GUIDE LINES FOR TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

I STEP:

-Consider the title and see what expectations it creates, guess the possible content of the poem

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

II STEP:

Read the poem at least twice, in order to be sure to have understood what it's about.

-Look for the new words.

-Be able to translate each line.

-Try to find some connections between the content of the poem and the title

III STEP

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

Example:"The poet is expressed by a speaking voice in the first person, who says he/she heard notes of nature while he/she was sitting in a grove. The speaking voice was in a good mood, thinking of something pleasant , when suddenly, his/her mind was crossed by some sad thoughts."

IV STEP

(Describe the component part of the text and say what the function of each part is).

"The poem consists in six quatrains (a stanza made of  four lines), where the poet provides the reader with the description of a pleasant spring landscape and in the last part invites him/her to reflect on the relationship between man and nature: therefore the poem is partly descriptive and partly reflective.

The riflection invited is anticipated in the refrain of the second stanza: "What man has made of man?"

V STEP

Connotative analysis, it consist in:

•1)      PHONOLOGICAL LEVEL (all that concernes sound devices): kind of vowel sounds, kind of consonance sounds, rhyme scheme, rhythm, assonances, alliterations, pauses, run on lines, stopped lines...*

•2)      SEMANTIC LEVEL: word choice, Latinate words, Anglosaxons words, semantic fields, methaphorical use of words, recurring words, verbe tenses...*

•3)      SYNTACTICAL LEVEL: (word order) Deviation from the norm, pontuations, pauses, inversions...*

*VERY IMPORTANT!: Explain the effect they produce, explain how the choises made add meaning to the text.

Marco Fregonese