Poem Analysis Part 1

An analysis should include

Poet, genre, context, theme, mood, metre or rhythmic patterns, rhyme scheme, line length (end-stopped lines, enjambment, caesura), sound devices, imagery, figurative devices.

Sumer is i-cumin in: poet, context, theme, mood, meter, imagery, symbolism, repetition

Poet: anonymous. Genre: song. Context: a celebration of Spring. Theme: love, spring, new. Mood: Joyful. Meter: most lines begin and end with stressed syllable giving vigor. Imagery: animals. Symbolism: Animals in spring of love. Spring of beginnings. Repetition: sing, cuccu, nu

Ancient Music: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, meter, imagery, repetition

Poet: Ezra Pound. Genre: song Context: a parody of “sumer is i-cumin in” about winter. Theme: winter is awful. Mood: angry, sardonic. Meter: most lines begin and end with stressed syllable giving vigor. Imagery: frozen river, icy roads. Repetition: sing: Goddamn.

Western Wind: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, rhyme scheme, alliteration

Poet: anonymous. Genre: song. Context: sad couplet longing for her love. Theme: the love and comfort. Mood: melancholic. Rhyme scheme: ABCB. Alliteration: w’s, which create sadness.

Suzanne Takes You Down: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, line-length, rhyme scheme, imagery, repetition.

Poet: Leonard Cohen. Genre: song. Context: a boy describes his love and compares her with Jesus. Theme: ecstasy felt in love and trust. Mood: peace and harmony. Line-length: lots of enjambment which creates a lulling. Rhyme scheme: occasional rhymes, no scheme. Imagery: river, sea of Galilee, tea and oranges, rages and feather. Repetition: touched your/her perfect body with your/her/his mind.

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Poet: Robert Herrick. Genre: lyric. Context: a warning young that they will age, so they should marry now. Theme: the passage of time fades beauty and youth. Mood: seductive. Metre: irregular. Rhyme scheme: ABAB. Line-length: alternating long and short lines. Symbolism: sun and rose bud: youth, beauty, young women.

On my First Son: poet, genre, theme, mood, tone, metre, rhyme scheme, line-length, allusion

Poet: Ben Jonson. Genre: lyric. Context: Jonson grieves his son who passed away at seven. Theme: grief of a loved one who has gone to heaven. Mood: sadness, confliction. Tone: sincere. Metre: iambic pentametre with some exceptions. Rhyme scheme: AABB. Line-Length: almost all lines are end-stopped. Allusion: to the Bible.

To My Dear and Loving Husband: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, tone, metre, rhyme scheme, line-length, metaphor

Poet: Anne Bradstreet. Genre: lyric. Context: a classic love poem from a wife to her husband. Theme: love is a valuable thing. Mood: excited. Tone: sincere, yet slightly exaggerated. Metre: iambic pentametre with some exceptions. Rhyme scheme: AABB. Line-length: almost every line is end-stopped. Metaphor: her love cannot be quenched by rivers-her love thirsts.

The Lamb: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, metre, rhyme scheme, symbolism, repetition

Poet: William Blake Genre: lyric. Context: a sort of question answer nursery rhyme describing Jesus. Theme: celebration of out creation, and Jesus’ sacrifice, and how God provides. Mood: joyful, sweet. Metre: trochaic metre. Rhyme scheme: AABB. Symbolism: the lamb for purity, innocence, and children. Repetition: Little Lamb, Who made thee, I’ll tell thee, God bless thee.

The Tyger: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, metre, rhyme scheme, line-length, repetition, symbolism

Poet: William Blake. Genre: lyric. Context: various questions of who made the tyger. Theme: religious questioning and confusion. Mood: ambiguous, unresolved. Metre: primarily trochaic tetrametre. Rhyme scheme: AABB. Line-length: every line is end-stopped. Repetition: first and last stanza are the same. Symbolism: tyger for the world’s harshness and God’s power.

The Sick Rose: poet, genre, theme, mood, metre, rhyme scheme, symbolism

Poet: William Blake. Genre: lyric. Context: a word describing a rose that is being detroyed by a worm. Theme: corruption of innocence. Mood: dark and disgusting. Metre: Apestic dimeter. Rhyme scheme: ABCB. Symbolism: rose for innocence that has been corrupted. Worm for corruption that cannot be scene.

London: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, metre, rhyme scheme, repetiotion, imagery

Poet: William Blake. Genre: lyric. Context: a poet walks through the streets Theme: condemnation of a corrupt society. Mood: serious, dark, anger, sadness. Metre: iambic tetrametre. Rhyme scheme: ABAB. Repetition: In every. Imagery: blood in Palace walls.

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, metre, rhyme scheme, symbolism, alliteration

Poet: Adrienne Rich Genre: lyric. Context: the poet describes her aunt, who finds refuge from her marriage in her creation, her embroidered tigers. Theme: struggles of women in marriage. Mood: adventurous and prideful yet trapped. Metre: iambic pentametre. Rhyme scheme: AABB. These suggest the monotony and perfection of her life. Symbolism: ivory needle and tigers for creativity and thoughts. Ring for marriage and expectation. Alliteration: the fingers fluttering suggest timidity. Prancing and proud suggest inner pride and fierocity.

Barbara Allen: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, rhyme scheme, repetition

Poet: Anonymous. Genre: ballad. Context: Sir John Graeme dies over his love for Barbara Allen. Barbara regrets rejecting him and dies also. Theme: unrequited love. Mood: tragic. Rhyme scheme: ABCB, a characteristic of Ballad stanzas. Rhymes are near rhymes. Repetition: Barbara Allen.

La Belle Dame sans Merci: poet, genre, context, theme, mood, rhyme scheme, imagery

Poet: John Keats. Genre: ballad. Context: a knight describes his dream where he met his love, but then woke up and dies. Theme: courtly love. Mood: tragic. Rhyme scheme: ABCB. Imagery the woman, autumn.