Looking at a Poem: Some questions to ask 

 
Poetry can be formal or informal, serious or funny. It can be complex and difficult, or 
simple on the surface with subtle meanings flicking in the background. Making sense of 
poetry, and finding things to say about it, can help you refine your powers of 
Observation. 
 
Some things to ask and notice about a poem: 
What’s the title of the poem? 
What is the first line? 
What is the last line? 
What images do you notice? (Images are language that evoke direct sensory experiences: 
sight, sound, taste, smell, sensation)  
Are these images linked together or similar in some way? Do some images repeat? 
What feelings or emotions does the imagery suggest? 
 
What information does the poem give you about the poem’s “speaker” or persona – does 
it say where the person is? Any biographical details like age, gender, ethnicity, religion, 
sexual orientation, marital status, health, work, etc.?   
What is the person doing? Thinking? Feeling? 
What information does the poem give you about the world – botany, history, language, 
politics, cooking – what can you learn from it?   
What does the speaker seem to be most concerned about? 
 
How long is the poem (number of lines)?  
Is it arranged in stanzas? Are the stanzas of regular length, or do they vary? How many 
lines per stanza? 
How long are the lines (number of words? of syllables)? Or, what’s the range between 
shortest and longest line?  
Does the poet end sentences at the end of lines, or do sentences wrap around and end in 
the middle of a line?   
Is rhyme used at the end of lines? Within a single lines? Some other way?  
Are there patterns of repeated words, or repeated lines? How would you describe those 
patterns? 
 
Read the poem out loud. What parts of the language seem most interesting, alive, or 
musical? Which words or passages capture your attention as you read them? 
 
If you had written this poem yourself, what would be your motivation – why might you 
write such a poem? 
Why do you think this author wrote the poem? 
 
What’s the weirdest, strangest, most confusing or mysterious part of the poem?  
Do you notice any repetitions or emphases of concept or image, any pairings and contrasts? For 
example, a poem might repeat images of light or brightness, or contrast imagery of dark 
 and light, sound/silence, sacred/profane; or there might be repetitions and contrasts in the 
music of the language, such as smooth/choppy, long words/short words. 
Choose two words from the poem that seem like they might be key, and, even if you already 
know them, look them up in the ​Oxford English Dictionary​. Study their etymology and 
their historical meanings. Consider whether this adds anything to their meaning in the 
poem. 
 
Questions for Analyzing Poetry 
(from ​The Elements of Writing About Literature and Film​ by Elizabeth Mc Mahan, 
Robert Funk and Susan Day. Longman Publishing, 1998) 
  
Can you paraphrase the poem? 
  
Who is the speaker (persona) in the poem? How would you describe this 
persona? 
 
What is the speaker’s tone? Which words reveal this tone? Is the poem 
ironic? 
  
What heavily connotative words are used? What words have unusual or 
special meanings? Are any words or phrases repeated? If so, why? Which 
words do you need to look up? 
  
What images does the poet use? How do the images relate to one another? 
Do these images form a unified pattern (a motif) throughout the poem? 
  
What figures of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and 
meaning of the poem? 
  
Are there any symbols? What do they mean? Are they universal symbols or 
do they arise from the context of this poem? 
  
What is the theme (the central idea) of this poem? Can you state it in a single 
sentence? 
  
How important is the role of sound effects, such as rhyme and rhythm? How 
do they affect tone and meaning? 
  
How important is the contribution of form, such as rhyme scheme and line 
arrangement? How does form influence the overall effect of the poem? 
FAQ 
Who is the speaker? 
What circumstances gave rise to the poem? 
What situation is presented? 
Who or what is the audience? 
What is the tone? 
What form, if any, does the poem take? 
How is form related to content? 
Is sound an important, active element of the poem? 
Does the poem spring from an identifiable historical moment? 
Does the poem speak from a specific culture? 
Does the poem have its own vernacular? 
Does the poem use imagery to achieve a particular effect? 
What kind of figurative language, if any, does the poem use? 
If the poem is a question, what is the answer? 
If the poem is an answer, what is the question? 
What does the title suggest? 
Does the poem use unusual words or use words in an unusual way? 
  
