1° step:   Consider the title and see what expectations it creates about the possible content of the poem.

Ex:   Just considering the title I expect the poem to be about something happening in spring, probably when spring has just started ("early spring").  

2° step:   Read the poem at least twice in order to be sure to have understood what it is about. Look for the new words, be able to translate each line. Try to find some connection between the content of the poem and the title.

3° step:   Write the denotative analysis of the poem (in your own words say what the poem is about).

Ex:   The poem is expressed by a speaking voice, in the first person who says that he or she heard the notes of Nature while sitting in a groove.
The speaking voice was in a good mood thinking of something pleasant when suddenly his or her mind was crossed by some sad thoughts.

4° step:   Structural analysis (describe the component parts of the text and say what the function of each part is).

Ex:   The poem consists of (is made of, is organized into) six quatrain (= stanza consisting four lines each) where the poet at first provides the reader with the description of a pleasant spring landscape and, in the last part, invites him or her to reflect on the relationship between man and Nature.
Therefore the poem is partly descriptive and partly reflective.
The reflection invited is anticipated in the refrain of the second stanza ("what man has made of man")

5° step:   Connotative analysis which consists in:
 

a)  Phonological level (all that concerns sound devices: some kind of vowels and consonants, rhyme scheme, rhythm, assonance and alliteration, pauses and punctuation, run-on-lines and end-stopped-lines). Explain what is the effect it produces and explain how the choices made add meaning to the text.
 

b)   Semantic level (consider the words choice: concrete, abstract, Latinate words). Semantic field, metaphorical use of words. Are any words recurrent? What are the times he/she uses? Explain what is the effect it produces and explain how the choices made add meaning to the text.

c)  Syntactical level (word order): deviations from the norm, punctuation.