Dimeter
Trimeter
Tetrameter
Pentameter
Hexameter
Any number above six (hexameter) is heard as a combination of smaller parts; for example, what we might call heptameter (seven feet in a line) is indistinguishable (aurally) from successive lines of tetrameter and trimeter (4-3).
To scan a line is to determine its metrical pattern. Perhaps the best way to begin scanning a line is to mark the natural stresses on the polysyllabic words. Take Shelley’s line:
And walked with inward glory crowned.
Then mark the polysyllabic nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs that are normally stressed:
Then fill in the rest:
Then divide the line into feet:
Then note the sequence:
The line consists of four iambs; therefore, we identify the line as iambic tetrameter.
Rhythm refers particularly to the way a line is voiced, i.e., how one speaks the line. Often, when a reader reads a line of verse, choices of stress and unstress may need to be made. For example, the first line of Keats’ “Ode on Melancholy” presents the reader with a problem:
No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
If we determine the regular pattern of beats (the meter) of this line, we will most likely identify the line as iambic pentameter. If we read the line this way, the statement takes on a musing, somewhat disinterested tone. However, because the first five words are monosyllabic, we may choose to read the line differently. In fact, we may be tempted, especially when reading aloud, to stress the first two syllables equally, making the opening an emphatic, directive statement. Note that monosyllabic words allow the meaning of the line to vary according to which words we choose to stress when reading (i.e., the choice of rhythm we make).
The first line of Milton’s Paradise Lost presents a different type of problem.
Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Again, this line is predominantly iambic, but a problem occurs with the word “Disobedience.” If we read strictly by the meter, then we must fuse the last two syllables of the word. However, if we read the word normally, we have a breakage in the line’s metrical structure. In this way, the poet forges a tension between meter and rhythm: does the word remain contained by the structure, or do we choose to stretch the word out of the normal foot, thereby disobeying the structure in which it was made? Such tension adds meaning to the poem by using meter and rhythm to dramatize certain conflicts. In this example, Milton forges such a tension to present immediately the essential conflicts that lead to the fall of Adam and Eve.
The explication should follow the same format as the preparation: begin with the large issues and basic design of the poem and work through each line to the more specific details and patterns.
The first paragraph should present the large issues; it should inform the reader which conflicts are dramatized and should describe the dramatic situation of the speaker. The explication does not require a formal introductory paragraph; the writer should simply start explicating immediately. According to UNC ‘s Professor William Harmon, the foolproof way to begin any explication is with the following sentence:
“This poem dramatizes the conflict between …”
Such a beginning ensures that you will introduce the major conflict or theme in the poem and organize your explication accordingly.
Here is an example. A student’s explication of Wordsworth’s “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” might begin in the following way:
This poem dramatizes the conflict between appearance and reality, particularly as this conflict relates to what the speaker seems to say and what he really says. From Westminster Bridge, the speaker looks at London at sunrise, and he explains that all people should be struck by such a beautiful scene. The speaker notes that the city is silent, and he points to several specific objects, naming them only in general terms: “Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples” (6). After describing the “glittering” aspect of these objects, he asserts that these city places are just as beautiful in the morning as country places like “valley, rock, or hill” (8,10). Finally, after describing his deep feeling of calmness, the speaker notes how the “houses seem asleep” and that “all that mighty heart is lying still” (13, 14). In this way, the speaker seems to say simply that London looks beautiful in the morning.
The next paragraphs should expand the discussion of the conflict by focusing on details of form, rhetoric, syntax, and vocabulary. In these paragraphs, the writer should explain the poem line by line in terms of these details, and they should incorporate important elements of rhyme, rhythm, and meter during this discussion.
The student’s explication continues with a topic sentence that directs the discussion of the first five lines:
However, the poem begins with several oddities that suggest the speaker is saying more than what he seems to say initially. For example, the poem is an Italian sonnet and follows the abbaabbacdcdcd rhyme scheme. The fact that the poet chooses to write a sonnet about London in an Italian form suggests that what he says may not be actually praising the city. Also, the rhetoric of the first two lines seems awkward compared to a normal speaking voice: “Earth has not anything to show more fair. / Dull would he be of soul who could pass by” (1-2). The odd syntax continues when the poet personifies the city: “This City now doth, like a garment, wear / The beauty of the morning” (4-5). Here, the city wears the morning’s beauty, so it is not the city but the morning that is beautiful …
The explication has no formal concluding paragraph; do not simply restate the main points of the introduction! The end of the explication should focus on sound effects or visual patterns as the final element of asserting an explanation. Or, as does the undergraduate here, the writer may choose simply to stop writing when they reach the end of the poem:
The poem ends with a vague statement: “And all that mighty heart is lying still!” In this line, the city’s heart could be dead, or it could be simply deceiving the one observing the scene. In this way, the poet reinforces the conflict between the appearance of the city in the morning and what such a scene and his words actually reveal.
