Poetry Analysis Essay Examples

How to understand poetry

Poetry is difficult to analyze, and many students and adults struggle with it. Poetry is often written with restrictions on form and structure. Because of this, composers are often laconic, making poems mysterious or very rich in techniques and content.

Various uses of figurative language are illustrated throughout the piece is used to encourage readers not approach poetry in the traditional method. In order for the teacher to get students to appreciate poetry for what it is he suggests that poetry should be help “up to the light like a color slide” in order to reveal the true meaning. The use of a simile to compare poetry to a ”color slide” reveals how poetry needs to be seen in a different light in order for readers to understand the true sense that the poet is trying to convey. Some may think that poetry like “[walking] inside [a] poem’s room” and attempting to find “a light switch”. The use of simile in this quote suggest that even though poetry may seem difficult and impossible to figure out it may be easier than presumed. Sometimes reading poetry can feel like you’re walking in the dark but once you find “a light switch”, a hint, it finally becomes clear and fairly simple to discover the true meaning. The poet asserts their argument that poetry should be taken lightly and not over thought as “[water-skiing] across the surface of a poem” rather than “beating it with a hose to find out what it really means”. By comparing the reading and understanding a poem to water skiing over water demonstrates how the poet eurges reader to read and experience poems rather than force a meaning out it. Poetry should be taken lightly in that sense that poetry should not be approached in a traditional way.

Identifying poetic devices

Because a poem is generally compact, every word is important. “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collin utilizes similes throughout the poem in order to evoke readers to be patient and open minded when approaching poetry.George Herbert’s use of symbolism throughout the poem depicts the desire for peace. This illustrate the search for peace as an allegory of a religious journey. The speaker begins his search in a “secret cave” and then a “rainbow” for the so call “sweet peace”. Unfortunately, he’s unable to find nothing. Both of these locations symbolize knowledge and achievement. His search for continues as he searches in the garden where he discovers “The Crown Imperial”. The garden and the flower represent growth and power. He begins to dig with hopes to find “Peace at the root” but only discovers worms. The various locations all represent something broader than portrayed. Each spot has a purposeful meaning in his yearning to find peace. They represent growth and knowledge which is essential to the bringing of peace. 

The reader’s many attempt to find peace suggest that it can’t be found but learned through experience. The reader then goes on to describe a location that can be assumed to be Salem, which represents peace. After his many failed attempts to be at peace he starts to reference God in the form of a “prince of old at Salem dwelt” who “sweetness” couldn’t “save his life from foes”. The reference of God asserts the religious moral of this poem. After the death of the prince “twelve stalks of wheat” began to grow. The reader states that the “secret virtue” brought it peace and allowed it to grow. He uses the grain to make bread which brings him peace. The simple satisfaction of making bread brings him peace. The utilization of religious references throughout the poem illustrate he overarching meaning of the search for peace. Ultimately, revealing that peace is not something that can be found but learned through experience and be felt through the simplest of things.

Why is poetry important?

Poetry can have so much of an impact in society. It can help society look at things from a different perspective and not just one simple way to look at things, it can help people overcome fears, expand their knowledge, or even have a different perspective in life, or problems that person could be facing. Secondly, poetry is a form of expression. Writing it lets us get out our feelings and thoughts on a subject while reading it encourages us to connect and find meaning in our experiences. Poetry can have a positive impact on the social and emotional learning of children. It may offer them a new way of thinking about something.

Conclusion

Readers should summarize their personal responses before drawing conclusions about the meaning of a verse. Are they emotionally moved or moved by the poem? Are they entertained or repulsed, scared or motivated to agree? Do you remember words and phrases? What impression did the poet make? And most importantly, why?