I often have used the following worksheet as an in-class, collective and/or individual activity. Students not only learn how to read poetry closely, they also generate information for discussions and essays.
1. What is the poem's title, and what is the significance of the title?
2. Is the poet male or female? Is the speaker male or female? To
whom is the speaker speaking--race, gender, age, et cetera of
audience? What is the relationship between the speaker and
listener--that is, the speaker's tone or attitude toward his/her
listener?
3. What is your initial reaction to the poem?
4. Read the poem again, and using a dictionary, write the
definitions of any words you do not know.
5. Identify the tropes, interpreting them.
6. Focusing on its theme (universal concept), try to paraphrase the
poem.
7. Which words and phrases provide objective and/or sensory
details?
8. Are there any repetitions of sounds, and are those sounds soft
and/or harsh? Why are they such?
9. Are there any instances of rhyme and if so, of what type? If
there is end rhyme, what is the rhyme scheme? What is the
significance of each instance of rhyme?
10. Describe any images.
11. What is the rhythm--slow and/or fast--of the poem? Scan the
poem, determining the prevailing meter.
12. What is the poem's form?
13. The mood of a poem is the emotional tone that pervades a
section or the whole of it. What is/are the mood/moods of the
poem: happy, ambivalent, sad?
14. After consideration of all the aforementioned elements, what is
your reaction to the poem?
15. Do the elements create a coherent whole--that is, a work with a
determinate (single, identifiable) meaning (New Criticism)--or
do the elements create ambiguity--that is, a work with
indeterminate meanings (deconstructive criticism)? What are
two of those meanings?
