16 eliza How to Read a Poem.

Introduction: When you read a poem you don't read it the way you read a book. You read each line carefully, aloud, and more than once. Instead of paragraphs a poem has stanzas. Each stanza has a different picture–like a paragraph.

Repetition: Repetition is when a metaphor or a word is said more than once. Repetition always has something to do with the theme or message, or it just helps you understand the poem better. Like Robert Frost: "And miles to go before i sleep. And miles to go before I sleep."

Imagery: It is when the poet paints a picture in your mind using the five senses. The picture painted in your head helps you understand the poem by you seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, and smelling what the poet is experiencing with his five senses. Like Carl Sandburg: "The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent hutches and then moves on."

Metaphors: A metaphor is a word that has a different meaning behind the ones your reading. You have to think outside the box to get what the poet is trying to say. Robert Frost uses his in a very complex way: "And miles to go before I sleep," it means that he has responsibilities, and things to do before he dies, so he doesn't give up to rest...he keeps on going.

Rhythm and Rhyme: Regular rhythm is when it flows, when the words go together like a puzzle. Irregular rhythm is when it doesn't flow, its more straight forward. Rhyming makes the poem flow, and it gives it a little note of something depending on what the words are telling you. Like Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe.

Theme/Message: The theme or message in a poem is what the poet is really trying to say behind the metaphors. Its important to know the theme or message because if you don't know it, you don't know the poem at all.