STEPS TO ANALYZE A POEM

1. Consider the title to find out possible expectation, curiosity and conjectures;
2. Look at the layout, it gives us some clue, hints about the kind of the text;
3. To read the poem, check up to all the word, this procedure is called denotative analyses;
4. Structural analyses, to understand the function that each part of text plays in the overall the meaning of the text;
5. The connotation analysis takes into consideration different levels that all together contribute to make the messages;
6. Levels:

• Phonological: analysis all aspect connected to sound: sound devices (repetition, refrain, consonance, assonance)
• Semantic:  analysis word choice (how the poet decide to use the world, semantic feels,  verb tenses)
• Syntax: word order, anaphor (back-word), cataphor (foreword), deviation from the normal (Never I have seen a...)
• Figures of speech

7. Argumentative structure