How to analyze a poem

Fragment of a poem by Miguel Hernández.

Fragment of a poem by Miguel Hernández.

From a literary academic point of view, Knowing the steps to follow to know how to analyze a poem is essential. Currently, all kinds of jobs are usually found on the internet, from fairly informal web articles to pedagogical documents in indexed journals. All of them usually coincide on one point: poems are a type of lyrical expression structured in verses.

Therefore, when analyzing a poem It is important to review definitions such as: stanza, lyrical object, rhyme, synalepha, syneresis, among others. In this way, poems can be classified, interpreted and “measured”. Of course, without pretending to form unanimous criteria, since a stylized narrative emerged from inspiration always has a great subjective load for those who read it.

Poetics

Poetics it is the system or process of poetry analysis. It is based on identifying the most relevant elements within the structure of the poem. While a poem must be understood more as a whole, its enjoyment does not derive from breaking up its parts for detailed scrutiny. Because, after all, a poem is an expression of beauty through written words.

Although not all are sublime manifestations when it comes to poetry, poems motivated by fear or terror cannot be ignored. In any case, most are epic in nature, whose lyrics can reflect exaltations or dramatic, romantic and friendship reflections. Poetics is based on the following concepts:

Versification

It is a stylistic analysis that seeks to categorize the poem (in sonnet, ode, romance ...), as well as determining the type of stanzas (quatrain, limerick, eighth or tenth). Similarly, versification includes rhyme (assonance or consonant), lexicon (keywords, use of nouns, adjectives) and literary resources (personification, metaphors, onomatopoeia, anaphora).

Content and interpretation

It is about the motive or object of the writing. The indispensable question is: what is the message of the poem? So, "how" the receiver deciphers the meaning of the work depends directly on the narrative line created by the author. Crucial at this point is the writer's ability to evoke emotions, images, sensations — and even intuition — in the reader, through similes or antitheses.

The use of literary resources should be consistent with the theme of the poem. It is common for the most striking works to be those that express the poet's state of mind. Whether referring to family, loneliness or survival.

Joseph of Espronceda.

Joseph of Espronceda.

The elements of the lyrical genre

Lyrical object:

It is the person, entity or circumstance causing the feelings in the poetic voice. It usually has a palpable, precise and concrete reference (a living being or a particular object, for example).

Lyrical speaker:

It is the voice of the poem, emitted by a narrator. It can also be the voice of a character other than the author within the literary composition. Express feelings and emotions from an intrinsic point of view in the world of the work.

Lyrical attitude:

Disposition or way of expressing ideas within a poem to describe a reality. Can be:

  • Enunciative: when the lyrical speaker refers in the first or third person to a situation or element external to himself.
  • Apostrophic: where the lyrical speaker points to a second person (interpellation) that may or may not coincide with the lyrical object.
  • Carmine: when the lyrical speaker's manifestation comes from the inner self. It is usually in the first person and with a marked subjective perspective.

Lyrical movement or theme:

It represents the context, settings, thoughts and emotions that enliven the poet's sensitivity.

Mood temper:

It refers to the emotional attitude manifested by the poet. This can reflect sadness, or joy. Anger, outrage, or terror are also common.

Measure of verses

The number of syllables in each verse determines if they are of minor art (with eight metric syllables or less. Also if they are of major art (nine or more metric syllables). Likewise, it should be taken into account if umlauts, synalephas or syneresis are observed. These factors modify the total syllable count of a verse.

Dieresis:

Vowel separation that would usually be a single syllable. This produces an alteration in the normal pronunciation of a word. It is indicated by two points (diaeresis), on the affected weak vowel (ï, ü), as seen in the following verse by Fray Luis de León:

  • The one whoseye- he mund-da-nal rü-i-do.

Syneresis:

Union of two strong vowels of two different syllables from the grammatical point of view. An example can be seen in the following verse of 14 metric syllables (alejandrino) by José Asunción Silva:

  • With mo-vi-mien-to rhythm-mi-co he da-lan-cea the boy.

Sinalefa:

Formation of a metric syllable from two or more vowels belonging to different words. It can even happen with a punctuation mark in between. Example (octosyllable verse of espronceda):

  • Wind-to in po-pa, to to-da see-it.

Final accent law:

According to the stressed syllable of the last word, metric syllables are added or subtracted from the total of the verse. If the word is sharp, one is added; if it is esdrújula, one is subtracted; when it is serious, it remains.

Rima

Miguel Hernandez.

Miguel Hernandez.

When analyzing a poem one of the essential steps is to observe the type of rhyme of the last words of each verse. If it coincides in vowels and consonants, it is called a "consonant." Similarly, it is called a "perfect consonant" if the stressed syllables also coincide. As can be seen in the following fragment of Miguel Hernández:

... "Every five inero

every january puted

my footwear will goero

to the window fred”…

Instead, when only the final vowels coincide in the rhyme, it is called «assonance». In the following fragment by Antonio Machado, this type of rhyme is observed between verses 2 and 4:

“It is a winter night.

The snow falls in a swirlino.

The Alvargonzález watch

a fire almost extinguishedido".

Stanza

Another of the fundamental aspects when analyzing a poem are the characteristics of the stanzas. Those are classified according to the number and length of the verses. Meaning by stanza "a group of verses that contain a rhythm and a rhythm". The following are the different types of stanzas:

  • Paired (two-line stanzas)
  • Three-line stanzas:
    • Third.
    • Sunny.
  • Four-line stanzas:
    • Quartet.
    • Round.
    • Serventesian.
    • Quatrain.
    • Couplet.
    • Seguidilla.
    • Sash.
  • Five-line stanzas:
    • Quintet.
    • Limerick.
    • Lira.
  • Six-line stanzas:
    • Sestina.
    • Sextille.
    • Broken foot couplet.
  • Eight-line stanzas:
    • Copla of Major Art.
    • Royal eighth.
    • Italian eighth.
    • Pamphlet
  • Ten-line stanzas:
    • Tenth.
  • Stanzas without a fixed number of verses:
    • romance.
    • Dirge.
    • Romance.
    • Silva

Knowledge of these elements leads to a fuller understanding

Understand and Studying in a profuse way each one of the aspects explained here opens a huge door to those who intend to study poetry. Although this genre depends a lot on subjectivity, knowing all the aspects that intervene in its creation is key to achieving weighty works that meet the necessary expressiveness and whose message reaches the readers.


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