Poetry

Aim:

How can we use “For My Lover, Returning to His Wife” to practice analyzing poetry?

Opening Questions

How are “For My Lover” and “That Day” similar and different?

How to Analyze a Poem

I. Dramatic Situation 

A. Who is speaking? 

B. To whom is that speaker speaking? 

C. What is the situation? 

D. What is the speaker's tone?

How to Analyze a PoemII. Imagery

1. Visual

2. Auditory

3. Olfactory

4. Gustatory

5. Tactile

6. Organic

7. Kinesthetic

How to Analyze a Poem

III. Theme

How to Analyze a Poem

IV. Diction (word choice) 

A. Connotation (suggested meaning of words) 

B. Denotation (dictionary definition) 

C. Abstract (can only be understood intellectually) 

D. Concrete (words describing physical objects)

How to Analyze a PoemV. Use of figurative

language  

A. Metaphor  & Simile

B. Personification   

C. Irony   

D. Alliteration (repetition at beginning)

E. Onomatopoeia (word sounds like the actual sound)

   

F. Hyperbole (exaggeration)   

G. Allusion (reference to something)   

H. Pun (play on words)   

I. Paradox (contradiction)   

J. H. Oxymoron (self contradictory term)

K. Extended Metaphor

In pairs, take some time and analyze “For My

Lover.”