Study guide

The interpretation of a lyrical text is an interaction between experiencing the text and being able to conceptualize the experience. Start by reading the poem aloud because poetry appeals to both the eyes and the ears - more so than any other literary genre. This is a note about the literary tools available to us when we analyse poetry.

 

It is important that we always:

• Try to find the importance of the poem - what appeals to us at every level of the text reading and thus tells us something about the idea in the poem.
• Deal with aspects that are relevant and in a way which makes sense when we analyse and interpret the text.

1st level: THE SITUATION IN THE POEM

1) Time, place, persons and action/plot are being introduced to the reader of the analysis, so that we have a starting point for the analysis.

 

2nd level: STYLE OF WRITING AND EFFECTS

2) Composition: Composition is formed by stanzas, lines, graphical-visual effects, repetition etc.
3) Point of view: The lyrical I: The poem's voice comes from the poet's inner self, but is seldom the same as the poet's own voice. This voice is called "the lyrical I." You: In poetry, the "lyrical I" often addresses the "you" very directly.
4) Form:
a. Rhythm is in all genres, but it is particularly relevant in connection with poetry. Rhythm is interplay of 1) repetition and 2) variation. Rhythm is formed by the metrical feet and the rhymes.

 

Metrical foot

A stanza consists of a number of lines. Each line consists of metrical feet which follow the rhythm of the syllables.

The most common metrical feet are:

" Iambs: A short and a long syllable
" Troches: A long and a short syllable
" Anapests: Two short and one long syllable
" Dactyls: One long and two short syllables.

 

Meter

The metrical feet can be combined as lines, e.g. Shakespeare's blank verse, which consists of five iambs: to be or not to be, that is the question (Hamlet)

 

Rhyme

The most common forms are:

• Alliteration: The repetition of consonants in the beginning of words.
• Assonance: The repetition of vowels in the beginning of words.
• End rhymes: Rhymes at the end of the lines.
• Internal rhymes: Rhymes in the middle of the lines.
• Chiastic rhyme scheme: ABBA
• Alternate rhyme scheme: ABAB

5) Diction

This involves a process of finding key words or phrases. Does the author use many figures of speech, technical language or jargon? Do we see any dialectical variation? Does the author coin new words (neologism)?

 

6) Figurative language

Figurative language is when we express something by means of a small image; it is very useful for us, because many aspects of life are difficult to describe.

The most common forms:

• Simile: A comparison ("My love is like a red, red rose")
• Metaphor: In a metaphor, a first concept is described as being or precisely equal to a second concept. So metaphor describes a figure of speech used to paint one concept with the attributes normally associated with another: E.g. "He is a tower"
• Metonymy: Is the use of a single characteristic to identify a more complex entity. Metonymy is the substitution of one word for another with which it is associated. Example:  "The pen is mightier than the sword"; pen is a metonym for "discourse/negotiation/persuasion", and sword is a metonym for "war."
• Symbol: A symbol is "an arbitrary or conventional sign" or "something that stands for or suggests something else"
• Personification: A kind of metaphor where abstract concepts are made human and given the qualities of a human being.
   

7) Figure

Paradoxes: A paradox is an apparently true statement or group of statements that leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition (both-and; either-or).

Irony: gap between what a speaker or a writer says, and what is understood.

 

3rd level: THE THEME OF THE POEM

8) Contradictions
The contradictions in the poem can be found on many levels, and the pattern of the contradictions can say something about the over-all theme

9) Motif

Definition: any recurring element that has symbolic significance

- Is not the theme, but can support the theme
- Is a situation which initiate the conflicts in the plot
- Is often repeated so that a pattern is formed
- How does motif support the theme?

10) Theme

- The idea in the poem
- Is built on contradictions in the poem: Which contradictions are there in the poem?
- Contains the insight in the poem, which can often be found via the narrator or the main character.

 

4th level: PERSPECTIVES IN THE TEXT

11) Perspectivation

- Comparison with other works from the same author/poet: Do you find any similar patterns in other works?
- Comparison with the historical context: How can you see that the poem was written in 1945?

12) Discussion

- Not until we have analysed and interpreted the poem is it possible to express our own ideas and opinions.
- We can discuss the importance of the poem - and possible consequences of the poem.
- A discussion involves a balanced point of view based on political, historical, literary, cultural knowledge.