Poetry Analysis Essay How to Write a Decent Paper

Poetry Analysis Essay How to Write a Decent Paper Probably, everyone recollects American poem of the past century that tells us about two roads diverged in a yellow wood. As you know, the main character of Robert Frost’s famous “The Road Not Taken” hesitates, which path to take in a colorful autumn forest. While he considers, images from possible future flicker before his eye. Have you ever reflected on Frost’s lines? What is the secret of its unprecedented popularity? What makes the poem sounds beautiful? Why did signature phrases become ubiquitous? If your answer is affirmative, you are on the right way in gaining a true understanding of what is a poetry analysis essay. In case you never think about things like that, let’s delve into the realm of poetry together. We’ll tell you how to write about poems and analyze prominent masterpieces. First Things First: How to Organize an Essay Like any other essay, this type of writing piece has its own basic structure: Introduction. It is a short summary where you should write near five sentences providing the readers with information about the chosen poem. State your thesis, which tells the audience what to expect, in a general sense. In other words, this is the purpose of your paper located at the end of the paragraph. You will go into details later. The Body. The most significant part of each essay where you present and prove your statement and suggestions. Emphasize two aspects: the central theme of the poem and poetic devices utilized by the author. For example, you can choose one literary element and discuss three or more samples from the studying poem. Conclusion. Here you should restate your key points and explain why you think the writer felt the theme presented in the writing piece was essential. You can mention how poem relates to the outside world. Poetry Analyzing: the Beginning Think twice before you start writing first lines. Consider this: a poem analysis is similar to any other literary analysis, but has its distinguishing features. For example, usually, it is shorter compared to essays you write about novels. It can take about 3-5 pages. However, do not think it would be easy. You need to become a poetry expert who knows many complicated things about figurative language, rhyme, metaphor, alliteration and so on. Therefore, at the beginning, you should make three steps forward: Find the poem to write about. Usually, students have several options. In this case, pick the one you like most of all. If you are free to choose, find a poem that reflects your mood and thoughts; look for breathtaking lines that give you a thrill. Find the key thesis. Read the selected piece several times. You have to catch the central idea. Reading for the first time, stay focus on the theme. Become engrossed in the author’s reflections. Do not get distracted by language means. Find literary devices. Re-read poem several times with pencil in hand and jot down your comments or suggestions. Look for literary elements, tools, and techniques used by the poet to achieve a particular verbose mode. Mark where these factors occur and keep the notes for later. Focus on the structure of the passages: how different parts work together proving the theme. Pay attention to the stylistic details; find a metaphor, allegory, and other devices: you need to define at least three elements to discuss in the body paragraph. Literal Meaning and Theme Having completed the steps described above put all the pieces together. Your essay must contain two facets: examples of the literary elements and their relation back to the central theme. For a better comprehension, remember this: Divide the whole into parts to understand the entire piece; Analyze. It is the way to respond to complex matters. Studying the literal meaning and theme, you have to recognize connected ideas as well as relationships established between the parts of work and note how the author achieves his goals through poetic devices. To do that, answer several simple questions: What purpose did these literary elements serve? What thoughts did the author aim to deliver using figurative language? What is the writer trying to tell us? How did the chosen tools and means affect the audience? Analyze the Title Why did the author apply these words to name his poem? You should reflect on this point twice. First, think about artworks’ title before reading the poem. What does it initially say to you? Jot down your suggestions. Return to the title after you have read the poem. Does it take on a new meaning? What do you think this piece is telling you about now? Why? Tone and Attitude A poem is a most intricate blend of emotions and logic as it refers to an author’s attitude toward the subject he is telling about. Love, jealousy, sadness, and rejoice conveyed through sentence structure, punctuation, diction, and many other poetic elements. An author can deliver his attitude directly, by stating his opinion on the matter. However, it is natural for a poet to dim his cloth of statements in magic words, utilizing stylistic elements. Ask yourself what the author’s mood is. What his tone is? Author’s emotion can include cheerfulness, humor, sarcasm, seriousness, anger and more. Poem’s Structure Think about the structure of the chosen poem. Analyzing the lines and stanzas, consider how they work together. Each poem has its own rhythm and tone. Scrutinize the sentence structure and punctuation use. Typically, formal poetic structures include haiku, sonnets, odes and more which may be the object of discussion in your essay. Sound and Rhythm Pay attention to rhythmical sound patterns that are responsible for a particular poem’s meter. You might distinguish regular or irregular rhythm. It depends on the number of syllables per line as well as number of stressed and unstressed syllables. Also, find out what makes the poem flow like music. Reveal the secret of its melody! It refers to sound effects, such as consonance, alliteration or rhyme. Seizing readers’ heart and mind, the melody of the poem produces a unique effect. As one person said, the phrase “cellar door” sounds to us more beautiful than the word “beauty” itself. Distinct what tools the author uses to achieve a particular sound effect. Language and Imaginary As you understand from our previous explanation, you have to select one or more poetry devices. Here we gathered some examples of poetry elements: Internal Rhyme; Inversion; Allusion; Allegory; Epithet; Imagery; Metaphor; Hyperbole; Enjambment. The list of literary devices is too long to include all of them here. However, you may find some additional materials on this topic. For example, if we were to write an analysis of “The road not taken,” we would choose rhyme scheme as one of the literary elements as it was written using ABAAB pattern. We understand that you are still in the position of Shakespeares Richard III, but rather exclaiming «My kingdom for a poetry essay!” However, if you read the article attentively, you’ve understood that a broad knowledge of figurative language and literary devices is necessary. As the poetry is about feelings and emotions, this is the only way to create a decent poetry analysis essay that will save your grades. We wish you good luck on this thorny way!