Poetry Analysis Paragraph

Directions: Write a paragraph in which you describe the poetic details of the song lyric of your choice. Use information from the question/answer sheet you completed for your song lyrics. Your commentary/analysis/explanation in this paragraph will explain how the different poetic details and devices (such as metaphors or rhyme or imagery) help make the song lyric meaningful. You must also write about the tone and/or mood of the poem. You must decide which poetic aspects make the song most meaningful—those are the devices you will write about in your paragraph.

This paragraph is worth 50 points. You may, if you wish, rewrite it later for a higher score.

Sample topic sentence:

In her poem “The Rose,” Amanda McBroom uses several poetic devices to make her ideas about love more meaningful.

Details: The paragraph should examine poetic details that help make the song/poem one that you like and enjoy. These details can include the following:

 Subject

 The speaker of the poem

 Tone

 Mood

 Imagery

 Metaphors

 Personification

 Similes

 Alliteration

 Onomatopoeia

 Rhyme

 Euphony or cacophony

 Allusions

 Significance of the title All of these devices may not be relevant in your song/poem. Write about the poetic details and devices that do make the song/poem special.

Sample closing sentence: Particularly because of its metaphors and its deeply emotional tone, the poem “The Rose” carries a beautiful message about how to remain optimistic about love.

(See back for sample paragraph.)

Sample Poetry Analysis Paragraph

In her poem “The Rose,” Amanda McBroom uses several poetic devices to make her ideas more meaningful. The poem’s speaker sounds sad at first because of the author’s use of words like “drown” (line 2), “razor” (3), “hunger” (5), and because of phrases like “endless aching need” (6), “heart afraid of breaking” (9), and “soul afraid of dying” (15), which all have negative connotations. These words create a melancholy, pessimistic tone and mood. Yet, the most important poetic device in this poem is metaphor. McBroom first compares love to negative things in her metaphors: “a river” (1) that “drowns” (2), “a razor” (3) that will make one’s soul “bleed” (4), “a hunger” (5), and “an endless aching need” (6). These metaphors create depressing, sad images of a love that is hurtful. However, McBroom then changes her metaphors to suggest that people need to take a chance on love because only those who do can “dance”

(10), take a “chance” (12), “give” (14), or learn “to live” (16). The tone here begins to sound more positive and encouraging. A metaphor at the end of the poem describes love as a “seed”

(23) that will grow “with the sun’s love” (24) to become a “rose” (26). This beautiful, positive image changes the tone of the poem to optimism and hope for those who take a chance on love.

And, the use of the “rose” (26) at the end of poem to symbolize a beautiful love causes the meaning of the poem’s title to become clear. Particularly because of its metaphors and its deeply emotional tone, the poem “The Rose” carries a beautiful message about how to remain optimistic about love.