Refer to the speaking voice in the poem as the “speaker” or “the poet.” For example, do not write, “In this poem, Wordsworth says that London is beautiful in the morning.” However, you can write,
“In this poem, Wordsworth presents a speaker who…”
We cannot absolutely identify Wordsworth with the speaker of the poem, so it is more accurate to talk about “the speaker” or “the poet” in an explication.
Use the present tense when writing the explication. The poem, as a work of literature, continues to exist!
To avoid unnecessary uses of the verb “to be” in your compositions, the following list suggests some verbs you can use when writing the explication:
dramatizes presents illustrates characterizes underlines | asserts posits enacts connects portrays | contrasts juxtaposes suggests implies shows | addresses emphasizes stresses accentuates enables |
The Fountain
Fountain, fountain, what do you say Singing at night alone? “It is enough to rise and fall Here in my basin of stone.” But are you content as you seem to be So near the freedom and rush of the sea? “I have listened all night to its laboring sound, It heaves and sags, as the moon runs round; Ocean and fountain, shadow and tree, Nothing escapes, nothing is free.”
—Sara Teasdale (American, 1884-1933)
As a direct address to an inanimate object “The Fountain” presents three main conflicts concerning the appearance to the observer and the reality in the poem. First, since the speaker addresses an object usually considered voiceless, the reader may abandon his/her normal perception of the fountain and enter the poet’s imaginative address. Secondly, the speaker not only addresses the fountain but asserts that it speaks and sings, personifying the object with vocal abilities. These acts imply that, not only can the fountain speak in a musical form, but the fountain also has the ability to present some particular meaning (“what do you say” (1)). Finally, the poet gives the fountain a voice to say that its perpetual motion (rising and falling) is “enough” to maintain its sense of existence. This final personification fully dramatizes the conflict between the fountain’s appearance and the poem’s statement of reality by giving the object intelligence and voice.
The first strophe, four lines of alternating 4- and 3-foot lines, takes the form of a ballad stanza. In this way, the poem begins by suggesting that it will be story that will perhaps teach a certain lesson. The opening trochees and repetition stress the address to the fountain, and the iamb which ends line 1 and the trochee that begins line 2 stress the actions of the fountain itself. The response of the fountain illustrates its own rise and fall in the iambic line 3, and the rhyme of “alone” and “stone” emphasizes that the fountain is really a physical object, even though it can speak in this poem.
The second strophe expands the conflicts as the speaker questions the fountain. The first couplet connects the rhyming words “be” and “sea” these connections stress the question, “Is the fountain content when it exists so close to a large, open body of water like the ocean?” The fountain responds to the tempting “rush of the sea” with much wisdom (6). The fountain’s reply posits the sea as “laboring” versus the speaker’s assertion of its freedom; the sea becomes characterized by heavily accented “heaves and sags” and not open rushing (7, 8). In this way, the fountain suggests that the sea’s waters may be described in images of labor, work, and fatigue; governed by the moon, these waters are not free at all. The “as” of line 8 becomes a key word, illustrating that the sea’s waters are not free but commanded by the moon, which is itself governed by gravity in its orbit around Earth. Since the moon, an object far away in the heavens, controls the ocean, the sea cannot be free as the speaker asserts.
The poet reveals the fountain’s intelligence in rhyming couplets which present closed-in, epigrammatic statements. These couplets draw attention to the contained nature of the all objects in the poem, and they draw attention to the final line’s lesson. This last line works on several levels to address the poem’s conflicts. First, the line refers to the fountain itself; in this final rhymed couplet is the illustration of the water’s perpetual motion in the fountain, its continually recycled movement rising and falling. Second, the line refers to the ocean; in this respect the water cannot escape its boundary or control its own motions. The ocean itself is trapped between landmasses and is controlled by a distant object’s gravitational pull. Finally, the line addresses the speaker, leaving him/her with an overriding sense of fate and fallacy. The fallacy here is that the fountain presents this wisdom of reality to defy the speaker’s original idea that the fountain and the ocean appear to be trapped and free. Also, the direct statement of the last line certainly addresses the human speaker as well as the human reader. This statement implies that we are all trapped or controlled by some remote object or entity. At the same time, the assertion that “Nothing escapes” reflects the limitations of life in the world and the death that no person can escape. Our own thoughts are restricted by our mortality as well as by our limits of relying on appearances. By personifying a voiceless object, the poem presents a different perception of reality, placing the reader in the same position of the speaker and inviting the reader to question the conflict between appearance and reality, between what we see and what we can know.
