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Teaching Poetry Without Killing It
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By Judy Lightfoot
Based on the argument in my article on modern poetry, it is best to start students on analyzing
poetry by reminding them, first, that A POEM IS A SPEECH. This rhetorical approach keeps the
poem alive, as vs. the typical desperate student gambit of jumping right into discussion,
without context, of theme or imagery -- a move which tends to deaden analysis as well as to
be misleading to readers of the poem.
Beginning with speaker and situation also helps students draw on their comparatively mature
understanding of fiction and drama: because they are used to talking about persons and
conversations in these two genres, they can apply in a living way their expertise about these
matters to poems that are considered as speeches by characters.
Students need to be cautioned to use only the information they have in the words of the poem
in building their conception of the character of the speaker and the features of the situation. To
illustrate: the speaker of "Richard Cory" is evidently a person who is not wealthy, but to say that
he is a homeless person would be going too far (in fact, there is evidence in the poem that the
speaker is not). All that we can learn about the speaker and his or her situation is contained in
the poem, and sometimes that is very little that could appear on a "fact sheet:" about a
person's life or status. For example, we don't know much more about the speaker of
Shakespeare's "My Mistress' Eyes" than that he is a man who is in love and who is familiar
with the hackneyed conventions of the love poetry of his times; but we don't need to know more
than this to appreciate his argument.
The best way I've found to help students achieve a living sense of the character and situation
of a poetic speaker is to ask them to become the speaker and to speak the lines aloud -- just
as they are familiar with doing when they act the part of a character in a play. Again, however,
they must not imagine the life of the speaker beyond what is said and implied in the words on
the page. A poem is more like a game of tennis than capture-the-flag, and this discipline is
part of its appeal.
Once students have a lively sense of the character speaking, and of the speaker's situation,
they can address THEME and TONE -- beginning with the character's ideas and feelings --
less mechanically or bloodlessly than they might otherwise. And having done that, attending to
STYLE and FORM will also feel less merely academic: "Why does the speaker use this word
instead of another? Why break the line here instead of there? What does the rhyme in the
second line contribute to content?"
As with all scaffoldings for thinking, once the scaffold isn't needed any more, it can be taken
down because the student has developed habits of mind that will enable him or her to
construct complete analyses independently.
Summary for students:
A POEM IS A SPEECH, so first of all pretend to be the speaker, stand and gesture as the
speaker might be standing and gesturing as he speaks. Speak out the lines dramatically, as if
they were a speech in a play. Then ask yourself these questions: Who am I, and why am I
speaking out? Is my setting or audience stated or implied, or not? What am I talking about?
How am I thinking and feeling about that?
In responding to the above questions, you discuss the speaker's character & personality, and
the speaker's situation, which includes her implied or stated audience, her relationship to that
audience (e.g., intimate or distant? casual or formal?), and her relation to her subject (are the
events in that situation past or present events? close or distant events? are they present
events that she is taking part in, present events that she is observing, or past events that she
is remembering and reflecting on?). Use detailed evidence from the poem to support your
ideas.
When you identify the speaker's ideas, you have a good start on identifying the "themes" of the
poem.
When you identify the speaker's feelings and attitudes, you have a good start on identifying the
"tone" of the poem.
2. A POEM IS ALSO AN ARTFUL WEAVE OF WORDS, so now stand back from the poem and
what you've learned about it so far. Ask, "How does the poem's style complement and help
develop speaker, situation, theme, and tone?" "S
Style in poems is the language, or verbal expression. Some elements are sentence structure,
diction (consider denotation & connotation; consider whether formal or colloquial; consider
whether abstract or concrete, etc.), imagery, figurative language, symbolism (if any), repetition,
and sometimes punctuation or other mechanics of writing.Point to specific details or
moments in the poem where an element of style seems particularly suited to content or
meaning.
3. A POEM IS ALSO A MUSICAL WORK OF ART, so ask yourself: How does each feature of
form complement and help develop speaker, situation, theme, tone, and style?
The form of a poem is everything that you can hear in the language and see in its arrangement
on the page: rhyme, rhythm or meter, repetition and other devices of sound, line breaks (end-
stopped or run-on), stanza length and stanza breaks, and use of traditional forms (ballad,
sestina, sonnet, blank verse, terza rima, etc.). Point to specific details or moments in the poem
where one or more of these formal features seems particularly suited to content or meaning
and style.
TO SUPPORT AND DEVELOP YOUR EXPLICATION, you don't always have to quote; you can
also paraphrase, or you can refer in more general terms to details of the poem. For each item
of support, cite line #s in parentheses.
POSSIBLE CONTEXTS FOR A FORMAL ESSAY: Other poems; other work by the same author;
cultural/historical contexts; personal response & personal experience; other authors or
literature in the course; themes of the course.
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A POETRY ANALYSIS POSTER
A POEM IS LIKE A PERSON.
We need to "meet," experience, and think about a poem many times before we can really know
it.
A POEM IS A SPEECH.
A speaker in a situation (sometimes including a specific setting and audience) is expressing
perceptions, thoughts, and feelings, directly as well as indirectly. We infer theme and tone
partly from what the speaker says and how he says it.
A POEM IS AN ARTFUL WEAVE OF WORDS.
Consider every single element and feature of STYLE --
the language,
the verbal expression of the poem...
syntax (loose, periodic, parallel, cumulative, etc.),
diction (formal & colloquial; denotations & connotations; abstract & concrete); imagery,
figurative language,
symbolism (if any);
sometimes punctuation and other mechanics of writing
STYLE suits speaker, situation, theme, and tone, and contributes to their development.
A POEM IS A MUSICAL WORK OF ART.
Consider every single element and feature of FORM -- the sounds and the visual arrangement
of the poem... .
rhyme
rhythm or meter
line breaks (end-stopped or run-on)
stanza length and stanza breaks
repetition and devices of sound,
traditional forms (ballad, sestina, sonnet, blank verse, terza rima, etc.)
FORM complements everything else in the poem: speaker, situation, theme, tone, style.
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