How do I improve my depth of analysis when it comes to poetry?

When it comes to poetry, before you launch yourself into an essay it is very important to organise your thoughts, even if the poem is as short as one stanza. There are often several things going on at once and by writing down your ideas in a structured way you will be able to draw links between different ideas and techniques increasing your overall analysis. To begin with, picking apart the essay question should give you a good idea of themes you are hoping to address. This can be achieved through highlighting and selecting key words from the question. Once you have understood the question, the best way to approach a new poem is to FLIRT with the poem. Draw yourself a grid with 4 columns and 5 rows and in the left-hand column write the letters FLIRT going down the page. The acronym stands for Form, Language, Imagery, Rhyme/Rhythm and Theme. Now label the remaining three columns with PEE; this acronym stands for Point, Example and Explanation. For each letter of FLIRT you should make a Point, note down some Examples and finish by Explaining why these examples appear in the poem. What purpose do they serve? How do they link with other points you have made and how can you link this back to the question you have been asked? Let us start by looking at the Form of the poem. There are some forms which are easier to identify, sonnets, haikus and ballad poetry for example, so you can make this point quite easily. To increase your depth of analysis however you need to understand and explain why the poet has chosen this form. If they have chosen to write a sonnet for example, is that because the poem is a love poem or is the choice of form in fact ironic and used to contrast with the Theme (this you can decide when you reach the theme section of your grid). If the poem doesn’t have an identifiable form, just take a moment to look at the stanzas. Are they the same length? Is there a rhythmic structure to the stanzas? Does each stanza represent a shift in the narrative? Has the poet deliberately used free form to prove their non-conformity? These are all questions that can deepen your overall analysis. When moving on to Language it is essential to try and spot patterns and contrasts. Does the poet use language of a particular gravity? Is the vocabulary childlike or sophisticated? Does the poet exploit a single semantic, for example, religious or anatomical language? Do they use hyperbole or superlatives? Is it heavily descriptive, flooded with adjectives or is it a very active poem, every sentence containing several verbs? What tense is used; if it is the past tense does this add to the story telling effect or if it is in the future tense is the poem more dreamlike? When assessing the Imagery, you must go beyond simply identifying the image to gain the most marks. Is the image created through simile or metaphor and do the two produce different effects? (Please refer to my other notes for approaches to metaphor). Is the image concrete and intangible? Do the previous points we made about Language give the image more depth or is there a paradox between the intended image and the words chosen to portray it? There is a lot of scope for interpretation in this section and it can be easy to get lost but make sure that you ground your ideas with specific quotes and examples to increase your analysis. With regards to Rhyme and Rhythm you may have covered some of these points in the Form section, but now it is time to look at each line in more detail. Look for internal rhyme and identify the different effects of masculine and feminine rhymes. Here you can also make note of alliteration, making sure to use specific vocabulary, such as sibilance or plosives, to describe your findings. Does rhyme within the line affect the rhythm? Is the rhythm also interrupted by enjambment or caesura? Finally, when it comes to discussing the overall Themes of the poem, a bit of research can go a long way. This is a great opportunity to read up on the poet and historical and literary context of their work. See if your observations are backed up by this research and pick out key quotations that can help you summarise these larger ideas. Despite this being the final letter in the acronym, it may be useful to do this task first so that you know what to look out for in further reading of the poem. This exercise will help you bring all your ideas together and allow you to identify trends in the poem which you can now confidently write about.