The writer observes and presents many of the most salient points of the short poem, but they could indeed organize the explication more coherently. To improve this explication, the writer could focus more on the speaker’s state of mind. In this way, the writer could explore the implications of the dramatic situation even further: why does the speaker ask a question of a mute object? With this line of thought, the writer could also examine more closely the speaker’s movement from perplexity (I am trapped but the waters are free) to a kind of resolution (the fountain and the sea are as trapped as I am). Finally, the writer could include a more detailed consideration of rhythm, meter, and rhyme.
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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It’s March and you know that means it’s time to teach your students how to write an analysis on a poem. As National Poetry Month descends, your feeds are inundated with poetry activities, poems to teach, and of course poetry march madness brackets. You want to teach poetry but there are just too many ways to teach poetry analysis and too many good poems for analysis. If you are starting to feel overwhelmed with your choices, let me help you! I have crafted a list of six easy poems to analyze and included activities for teaching poetry with each one. If you are ready for a teacher rewrite of your poetry unit, look no further!
Before I share my best poems for teaching poetry analysis, I want to share with you my Graphic Organizer for Poetry . I use a different handout from these print or digital graphic organizers for each of the poems on my list. By using the T. S.W.I.F.T. acronym, students will analyze the Tone, Structure, Word Choice, Imagery, Figurative Language, and Theme of any poem. All graphic organizers allow you to customize your lesson to the poem(s) of your choice. This is one of my favorite English teacher resources that I use for my poetry unit. Keep reading below to see how I use this graphic organizer for poetry in my poetry unit.
The perils of poetry.
Have you ever been excited to start your poetry unit just to be met with groans and complaining? Students never seem to have a good reaction to my announcement of this unit. No matter how many engaging lessons I have given them already in the semester, they just do not seem to trust that I can make poetry exciting for them.
Every semester, I would search for fun activities to create poems such as blackout poetry, haiku writing competitions, concrete poem imagery, etc. These poem projects are a lot of fun but here’s the issue: that’s not what my students will be tested on, nor is that the focus of my class. Now before you criticize me, take a moment to consider what I’m saying. I believe that my focus especially in 10th grade English is to teach analysis. While creating poetry helps to engage students, what’s the purpose? Will that help my students find the deeper meaning? Maybe. Will they be able to identify the theme and write a paragraph about it? Probably not.
We need to stop making it too simple for our students. Poetry can be difficult but creating a pretty poem project won’t help my students think deeply. So while I still allow some days of poetry creation in my class, we are moving past that to really analyze a poem. But to do that, I needed to find poems that would not intimidate my students. That’s where my list of six easy poems comes in to help.
Before you panic and scrap everything you have planned, take a breath. Friend, I have you covered! In this post, I have given you six easy poems to analyze and included the activity and the resource you can use with each poem. There is nothing to think about! Your unit can have the teacher rewrite sparkle without any work. Analyzing poetry can be a daunting task, especially for those new to the subject. However, there are some poems that are easier to analyze than others. If you’re looking for some beginner-friendly poems to analyze in your high school English class, I’ve got you covered. Here are six poems that are perfect for building your students’ skills and confidence.
“i’d wish you disappear” by watts-the-deal.
“I’d Wish You Disappear” by Watts-the-Deal is a powerful and emotive poem that explores the painful experience of betrayal in a relationship. Through vivid imagery and raw honesty, the speaker wishes for the disappearance of their unfaithful lover, acknowledging the heartache and trauma caused by their actions.
When read from bottom to top, “I’d Wish You Disappear” by Watts-the-Deal takes on a completely different meaning. The poem tells the story of a broken relationship that ends with a tender expression of love and forgiveness. As the lines are read in reverse, the bitterness and anger of the initial wish gradually give way to a deep longing for reconciliation and healing. The poem’s surprising reversal of meaning when read in reverse highlights the complexity of human emotions and the power of forgiveness and redemption to heal even the deepest wounds.
