How should I approach unseen poems in exam questions?

I find it helpful to start with the 'big picture', and then slowly zoom in until your studying the language at a micro level. Here are some things you could look at as you zoom in: What is the context of this poem? Do I know anything about the writer that could help me? Do I know anything about the historical context? What is the form of this poem? How many stanzas and lines does it have? What does the poem look like on the page? What is the rhyme scheme? How does this affect the way the poem sounds? What literary devices are used? To what effect? Why has the poet chosen these specific words? What effects do they create? What punctuation (if any) does the poet use? What effect does this create? How might this change the speed at which we read the poem?