How do you approach a new poem?

Example poem = The Sick Rose by William Blake. 1. Read the poem out loud to yourself 2. Do some research about the poem --> William Blake = Romantic poet, alive during the Industrial Revolution --> Part of a collection = linked to a poem called The Blossom 3. Read the poem in your head and underline/ highlight anything interesting 4. Go through the poem line-by-line, thinking about both language and context: ‘O Rose thou art sick’ --> Is ‘Rose’ a flower or a woman? --> Sickness = distortion of nature → literally links to conditions during the Industrial Revolution → metaphorically links to repression of human nature and actual nature during the Industrial Revolution --> ‘The invisible worm’ --> ‘Invisible’ = secret/hidden/inappropriate --> Is ‘worm’ an animal or a man? --> ‘That flies by night’ --> ‘Flies’ = speed --> ‘Night’ = continues the idea of something secret/hidden/inappropriate --> ‘In the howling storm’--> Violent weather = real violence? (sexual, political) → resistance --> ‘Has found out thy bed’ --> ‘Found out’ = something to be found out, continues the ideas of secrecy and repression --> ‘Thy bed’ = perhaps confirms sexual connotations → links back to the ‘Rose’ → repression of female sexuality --> ‘Of crimson joy’ Language device = run-on line (enjambement) --> ‘Crimson’ = red → blood? → violence --> ‘Joy’ = desire --> Desires are not condoned → they are repressed (link back to ‘found out’) --> ‘And his dark secret love’ --> ‘His’ = belonging to the ‘worm’, not the ‘Rose’ --> ‘Dark secret’ = obvious secrecy → placed in a negative context through ‘dark’ --> ‘Does thy life destroy’ --> Alliteration (‘dark’, ‘does’, ‘destroy’) --> No solution → the ‘Rose’ is left to die → exploitation 5. Now think about all these theme, ideas, and devices together to develop an interpretation about the poem as a whole.

// As an Unseen Text in an Exam Do the same, but skip points 1 and 2 and for point 3 only look at language.

// This process will help you to answer specific questions about poetry and to think in an analytical way.