Poetry analysis

• Who is Speaking?


  The speaker of the text
• What are they saying /talking about?

  The content or message of the text
• What is happening?


  The events or actions described in the text
• Where is it set/taking place?


  The location or setting of the text
• Why are they feeling a particular way?


  The reasons or motivations behind the emotions expressed in the text
• How are they feeling?

  The emotions or mood conveyed in the text
• enjambments a line flows to the next


  The way the lines or sentences are structured and connected in the text
• Line which affects the


  The rhythm, pace, or flow of the text
• How is it portrayed?


  The style, tone, or literary techniques used in the text
• ADJECTIVE


  A word which describes a noun eg 'a yellow wood'
• ADVERB


  A word which describes a verb eg 'wondrously clear'
• ALLITERATION


  The repetition of consonants in words or phrases to create particular effects e.g. Wilfred Owen conveys the sound of gunfire in 'the stuttering rifle's rapid rattle'
• ALLUSION


  A reference to a person or event often by way of a parallel e.g. a reference to a Greek god in a poem is a classical allusion
• AMBIGUITY


  An unclear or double meaning
• ASSONANCE


  The repetition of vowel sounds to gain special effects e.g. 'the grey, decaying face' [Betjeman]
• AURAL IMAGERY


  Sound imagery
• BLANK VERSE


  Verse written in iambic pentameters (ten syllables in a line following an unstressed/ stressed pattern). It is used by Shakespeare in his plays and Seamus Heaney, for instanc in 'Death of a Naturalist'
• CAESURA


  A brief pause in the middle of a line of poetry marked by punctuation
• CLICHÉ


  A phrase which has ceased to have much meaning through overuse - e.g. as good as gold
• COINAGE


  An invented word e.g. 'Timetogohomenowtime' (Fanthorpe)
• COLLOQUIALISM


  A form of expression used in common conversation; it is informal/ chatty
• COMPARE


  Show the similarities between two or more texts. (Do not confuse with 'contrast')
• COMPOUND WORDS


  Double-barrelled words made by combining two existing words. They are sometimes used to pile up effects in descriptive poems e.g. 'wind-wandering, weed-winding bank' (Hopkins)
• CONNOTATIONS


  The associations of a word eg a rose has connotations of love and romance
• CONTEXT


  The place or circumstances in which a particular word or phrase is used and also the society/ age in which a text is set
• CONTRAST


  Show the differences between two or more texts
• DIALECT


  Non-standard English words/ grammatical constructions eg 'I touching de walls to see if they real' (Nichols)
• DICTION


  The words in a poem
• DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE


  A poem that is 'spoken' by a character(s), not the poet eg 'Not My Best Side'
• END-STOPPED LINE


  A line of poetry that has punctuation at the end of it
• ENJAMBEMENT


  When a line of poetry carries over to the next line without punctuation
• EUPHEMISM


  The use of a more pleasant form of words to describe something ugly or distasteful e.g. The dog was put to sleep
• FIGURATIVE


  This refers to language that is metaphorical
• FORM


  The type of verse (eg free verse); the shape or pattern of the poem - rhyme, rhythm, the (ir)regularity of line and stanza lengths, repetition, the use of a refrain...
• FREE VERSE


  Poetry which does not conform to set stanzas or rhyme schemes Eg 'Still I Rise'
• GUSTATORY IMAGERY


  Taste imagery
• HYPERBOLE


  Intentional exaggeration to emphasise a particular point
• IMAGERY


  Comparisons between two or more objects or ideas (similes, metaphors, personification); the creation of pictures that may be visual, aural, olfactory, gustatory or tactile
• IMPLY


  To suggest, hint, express indirectly
• INFER


  To deduce, work out, read between the lines. (Do not confuse it with 'imply'.)