Poetry Analysis
English 9R
Name: ________________________________________
Poetry-Analysis Calendar
Assignment
Due Date
“Ozymandias”
Poetry-Analysis Paragraph (20 points)
******
“We Grow Accustomed to the Dark”
Poetry-Analysis Paragraph (20 points)
******
“The Road Not Taken” Poetry-Analysis Paragraph
(20 points)
******
“Sonnet 73” Poetry-Analysis Paragraph (20 points)
******
ALL FOUR Poetry Analyses (80 points)
4/30
You must hand in a hard copy AND submit a copy to
turnitin.com. Failure to submit on the due date will result in the
loss of five points per day late.
Poetry Analysis: How Literary Devices Inform Theme
You will be asked to write a well-developed paragraph discussing both the main idea, or theme,
of each poem as well as how the use of a specific literary device helped to develop that theme.
Your paragraphs MUST be typed and double spaced in Times New Roman Size 12 Font.
You must hand in a hard copy AND submit a copy to turnitin.com. Failure to submit to
turnitin.com ON the due date will result in the loss of five points per day late.
Outline
Topic Sentence: (One to two sentences)
Create a Thesis statement wherein you clearly identify a central idea, or theme, in the poem. Be
sure to include title, author, and genre (poem). Identify ONE literary device (irony, metaphor,
imagery, etc.) that develops the central idea and provide a brief explanation/definition of the
writing strategy selected.
Body: (Eight sentences)
Introduce ONE example from the poem where the literary device you have selected is present.
Provide a direct quote from the poem that illustrates the literary device you have chosen.
Analysis: Explain how this particular example of your literary device develops the poem’s main
idea.
Transition to a SECOND example from the poem in your own words where the literary device
you have selected is present.
Provide a SECOND direct quote from the poem that illustrates the literary device you have
chosen.
Analysis: Explain how the second example of your literary device develops the poem’s main
idea.
Concluding Statement: (One sentence)
Explain how the use of the literary device enhanced the central idea/overall meaning of the
poem.
Sample Analysis
Topic Sentence: The poem “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes concerned the theme of
indefinitely postponed dreams and the various detrimental effects that can have on the dreamer him or herself,
which is illustrated by the use of simile throughout the poem. Define Term: A simile is a type of figurative
language that compares two different things or ideas using the words “like” or “as”. Body: For example,
Hughes writes, Quote 1: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”
Analysis: This is the first of many similes in which an unrealized dream is compared to different things in
order to demonstrate the impact of disappointment, frustration and disillusionment. This particular example
seems to indicate that the dreamer him or herself might “dry up” or stop hoping for a better future. This could
also refer to the dream itself, which will lose its luster for the dreamer, who will now envision a barren future
in which all hope for success has evaporated. Second Example/Quote: Another example of a simile is when
Hughes asks if the dream will, “fester like a sore / And then run?” Second Example Analysis: In this example
he is comparing the broken dream to a painful emotional wound that will “infect” the dreamer and poison his
or her hopes for the future. It also seems to indicate that the pain will linger for a long time. The running sore
could be said to represent poisonous cynicism, which will now infect the dreamer. Conclusion: Hughes uses
many vivid similes in each line of his poem, each of which connect to the overall theme of the damage that
unfulfilled promises can inflict upon a dreamer.
Just the Facts: The Elements of Poetry
Poetic Techniques / Figurative Language
Denotation:
Connotation:
Allusion:
Metaphor:
Simile:
Oxymoron:
Sentimentality:
Understatement:
Poetic Elements
Rhyme:
Rhythm/Meter:
Iamb:
Iambic pentameter:
Tone:
“Ozymandias” by Percy Shelley
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless [no body] legs of stone
1. What does the adjective “antique” suggest about the
setting of the poem?
Stand in the desert ... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage [face] lies, whose frown,
2. How are the stone legs described? What is suggested by
the fact that these vast legs have no trunk (body)?
