What can you include in a poetry essay?

Context

Historical period influence?

Author's personal stories?

Messages about society?

Themes

Presentation?

Do other poems have similar themes?

Are themes clear in the beginning?

Language

Techniques?

Connotations of certain words?

Emphasis or repetition?

Structure

Do these sections have double meanings or interpretations?

HOW and WHY writer uses any technique

Big picture by linking techniques to meaning in poem

Always look for more than one theme.

Common features: structure, language, context etc.

Do words for tone trigger you?

Which century, how was different then?

Acceptable behaviours, changes in time?

Memories, pictures, anecdotes, emotions

Organisation into stanzas?

Contribution to author's intentions for the poem or situation described?

Particular structures (sonnet, ballad)?

Rhyme scheme, repetition, alliteration?

Further divisions: connection between the layout and the ideas of the poem?

Is there also enjambment or caesura? What do these signify about the poem?