poetry analysis Essay Examples

How to Write a Poetry Analysis Essay

Any writer or poet uses a particular style that cannot be reproduced. Depending on the way in which they see the world as well as the things that they want to illustrate, poets devise various poems to investigate a series of thoughts or suppositions with which they came up. The term of poetry analysis is used to refer to the procedure of examining the array of creative, practical, and organizational elements that one can find in a piece of poetry. In most situations, this sort of examination is carried out and documented in accordance with the outline of a poetry analysis essay. To be able to write this variety of academic paper, you need to pay close attention to both the preferences of the poet and the general outcomes of those preferences. This essay needs to stem from a thorough assessment of the entirety of the elements that the poet used when writing the poem.

What to Do Before Starting to Write

Before commencing work on a poetry analysis paper, you need to read the poem with the utmost attention. Needless to say that it’s best to go through the piece of poetry more than once so you can attain a complete understanding of the various thoughts and notions. Rereading the poem also enables you to observe the verse configuration (if that exists), the type of poetry (such as limerick, sonnet, lyric, ode, free verse or haiku), as well as the different lyrical methods that the author may use (like enjambment, rhythm, end-stopped lines or figures of speech).

• Limerick: This type of poetry consists of strophes of 5 verses each. The 1st, 2nd and 5th verses are the ones that rhyme with each other. They feature 3 feet of 3 syllables each. Furthermore, the 3rd and 4th verses also rhyme with one another. However, they only have 2 feet of 3 syllables.
• One: An ode is divided into strophes of ten verses each. The eight verse is iambic trimeter, while the rest of the verses in the strophe are iambic pentameter.
• Sonnet: The sonnet is a piece of poetry made of 14 verses in iambic pentameter. This type of poem rose to fame due to William Shakespeare (who, by the way, is also the one who coined the term “swag”).
• Lyric: A lyric constitutes a relatively brief, non-narrative piece of poetry. In this type of poem, the unique author showcases a specific mental frame or an affective matter. Instead of conveying a tale, the poem discusses the author's individual ideas by using a particular verse configuration.
• Haiku: An invention of Japanese poets, this represents a piece of poetry made of 3 verses as well as 17 syllables. The syllable count used by haiku poets is 5/7/5.
• Free verse: This type of poem lacks both rhyme and measure.

When devising a poetry analysis paper, being acquainted with each of the aspects above is of pivotal importance. This is because they represent constitutive elements of the poetry’s organization and have the potential of influencing your content. Now that the organizational elements of poetry are out of the picture, it’s time to shed some light on its context. To find this out, it may be useful to search for information related to the author, the year when the piece of poetry saw the light of day as well as the societal background of the composition. By discovering all of the above, you may obtain a more thorough comprehension of the poetry. Furthermore, it goes without saying that the more you know about a piece of poetry, the simpler it will be to carry out an in-depth assessment of that work. Once all of these aspects are taken care of, the next phase of your writing work is to talk about the topic issue of the poetry. To be able to comprehend the subject of a poem, you need to establish the theme, tonality, state of mind and message of the composition. In a lot of situations, the topic issue as well as the thematic components that substantiate the meaning conveyed by the topic constitute an area that is very open to interpretation. In general, people envision the message conveyed by the author through their use of the theme in distinct ways. This happens more often than you’d think! As such, provided that the meaning isn’t delivered in a very explicit way, it would be wise to list out a few different theories regarding the message that the author might have wanted to express. For each of these possibilities, make sure to provide proof! Nevertheless, as a general rule, you ought to opt for one particular possibility and stick to it. While the poet might have attempted to illustrate various distinct concepts, your primary target is to talk about the theory that you regard as the most plausible. However, you ought to keep in mind that this doesn’t mean you can opt for a possibility that you would personally prefer or a prejudiced one! You just have to support the theory that appears to be the strongest or provides the most substantiation! Seeing as your paper is supposed to constitute an assessment, try not to express personal viewpoints! Instead, make use of certainties and speculations that one can support with proof from the composition.

How to Select a Subject

When opting for a subject to approach in your poetry analysis paper, you’d be well advised to go for a subject that would be related to knowledge that you already possess. For instance, if you are allowed to choose your topic freely, it may be a good idea to write about a piece of poetry with which you’re already familiar. In case the decision is to be taken between distinct topic scopes inside a poetic piece, it may benefit you to decide to concentrate on a field that emphasizes your abilities. This way, your ideas will be presented in an intelligible and self-assured manner. At first glance, a poetry analysis paper might strike you as an intimidating task. However, provided that you heed our advice regarding the subject and structure, it will be a walk in the park!

Structure of a Poetry Analysis Essay

The structure of an essay analyzing poetry is not at all problematic, as it solely constitutes a set of recommendations that you ought to follow as you write the essay. After writing the title of the essay in the upper segment of the page, add the Roman character “I," followed by the term “Introduction." In this first section of the structure, you should write down your ideas for the introductory paragraph of your essay as well as the thesis assertion. Once you finish listing out your ideas for the introduction, you can advance to the body of the essay. Use a Roman numeral for each of the body paragraphs. Every paragraph from this section ought to approach a distinct topic sphere regarding the poetry at hand. When listing out the subsections of every topic sphere, use letters and start the actual paragraphs (or phrases, if your paper needs to be brief) inside the body section. Last but not least, after the structure of the body is completed, add one more Roman number, followed by the term “Conclusion." Your conclusion ought to consist of a reiteration of the thesis statement. Ideally, your choice of words for this should be identifiable, but distinct. You also ought to add a general conclusive assertion regarding your summed-up perspective of the composition.

Tips from Our Expert Writers

When devising a poetry analysis essay, the most challenging part is underlining lyrical tactics and revealing their signification. When you underline a lyrical strategy used in a poetic piece (such as an anaphora), your target is to clarify its impact on the poetry, rather than solely asserting that the poet used that device. As emphasized by this article, the organization and context of the poetic piece are of pivotal importance. However, when dealing with an assessment, it is essential to accentuate the impact that the context, organization, and other lyrical strategies exert on the general significance of the poetry in its entirety. What does the poem communicate? What message is the poet attempting to convey? Other lyrical strategies that you ought to take into account are vocabulary, illustration, and suggestion. In some situations, you may not be able to learn a lot about the context of a poem. For instance, when you are attending an AP exam, concentrate on the particular images and terms used or the cultural references made. If you detect such elements, you will be able to determine the background of the poet, which will facilitate your writing.

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