How to: Approach Poetry Analysis in an Exam
An in-depth guide to write super-awesome commentaries. So my IB paper 1 unseen text exam is tomorrow, so thought I might condense all that Iāve learnt on poetry analysis over my high school life here.Ā
Reading the poem/those first 5 minutes:
The first time you do so, donāt worry about finding literary devices etc. Just read it. Feel the mood, feel the poem. Often in exams, you are given 5 minutes of reading time when youāre not suppose to write anyway, so really make use of that time. Remember your initial impression of the poem.Ā
Ask yourself the following questions: WHAT is going on here? (What is theĀ ādramatic situationā? WHO is speaking? (Known as the voice orĀ persona. What kind of a person, what is their attitude to the situation? Who are they speaking to? How consistent is the speaker with the situation?Ā
Ask yourself how the poem achieves the effect you noted above. Look for: Ā PATTERNS: The effect of the structure, the construction of the stanzas, lines. Repetition? Look for use of rhyme, metre, rythm, and sound patterns. IMAGES: What appeals to the senses? Look for taste, touch, sight, sound, smell, movement. What about literal images? Or are they figurative? Why?Ā WORDSĀ (Use of diction): Why the choice and position of words? What extra implications, connotations, dimensions, allusions? Ask yourself how these contribute to what the poem is doing.
Now use lots of pretty highlighters to annotate the poem. It helps to use a colour scheme! For example, use orange for literary devices, green for specific use of diction etcā¦ It makes it easier to identify and go back to what youāve found while writing the essay.
Literary devices: So, so important. Focus on how language shapes meaning. I have created a page with all useful devices you could use HERE.Ā
Structure: Look at the number of lines per stanza (Is it a tercet? A Quatrain? - Find the names of your poem structure on the same post as the literary devices) Look at rhythm (pentameter) and rhyming scheme. (ABAB or ABBAā¦) OR is it free verse? Drop all of this down somewhere on the page.Ā
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