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How to Write Critical Appreciation of a Poem Page 1 of 7 Study Material in the Subject of English (Meant for the students of Degree 1 English Honours, Degree 3 English Honours, Degree 1 Subsidiary, Degree 1 MB TIPS TOWARDS: How to Write Critical Appreciation of a Poem By Dr. Mohammad Shaukat Ansari Associate Professor of English MLSM College, Darbhanga, Bihar Mobile – 9431467734 / WhatsApp – 9801607700 Email – [email protected] Students have the poems, prescribed in their syllabus; and they are given important poems (ranging from three to five poems) in the examination to write critical appreciation of any one poem, and writing this question or prior preparation/practice surely requires them to deal with the aspects, being discussed below. Critical appreciation of a poem is defined as the critical reading of a poem, preparing a brief summary, deriving its messages/objectives, exploring purposes behind the poem, examining influences on the poet while writing the poem, knowing the poet; his life and his age; his inclination towards the literary movement of his age, thinking of the contexts, judging thematic aspects, understanding the meaning of its words, its rhyme-scheme, the speaker, figures of speech, the references to other works (intertextuality), the style of language, the general writing style of the poet (if mentioned), the genre, the tone of the speaker and such other elements make up the edifice of critical reading or appreciation. A critical appreciation of a poem aims to evaluate the work through a critical lens in order to elaborate some of the reasons that remarkably make it worth-reading and worth- understanding. It ensures creativity in approach. It is not a critical appreciation to simply state Page 2 of 7 that you like something; rather, you need to explain the structural, stylistic, thematic, and other reasons that you find the work interesting, touching, fascinating and effective. Critical appreciation of a poem is, as a matter of fact, analyzing a work to evaluate its contents to discover hidden qualities and explain the reasons as to why it should be appreciated. There is more than one way to approach/write a critical appreciation of a poem, but generally, it is a good idea to determine the meaning (summary plus relevant ideas) of the poem as well as its context, and to also identify the language elements and the stylistic ways they have been artistically employed in the poem. These two things should then be tied together and used to determine the poem's effectiveness. A critical appreciation helps in a better understanding of the verse. It does not mean criticising the poem. It, in broader sense, means to explore the treasure of merits in the poem, besides providing brief summary in line with thematic components and description of ideas and literary techniques, imported in the poem in course of conveying ideas. Points to be considered before writing/preparing the critical appreciation of any prescribed poem [It will be helpful if a checklist is simultaneously prepared.] 1. Title and meaning of the poem: Before you begin to write, first read the poem more than once to get a clear idea of what the speaker or the poet is trying to say/communicate. Look up the meanings of difficult or unusual words in a thesaurus. Remember, the title of the poem is a key to the general meaning and summary of the thought presented. Sometimes it speaks a lot towards comprehension of the poem. Hence, think about the title of the poem and deliberate how it relates to the poem. Titles often provide important clues about what is at the heart of a piece. They sometimes contain historical significance. They paint a picture that gives a specific time frame, setting or action or sometimes imply multiple possibilities. 2. Speaker and his tone in the poem: Try to identify the speaker of the poem. It can be a child, an elderly person, a solitary reaper, a shepherd, a swordsman, a milkmaid, a sailor, an animal or even an object like a death or a place like a house or a mountain or even the speaker is the poet himself (like Wordsworth) interacting with the readers. Knowing about the speaker and his tone is important as every speaker speaks differently. Page 3 of 7 The tone of the speaker can be mysterious, provocative, ominous, festive, fearful, exuberant, pessimistic, optimistic, direct address, etc. As a reader, you need to speculate to elicit the appropriate tone, and this will help figure out the major theme of the poem. 3. Setting in the poem: It is also necessary to know about the setting in the poem. The setting is the background of the poem and contributes to its meaning. Biographical elements or presentation of conflicts or philosophy towards the worship of Nature or espousing true love or reality about death or stark realities of life or immortality of life or recalling childhood or horrors of war – any one of these can construct the background and the setting in the poem, and it is pertinent to trace which one of these is a governing background. For example, the setting of a pastoral is very likely to be a grazing ground for a flock of ship. The setting of Eliot's “Preludes” is a modern city with its people leading a mechanical life. The setting is warning against worldly pursuits in Wordsworth’s poem, “The World is Too Much with Us” or a beautiful garden with dancing daffodils in his poem, “The Daffodils” which tends to depict a deeper meaning and pleads for the whole-hearted appreciation of subtle beauty in Nature. 4. Establishing context of the poem: Then the next component like context for inspection is required. Context pertains to the time, location, political event, social scenario, personal cycles of shock and grief and the age of the poet too. It embarks upon the poet’s mood also. It also speaks of biographical touches as in the poem, “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats. Looking into the context is to probe and elucidate is what prompted the creation of poem. The context might be an event of great political significance like the French Revolution, it might be the war, it might be the singing of nightingale, it might be ideological differences/conflicts stemming in poet, it might be fallen love, it might be a disappointing scene of separation (Donne’s “Sweetest Love I Do Not Go”), it might be the lamentation over any dear one’s death, it might be an expression of painful struggle (Wilfred Gibson’s “From Holiday”), it might be embarking upon the horrors of war (as in the poetry of Owen, Graves, Sassoon and Nicholas), it might be the figurative presentation of life’s emptiness in a pointed and poignant vein (poetry of T.S. Eliot), etc. The French Revolution, for example, prompted the composition of P.B. Shelley's famous, "Ode to the West Wind." The poem beautifully upholds the spirit of the revolution and heralded the dawn of a new age. Also, a reader is required to have information about the movements like Metaphysical School of Poetry, Romantic Revival Movement that were trending during the time of the poet. It is to keep under consideration that the movements have a significant influence on the poet or impart contribution to the poetic development of a poet as reflected in the fact that Romantic Movement shaped trends in the poets of the early 19th century. The Romantic Revival heralded Page 4 of 7 the birth of the new atmosphere in which the pure lyric could breathe freely and grow to its full stature. 5. Identifying the main theme/message contained in the poem: The best starting point when writing a critical appreciation of a poem is to determine what the poet's message or theme is. Once you determine this key point, the rest of the answer falls into place much easier. Start your critical analysis by identifying the major or specific theme in the poem that accords it a larger meaning. To identify this theme, you need to consider or study the entire poem including its title. Maybe the poem that you are analyzing is about losing innocence, growing old, or importance of preserving the environment. The overarching or major theme of a poem can come out clearly or it can be hidden in its presentation of words or it conveys the deeper message or universal truth as in the case with Keats’ “Ode to Autumn” wherein the central idea is quite different from what the words perceive. Therefore, try to figure out the meaning of the poem. Ask yourself questions like: What happens in the poem? What is the poet trying to say? How forcefully does he/she say it? Which lines bring out the meaning of the poem? Note that the last lines of a poem are usually important as they either emphasize or change the meaning of the poem. 6. Knowing the purpose: The purpose of composing a poem could be to inform with facts or to persuade with an appeal to reason or emotions or imagination or just to entertain the readers. It is, therefore, strategic to infer the apt purpose before writing critical appreciation. It is to imbibe that the true poet is one who makes the readers feel what he felt himself about a thing when he wrote. For example, when Shelley laments – I fall upon the thorns of life, I bleed – we begin to search our own wound and become Shelley for the moment when we are reading his poetry. 7. Looking for influences on the poet while writing the poem: It is also significant to form an idea about the influences on the poet in course of writing the poem.
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