Poetry Flowchart

What:

• What is the poem about?

• The Big Idea (on AP Exam, often provided in the prompt)

• Infer the what before you read based on the prompt and a quick read. You'll annotate for the WHAT as you read.

How:

• How does the poet develop their Big Idea and reveal its importance?

• Consider Literary Elements:

  • Focus on Diction, Imagery, Figurative Language, Structure, and Sound Devices

• You are interested in these only in HOW they develop the WHAT and WHY

Why:

• Why is the poet writing about this Big Idea? Why does it matter?

• This provides the Insight for your Thesis.

• Your learn the WHY based on the HOW. HOW the poet is discussing the Big Idea in their poem shows WHY they care about it.

Annotating the Poem:

1. (For Exam Only): Read the prompt. What context does it give you and what does it want you to write about. That is usually your Big Idea.

2. First Read of the poem. Your goal in this read through is just to get a sense of the WHAT. Try to paraphrase the poem.

3. Second Read of the poem. Mark any major structural elements. Your goal in this read through is to find the Shift.

• The Shift: When something changes in the poem. The meaning of the poem often lives in the Shift. Imagine the Shift as a bridge that goes from general knowledge about the Big Idea to what the poet wants you to notice about the Big Idea.

• Look for a change in Tone, Subject, Narrator, Audience, or Time.

• One technique is to try outlining the poem so the structure comes through more clearly.

4. Based on the structure/Shift, infer the WHY. Do you have some insight into WHY the poet is talking about the Big Idea?

5. Third Read of the poem. Only pay attention to the sections you marked in your Second Read as having structural significance for the Shift. Your goal in this read through is to pay attention for the HOW.

   • Annotate for Diction, Imagery, Figurative Language, Structure or Rhyme/Rhythm around the moments where there is a Shift. HOW do those literary elements help you realize the shift? HOW do they help the poet offer their insight into the Big Idea? HOW do they guide what you are thinking about the topic?

   • Use this Blooket to help you study some relevant literary terms.

6. Confirm the WHY that you inferred in step 4. Do the literary elements support that WHY? How so?

What It Is: Poetic structure is the way lines of poetry are laid out in a text. This can be the types of stanzas it has, but more often than not, it is about the structure of the lines. For any poetic structure element, imagine how someone would say it and the impact it would have on your understanding. For instance, why would they put a pause where they do? Why might they hold off on any type of pauses? What are they reflecting upon when they pause?

Types:

• End Stop: When a line of poetry has a natural conclusion.

  • WHY: The poet might do this when they want you to move on to thinking about the next idea in their poem.

• Enjambment: When a line of poetry ends in the middle of a thought so that it continues on to the next line.

  • WHY:

    • Enjambment works to create emphasis on the last word of a line and the first word of a next. The poet will shift to a new line in the middle of a thought because they want you to notice something in the middle of that thought. Your job is to ask what they want you to notice.

    • Enjambment creates Syntactic Tension, meaning it delays the end of a sentence/thought, so that the reader starts to question where the text is going. This can build an eerie tone or build anticipation, depending on the tone. Once we have the final thought, we receive Syntactic Closure.

    • Enjambment can also work to provide a sing-song quality because the lines start to blend together into a rhythm. Pay attention for other literary devices like Alliteration.

• Caesura: A "pause" in the middle of a line of poetry, often signaled by punctuation or a large space.

  • WHY: Caesura's emphasize a moment for contemplation, alert readers to a shift in the poet's mind, and may show an epiphany when they suddenly understand something in a new light.

• Line Inversion: Putting the object of a sentence at the start of the line.

  • WHY: This works to draw attention to the first and last words of the line. The poet might be emphasizing a specific idea about those words. This may also work to build Syntactic Tension.

• Repetition: Repeating words or grammatical structures that can build the rhythm or emphasis on an idea.

  • Parallel Structure: Repeating grammatical structures throughout a poem. This can be the same subject-verb tense/wording or a list that uses an "-ing" ending. Parallel Structure often works to show the connections between ideas.

  • Anaphora: A type of parallel structure that intentionally uses the same word or phrase at the start of a series of clauses.

What It Is: One of the principle ways that poetry develops its diction is through the use of Sound Devices. These Sound Devices make the poem pleasing to the ear (creates what one student called a "fire line"),  emphasize important words or the poetic structure. In many ways, the Sound Devices are supposed to emphasize the musical quality of poetry as part of drawing in the audience and driving reader engagement. You can imagine how the sound devices make us feel and, therefore, produce tone.

Types:

• Alliteration: The repetition of a consonant sound at the start of several words located close together.

• Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds (often in the middle of the words) of several words located close together.

• Consonance: The repetition of a final consonant sound of several words located close together.

  • Sibilance: A form of consonance or alliteration that focused on the repetition of "s" or "sh" that mimics the idea of a whisper or a wind. Commonly seen in Shakespeare's soliloquy in Hamlet of "To Be or Not to Be."

• Onomatopoeia: Words that sound like the thing being named. Example: "Whisper" naturally encourages you to say the word as a whisper.

• Euphony: The use of words that make sounds pleasant to the ear and so create a pleasant tone. These words often use letters like M, L, N, and S.

• Cacophony: The use of words that make sounds unpleasant or disturbing to the ear and so create a more disgusted tone. These words often sue letters like R, K, T, P.

  • For more on Euphony and Cacophony, see The English Inventory.