How to critically analyse poems? Some teaching tips !

 

Many students have an aversion to poetry, already viewing it as complex and confusing. Helping them understand how to analyse poetry is a great way to change that.

Consider these 5 ways.

Step1- Redefine Poetry

Ø As teachers, we know poetry is a creative medium for expressing emotion and perspective. It’s an enriching way to explore various literary movements. However, Instead of jumping right into the genre, stir up some interest in a way the students can resonate with. Why not try music?

 

Choose some popular songs and print their lyrics. Discuss the language, structure, tone, and impact of the lyrics. Point out well-known literary devices, like metaphor and simile. Hint at the ones you’ll dive into later. Just let students experience the wonder of poetry without the pressure of analysing a complex string of abstract ideas and images.

 

Try a simple poem and ask students to give their opinions on it. Here, pair work can make wonders as they can discuss their views. Jot down the ideas expressed by students for a short class discussion.

 

Step 2: Focus on Teaching Skills, Not Poems

 

Ø Focus on teaching word choice, figurative language, and poetic devices. Understanding word choice, or diction, helps students understand how words hold both literal and implied meanings. Similarly, figurative language helps build meaning by creating strong images and giving words more punch and power. Finally, teaching poetic devices helps students understand how poets create rhythm and flow, deepen a poem’s meaning, or enhance a specific tone or emotion. Once you’ve taught the skills, then you can assess their ability to analyse a poem on their own.

 

Step 3: Choose parts of poems instead of the whole lot

 

Ø Don’t just hand them a poem and set them loose. Instead, as you introduce new skills and poetic devices, consider practicing putting them to use with parts of poems. For example, instead of looking at a six-stanza poem, take it one stanza at a time. In some cases, you can take a poem line-by-line. Identify devices. Dive into imagery. Unpack meaning. Then, you have students reread the whole poem, look back at their notes, and then express their full analysis.

 

Step 4: Work Your Way Up to Independent Analysis

 Ø  When you’re ready to put it all together, start by modelling the process of how to put newly learned skills to use when analysing a poem. It’s a great opportunity to address any lingering student questions. Read a poem as a class and then walk them through your analytical process aloud. Annotating a poem on the board or projector helps students see the process, emphasizing everything from how many times you reread the poem to how you think about it. Annotations can include devices, thoughts, definitions of words, and questions one may have. Collaborative work can prove very helpful here and is an opportunity for you to observe and note where students need more assistance before moving on.

  

Step 5: Scaffold Analysis by Asking the Right Questions

 

Ø Instead of asking them what a poem is about, lead them through analysis by providing guiding questions

Have the students read the poem once before answering the following questions:

o    Who is the speaker of the poem and what do you know about them?

o    What is the topic of the poem?

o    What is the overall mood or tone of the poem?

o    Can you find two pieces of evidence to support your answer above?

Then, after reading the poem a second time, have them answer these:

o    What images does the poem stir up? Feelings?

o    Can you find a piece of evidence to support each of your answers above?

o    What do these images and feelings represent?

o    How does the poem’s structure (i.e., stanza, line breaks, rhyme, etc.) impact the poem?

o    How does the speaker feel about the subject of the poem? How do you know?

o    Finally, have students read the poem a third time. Then, they can use their answers to the questions above to write a short paragraph answering this:

o    What do you think the speaker is saying/implying about the topic of the poem?