1. Begin by reading the poem completely, attentively. What are your reactions to it? Why? Annotate the poem as you proceed through your readings. Underline significant words or phrases. Identify what word(s) might require a trip to the dictionary. Make notes alongside the poems about your impressions and questions. (See sample in text 518)
2. Freewrite about your first impressions. You may want to reflect and write again after each reading. As you continue to work with the poem, notice how your first reactions are reinforced, modified, or completely changed. This may be a point of discussion.
3. Read the poem again. Note any words that are significant, puzzling, new, unclear, and so on. Use a dictionary to clearly understand the meaning(s) of each.
4. Read or listen to the poem being read aloud. What did you hear?
5. Note the punctuation for pauses and stops as well as lack of pauses or stops. How does this contribute to the meaning and mood of the poem?
6. Paraphrase the poem. Put the words into your own words. This paraphrase is generally as long as the original poem. The idea here is not to capture the plot or point in one line. It is to rewrite it in your words without losing anything. (This is a "play-by-play," not a "news update".)
7. Use the questions on pages 527-528 to help you approach elements of the poem. Not all of these questions will affect the approach you take on any one poem. But they suggest some excellent possibilities. At least look at speaker, audience, setting and situation, title, theme, allusions, diction, figures of speech, symbols, irony, tone, sound, use of space on the page, rhythm, language. An author uses the "tools" of language and media to communicate a message. Your role is to understand the message and then to analyze the tools used.
8. In addition, use pages 528-530 for ideas for direction in your paper. These suggestions consider your experience, interpretation and evaluation of the poem.

1. not referring to the author and title in the paper itself (So, be sure to include the author’s full name and the title in the introduction.)
2. incorrect punctuation of the title of a published work (A poem title is punctuated with quotation marks, as in "Mending Wall.")
3. little or no reference to the work, as in quotations or summary (Use a single word, a phrase or a line or lines. But use the poem! See note below for example of how to do this.)
4. incorrect punctuate of quotes (When you quote a word or a line, place quotation marks around it. If your quote carries over from one line to the next, use a slash / to indicate where the lines separate. Example: "Golden trumpet, / silver trombone,")
5. lack of citation (When you cite a line, provide the line number in parentheses. In the first instance, use the word line. After the first reference, simply place the number in parentheses. These directives assume that your only source is the poem itself and that you have identified the author and title. Be sure to add a complete bibliographic entry at the end of the paper. Use MLA format.)
6. using the author’s first name (Use the author’s full name in your first reference – see number 1 above. After that, use the last name. So a first reference might be Ogden Nash. After that, you would use Nash.)
7. assuming that the author is the same as the speaker in the poem (It just isn’t so! Write about the speaker of the poem. It is a speaker developed by the author. While it may be an autobiographical poem, it is not acceptable to make that assumption.)

Impressing your Reader
(AKA Writing a clear essay)

1. Make sure that your essay has a clearly stated thesis.
2. Make sure that the paragraphs in the body of your paper are clearly and directly related to the thesis.
3. Make sure that the development of each body paragraph is detailed and specific. Use examples. Clarify all points. "Say a lot about a little, not a little about a lot." Follow this approach.

1. State a point clearly.
2. Support the point with a direct reference to the poem.
3. Discuss the direct reference. Do not ever leave a summary or quotation without discussing the point you believe you have made by inserting it. Example:

In her depressed state, the speaker in "February" does not see February as the month of love. Author Margaret Atwood contrasts the normal concept of February and love and valentines with her description of February as the "month of despair" (line 25). This phrase is followed by Atwood’s reference to "a skewered heart in the centre" (26). Thus, the traditional symbol of Valentine’s Day, (Cupid’s arrow piercing a heart or hearts), becomes a "skewer" that hits the middle of a vital organ. The traditional symbol of love, romance, and happiness, is visualized as deadly. The skewer would kill the heart, perhaps even prepare it for cooking. Neither of these images seems consistent with the traditional interpretation of Cupid’s arrow and heart. So, the "skewered heart" reinforces the speaker’s despairing disposition.