How do I effectively analyse a poem?

It is often hard to know where to start when analysing a poem. I think it is easiest to initially get a grasp on the content of the poem. This may seem obvious, but at first glance a poem can seem confusing. It is helpful to make a note of the parts that you understand at first - even if these are only small parts! It will then become easier to piece together the rest of the poem. For example, in Carol Ann Duffy's poem 'Before You Were Mine', the identity of the speaker initially poses a problem for us as readers. In the first verse, the speaker is 'ten years away' from the subject of the poem, whom we know only as 'you'. This could leave us confused in relation to whom the poem is addressed, but we can find clues to understand this. One of these clues is in the image of the 'hands in those high-heeled red shoes'. The speaker can 'remember' putting their hands inside the shoes that belong to the woman who is discussed. This conjures up the image of a child trying on their mother's shoes with their hands, which tells us that the speaker is discussing her mum. This then helps us to understand that the poem involves the speaker looking at photographs of her mother when she was younger - before the speaker was born. From finding just one line of the poem that we understand, we can understand the content of the poem as a whole. Understanding the content will then help in looking at the poetic devices Duffy uses, such as imagery. A quick example from 'Before You Were Mine' is the image of the speaker's mother standing on the pavement, as the 'polka-dot dress blows' around her legs. Duffy brings this image to life by presenting the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe, which is instantly recognisable. Also, the sense of movement conveyed as the dress 'blows' inspires a vivid picture of the speaker's mother, both for the daughter and the reader. The use of present tense is also important here in placing us in the time of the speaker's mother, as though she is just as young now as she was when the photograph was taken. Hopefully, this shows that it is possible to begin an analysis of a poem by looking closely at only a couple of lines!