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
3. Which is more permanent—sand or stone? What idea
about mortality is suggested by pairing stone with sand?
And on the pedestal [raised platform] these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
4. What do the adjectives used to describe the visage, or
face, suggest about it? What can we infer about this stone
visage if we are told that it is “half sunk” in the sand?
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Suggested Themes:
 Mortality
 The Pride of
Man
 Death
 Monuments
to the Dead
Suggested
Elements:
 Irony
 Imagery
 Setting
 Figurative or descriptive language
5. What does the pedestal, a raised platform that elevates the
statue, suggest about Ozymandias? How does the mention of
the pedestal contribute to the poem’s sense of irony (when
something is the opposite of what we expect)?
7. What motif, or repeated idea, do you find in the adjectives
and verbs used in the final three lines of the poem?
“Sonnet 73” by William Shakespeare
1. Highlight the images in this quatrain (set of four lines).
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
2. To what is the speaker metaphorically comparing himself in
the first quatrain? What do the images in this metaphor
emphasize?
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare
ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
3. Highlight the images in this quatrain.
4. To what is the speaker metaphorically comparing himself in
the second quatrain? What do the images in this metaphor
emphasize?
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
5. What do the seasons and night/day have in common that old
age and human life do not?
6. To what is the speaker metaphorically comparing himself in
the third quatrain?
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
7. To what are the ashes of the fire being metaphorically
compared? What will the ashes eventually do to the fire?
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
8. What does the speaker seem to acknowledge about himself in
this stanza through the use of the metaphoric fire?
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Suggested Themes:
 Mortality/Time
 Death
 Aging
 Love
 Appreciation of life
Suggested Literary Elements:
 Imagery
 Figurative or descriptive language
 Metaphor
 Symbolism
 Tone
9. What advice does the speaker offer in the couplet (last two
rhyming lines) at the end?
10. Based on the three quatrains and the couplet, what has the
speaker come to realize about himself?
LIVING
The famous Robert Frost poem we’ve
read wrong forever
By Stephen Lynch
August 16, 2015 | 6:04am
Modal Trigger
It is the most famous poem in American literature, a staple of pop
songs, newspaper columnists and valedictorian speeches. It is “The Road Not
Taken” by Robert Frost.
Everyone can quote those final two lines. But everyone, writes David
Orr in his new book The Road Not Taken (Penguin Press), gets the meaning
wrong.
The poem is praised as an ode of individuality, to not follow the pack
even though the path may be more difficult.
Except Frost notes early in the poem that the two roads were “worn . . .
really about the same.” There is no difference. It’s only later, when the
narrator recounts this moment, that he says he took the road less traveled.
“This is the kind of claim we make when we want to comfort or blame
ourselves by assuming that our current position is the product of our own
choices (as opposed to what was chosen for us, or allotted to us by chance),”
Orr writes.
“The poem isn’t a salute to can-do individualism,” he continues. “It’s a
commentary on the self-deception we practice when constructing the story of
our own lives.”
Wrongly referred to by many as “The Road Less Traveled,” the poem’s
true title, “The Road Not Taken,” references regret rather than pride. That’s by
design. Frost wrote it as somewhat of a joke to a friend, English poet Edward
Thomas.
In 1912, Frost was nearly 40 and frustrated by his lack of success in the
United States. After Thomas praised his work in London, the two became
friends, and Frost visited him in Gloucestershire. They often took walks in the
woods, and Frost was amused that Thomas always said another path might
have been better. “Frost equated [it] with the romantic predisposition for
‘crying over what might have been,’ ” Orr writes, quoting Frost biographer
Lawrance Thompson.
Frost thought his friend “would take the poem as a gentle joke and
protest, ‘Stop teasing me,’ ” Thompson writes.
He didn’t. Like readers today, Thomas was confused by it and maybe
even thought he was being lampooned.
