S W I F P E T:
a heuristic for experiencing a poem
heuristic – n. that which guides investigation and promotes discovery, although it does not guarantee to
produce a particular or desired outcome.
To fully experience and understand a poem, or anything for that matter, it is often necessary to dismantle it
and examine its parts; we must dive deep into the sometimes obscure waters of a poem and lose ourselves,
for a time, in considering its intricacies, its elements. However, at some point after we have examined the
parts almost to the point of absurdity, we must lift ourselves out of the machinery of the poem and
synthesize all that we have discovered about the poem, and perhaps about ourselves, into a meaningful
whole, an entity different from that which we initially encountered. This is to have fully experienced a
poem.
Don’t view the following as necessarily sequential steps (although the last two elements are results or
products of the other elements), but instead view these elements as points of entry into a poem. No single
element exists unto itself; they are all inextricably linked, like the various systems of a body.
structure
- Begin by considering the lines: long? short? enjambed? The stanzas: number of lines?
symmetrical? What happens in the breaks? The sound devices: rhyme, alliteration, onomatopeia, etc.
The form: lyric? narrative? sonnet? villanelle?
word choice
- Otherwise known as the poet’s diction. Since poets condense a great deal of
meaning into only a few words, they must be economical with their diction: they must derive the most
meaning per word. Thus, the words they choose are often highly connotative. When examining the
poet’s diction, pay particular attention to these words that are laden with implicit meaning, and also to
words that denotatively convey extraordinary intensity. Remember that every word is the result of a
choice. By the way: in an essay, one can discuss a poet’s diction without using the word “diction.” It’s
about the words themselves.
imagery
- What things in the poem appeal to our senses? Although it is mostly visual, imagery is not
limited to that which we can see in our imaginations, but also to that which we can imaginatively taste,
smell, hear and feel. In other words, what are the concrete aspects of the poem? What is real in the
poem, and, most importantly, what associations do we have with the images. Sometimes images are
symbolic, which leads us to…
figurative language
- For the poet, literal language is sometimes inadequate. He or she must
look to indirect language as a means to convey abstractions, or to better convey actualities: in other
words, to more fully communicate the experience that the poem represents. Figures of speech are
simply phrases used in a figurative, not literal, sense. See Style Analysis handout for a comprehensive
list of figures of speech.
point of view/speaker -
The poet is generally not the speaker. Poets create a persona, and it is
this persona that “speaks” to us. After reading the poem, ask yourself, “Who is this speaker? Who
would say the things that the speaker says?” and then ask yourself, “ What is the context or situation of
the poem?” Finally, from what perspective does the persona speak? 1st person, 3rd person, or both? Is
the poem retrospective, or is it in the present?
© Michael Henry 2011
emotion, otherwise known as tone
- What feelings do you detect in the poem? Not
necessarily how it makes you feel, but how does the speaker seem to feel? What is his or her attitude
toward the subject of the poem. Listen carefully for the emotional sounds in the poem; they are often
subtle. Since good poems generally contain more than one tone, pay careful attention to where it shifts
or changes. Tone is a product of the above elements, especially diction. One must detect, or hear, the
tone to adequately comprehend a poem.
theme
- The central, universal ideas represented in a poem, although we should be fully aware that
poems may not always convey grandiose philosophical insights. Sometimes poems simply represent an
experience or a state of mind, and they may not always offer a neatly generalization about those
experiences or states of mind. However, since poetry addresses the breadth of our experiences, quite
frequently poems do present some big ideas that we may regard as themes. However, these themes will
not be stated explicitly; they will be implied throughout a poem. A sensitive reading of the poem, one in
which we pay careful attention to the above elements, will allow us to properly infer these themes.
Two things are worth noting about theme: first, themes cannot be adequately stated in single words. If
we say that a poem is about love and family, those are subjects or topics of the poem. A statement of
theme would answer the question, “What does the poem imply about family and love?” It may be that
the poem implies that although we are born into families, we may not necessarily love our family
members. Second, we may not agree with a poem’s theme. Our task is not to argue with poem, but to
look closely at the way the poet presents the idea and appreciate the elegance of the poem’s
construction, despite the fact that we may not see eye to eye with it.
© Michael Henry 2011