“I’d Wish You Disappear” by Watts-the-Deal is an excellent poem for teaching tone in a classroom setting. The poem’s emotional depth and vivid imagery make it an engaging text for students to analyze and interpret the tone. I have my students analyze the mood and tone in one direction of the poem. Then they consider how the tone changes when read from top to bottom and then bottom to top.
By teaching tone with “I’d Wish You Disappear,” students can gain a deeper understanding of the importance of tone in literature, and develop their analytical and creative writing skills. Want a tone handout that is ready to use with your poem? Check out my Graphic Organizer for Poetry .
Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is a powerful and emotional poem that urges readers to fight against death and to live their lives with passion and purpose. With its intense imagery and compelling language, the poem encourages readers to resist the inevitability of death and to embrace the fullness of life, making it a stirring and unforgettable call to action.
Teaching the structure of “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” can be a useful exercise in helping students understand how form can contribute to the meaning and impact of a poem. Here are a few strategies for teaching the structure of this poem:
By teaching the structure of “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” you can help students gain a deeper understanding of how form can contribute to the meaning and impact of a poem. If you want a handout that focuses on the stanzas and the rhyme scheme of a poem, you can snag my Graphic Organizer for Poetry .
The poem “Plants” by Olive Senior uses an intriguing word choice that gives the reader a sense of the grandeur and tenacity of the plant world. The poem has an ironic tone, suggesting that plants are not as innocent as they appear, and their seemingly peaceful nature masks a more complex and sinister agenda.
The poet uses words like “deceptive,” “sinister,” “imperialistic,” and “colonizing” to describe the plant world, implying that plants have a master plan to conquer the earth. She also uses vivid metaphors to describe how plants spread and reproduce, with words like “explosive dispersal” and “shoots bent on conquest.”
Moreover, Olive Senior uses words like “extravagant,” “reckless,” and “improvident” to describe the plant’s nature, which reflects its ability to thrive in seemingly inhospitable environments. The poet also describes how plants use beauty and fragrance to lure insects and other pollinators to help them propagate.
Overall, the word choice in “Plants” by Olive Senior creates a sense of wonder and awe for the plant world while highlighting the hidden dangers that plants can pose to other living organisms. The poem encourages readers to think about the world in a new way, as a place where every living being is engaged in a constant struggle for survival and dominance.
“Plants” by Olive Senior is an excellent poem to teach students about word choice. As a teacher, you can ask your students to read the poem and identify the sensory details and vivid imagery used by the poet to describe plants. Encourage them to pay attention to the adjectives and verbs that Senior uses to bring the plants to life in the reader’s mind. Need a handout that focuses on word choice, grab a copy of my Graphic Organizer for Poetry .
“Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred” – Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” is a gripping and powerful poem that vividly captures the bravery and sacrifice of soldiers in the midst of war. With its iconic opening line and rhythmic verse, Tennyson’s masterpiece immortalizes the heroic charge of the British cavalry in the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War, while also highlighting the tragic consequences of miscommunication and leadership errors. This poem continues to inspire and captivate readers with its stirring portrayal of courage and honor in the face of adversity.
Teaching imagery using “Charge of the Light Brigade” can be a powerful way to help students understand and appreciate the sensory details that poets use to create vivid and engaging literary works. Here are some steps that teachers can take to teach imagery with this poem:
By following these steps, teachers can help students deepen their understanding of “Charge of the Light Brigade” while also developing their skills in analyzing and creating imagery in poetry. Looking for a simple way to have your students analyze sensory details in a poem? Check out my Graphic Organizer for Poetry .
“If” by Rudyard Kipling is a timeless poem that inspires readers to embrace courage, perseverance, and self-discipline in the face of adversity. With its powerful and memorable phrases, including “If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,” the poem encourages us to strive for greatness while remaining humble and grounded. Through its wisdom and insight, “If” continues to resonate with readers of all ages and backgrounds, reminding us of the importance of integrity and inner strength in achieving our goals and living a meaningful life.
One effective way to teach figurative language with “If” by Rudyard Kipling is to focus on the many examples of literary devices used throughout the poem. For example, the poem contains several examples of metaphor, such as “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same.” This line uses the metaphor of Triumph and Disaster as impostors to convey the idea that success and failure are temporary and ultimately unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
Another literary device used in the poem is personification, such as in the line “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,” which personifies virtue as something that can be kept or lost. By identifying and analyzing these examples of figurative language, students can deepen their understanding of the poem and develop their skills in identifying and interpreting literary devices. Use my Graphic Organizer for Poetry to easily identify and track the figurative language in a poem.
