Poetry analysis

rdf:langString Poetry analysis

rdf:langString Poetry analysis is the process of investigating a poem's form, content, structural semiotics and history in an informed way, with the aim of heightening one's own and others' understanding and appreciation of the work. The words poem and poetry derive from the Greek poiēma (to make) and poieo (to create). One might think of a poem as, in the words of William Carlos Williams, a "machine made of words". Machines are designed to produce some effect. The work done by this "machine made of words" is the effect it produces in the reader's mind. A reader analyzing a poem is akin to a mechanic taking apart a machine in order to figure out how it works. There are many different reasons to analyze poetry. A teacher might analyze a poem in order to gain a more conscious understanding of how the poem achieves its effects, in order to communicate this to his or her students. A writer learning the craft of poetry might use the tools of poetry analysis to expand and strengthen his or her own mastery. A reader might use the tools and techniques of poetry analysis in order to discern all that the work has to offer, and thereby gain a fuller, more rewarding appreciation of the poem.