- Don't look into the poems meaning until the second time you read it
- Figure out the subject matter of the poem; understand the meaning
- Pay attention the rhythm and rhyme
- Consider the title of the poem
- Who is the narrator? What's the setting?
I chose these goals because these are things I usually miss or overlook. I never read the poem once just to read it. I start by trying to figure out the meaning, but it really helps to read it once before trying to figure out the meaning. I also don't really look at titles of poems. But the titles usually have some meaning. The rhyme and rhythm of a poem can also help you understand the poem better and I get so caught up in reading between the lines that I don't pay attention to that. The setting and narrator have a big role in the meaning of a poem and if you miss that, the poem can have a completely different meaning.
These are good goals, Megan!
ReplyDeleteI like that you described your goals in paragraph form. It really gave me a good idea of what you wanted to learn about, and I can tell you put a lot of thought into it. I also like what you said about titles having meaning. I think most of the best, most notable works of literature have really intense, meaningful topics (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Catcher in the Rye, etc). Poems also have meaningful titles, and that is something I'd like to analyze more, too. One thing that I wondered about was if your fifth goal was really a goal. But that's a minor detail.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear that you know what you what you need to improve upon in analyzing poetry. Great job!