How to Read a Poem Re-reading a Poem Questioning Your Turn

1. How Do You Read a Poem? Feature Menu How to Read a Poem Re-reading a Poem Questioning Your Turn

2. Reading a Poem Robert Frost once said that poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom. But sometimes a poem leaves you asking Huh? instead of saying Ah-ha! How can you have fewer Huh? questions and more Ah-ha! moments?

3. How to Read a Poem Reading a poem isn’t like reading a novel or a note. To read a poem, you need to read a different way. Visualize images Take the time to think about the poem’s images. Midnight HaikuAlone in the night, I saw just the dark—and thenCame the brave, bright moon.

4. How to Read a Poem Reading a poem isn’t like reading a novel or a note. To read a poem, you need to read a different way. Identify Personification Watch for examples of personification—human qualities given to something that isn’t human. A lonely road,Its arms stretched out to touch a lonely sun. . . . A lonely road,Its arms stretched outto touch a lonely sun. . . .

5. How to Read a Poem Reading a poem isn’t like reading a novel or a note. To read a poem, you need to read a different way. Listen for Onomatopoeia Listen for words whose sounds imitate their meanings. Hiss and rattleof the train’s long lumber. . . . Hiss and rattleof the train’s long lumber. . . .

6. How to Read a Poem Reading a poem isn’t like reading a novel or a note. To read a poem, you need to read a different way. Listen for Rhyme and Repetition Listen for words that rhyme or repetition of sounds or words. Hiss and rattleof the train’s long lumber,a hiss and tattleto break our slumber. . . . Hiss and rattleof the train’s long lumber,a hiss and tattleto break our slumber. . . .

7. How to Read a Poem Follow these guidelines as you read the poems in your textbook: I’m Nobody Emily Dickinson I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you Nobody too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! They’d banish us, you know! How dreary to be Somebody! How public—like a Frog— To tell your name the livelong June To an admiring Bog! 1. Pay attention to the poem’s title. Think about the images it creates.

8. How to Read a Poem 2. Look for complete sentences; pay special attention to punctuation. • Stop briefly at semicolons and end marks. I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you Nobody too? • Pause at commas. Don’t tell! they’d banish us, you know!

9. How to Read a Poem • Look for sudden shifts in thought after dashes. How dreary to be Somebody! How public—like a Frog— • If a line doesn’t end in punctuation, don’t stop; pause very briefly and continue reading to the end of the sentence. To tell your name the livelong June To an admiring Bog!

10. How to Read a Poem 3. Read the poem aloud. Hear how it sounds, and feel the poem’s rhythm as you read. 4. Pay attention to word choice. Be certain to find the meanings of unfamiliar words. banish—to send away; get rid of 5. Visualize the poem’s images. Be alert for comparisons. How dreary to be Somebody! How public—like a Frog— To tell your name the livelong June To an admiring Bog!

11. How to Read a Poem 6. Remember that the reading strategies that you use to understand prose will also help you understand poetry. What does the poem say to you? How does it relate to your experience?

12. QuickCheck How to Read a Poem Read this stanza from “Annabel Lee” aloud three or four times. It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. Notice techniques like images and rhyme. [End of Section]

13. Re-reading a Poem Poems are meant to be read again and again. After the first reading, stop and think about the poem’s • images • sounds • flow of emotions and ideas Midnight HaikuAlone in the night, I saw just the dark—and thenCame the brave, bright moon.

14. Re-reading a Poem Read the poem a second time. You may read it through three times or more. This makes me think of. . . . What message does the poet have for me? The lesson here is that. . . . With each re-reading, you will discover something new about the poem.

15. Re-reading a Poem Your response to some poems will be It tells me something I always knew . . . 22 3 568 4+2 but never thought about that way before. Arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons in and out of your head. Carl Sandburg

16. Re-reading a Poem Quick Check 1. Read this poem and write down one thing that it makes you think or feel. Midnight HaikuAlone in the night, I saw just the dark—and thenCame the brave, bright moon. 2. Read it again. What is something new you found in it? [End of Section]

17. Questioning When you read a poem—especially the first time through—record questions about it. You can use a chart like this one as you reador after you read: How does a “ribbon of moon-light” look?

18. Questioning Use a chart like this to compare any two objects. “I Like to See it Lap the Miles” by Emily Dickinson is an extended metaphor that compares a train to a horse. [End of Section]

19. Questioning Quick Check Ode to Family Photographs This is the pond, and these are my feet. This is the rooster, and this is more of my feet. Mama was never any good at pictures. Make a question chart for this poem by Gary Soto.

20. Apply Reading Skills Your Turn 1. What can you do to unlock a poem’s meaning? 2. What reading strategies associated with prose will also be useful when reading poetry? 3. If you were reading a poem about the moon, what thoughts or associations would come to mind?

21. The End