The link below gets you a compressed, 2-page, printable .pdf version of the steps, glossary and list of Reference titles.
3. Read the poem silently, for its use of imagery.
This demands special attention to the appropriateness (i.e. the organic use) of metaphor, simile, allegory or more elaborate conceits. All words should be considered for their picture-suggesting potentialities. Often a dominant image or figure will centralize the poem.
4. Read the poem silently, for its total poetic structure.
Into what major divisions does the poem fall? How are these divisions connected? Is the structure effective? What connection is there between line and stanzaic patterns and the thought divisions of the poem? What rhetorical devices has the poet employed to heighten the meaning? Comparison? Contrast? Irony? Antithesis?
