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Home » Language » English Language » Literature » How to Analyze a Poem

How to Analyze a Poem

May 30, 2016
by Hasa
6 min read
Analyzing a poem may seem like a tough task at first. But if you know how to analyze a poem
properly, you’ll start loving new poems. Here, we will be introducing a step by step guide to
analyze a poem. Also, we have presented you an example to show how to analyze a poem.

How to Analyze a Poem

Step 1: Read the Poem and Take Notes
The first step in analyzing a poem is reading. Read the poem at least twice. As you read, jot
down your first impressions, reactions, memories, personal experiences tied to it.
Step 2: Identify the Title Hints of the Poem
You should also look at the title of the poem. It can give you a clue about the poem. You can
think along these questions: What are the connotations associated with the title? What do you
imagine the poem to be about when you first read the title? Does the title reflect the content of
the poem? Remember if the literal meaning of the poem is not at all related to the title, we can
guess that the title hints at the hidden meaning of the poem.

Step 3: Find the Literal Meaning

Now try to find the literal meaning of the poem. If there are words you don’t understand, use a
dictionary. If there are unfamiliar names or concepts mentioned, search them in an
encyclopedia. As you try to find the literal meaning of the poem, you can also pay attention to
the diction of the poet. Are there any repetitive words? What are the most striking words? What
words do you find interesting? Are there any unusual words – words that don’t fit into this
context?
Step 4: Identify the Narrator, Characters and the Setting
of the Poem
In analyzing a poem, it is vital to identify the narrator, the characters, and the setting. Remember
that the narrator of the poem is not always the poet. For example, in Alan Brownjohn’s ‘Parrot’,
the narrator is a parrot; in Mathew Arnold’s The Forsaken Merman, the narrator is a merman.
Step 5: Look at the Structure of the Poem
Look at the form of the poem; what form does the poem take? Is it an ode, elegy, sonnet,
narrative poem, or is it free verse? How are the stanzas arranged? How are the ideas arranged in
the poem? What does each stanza discuss? Is there a link between the stanzas?
Step 6: Make a Summary
Now try to make a summary of the poem. If you like, you can write down a brief paraphrase of
the poem. This summary will reflect the surface meaning of the poem.
Step 7: Identify the Literary Devices Used in the Poem
Try to identify the literary devices used by the writer. What are the images and symbols used by
the poet? How has the poet used imagery and symbols? Does he use other literary devices such
as paradox, hyperbole, antithesis, etc.?
Step 7: Identify the Theme of the Poem
When you analyze all the above said features in a poem, you can ask yourself the question what
is the main intention of the poem? What does he want to convey through the poem? This is
the theme of the poem. You can also ask how he has conveyed the theme of the poem? What
techniques has he used to bring out the theme?
You will be able to understand how to analyze a poem by looking at the following sample
analysis.

Example Showing How to Analyze a Poem

London
I wander thro’ each charter’d street,

Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.

And mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear,

In every voice: in every ban,

The mind-forg’d manacles I hear

How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every blackning Church appalls,

And the hapless Soldiers sigh

Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro’ midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlots curse

Blasts the new-born Infants tear

And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

(William Blake)
First, let’s look at the title of the poem ‘London’. Blake simply uses the name of a town. So
what’s the importance of this title? Nowhere in the content of the poem we see the location of
this place, it is only the title that says the poem is about London.

What are the thoughts and ideas that you get when you hear the title London? What do you
expect the poem to be about? Keeping these thoughts in mind, let’s look at the poem.

The following section looks at the summary of the poem stanza by stanza.

First stanza
The narrator is walking through the streets of London. Everywhere he turns, he sees the
downtrodden faces of the poor. They look tired, weak, unhappy, and defeated.

Second Stanza
The narrator hears the people’s voice everywhere. The voices are full of fear and repression. The
people and their minds are restrained or “manacled”.

Third Stanza
The narrator reflects on and emphasizes the chimney sweepers and soldiers. The mournful cry of
the chimney-sweeper acts as a chastisement to the Church. The blood of soldiers stains the outer
walls of the noble’s palaces.

Fourth Stanza
In the last stanza, the narrator talks about the nighttime. He talks of the prostitution and the
consequences of prostitution on both prostitutes and customers.
Now you can ask questions like this:

What are the literary devices used in this poem ?

(Repetition, imagery, paradox, alliteration)
What is the structure of the poem?
(Four quatrains with alternate lines rhyming.)

What are the striking words in the poem?

(manacles, weak, woe, blood, sigh, cry, curse, charter’d)

What is the writer trying to convey through the poem?

(the oppression, confinement exploitation, suffering,)

You can combine all these facts and points to do an analysis of the poem. In the analysis, you
can look at how has the language, structure and literary devices contributed to the poem
Analysis
The poem begins on the streets of London. From the beginning itself, the poem conveys a
gloomy, oppressive atmosphere. Note the repetition of certain words like marks, charter’d.
Charter’d here can refer to ‘controlled’, ‘commericalized’, ‘mapped out’, etc. Charter’d Thames
and charater’d streets refer to oppression and subjugation of people. And marks emphasize the
fact that everyone is marked by woe and weakness.

The poet uses repetition again to drive home the fact that people are physically and mentally
confined and oppressed. Blake also uses the interesting metaphorical expression ‘mind-forg’d
manacles’ to refer to the extent of this oppression. People have no freedom to think or imagine.
He also subtly brings in the word ‘ban’ to emphasize the suppression of people.

In this stanza, the narrator criticizes the religion and the nobles for exploiting the poor. Chimney
sweepers and soldiers can be a representation of the poor, exploited class whereas church and
palace walls represent the nobility and religion. Furthermore, the hypocrisy of the church and the
indifference of the nobility are also highlighted in this section.

In the last stanza, the speaker reflects on how the young prostitutes’ curse–referring to both
profanity and her child out of wedlock–their children. Also, the oxymoron of marriage hearse
implies the destruction of marriage. Here, men are using prostitutes and then possibly spreading
diseases to their wives and newborn children of wives and prostitutes. It becomes a never ending
cycle of vice.

Image Courtesy:
London Street (CC BY 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia

About the Author: Hasa

Hasa has a BA degree in English, French and Translation studies. She is currently reading for a
Masters degree in English. Her areas of interests include literature, language, linguistics and also
food.

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