Reading Poetry

In his introduction to The Giant Book of Poetry, William Roetzheim mentions four meanings in a poem. They are explained here:

The denotative meaning describes what the poem means literally.
The connotative meaning describes the nuances that resonate beyond the poem’s literal meaning—what it suggests.
The metaphorical meaning explores the way figures of speech are used in the poem.
The symbolic meaning explores how objects and people represent ideas and things outside of the poem itself.

Before . . .

Analyze the communication situation. Who wrote the poem? When? Where? Why? What was the context in which the poem was written? Where did it first appear?
Focus on the poem itself. What form does it take? Does it have a regular meter? Does it have a regular rhyme scheme? What are the conventions for this type of poetry? (Poetic terms are defined below.)

During . . .

First, read the poem silently, paying attention to the denotative meaning. Be patient, read slowly, and reread as necessary.
Next, read the poem aloud, looking for the connotative meaning. Let the sounds, the flow and rhythm, the words themselves, resonate.
Read the poem a third time, finding any figures of speech used. What metaphors, similes, or personification does the poem contain? Has the poet used overstatement or understatement? Are there any surprises hidden in the poem’s language?
Finally, read the poem a fourth time, searching for any symbols concealed below its surface. Are you certain of the poem’s meaning, or do you need to look deeper?

After . . .

Reflect on the poem. If you can, annotate it—circling the words that have the strongest impact, underlining the parts that you like best.
Discuss the poem. Ask others to read it; then talk about how it works.
Write about the poem. Reflect on the poem in a journal entry, or create a new poem inspired by the original.

Your Turn Use the process above to read and reflect on one or more of the poems on the next page.

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Sample Poetry

The following poems represent a variety of forms. The first is a traditional haiku, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the next, and five in the last. “Fire and Ice” has an irregular meter but a regular rhyme scheme. The other examples include a sonnet and a free-verse poem.

For a lovely bowl

let us arrange these flowers . . .

since there is no rice

Basho

(trans. Peter Beilenson)

SONNET—TO SCIENCE

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!

Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.

Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart,

Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?

How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,

Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering

To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,

Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?

Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?

And driven the Hamadryad from the wood

To seek a shelter in some happier star?

Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,

The Elfin from the green grass, and from me

The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?

—E. A. Poe

FIRE AND ICE

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

—Robert Frost

ONE’S-SELF I SING

One’s-self I sing, a simple separate person,

Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-masse.

Of physiology from top to toe I sing,

Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse,

I say the Form complete is worthier far,

The Female equally with the Male I sing.

Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,

Cheerful, for freest action form’d under the laws divine,

The Modern Man I sing.

—Walt Whitman

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Poetry Glossary

Accent is a stressed syllable or word (for example, the word accent has an accent on the first syllable).

Alliteration is the repetition of sounds at the beginnings of words (for example, big-boned beasts).

Antithesis is setting two statements in opposition (for example, “To err is human, to forgive, divine”—Alexander Pope).

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in words (for example, old rose thorns).

Ballad is a form of narrative poem that recounts a folktale.

Blank verse is poetry with an iambic pentameter rhythm, but no end rhyme (for example, Shakespeare’s plays).

Canto is a major division in a long poem.

Classicism refers to poetry that embodies Greek and Roman ideas of beauty: formality, simplicity, and reserve. Compare to Romanticism.

Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds within words (for example, hissing reception).

Couplet refers to a pair of lines that are usually of the same length and exhibit end rhyme.

Elegy is a poem that memorializes someone or something that has passed away.

Enjambment is the continuation of a thought from one line into the next.

Epic poetry is a lengthy form that tells of the works of heroes, gods, and monsters.

Epigram refers to a very short poem that captures an idea in a witty way.

Figure of speech refers to a set of literary devices that include analogy, antithesis, hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, personification, simile, and understatement.

Foot is a repeated pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables:

Anapest: two unstressed, one stressed
Dactyl: one stressed, two unstressed
Iamb: one unstressed, one stressed
Pyrrhic: two unstressed
Spondee: two stressed
Trochee: one stressed, one unstressed

Free verse is poetry that does not contain regular meter or rhyme.

Haiku is a short form of Japanese poetry with a line of five syllables, a line of seven, and a line of five.

Heroic couplet refers to two lines that rhyme and express one complete idea.

Idyll poems depict an idealized picture (rustic or pastoral) or capture heroic events from long ago.

Imagery refers to the sensory elements in a poem—visions, sounds, textures, flavors, and so on.

Limericks are short, humorous poems of five lines. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme and have three stressed syllables each. The third and fourth lines also rhyme but have two stressed syllables each.

Line break refers to the end of a line in free-verse poetry—an important technique for introducing a pause or emphasizing a word.

Lyric is a short poem that focuses on the poet’s feelings.

Metaphor is a comparison that equates two things, saying one is the other (for example, her smile is a pearl).

Meter refers to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem. See rhythm.

Metonymy refers to using one word in place of another with which it is associated (for example, saying lend me your “ear” instead of give me your “attention”).

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Narrative poetry tells a story.

Near rhyme refers to words that don’t actually rhyme but sound similar, often used for humorous effect (for example, metaphor and better war).

Ode is a classical lyric poem with a serious tone.

Onomatopoeia refers to words that sound like what they describe (for example, crack, whip, shudder, roar).

Pastoral is a poem that represents an idyllic scene.

Personification means giving human traits to nonhuman things (for example, the sun glowered at the escapees).

Quatrain is a four-line poem or stanza.

Refrain is the part of a poem that is repeated, often at the end of a stanza.

Repetition is the intentional repeating of a word or phrase for effect (for example, she reclines on a green chair on a green lawn in her green world).

Rhyme refers to words that sound the same (for example, great and weight).

Rhyme scheme is the way end rhymes line up (for example, if the first two lines rhyme and the next two lines rhyme, the rhyme scheme is aabb).

Rhythm is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. See meter.

Romanticism refers to a movement in poetry that favored emotion over reason, opposing the rigidity of classicism.

Scansion is an analysis of the meter of a poem—the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Simile is a comparison using like or as (for example, his shoulder was like Gibraltar).

Sonnet is a traditional form of rhymed poetry with 14 lines in iambic pentameter:

Elizabethan sonnets have three quatrains followed by a couplet, with the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
Petrarchan sonnets have an octave (eight lines) followed by a sestet (six lines), with the rhyme scheme abbaabba, cdecde.

Stanza refers to a group of lines: