How do I analyse an unseen poem?

The first step to analysing any unseen piece of verse is to read it all the way through without stopping or taking notes. This grants you an understanding of the text’s tone, its rhyme or rhythm, and full awareness of any twists or turns. Make any notes of initial ideas and impressions immediately after this first reading. Next, read the poem again, slower, note the metre if possible and pay attention to key lines that stand out to you. Focus on lines that don’t fit the general impression of the text or that stand out in form (physically or by not fitting the metre). It’s crucial in this second reading to look for any lines or sentences that shift the subject/tone/tempo of the text as these are often key lines and can be analysed thoroughly. If possible, identify if the poem confirms to any particular verse form or pattern. Following this, read the text a third time, try to pick out literary techniques (alliteration, metaphors, caesura, anaphora). However, don’t just label them, think actively about how they contribute to the poem, why has the poet chosen to use this specific technique? What effect does it have on the reader? At this point, a good strategy is to try relate any of these techniques to your initial impressions of the text; do they subvert these impressions at all? Finally, read the poem for a fourth time. Ensure you haven’t missed any crucial turning points in the text and try tie your ideas together in a chronological order, making your way through the text once more. This final reading can be beneficial for a comprehensive understanding of the text’s tone, after analysis, it’s most useful to focus here on what the poem is saying, having already identified how the poet creates this effect.