Poetic Analysis Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: RL.6-7

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

Poems are consonantly being evaluated and analyzed for historical and culture significance. The are often evaluated on form and content by academics. They can also hold hidden messages that can help people learn a morale, almost in proverb-like way. The most common way to analyze a poem is to read it aloud to a group and share the feelings and emotions the poem elicits from listeners. Once you have identified the emotion that comes from it, you need to identify important elements that help reinforce those feelings. These worksheets will help students begin to break down poems and understand the intent of the poet better.

Poetic Analysis Worksheets To Print:

Analyzing Poetry - This works with any poem of medium or large length. We run through a series of questions that gets to the bottom of your thoughts very quickly.

Looking Closely at Poetry - At times we need to treat poems like stories. Who is the speaker addressing? What motivates the speaker?

Sound Devices in Poetry - This organizer can help you assess and contrast multiple works at once.

Scoped Out... - Can you see something when you read this poem? What are your thoughts on the conflict?

The Raven - The classic work is broken to pieces. Is the raven a real creature or a symbol or something else? Explain.

A Noiseless Patient Spider - What is going on in the first stanza of this poem? The speaker makes a comparison in the second stanza. What is the comparison?

In The Day's When We Are Dead - Put a check mark next to each poetic device that you find in the poem.

Here's Luck - Discuss Lawson's use of language and dialect.

Make a Recording - As you read the assignment, record at least four poetic devices that you notice.

Nothing Gold Can Stay - Identify the following poetic devices by writing down the line in which they appear.

Assigned Writing - Does the poet use particular words to evoke images or feelings in the reader?

Line by Line Analysis - On the back of this page, write a short paragraph summarizing the poem, and explaining how the poet uses different poetic devices to achieve his effect.

The Arrow and the Song - A classic to be thought through. We put all those skill that you have learned to good use.

Poetry Map - I have seen twenty page papers written on ten line poems. This provides you a quick way to outline them.

I Noticed That... - A nice diagram to help you focus your train of thought on a work. As you read the assignment, record at least three poetic devices that you notice. Write an example of each in the box.

How to Analyze a Poem


To analyze a poem, you have to break it into pieces and find a value for each piece. You need to find the intent of the poet and see if there was a goal in mind when he or she developed this work. They often will mean different things to different people; you need to determine what the poem mean to you and assign a level of value to that body of work. You can go about this many different ways, but the key foundation to this process is pretty well charted for you.


Obviously the first step is to read the poem. I would always try to pair up with another person when you are starting this process. Read it independently and tell each other a summation of the message the author is trying to convey in one sentence or less. Then read it together and write a summation together. Then discuss the rhythm that is displayed by the author. Ask yourselves if the poem left you with a positive or negative feeling.


The next step is to jump into the title. Does it fit what you have read? Do you feel that more needs to explored on the part of the author? Does the title display any level of irony? Does the title reflect the thoughts you had on it? Does the title clarify something either you had missed or you thought was missing from it?


While this gives us a good idea of the author's motives, we still need to examine the speaker more. The speaker is the central point of view of the work. The goal of identifying the speaker is to understand who is behind telling the poem and any of their personality traits that we may be able to pickup from the breadcrumbs that are left behind. Can we guess more about the speaker? Where are they from? How old are they? What is the mood and tone left by the speaker? Does the tone shift throughout the body of the work or is it all set in same gear?


Lastly it is time to put this whole puzzle together. Look at the underlying theme of the poem. Attempt to identify all the key pieces and fit them together. What is the subject and situation the characters are in? What type of situation are they in? Did you like it or did you not? Did it leave you with a sense or feeling?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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