Approaches to Poetry

"Prepare" one of the remaining poems for tomorrow's class discussion.
D-Block: "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come To Triumph," "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," "Musee des Beaux Arts," or "O Daedalus, Fly Away Home"
F-Block: "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph," "Musee des Beaux Arts," or "O Daedalus, Fly Away Home"

By "prepare" I mean take read, reread, and takes notes on the poem, using one or more of the mnemonic devices (say-play-imply, SOAPSTone + Theme, and/or TP CAST + Theme).

1. Say, play, suggest; or, say, play, imply …

What does the poem say literally?

How does the poem play with language and conventions? (How does it use or shape language in a particular way? Think of sounds and rhythm. Think of syntax—the shape of sentence—and diction—the level of the language: formal, conversational, slangy, etc. Think of line breaks and stanza breaks.)

What does the poem suggest or imply? Think of suggestive images. Think of the mood. Think of figurative language (metaphors, similes, metonymies, personifications, etc.) Think of the connotations of the particular word choices. Think of the tone of the speaker.

2. TP CAST + Theme

Title: Read and think about the possible meaning of the title of the poem.

Paraphrase: "Translate" the literal meaning of the poem into your own words. (Denotative level)

Connotation: Analyze the figurative, associative, implied, and suggestive meaning of the poem (Connotative level)

Attitude: Analyze the tone of the poem. What is the speaker's attitude/tone? What is the poet's attitude/tone?

Shifts: Note shifts in the poem: Shifts in setting (time and place), in language (diction and syntax), in structure (length of lines, rhythm, rhyme scheme, etc.), in tone, in meaning. Shifts in meaning are often indicated by transitional words (but, yet, etc.), by juxtaposition, by changes in form/structure.

Title: Take a second (or third and fourth) look at the title. Think about the title in relation to the literal/denotative level, the connotative/implied level, and the poem as a whole.

Theme: What does the poem suggest or imply about human nature(s), human society (-ies), human struggles, etc.?

3. SOAPSTone + Theme

Speaker: Who is speaking the poem? What do you know? What can you infer?

Occasion: What is the occasion for the poem? The time and the place? What do you know? What can you infer?

Audience: Who is the audience for the poem? What do you know? What can you infer?

Purpose: What is the speaker's purpose? What is the poet's purpose? What do you know? What can you infer?

Subject: What is the subject of the poem? What is it about? Literally? Figuratively? What do you know on the surface? What can you infer?

Tone: What is the tone or attitude of the speaker? of the poet? What are the clues?

Theme: What does the poem suggest or imply about human nature(s), human society (-ies), human struggles, etc.?