Understanding Poetry: A Basic Checklist
A poem can be understood by trying to answer the following: who, what, when, where, and why. But it is wise to keep in mind the following to understand it fully: Title: Understand the link between the title of the poem and the poem itself. Speaker or character: Identify the speaker or the characters mentioned in the poem. Setting: Find out the setting in which the poem is based on. Situation: Understand the situation the speaker is in and its relevance to the poem. Words: Understand the meaning of all the words in the poem, repetitions of words, punctuation, unusual expressions, capitalisation etc. Form: The form in which the poem is written and whether it changes or develops into some other form. Theme: The subject of or the idea behind the poem and the experience it tends to evoke, or the message it seeks to convey. Imagery: Note the words that indicate or describe the auditory, visual, tactile, taste, smell, and movement in the poem and their contribution to the mean...