Analyzing poems can be a daunting activity for many a student, perhaps because a lot of them consider it cryptic and requires a need to get the so-called meaning. In this blog, Comparative Literature student John Eilermann from St. Louis offers some tips to better understand and critique this oft-elusive creature called poetry.
Firstly, poems are rooted on heightened language. Part of how to best approach a poem is to understand that it always offers more than one layer or reading, and that to get its insight is not as important as getting the diction. It goes without saying that poems detest cliché, as the labor of the poet is to say things in a new way, often indirectly, often obliquely. In other words, no poem just reads like an essay. Note the opposite of the poetic is the rhetorical.
Appreciating poetry and having the faculty to comment on it may rest on first looking at the title and how it ties up to the body’s narrative. Is the poem’s story clear? Does the title offer a clue to its intent? If not, then maybe a good approach is to study whether its appeal is rooted in nuances with language use or noticing the images the render scenes. You may try paraphrasing it first.
A lot of beginning readers get stumped by poems because they feel a pressure to comprehend immediately what it’s trying to say. This approach will just lead to guessing games. No interpretation is necessarily wrong, so long as its guided by what the poem implies. Meaning can wait; analyzing begins with reading the lines before resorting to the so-called expression of reading between the lines.
Certain techniques will begin to open up if you prioritize diction and syntax. Focus on linguistic and figure-of-speech techniques employed. Insight can rest anywhere in the poem, not necessarily in the ending alone. Again, this is because a poem does not often offer a lesson, but simply comment on the human condition. In the end, meaningfulness is more important than meaning, adds John Eilermann.
John Eilermann is based in St. Louis, Missouri. He is currently pursuing a degree in Comparative Literature. The cross-disciplinary approach of the program he’s in enables students to take courses in philosophy, politics, culture, and the intersection of literature with history. Visit this blog for more musings and insights on poems and literature in general.
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| Image source: fiverr.com |
Firstly, poems are rooted on heightened language. Part of how to best approach a poem is to understand that it always offers more than one layer or reading, and that to get its insight is not as important as getting the diction. It goes without saying that poems detest cliché, as the labor of the poet is to say things in a new way, often indirectly, often obliquely. In other words, no poem just reads like an essay. Note the opposite of the poetic is the rhetorical.
Appreciating poetry and having the faculty to comment on it may rest on first looking at the title and how it ties up to the body’s narrative. Is the poem’s story clear? Does the title offer a clue to its intent? If not, then maybe a good approach is to study whether its appeal is rooted in nuances with language use or noticing the images the render scenes. You may try paraphrasing it first.
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Image source: pln.mulgrave.com
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Certain techniques will begin to open up if you prioritize diction and syntax. Focus on linguistic and figure-of-speech techniques employed. Insight can rest anywhere in the poem, not necessarily in the ending alone. Again, this is because a poem does not often offer a lesson, but simply comment on the human condition. In the end, meaningfulness is more important than meaning, adds John Eilermann.
John Eilermann is based in St. Louis, Missouri. He is currently pursuing a degree in Comparative Literature. The cross-disciplinary approach of the program he’s in enables students to take courses in philosophy, politics, culture, and the intersection of literature with history. Visit this blog for more musings and insights on poems and literature in general.
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