Questions about Poetry
The following are some useful questions to keep in mind when trying to interpret a poem.
- Where does the poem take place?
- What is the poem trying to say?
- What is the overall feeling or mood? How does the poem make me feel?
- What kinds of words does the author use?
- When was the poem written?
- Who is the narrator addressing?
- What is my first impression of the poem?
- What is happening in the poem?
- How does the poem apply to life?
- What do the individual words mean?
- Who is the narrator? Who speaks? Who sees?
- What relationship does the title have to the poem?
- What do I know about the author?
- What are the patterns within the poem? What is its structure? What form of poem is it (sonnet, haiku, etc.)?
- What moral statement does the poem make? What is its moral value?
- Who or what influenced the poet to write this poem?
- Is it possible to see more than one pattern within the poem?
- What is the general idea of the poem?
- Is the poem about the poet or about someone else?
- Does it rhyme? What is its rhyme scheme? How does the rhyme or lack of rhyme contribute to the meaning of the poem?
- Is it interesting enough to analyze?
- Is there a story to the poem?
- Where does it take place?
- What is the mood?
- What kinds of words does it use? What is the level of diction?
- When was the poem written?
- What is the subject of the poem?
- What figures of speech does the poem contain?
- What effects are produced by various words within the poem?
- What is the poem written in response to?
- What does the writer intend to convey?
- What critical theories seem useful in understanding this poem?
- What contrasts exist in the poem?
- What significance do the line breaks/stanza breaks have?
- What do the elements of the poem suggest?
- What images does the poem contain? How do these images work together? Are there any conflicting images?
- Are there any symbols, allusions, or archetypal images within the poem? How do these work within the poem and what do they seem to mean?