How Do You WRITE A Perfect POETRY ANALYSIS?
How to write one depends primarily on how you read a poem, because if you read a poem the right way you have a better chance of writing a near-perfect analysis. John Ciardi, a poetry critic and anthologist about 35 years ago said you have to read a poem three times to begin to understand it well. First, you should read the poem (preferably out loud) so as to get an immediate sense of it, with emphasis on how it sounds. Then you have to study it by reading it carefully a second time, checking specific techniques that are used: what does this poem do and what makes it work (or why doesn’t it work) in the light of what it is trying to do. Finally, read it a third time in detail, and only at this point check the kinds of things that a reader is usually tempted to do on first reading — i.e., what is the “meaning” of the poem, do you understand specific words and phrases, etc.? You can then put the whole poem together, check out your reactions and understanding of the poem, and write from a
