The close reading of poetry

1) The Title: it is where the readers get a better understanding of what the poem is about. Sometimes though it is very vague and the understanding is within the poem and not the title.

2) Keywords: Diction-word choice & style.

3) Word Order- Full stops or enjambment(sentences that flow with no full stops just commas.)

6)Speaker/ narrator-is the person that tells the poem. (Persona). "Still I rise" Maya Angelou tells us about her triumphs and how she overcomes. "Coal"- Audre Lorde is based on the words she speaks and wishes to speak because of he color of her skin.

Register-Language & Vocabulary. E.g) Informal or formal

Tone- "speak"/voice. E.g) Serious, cheerful or abrupt. Still I rise is serious and formal

Punctuation- Creates rhythm

4) Figurative Language-imagery and Allusions

Imagery: Uses figures of speech:

Personification

Simile

Metaphors

Irony

Allusions-indirect text or phrase

5) Sound-Rhythm & Melody.

Rythm is based on the number of syllables per line

Melody is sound affects like rhyme, alliteration, assonance and consonance

8) Symbol- a place or thing

7) Time: Setting

10) Ideas & themes

Clarifies when and where in the poem

9) Form-Stanzas

Maya Angelou-Still I rise

She uses personification and metaphor to convey meaning

"Still I rise"- Maya Angelou is mostly an enjambment and has lots of punctuation

"Say No" Gcina Mhlophe is formal and the tone is aggressive and serious

"Say No"-Gcina Mhlophe is a long enjambment

Maya Angelou-still I rise- 9 stanzas

Gcina Mhlophe- Say No- 7 stanzas

Ideas in Say No is the way black people were treated during apartheid.

Letter from a contract worker- Antonio Jacinto has alot of figurative speech

Antonio Jacinto-Letter from a contract worker- 6 stanzas

Ideas to Letter from a contract worker is that he is writing to his lover

"Letters from a contract worker " is an intimate tone

Letter from a contract worker has a symbol of the palm trees they spent their days under when they saw each other.

Audre Lorde-Coal-3 stanzas

Coal- Audre Lorde is filled with metaphors and personification