Recording-2025-02-05T16:48:51.502Z

Speaker and Persona

  • Understanding the Speaker: Identify who is speaking in a poem.

  • First-person perspective: Often seems to be the poet, e.g., Emily Dickinson's "This is my letter to the world..."

  • Adopting a Persona:

    • Poets may use a character's voice, not their own.

    • Example: Stevie Smith uses an old man’s persona.

    • Thomas Hardy employs dual personas in dramatic monologues.

  • Avoid phrases like "the poet says": Use "the speaker in the poem says" or "the persona in the poem says."

Tone in Poetry

  • Defining Tone:

    • The attitude of the writer toward the subject matter.

  • Comparison to tone of voice: Similar to how one interprets a friend's words based on their delivery.

    • Example: Irony is evident when someone says you look cheerful when you are not.

  • Recognizing Irony:

    • Critical to understanding tone.

    • Example: Stephen Crane's "Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind," highlights irony immediately.

  • Identifying the Tone:

    • Determine the nature of irony (gentle, bitter, light, etc.).

    • Utilize adjectives to describe tone accurately (e.g., humorous, somber, cynical).

Analyzing Tone and Persona

  • Pay attention to emotional context:

    • Questions to consider during analysis: Is the tone angry, humorous, sincere, deceptive?

  • Adjectives for Tone:

    • Humor, sadness, cynicism, admiration, poignancy, etc.

  • Poet Examples:

    • Theodore Roethke's emotional themes linked to his family background.

    • W. D. Ehrhart's incorporation of personal and societal issues in poetry.

Examples of Poets and Poems

  • Theodore Roethke:

    • Influenced by his family's greenhouse business, themes of nature and growth.

  • W. D. Ehrhart:

    • Explores the impact of the Vietnam War and personal loss.

  • Thomas Hardy:

    • Known for irony and critical views on society.

  • Auden's "The Unknown Citizen":

    • Critiques bureaucracy through the lens of an ideal citizen.

  • Edmund Waller's "Go, Lovely Rose":

    • A love poem advising the rose to reveal her beauty.

Writing and Analysis Techniques

  • Prewriting:

    • Engage with the poem multiple times, refining thesis questions throughout.

  • Determining Tone:

    • Analyze details and word choices; consider childhood perspectives for emotional context.

  • Explication:

    • Approach analyzing the poem line by line to reveal deeper meanings.

  • Written Analysis:

    • Focus on specific elements like tone, imagery, and symbolism and how they contribute to the poem's overall meaning.

  • Quoting Poetry:

    • Maintain proper quotation conventions including slash marks for line breaks.