1. Analyzing the Structure of a Poem
Test Prep Tuesday
Analyzing the Structure of a Poem

2. Analyzing the Structure of a Poem
A poem is a little like a photograph.
It captures an important moment, or expresses a strong feeling.

3. Analyzing the Structure of a Poem
To get the most out of a poem, it helps to know that poems have a special structure (type of organization).
Structure can refer to how the lines or ideas of a poem are organized.

4. Analyzing the Structure of a Poem
Poems are made up of lines and stanzas.

5. Analyzing the Structure of a Poem
You need to put together the meaning of all the individual lines to find the theme (central message) that the poem is trying to convey.

6. Analyzing the Structure of a Poem
Make the following chart in your folder.
Stanza
Main Idea 1 2 3

7. A boat beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July-
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear-
Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.

8. How is the poem organized?
What is the poem’s message?

9. A boat drifts peacefully one evening in July 2
Stanza
Main Idea 1
A boat drifts peacefully one evening in July 2
Children gather happily to enjoy a story 3
Cold fall weather has destroyed summer fun

10. Each line of a poem contributes to the overall theme of the poem
Each line of a poem contributes to the overall theme of the poem. Look again at the main ideas in the chart. Taken together, they convey the message of….

11. Being relaxed and getting along with people is the key to life.
Create the following chart in your folder.
Stanza
Main Idea
Theme 1
Being relaxed and getting along with people is the key to life. 2

12. Read the following poem
Read the following poem. The speaker talks about music, or “jive,” and about other things he or she “digs,” or likes.

13. Motto by Langston Hughes
I play it cool
and dig all jive.
That’s the reason
I stay alive.
My motto,
As I live and learn,
is:
Dig And Be Dug
In Return.

14. What did you notice about the structure, or organization, of this poem?

15. Poems are often organized into stanzas.
A stanza is a group of lines that form a unit in a poem.
Like a paragraph, each stanza has its own main idea. Taken together, these main ideas develop the poem’s theme.

17. Stanza
Main Idea
Theme 1 2

18. The Heart of a Woman By Georgia Douglas Johnson
The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn,
As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,
Afar o’er life’s turrets and vales does it roam
In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home.

19. The heart of a woman falls back with the night,
And enters some alien cage in its plight,
And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars
While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.

20. Which of the following best describes a theme, or central message, of the poem?
A. The heart of a woman is strong and can never be broken.
B. The heart of a woman is restless and often feels trapped.
C. The heart of a woman is happy and free to dream of the stars.
D. The heart of a woman is dark and dreary like the night sky.

21. Answers to Questions
Webb: 107

22. A. Incorrect. First sentence does not mention winter
B. Correct; first sentence expresses the speaker’s desire to imagine that the trees are bent from a boy's swinging on them
C. Incorrect; first sentence sets up a contrast showing trees bent from the weight of ice, but B better describes how the sentence fits the poem’s overall structure
D. Incorrect; the first sentence does not mention summer

23. A. Incorrect; speaker describes how ice-covered branches change when the ice melts, but does not explain the other changes
B. Correct; the speaker uses swinging on birch trees to develop the ideas about escaping the reality of life
C. Incorrect; not supported by details of poem
D. Incorrect; the speaker talks about swinging throughout the poem

24. A, B, & C. Incorrect; they do not relate to life in general and therefore do not describe the theme
D. Correct; poem’s theme deals with improving adult life by imagining a simpler time. When the speaker’s adult life gets hard, “like a pathless wood,” he dreams of going back to his youth