“So Much Happiness” by Naomi Shihab Nye is a poem that celebrates the joy and beauty that can be found in everyday moments. With vivid imagery and a heartfelt tone, Nye reminds us to appreciate the small things in life that bring us happiness and to cherish the connections we make with the people around us. This uplifting and thought-provoking piece is sure to leave readers feeling inspired and grateful for the many blessings in their lives.
One effective way to teach theme using “SO Much Happiness” by Naomi Shihab Nye is to have students identify the central message or underlying idea conveyed in the poem. They can start by reading the poem closely and looking for patterns or recurring motifs in the imagery, language, and tone.
Next, ask students to consider what the poem suggests about the nature of happiness and how it can be found in everyday life. Encourage them to use evidence from the text to support their ideas and draw connections to their own experiences.
Finally, have students explore how the theme of the poem relates to larger issues or universal human experiences. For example, they could discuss how the poem speaks to the importance of finding joy in the midst of difficult circumstances, or how it highlights the value of simple pleasures and connections with others. Want to start with poetry theme analysis tomorrow? Check out my Graphic Organizer for Poetry to get started.
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The best way to teach poetry analysis is to practice, practice, practice. By focusing on different poetic elements with these six easy poems, your students will gain confidence. I love how simple it became for my students to analyze a poem once we had a system in place with the T SWIFT Poetry Analysis method.
I hope you love these poem choices and you try them out with your students. I would love to hear what new ways you use these poems. If you have some new ideas or new ways to use these poems or have better poem suggestions, tag me or send me a DM @theteacherrewrite on Instagram. You can always see what other great things I am working on in my classroom by checking out my blog . If you do decide that you want to start using these strategies right away check out my Graphic Organizer for Poetry resource so you can start tomorrow. With these poems, you are now ready to show your students how to write an analysis on a poem.
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Teaching how to write a literary analysis essay can be tough. If you want to simplify the writing process for your students while making sure you don’t forget any steps, then this toolkit is made for you!
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Home / Essay Samples / Literature / Literary Genres / Poetry
Dreams' vs 'harlem' by langston hughes: meaning and comparison.
'Harlem' and 'Dreams' are two poems written by famous African American poet Langston Hughes. In 'Harlem' by Langston Hughes the meaning that the autor tried to evoke was the image of a deferred dream which was dying slowly. But in his creation 'Dreams' the poet...
When we’re young we were taught the history of our country, The United States of America, and what our country was built on. The main national ethos of the U.S is the American Dream – the set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity...
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In renowned English poet George Gascoigne’s “For That He Looked Not Upon Her,” Gascoigne expresses his extremely complex attitude towards desire, as well as the regret and pain that follow it. Gascoigne uses literary devices such as diction, form, imagery, and metaphors to express these...
The feeling of deep affection or infatuation is something the average person has felt at one point in their life or another, whether that be for a parental figure, companion, or something/someone else. This emotion is greatly portrayed through the poem “somewhere i have never...
A central theme that remains relevant throughout If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho translated by Anne Carson is romantic love. Sappho clearly used writing as a way to explore her thoughts about love, almost like a journal or diary. However, this being said, Sappho’s sentiments...
This poem was written around the time of slavery, Dunbar witnessed everything there had to do deal with that. The African Americans had to go through a tough and heartbreaking time when this poem was written. They had to go through hiding every single emotion...
Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” addresses the audience, saying that if you lead your life a certain way, then you will be considered a man and, thus, gain the world. In the last stanza of the poem, Kipling uses different literary elements, like anaphora, rhyme, and...
The cycle of life always ends in death, but the formidable aspect of death is not necessarily death itself, but the perception of timing and maybe how it happens. We all know that death will be our fate someday, but how we accept or how...
Poetry is a genre of literature which uses a combination of delicate structure, words and rhythm. Poems are a tool to express one’s feelings, thoughts, and even deepest secrets. Moreover, poems can also expose the readers to different approaches and feelings of people from different...
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Poetry (from the Greek poiesis, "making"), is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, a prosaic ostensible meaning.
Sonnet, shi, villanelle, limerick, tanka, haiku, khlong, khlong si suphap, ode
Narrative poetry, lyric poetry, epic poetry, satirical poetry, elegy, verse fable, dramatic poetry, speculative poetry, prose poetry, light poetry
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