One Edward Thomas biographer suggested that “The Road Not Taken”
goaded the British poet, who was indecisive about joining the army.
“It pricked at his confidence . . . the one man who understood his
indecisiveness most acutely — in particular, toward the war — appeared to be
mocking him for it,” writes Matthew Hollis.
Thomas enlisted in World War I, and was killed two years later.
Orr writes that “The Road Not Taken” is “a thoroughly American poem. The
ideas that [it] holds in tension — the notion of choice, the possibility of selfdeception — are concepts that define . . . the United States.”
It is also, as critic Frank Lentricchia writes, “the best example in all of
American poetry of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
1. For what are the two roads that the narrator encounters a metaphor?
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
2. How does the author seem to feel about these two roads?
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
3. How does the narrator describe the path he takes in the first three lines
of this stanza?
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
4. What does he admit to the reader in the last two lines?
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
5. What does the narrator decide to do in this stanza? What does he also
realize about this decision?
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
6. How does the word “sigh” affect the tone of the final stanza?
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
7. What does the narrator’s sigh suggest about his feelings regarding his
decision?
And that has made all the difference.
Suggested Themes:
 Choices
 Regrets
 Life’s Journey
Suggested Elements:
 Verbal Irony
 Imagery
 Setting
 Metaphor
 Symbolism
8. Looking back on the poem as a whole, cite one to two examples of
verbal irony (the speaker means something different from what he/she
says). What is this poem really saying about life choices when viewed
through such a lens?
“We Grow Accustomed to the Dark”
By Emily Dickinson
1. Why might it be argued that the phrase “become
accustomed” (become familiar with through frequent or
regular repetition) is one of the most important phrases
in the poem?
We grow accustomed to the Dark -When light is put away -As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp To witness her
Goodbye --
2. What does the use of the pronoun “we” suggest about
whom the poem is addressing?
3. How does the word “neighbor” create a sense of
security? What happens to the neighbor?
4. How is the tone of the second stanza different from
that of the first? What words or images help enforce that
change?
A Moment -- We uncertain step
For newness of the night -Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark -And meet the Road -- erect --
And so of larger -- Darkness -Those Evenings of the Brain --
5. What does the verb “grope” suggest about how a
person handles being in the darkness?
When not a Moon disclose a sign -Or Star -- come out -- within –
The Bravest -- grope a little -And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead -But as they learn to see –
Either the Darkness alters -Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight -And Life steps almost straight.
Suggested Themes:
 Death/Life
 Fear
 Change
 Adjustment
Suggested Elements:
 Tone
 Imagery
 Diction (choice of specific words)
 Metaphor
 Symbolism
6. What does the adjective “almost” imply in the final
line about one’s life in the darkness?
7. What other words in the final stanza indicate
adjustment or change?
Poetry Analysis: “Ozymandias”
Content and
Analysis: The
extent to which
the response
conveys complex
ideas and
information clearly
and accurately in
order to support
an analysis of the
text.
Command of
Evidence: The
extent to which
the response
presents evidence
from the provided
text to support
analysis.
Coherence,
Organization, and
Style: The extent
to which the
response logically
organizes complex
ideas, concepts,
and information.
Grammar &
Spelling: The
extent to which
the response
demonstrates
command of
grammar, usage,
capitalization,
punctuation, and
spelling.
Excellent
Introduces a
well-reasoned
central idea and
a writing strategy
that clearly
establish the
criteria for
analysis. (5)
Good
Introduces a clear
central idea and a
writing strategy that
establish the criteria
for analysis. (3)
Satisfactory
Introduces a
central idea
and/or a writing
strategy. (2)
Needs Improvement
Introduces a
confused or
incomplete central
idea or writing
strategy. (1)
Demonstrates a
thoughtful
analysis of the
author’s use of
the writing
strategy to
develop the
central idea. (5)
Presents ideas
clearly and
consistently,
making effective
use of specific
and relevant
evidence to
support the
analysis. (5)
Demonstrates an
appropriate analysis
of the author’s use of
the writing strategy to
develop the central
idea. (3)
Demonstrates a
superficial
analysis of the
author’s use of the
writing strategy to
develop the
central idea. (2)
Demonstrates a
minimal analysis of
the author’s use of
the writing strategy
to develop the central
idea. (1)
Presents ideas
sufficiently, making
adequate use of
relevant evidence to
support analysis. (3)
Exhibits little
organization of ideas
and information.