 
 
 
 
 
Initial discussion 
The poet considers that responses to the poems will be most valuable if 
the students are first allowed to explore their feelings and thoughts 
about it before any close textual analysis is undertaken. A general 
question such as 'How do you react to this poem? What feelings does it 
arouse in you? could start a class discussion. 
Questions 
The following questions on each poem (which have been discussed with 
the poet) are divided into three sections: ​Understanding,​ ​Form and 
Structure,​ and ​Follow up work.​   
For information on the answers see the ​Notes​​ section 
 
Questions on ​'Ukritye' 
Understanding 
1. ​'Ukritye'​ means​​ 'shelter'​. Why do you think the author chose this as a 
title? 
2. ​'Even the robots refuse'​. How does this sentence relate to the last lines 
of the poem, ​'Concrete and lead can only take/so much. What remains 
must be done by flesh'?​  
3. Comment on ​'invisible hail'​. 
4. What is meant by ​'that upwards cone/of technicide'​? 
5. ​'Black running guts':​ what is being described here? Why is it a 
particularly appropriate image? 
6. What does ​'silent as brides'​ suggest to you? 
7. ​'Still they shovel ... liquid life'​: what is being described here? 
8. Why do you think the soldiers are compared to children and 
described as having ​'the wide stare of the innocent'?​  
9. Why is the word ​'crosshatch'​ used in the sixth stanza? What word 
does it relate to in the following stanza? Why do you think the crayon 
image is chosen for concrete - something we think of as solid? 
10. Comment on the effect of: ​'liquefy'​, ​'no deer graze',​ ​'roots strike 
upwards'​, ​'puff spores'.​  
11. ​'Yet Spring still chooses/this forest'.​ What does this mean? 
 
Form and Structure 
12. What is the form of the poem? What is the overall effect of this 
form? 
13. Pick out an example of alliteration, an example of assonance (similar 
vowel sounds), an example of consonance (similar consonant sounds at 
the ends of words rather than, like alliteration, at the beginning) from 
the poem and discuss their effect in the line/stanza in which they occur. 
14. Why do you think the words ​Firemen,​ ​Soldiers​, ​State Concrete​ and 
Spring​ all have capital letters in the poem? 
 
Follow up work 
'Ukritye'​ means ​'The Shelter'​. Write a poem about something else that is 
supposed to offer shelter and perhaps doesn't. 
 
Questions on ​'Fence' 
Understanding 
1. Who do you think is speaking in this poem? Who is he or she 
speaking to? What kind of a person do you think he or she is? 
2. ​'This side clean. That side dirty'​. What do 'clean' and 'dirty' mean 
here? 
3. ​'You must forget that soil is like skin'.​ In what ways might soil be like 
skin where fallout is concerned? 
4. ​'Imagine a sheet of glass coming down from the sky'.​ Why does the 
speaker suggest this? 
5. What do you think of the way the speaker answers the question 
'What if my cow leans over the fence?' 
 
Form and Structure 
6. What is the effect of using short lines and three-line stanzas in this 
poem? 
7. Look at where the words ​'clean'​ and ​'dirty'​ are placed in stanzas one 
and three. Why do you think this is? 
8. Most of the lines run on in meaning to the next line, even when the 
next line begins a new stanza, e.g.  
Or interlocking scales  
on a dragon.  
Look carefully at the lines where the sense runs on into the next line or 
stanza. Why do you think the author made the break in the line where 
he did? 
9. Why do you think the last word in the poem is ​'stupid'​? 
 
Follow-up work 
Imagine a nuclear accident has taken place in a reactor in Scotland. 
Write a poem or short conversation/story from the point of view either 
of an official explaining what has happened to a member of the public 
or from the point of view a member of the public wanting to know what 
has happened from an official.