. whole. Are there any �Metaphor - comparisons that show two things that are not alike in most ways literary devices? are similar in one important way without using ‘like’ or ‘as’. �Personification - giving human traits (qualities, feelings, action, or characteristics) to non-living objects. �Alliteration - using the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in close proximity.

You can look at: Purpose • What reason(s) did the poet have to write the poem? 4) Who is the poet speaking to in the final stanza? What is the message? Is the tone the same as in stanza 1? What do you think the poem is about? What was your first reaction to reading the poem?