Uses language that is
predominantly
incoherent,
inappropriate, or
copied directly from
the text. (1)
0-2 spelling or
grammar errors
are present.
Effort and
proofreading are
obvious. (5)
3-4 spelling or
grammar errors are
present. (3)
Presents ideas
inconsistently,
inadequately,
and/or
inaccurately in an
attempt to support
analysis, making
use of some
evidence that may
be irrelevant. (2)
5-6 spelling or
grammar errors
are present. (2)
7 or more grammar
and spelling errors
are present. (1)
(Total: 20 points)
Poetry Analysis: “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark”
Content and
Analysis: The
extent to which
the response
conveys complex
ideas and
information clearly
and accurately in
order to support
an analysis of the
text.
Command of
Evidence: The
extent to which
the response
presents evidence
from the provided
text to support
analysis.
Coherence,
Organization, and
Style: The extent
to which the
response logically
organizes complex
ideas, concepts,
and information.
Grammar &
Spelling: The
extent to which
the response
demonstrates
command of
grammar, usage,
capitalization,
punctuation, and
spelling.
Excellent
Introduces a
well-reasoned
central idea and
a writing strategy
that clearly
establish the
criteria for
analysis. (5)
Good
Introduces a clear
central idea and a
writing strategy that
establish the criteria
for analysis. (3)
Satisfactory
Introduces a
central idea
and/or a writing
strategy. (2)
Needs Improvement
Introduces a
confused or
incomplete central
idea or writing
strategy. (1)
Demonstrates a
thoughtful
analysis of the
author’s use of
the writing
strategy to
develop the
central idea. (5)
Presents ideas
clearly and
consistently,
making effective
use of specific
and relevant
evidence to
support the
analysis. (5)
Demonstrates an
appropriate analysis
of the author’s use of
the writing strategy to
develop the central
idea. (3)
Demonstrates a
superficial
analysis of the
author’s use of the
writing strategy to
develop the
central idea. (2)
Demonstrates a
minimal analysis of
the author’s use of
the writing strategy
to develop the central
idea. (1)
Presents ideas
sufficiently, making
adequate use of
relevant evidence to
support analysis. (3)
Exhibits little
organization of ideas
and information.
Uses language that is
predominantly
incoherent,
inappropriate, or
copied directly from
the text. (1)
0-2 spelling or
grammar errors
are present.
Effort and
proofreading are
obvious. (5)
3-4 spelling or
grammar errors are
present. (3)
Presents ideas
inconsistently,
inadequately,
and/or
inaccurately in an
attempt to support
analysis, making
use of some
evidence that may
be irrelevant. (2)
5-6 spelling or
grammar errors
are present. (2)
7 or more grammar
and spelling errors
are present. (1)
(Total: 20 points)
Poetry Analysis: “The Road Not Taken”
Content and
Analysis: The
extent to which
the response
conveys complex
ideas and
information clearly
and accurately in
order to support
an analysis of the
text.
Command of
Evidence: The
extent to which
the response
presents evidence
from the provided
text to support
analysis.
Coherence,
Organization, and
Style: The extent
to which the
response logically
organizes complex
ideas, concepts,
and information.
Grammar &
Spelling: The
extent to which
the response
demonstrates
command of
grammar, usage,
capitalization,
punctuation, and
spelling.
