An Impromptu Poetry Class

Bringing you poetic analysis and discussion questions like you're back in high school

[classpoetics]

Hi! I’m M, she/her.

I made this blog to kind of reflect on the sort of questions I was asked in high school English classes and because I was inspired by @reading-comprehension-questions.

I think it’s important that, as part of the art of poetry, we make sure we actually consider the effect and meaning of these works. Analysis is essential to art.

I may not end up being the most active, but I’ll try to post.

Please send me any poems you’d like for me to write up questions for! Please send me feedback!

Note that any post with the poetry tag is likely to attract weird scams and spam. Please be safe!

Poems are pulled from the Poetry Foundation website. When they are not, I will link to the source I am using to find them.

[classpoetics]

hello!! for your next poem, could you do "I Have A Special Plan For This World" by Thomas Ligotti? it's one of my favorites! thanks for starting up this blog, i really enjoy the interactive nature of blogs like these & i hope you get sent more requests soon!! have a good day 💜

(x)

Consider the inconsistent use of end-rhymes in this poem. What effect might Ligotti be achieving with this?

Consider Ligotti's use of repetition throughout the poem. How does this impact the tone, and what do you think it may be achieving?

Consider that this was made to be piece listened to with (ambient) accompaniment (youtube link here)How might this affect the work and how it should be interpreted? What is gained or lost by reading it devoid of this context?

Describe a major tension in the work and give evidence supporting your view.

[classpoetics]

Describe the metre of the poem. What effect may this have?

Describe how the imagery of night is used in opposition to its common meanings in this poem.

Byron was considered part of the 'Satanic' School of the Romantics. How do this and the Romantic at large contextualise the work?

[classpoetics]

(Apologies for the odd cut)

How does the use of free verse contribute to the poem's meaning? What effect might it give? Why do you think the author might have chosen this form?

What effect might the lack of end-rhymes give to the poem?

Describe the double entendre of the term "sentences" in the poem's title.

[classpoetics]

Summarise the content of the poem.

Describe the structure of the poem and any forms it may be using. How do these contribute to its meaning?

Consider the use of "لاجورد" as opposed to simply writing the romanisation of the Farsi word. What might this achieve?

Consider the final two lines. Describe the literary device being used here and its effect.

[classpoetics]

This poem was written in 1919. What events might have led to this poem being written?

Describe the tone of the poem. How does Yeats achieve this feeling in the reader?

Take note of the "shape with lion body and the head of a man." Describe how this allusion / figure contributes to the tone of the poem or why it might have been included.

[classpoetics]

What form is this poem in? How may this contribute to its meaning? Why do you think he may have chosen this?

What might styling Frost, Winter, Century, and Hope as proper nouns convey?

There is a tension in the poem between life/birth and death. Describe how this is conveyed.

There is a tension in the poem between hope and despair. Describe how this is conveyed and/or describe how this plays with the aforementioned tension between life and death.

[classpoetics]

What form is this poem in? Does this contribute anything to your reading of it?

2. Shelley never travelled to Egypt, i.e. would have never seen the sight he describes. How may this impact your understanding of this poem?

3. What may an understanding of Romanticist Orientalism bring to analysing this poem? What are the implications of the phrase "an antique land?"

[languidspaniel]

Electra and Hamlet Has A Chat

something is rotten in the house of atreus

inspired by @two-bees-poetry

[classpoetics]

1. On what basis is the author comparing Electra and Hamlet?

2. What is the form of this poem? Describe how it is used here.

3. Consider the figure of Electra as opposed to Hamlet. How might gender influence the perception/construction of these figures and their uses here in each column?