Approaching+a+poem


=== **Why do we read poems? How to approach poems? Or What is the need to analyze it? Questions, we English teachers are very often confronted with. What do we say: To the first, we say, poems are to be read for the pleasure they give, the imagery they paint in our mind, the thrill of hidden meaning which can be extracted, the metaphors it contain, in short, a journey inside the mind of the poet who wrote it, the reasons her wrote it for, and the effect it has on the reader. To the last question, a short and blunt answer suffices: Poems are part of your syllabus. You will be set questions on it. You will have to analyze it. Therefore, you have to know the ways and means to do it which answers the second question.** ===

**// 6. //// Theme/themes it contains //**
=== **Very often, a student gets panicky when confronted with an unknown poem to analyze in Paper 1 of English A1, IBDP. Having a sound knowledge and idea of the above mentioned points could help the students understand the poem easily and help them appreciate it easily.** === === **William Wordsworth in his // Preface to Lyrical Ballads // has written: // Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility. // For me, that is the key to approach any poem, deal with it emotionally. Speak to it, converse with it, react to it, argue with it, and finally give your own opinion about it, differing or agreeing to the poet’s emotions and feelings. This, in the IB parlance means ‘a personal response’ to the poem. The poet and the poem want a debate. Are you up to the challenge? If so, // LET’S DO IT. //** ===

** // Okay, let’s guide you through the process: // **

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**First of all, read the poem from the beginning to the end. Get a feel of the overall poem. Don’t try to unearth meaning or symbols at this point.**
===**Next, read the poem again, this time slowly. Start with the title. It has an important part to play. Very often, the title is very suggestive and contains the central theme of the poem itself, albeit connotatively. Does it indicate anything? Is it difficult to decipher?**=== ===**Start with the first stanza now. Does it have a dramatic beginning, a shocking statement, perhaps? Or, does it start with a question, a riddle? Perhaps, it may also start with a dull, lazy pace, slowly gathering pace, and heading toward a climax. What does it contain? Does it spring an idea on you as the reader? Does it tell us something, or is it a mere rumination of the poet’s fanciful mind at play? Is a question asked or does it state something? This means, we need to check for authorial intent.**=== ===**Continue with the rest of the stanza in the same vein. Check to see the connectors between each stanza, whether the same idea/theme is carried forward or there are differences in the ideas of each stanza. Be sure to check the opposition of ideas which many poets like to play with. Note down any deviations of thought and ideas.**=== ===**How does the poem end? Did it answer any question raised at the beginning of the poem? Did the poet contradict himself at the end? Did it throw up additional ideas? Were you happy or disappointed with the concluding stanza?**=== ===**The next stage is looking for poetic devices, figures of speech used by the poet? Consider how these devices were used to alleviate, beautify, or give substance to the poem? Was there an abundance of a particular device, or was it full of various rhetorical/poetic devices.**=== ===**Note also, the language used. Is it, like Wordsworth wanted it to be, language which a layman could understand, or is it like the style much favored by the metaphysical, full of // far-fetched conceits, // or // chamber poet’s // language, as Drayton, in the 17 th century had labeled the metaphysical poets as?**=== ===**Hang on; the checklist is still not over: What about imagery, tone, mood, and style…to name a few. All these also have to be taken into consideration if you want to score well in your paper. No wonder, it is felt as a pain by students J**=== ===**Now jot down how the poem has affected you overall. Does it differ from the poet’s intent? Don’t be afraid of being completely at odds with it. Remember, you are recreating a poem of your own, so don’t be scared. As long as you can justify your standpoint with lines from the poem, you are on the right track. This is PERSONAL RESPONSE.**===
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** A few skills are built up in the process of analyzing a poem: **

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**Students learn how to dig deeper, going beyond the surface meaning of the poem, unearthing the connotative meaning of the poem as against the obvious denotative.**

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**They are able to figure out thematic meanings, use of various devices by the poet, why used and for what purpose.**

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**To becomes familiar with various styles, form and language used by poets, their treatment of subjects, themes, use of symbolisms, voice, and the creation of a particular mood and tone of the poet.**

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**Finally, students are able to discern key words and phrases, inject them smoothly into sentences of their own while writing their commentary on an unknown poem.**
=== **In conclusion, one might say that the domain of the poet is the language he/she uses. Restructuring the language as benefits the need of the poem, the poet creates new meaning, discovers new ideas, and takes us on a journey of extraordinary pleasure. Therefore, while approaching a poem for the first time, listen to the poem to hear what it is whispering to you. All poems speak to the reader, great poems lecture, and guide, entertain, moralize, while others simply lets us enjoy the world as the poet visions it. Some poems simply want us to enjoy a poem as the Aesthetics would have it, // “Art for Art’s sake” //, while some prefer to preach, a la’ Matthew Arnold, // “Art for Morality’s sake”. //** === === **But whatever the intention may be, one thing is absolutely clear, a poem makes us look at the world around us in a close manner, opens up our senses to things which hitherto remained closeted. It rouses our passion or emotions and makes us go through a myriad of emotions and feelings. Not for nothing is poetry called: // “The most concise of all literary expressions.” //So densely packed with meaning a poem is.** ===