Poetry Commentary

 Caveat:  Be skeptical of a one-size-fits-all process.  You are unique, as is each poem. Relate accordingly--but use this list to stretch your range of possibilities! Keep adding to it!

General Questions for Analysis and Evaluation (from Perrine, Bowenized)

1. Who is the speaker? What kind of person is the speaker (gender, age, personality, other characteristics)?

2. What is the central subject of the poem?

3. What is the occasion or situation?

1. What is the setting in time (hour, season, century, and so on) and place (indoors or out, city or country, land or sea, planet; by a river, under a neon light, etc.)?
2. What are the relevant circumstances?
3. Are there events narrated in the poem? What is the relationship of these events to the occasion of the poem's "speaking"?

4. Is there an identifiable audience for the poem? What do we know about it/her/him?

5. Structure:

a. Outline the poem to reveal its structure, and/or summarize its sections.

b. Identify the poetic genre (lyric, narrative, elegiac, etc.).

c. Identify the form of the poem (sonnet, villanelle, haiku, etc.), or otherwise describe pattern and content.

6. Assess the diction of the poem. Consider register, denotation/connotation, and individual word choices you find noteworthy. Effect on tone? Significance?

7. Assess the imagery of the poem. What senses are involved? Are all the images equally detailed? Is there a pattern or significance to the imagery?

8. Identify examples of metaphor, simile, personification, and metonymy, and explore their significance.

9. Identify and any symbols or allegory, and assess their significance.

10. Identify and explore examples of paradox, overstatement, understatement, allusions and/or irony. What are their roles and significance?

11. Identify noteworthy syntax and other stylistic features; explore their effect and significance.

12. What is the tone of the speaker toward his/her subject? How is the tone achieved? What is its significance?

13. Sound features (these are sounds of words, not auditory imagery!):

a. What is the meter of the poem, if any? Copy the poem and mark its scansion.

b. Is there rhyme? If so, what type/s?

c. Do these patterns break or vary in significant ways?

d. Assess these and other significant sound effect/s, and explore their impact.

14. What appears to be the central purpose, idea, and/or theme of the poem? How does its "total meaning" relate to the "prose meaning"? What is your interpretation?

15. How do the specific literary features contribute to that purpose? If you're stumped on this, try writing a paraphrase of the poem (same length and detail, different words) and see how the meaning/significance changes.

16. Critique and evaluate the success of the poem in achieving its purpose.