Poetry Analysis in 5 Easy Steps: A Guide for Students, Lecture notes of Poetry

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Poetry

Analysis

in 5 easy steps!

1. Read

 Read the poem both silently and aloud.

 Identify any unknown vocabulary words

and look them up.

3. Images

 What images do you see, feel, hear, or

experience?

 What poetic devices were used to create

these?

 Be sure to consider figurative language

and imagery.

4. Sound

 How does the poem sound?

 What is the mood or attitude?

 What poetic devices were used to create

these?

 Be sure to consider sound, diction, and

point of view.

“Ode to My Socks”

An example of the 5 step analysis process

“Ode to My Socks”

by Pablo Neruda

Maru Mori brought me a pair of socks which she knitted herself with her sheepherder’s hands, two socks as soft As rabbits. I slipped my feet Into them as though into two cases knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin. Violent socks, my feet were two fish made of wool, two long sharks sea-blue, shot through by one golden thread, two immense blackbirds, two cannons: my feet were honored in this way by these heavenly socks. They were so handsome for the first time my feet seemed to me unacceptable like two decrepit firemen, firemen unworthy of that woven fire, of those glowing socks. Nevertheless I resisted the sharp temptation to save them somewhere as schoolboys keep fireflies, as learned men collect sacred texts, I resisted the mad impulse to put them into a golden cage and each day give them birdseed and pieces of pink melon. Like explorers in the jungle who hand over the very rare green deer to the spit and eat it with remorse, I stretched out my feet and pulled on the magnificent socks and then my shoes. The moral of my ode is this: beauty is twice beauty and what is good is doubly good when it is a matter of two socks made of wool in winter.

Sample Analysis: Images

The images within the poem are very strong and appealing.

Neruda describes his socks originally “as soft as rabbits” and the

reader immediately thinks about that tactile sensation. But Neruda

goes on to contrast that image with the empowerment he feels

when the socks are on his feet. He says that they are sharks with

golden teeth. The contrast between the soft rabbit and furious

shark shows that the socks have an emotional power for the

speaker; the socks are warm but he feels confident when they are

on his feet. He also speaks of the unworthiness of his feet to even

wear the socks. The image he provides to express this idea is that

his feet are “decrepit firemen” unworthy of the socks fire. The

image of snarled and disfigured foot comes the reader’s mind

and instantly the unworthy feelings the speaker is describing are

understood.

Sample Analysis: Tone

The tone of the poem also speaks to awe the

speaker holds for the socks. The poet’s diction makes

the reader consider the value of the socks to

speaker. The socks are “magnificent” “glowing” and

“ heavenly.” The speaker expresses a tone of

reverence for the socks. It at first strikes the reader as

absurd to speak of socks in such a hyperbolic way,

but then the reader recognizes the socks have a

special value for the speaker.