Analysing a poem you have never seen before under exam conditions neednt be a

frightening prospect. You can improve through practice and by following these steps:
First of all, read the poem. It seems obvious, but youd be surprised how many
students dive straight in and begin writing having only read the title or first few lines.
Take the time to read the poem through two or even three times. Really try and hear
it in your head, getting a feel for the sounds and rhythms and noticing any strange
rhymes or interesting words.
Your analysis should then work through the following:
Who is the speaker in the poem? The voice in the poem isnt necessarily the poet
himself poets often speaker through personas, real or imagined, personal or
impersonal though of course it can be. Is it in the first or third (or second) person?
Is there anything that reveals or implies anything about the speaker? Who are they
speaking to?
What is the poems setting? Where does the poem take place? A poem can be set
anywhere, in the past, present or future. How does this setting/location influence the
atmosphere of the poem?
What is the form of the poem? Poems can be written in various forms (see below for
summary of the most common) which dictate their length, their layout on the page,
the line length, whether they rhyme or not and how they rhyme (the rhyme scheme),
their meter (the rhythmic structure of the line.) Some forms are associated with
certain themes or genres sonnet form, for example, is commonly used for love
poetry; ballad form for narrative (story) poems. Poets make deliberate decisions
about which form to choose, and form always interacts with content, whether to
reinforce it or to work against it a sonnet about the end of a relationship might have
a particular poignancy, for example.
The best way to work out and begin talking about the form (and also a good way to
calm exam nerves) is to start counting. Count the number of stanzas, the number of
lines, the number of syllables in the lines if they are regular or there is a pattern. Mark
the rhymes and the stresses (see below for summary of common stress patterns).
This should help show up any patterns, and crucially, where the poem deviates from
or tries to break away from the pattern. Thinking about rhyme for example are all
the rhymes full/perfect rhymes? (i.e. night/light, sky/high) or are there some
variations?
Subject matter what is the poem about? If you arent sure, try to describe exactly
what is happening in the poem. Its absolutely fine to express a difficulty in
understanding as the poet has probably made it intentionally complex, reflecting
something about what theyre trying to say.
Look at the imagery used in the poem. Poets often use figurative and metaphorical
language that take words beyond their literal meanings, and attempt to do so in novel
ways. Perhaps choose a couple of the most interesting images in the poem and

comment on them. Why are they interesting? What is the poet doing? What does the
choice of a particular word do to our understanding, or how does an image create an
atmosphere in the poem?
Finally, what does the poem mean? You can write an excellent essay covering all of
the previous points and ignoring this one, but if you can its a good idea to end with a
summary of what the poem means; what the poet was trying to say, and, perhaps,
whether you think they were successful in saying it.
Common poetic forms and literary terms
Alexandrine: A 12 syllable poetic line
Alliteration: the repetition of consonants at the beginning of words e.g. the lazy
languid line. When consonant sounds are repeated within words it is called
consonance e.g. some mammals are clammy
Assonance: the internal rhyming of vowel sounds e.g. on a proud round cloud in
white high night (ee cummings)
Ballad: A poetic form mostly written in four line stanzas (quatrains) of alternating
lines of iambic tetrameter (four pairs of unstressed-stressed syllables) and iambic
trimeter (three pairs). Usually, only the second and fourth lines are rhymed (abcb),
although there is considerable variation in the form.
Examples of ballads: The Ballad of Moll Magee, WB Yeats, Ballad of the Breadman,
by Charles Causley
Blank verse: A type of poetry with a regular meter (generally iambic pentameter) but
no rhyme.
Clich: a saying, expression or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its
original meaning; a stereotype.
Dramatic irony: a rhetorical device where the author causes a character to behave
in a way that is contrary to the truth, or that the audience is aware is wrong.
Free verse or vers libre: A form of poetry without any regular patterns, rhymes or
meters. Its form is its irregularity.
Heroic couplet:Commonly used for narrative poetry, heroic couplets are rhymed
iambic pentameter pairs of lines.
Hyperbole: exaggeration
Metaphor: an analogy between two words or ideas where one stands for the other
e.g. his smile was the sun not to be confused with the simile.
Personification ascribing human characteristics to inanimate objects or forms

Simile a kind of metaphor which uses the words as or like e.g. he fights like a
lion
Sonnet: A poetic form. Fourteen lines long. Can be rhymed in a number of ways, but
the most common are Shakespearean and Petrarchan. Shakespearean sonnets
are rhymed in three groups of four lines rhymed alternately, followed by a couplet
i.e. abab cdcd efef gg. The closing rhyming couplet often sums up the sonnet.
Petrarchan sonnets are divided into a group of eight lines, called the octave and a
group of six lines called the sestet. The octave is usually rhymed abba abba, and the
sestet cde cde. Usually there is a turn or volta - a change of direction or mood
between the octave and the sestet. Traditionally, the octave put forward a proposition
and the sestet offered a solution.
Examples of sonnets: Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare, Shall I compare thee to a
summer's day?, Leda and the Swan, by WB Yeats, On His Blindness, by Milton
Terza rima: A rhyming verse stanza form consisting of an interlocking three line
rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc ded etc - Acquainted With The Night by Robert Frost
Villanelle: A nineteen line poem with a complex scheme consisting of alternating
refrains. The best way of describing the form is to look at a villanelle itself. The most
famous example in English is Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan
Thomas
Describing meter
We often talk about meter as the sequence of feet in a line, with each foot a group of
syllable types. The most common syllable groupings are:
Iamb unstressed/stressed or short/long e.g. Shall I compare thee to a
summers day? (Shakespeare)
Trochee stressed/unstressed or long/short e.g. Tyger Tyger burning bright
(The Tyger, William Blake)
Dactyl stressed/unstressed/unstressed or long/short/short e.g. Just for a
handful of silver he left us/ Just for a riband to stick in his coat (The Lost
Leader, Robert Browning)
Anapaest unstressed/unstressed/stressed or short/short/long e.g. Twas the
night before Christmas and all through the house/ Not a creature was
stirring not even a mouse
Spondee (stressed/stressed) and Amphibrach
(unstressed/stressed/unstressed) are also quite common.

Lines are named for the kind of feet (whether they are iambic or dactylic etc) and
then for the number of feet. If there are three it is trimeter, four is tetrameter, five is
pentameter, six is hexameter etc.