Excellent
Introduces a
well-reasoned
central idea and
a writing strategy
that clearly
establish the
criteria for
analysis. (5)
Good
Introduces a clear
central idea and a
writing strategy that
establish the criteria
for analysis. (3)
Satisfactory
Introduces a
central idea
and/or a writing
strategy. (2)
Needs Improvement
Introduces a
confused or
incomplete central
idea or writing
strategy. (1)
Demonstrates a
thoughtful
analysis of the
author’s use of
the writing
strategy to
develop the
central idea. (5)
Presents ideas
clearly and
consistently,
making effective
use of specific
and relevant
evidence to
support the
analysis. (5)
Demonstrates an
appropriate analysis
of the author’s use of
the writing strategy to
develop the central
idea. (3)
Demonstrates a
superficial
analysis of the
author’s use of the
writing strategy to
develop the
central idea. (2)
Demonstrates a
minimal analysis of
the author’s use of
the writing strategy
to develop the central
idea. (1)
Presents ideas
sufficiently, making
adequate use of
relevant evidence to
support analysis. (3)
Exhibits little
organization of ideas
and information.
Uses language that is
predominantly
incoherent,
inappropriate, or
copied directly from
the text. (1)
0-2 spelling or
grammar errors
are present.
Effort and
proofreading are
obvious. (5)
3-4 spelling or
grammar errors are
present. (3)
Presents ideas
inconsistently,
inadequately,
and/or
inaccurately in an
attempt to support
analysis, making
use of some
evidence that may
be irrelevant. (2)
5-6 spelling or
grammar errors
are present. (2)
7 or more grammar
and spelling errors
are present. (1)
(Total: 20 points)
Poetry Analysis: “Sonnet 73”
Content and
Analysis: The
extent to which
the response
conveys complex
ideas and
information clearly
and accurately in
order to support
an analysis of the
text.
Command of
Evidence: The
extent to which
the response
presents evidence
from the provided
text to support
analysis.
Coherence,
Organization, and
Style: The extent
to which the
response logically
organizes complex
ideas, concepts,
and information.
Grammar &
Spelling: The
extent to which
the response
demonstrates
command of
grammar, usage,
capitalization,
punctuation, and
spelling.
Excellent
Introduces a
well-reasoned
central idea and
a writing strategy
that clearly
establish the
criteria for
analysis. (5)
Good
Introduces a clear
central idea and a
writing strategy that
establish the criteria
for analysis. (3)
Satisfactory
Introduces a
central idea
and/or a writing
strategy. (2)
Needs Improvement
Introduces a
confused or
incomplete central
idea or writing
strategy. (1)
Demonstrates a
thoughtful
analysis of the
author’s use of
the writing
strategy to
develop the
central idea. (5)
Presents ideas
clearly and
consistently,
making effective
use of specific
and relevant
evidence to
support the
analysis. (5)
Demonstrates an
appropriate analysis
of the author’s use of
the writing strategy to
develop the central
idea. (3)
Demonstrates a
superficial
analysis of the
author’s use of the
writing strategy to
develop the
central idea. (2)
Demonstrates a
minimal analysis of
the author’s use of
the writing strategy
to develop the central
idea. (1)
Presents ideas
sufficiently, making
adequate use of
relevant evidence to
support analysis. (3)
Exhibits little
organization of ideas
and information.
Uses language that is
predominantly
incoherent,
inappropriate, or
copied directly from
the text. (1)
0-2 spelling or
grammar errors
are present.
Effort and
proofreading are
obvious. (5)
3-4 spelling or
grammar errors are
present. (3)
Presents ideas
inconsistently,
inadequately,
and/or
inaccurately in an
attempt to support
analysis, making
use of some
evidence that may
be irrelevant. (2)
5-6 spelling or
grammar errors
are present. (2)
7 or more grammar
and spelling errors
are present. (1)
(Total: 20 points)
Poetry Analysis Total For All Four Poems: ______________