How do I approach analysing a poem?

When you're first given a poem, you may feel that you could never have enough to say to write an essay on it. However, by splitting your preparation into sections and reading it through specifically looking for features of these sections, the analysis becomes both deeper and more approachable. The most important thing is to read the poem through at least twice before writing anything down. Before an exam, try to read it aloud if you can to understand its performative aspect and how its rhythm and rhyme works, so that when you get to the exam you can reconstruct in your head how it’s meant to be read aloud. By analysing a poem, your aim should be to understand how its features build up its theme, and what effect you think the author wants to have on the reader. Bear this in mind when doing your analysis: every time you point out interesting imagery or rhyme scheme, make sure to link it to the effect of the poem as a whole or the effect on the reader! In an introduction, it’s good to examine the title – how does it shape your understanding of the poem? Is its vocabulary repeated in the poem? Is it ambiguous or very clear? Then, you can move onto the structure and form of the poem, including whether it’s a known genre such as a sonnet, and if so how closely it adheres to the genre conventions. On a smaller level, you can also look out for whether lines are end-stopped (a sentence takes place on one line) or there’s enjambment (the sentence takes more than a line). Next, have a look at language and imagery – are there any interesting similes, or extended metaphors that crop up several times? Does any of the imagery contradict each other? Read the poem once through looking for the literal meaning of words – such as looking for homophones/double meanings/slang/formal vocabulary – and again looking at what the words imply and what emotions they create to set the overall tone of the poem. Finally, it’s important to address the aural aspects of the poem – can you see any alliteration or onomatopoeia? Is the rhyme scheme regular, and are there any internal rhymes quickening the pace? There are just a few features to look out for in poetry: but most importantly, don’t forget to link back to effect on the reader!