What are the best ways to analyse a poem?

The first thing to do once you've finished reading a poem, before you even begin to analyse in-depth, is to think about how the writer is trying to make you (the reader) feel and make a note of any themes portrayed in the text. It's best to think of a few words and themes, perhaps, 'sad, miserable, angry' and 'war, suffering, exhaustion'. The next thing to do is to read back over the poem, this time making note of any parts that you think specifically portray these themes or help you to feel these emotions. Also note if any parts of the poem encourage you to change emotions. Things to look out for are changes in pace, like a change from many long, flowing sentences to short, plosive ones. This could suggest a change in tone, story line or emotion. Also, pinpoint a few specific words to analyse. If they're rather aggressive words, with lots of plosive consonants, suggest the impact of them on the reader, taking care to zoom in on specific sounds. Also, for top marks, its important to look at language, form AND structure, so don't forget to analyse the appearance of the poem. If the stanzas are short and snappy, could this suggest that the persona is angry, scared or perhaps in a rush? If there are long stanzas, with long sentences and perhaps even enjambment, it could encourage readers to think that the persona is sad, lazy or bored. Take care to include a range of different language levels in your analysis, from words and specific sounds to stanzas and sentences. Including a range shows you are both thinking about the poem as a whole and particular important parts, which gives you the basis for much more in-depth analysis which will help you achieve higher marks.