there are _ steps that we may fallow to understand a poem

Happy National Poetry Month! We're kicking things off with a few tips for helping your students unpack all that poetry has to offer. Check out these six ways to analyze a poem.

Step One: Read

Have your students read the poem once to themselves and then aloud, all the way through, at LEAST twice. Feel free to play a recording of the poem or show a video of someone reading the poem, too. Afterward, talk to your class about their first impression and immediate responses, both positive and negative. Also, discuss the poem's structure and rhythm. For example, are the lines short and meant to be read slow? Or, does the poem move fast, and if so, why?

Step Two: Title

Think about the title and how it relates to the poem. Titles often provide important clues about what is at the heart of a piece. Likewise, a title may work ironically or in opposition to a poem. Questions to talk about and consider are:

Does the title immediately change how you think about it?

Does the poem’s title paint a picture that gives a specific time frame, setting or action?

Does it imply multiple possibilities?

Step Three: Speaker

Understanding the speaker is at the center of a poem may help the piece appear more tangible to students because they’re able to imagine a person behind the language. Questions to consider are:

Who “tells” the poem?

Does the poem give any clues about the speaker’s personality, the point of view, age, or gender?

Who is the speaker addressing?

Does the speaker seem attached or detached from what is said?