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PowerNotes
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
How to Read a Poem
DIRECTIONS: Follow the steps below to gain a better understanding of a poem.
How to Read a Poem
_____ Read the poem silently several times, paying attention to punctuation.
• Draw an arrow at each line that continues on without a pause.
_____ If you are confused by a sentence in the poem, find its subject, verb, and complement.
• Rearrange words that are in nonstandard word order.
_____ Notice figures of speech—similes, metaphors, and personification.
• Write out explanations of the comparisons in the Notes column.
_____ Read the poem aloud, listening to the sounds.
_____ Discuss the poem with a friend or classmate.
• Which words are unfamiliar to you?
• Which lines need to be paraphrased?
_____ Re-read the poem a final time.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
Poem
Notes
Poised between going on and back, pulled
Both ways taut like a tightrope-walker,
Fingertips pointing the opposites,
Now bouncing tiptoe like a dropped ball
Or a kid skipping rope, come on, come on,
Running a scattering of steps sidewise,
How he teeters, skitters, tingles, teases,
Taunts them, hovers like an ecstatic bird,
He’s only flirting, crowd him, crowd him,
Delicate, delicate, delicate, delicate—now!
“The Base Stealer” by Robert Francis
"The Base Stealer" from The Orb Weaver by Robert Francis. Copyright © 1960 by Robert Francis. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan
University Press.
Third Course
1
How to Read a Poem