Analysing Poetry
Approach
Poetry packs meaning into few words. When analysing a poem, read it more than once, aloud if possible, and ask: What is it about (subject)? What is the message (theme)? How is it said (style)? How does it make me feel (mood)?
Key elements
- Persona: the voice speaking in the poem.
- Subject matter: what the poem is about.
- Theme: the central message, e.g. love, injustice, nature, identity.
- Tone: the poet's attitude (bitter, nostalgic, sarcastic).
- Mood: the feeling created in the reader.
Structure
- Line and stanza: couplet (2), tercet (3), quatrain (4), sestet (6).
- Rhyme scheme: ABAB, AABB.
- Rhythm and metre: the beat pattern.
- Free verse: no fixed rhyme or metre.
- Enjambment: line runs on; end-stopped line pauses.
Figures of speech
- Simile: The road wound like a snake.
- Metaphor: Time is a thief.
- Personification: The wind whispered.
- Hyperbole: I have told you a million times.
- Irony: saying the opposite of what is meant, or a contrast between expectation and reality.
- Symbolism: a dove for peace.
- Oxymoron: bitter sweet.
- Apostrophe: addressing an absent person or object.
Sound devices
- Alliteration: repeated initial consonants.
- Assonance: repeated vowel sounds.
- Onomatopoeia: words imitating sounds (buzz, thud).
- Repetition: stresses an idea.
- Rhyme: matching end sounds.
Imagery
Visual (sight), auditory (sound), tactile (touch), olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste) imagery build vivid pictures. East African poets such as Okot p'Bitek (Song of Lawino), Jared Angira and Jack Mapanje use local imagery from farms, markets and cities.
Writing an analysis (PEE)
Point - identify the device. Evidence - quote it. Explanation - say its effect.
Worked example: The poet uses a metaphor, The city is a jungle. This suggests that urban life is dangerous and competitive, where people must struggle to survive.
Steps to answer a poetry question
- Read the title and predict the subject.
- Read the poem fully; underline key words.
- Summarise each stanza.
- Identify theme and tone.
- Note devices and effects.
- Link to your own context in Kenya, such as rural-urban migration or corruption.
Common themes
- Love and relationships
- Social injustice and oppression
- Nature and environment
- Culture and identity
- Death and loss
- Hope and change
Try it
- Choose a short poem and list three figures of speech with their effects.
- Write a four-line poem with an ABAB rhyme about the rainy season.
- Explain the difference between tone and mood using an example.