Checklist: Analyzing the Poem

A checklist for taking notes on a poem before writing, using Donne's "The Flea."

By Rick Reed

ENGLISH 11AP - Language and Literature

Checklist - Analyzing the Poem (“The Flea”)

Name

Objective: to convince your readers that your understanding of a work is valid and important and to lead them to share that understanding.

TAKING NOTES

1. Do you know the denotations of each word?
2. Do you know the connotations of each word?
3. Have you identified all of the images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, organic, and kinesthetic)?
4. Have you identified each simile in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
5. Have you identified each metaphor in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
6. Have you identified each personification in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
7. Have you identified each apostrophe in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
8. Have you identified each metonymy in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
9. Have you identified each symbol in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
10. Have you decided if the poem is an allegory? If so, what does it allegorize?
11. Have you identified each paradox in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
12. Have you identified each overstatement in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
13. Have you identified each understatement in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
14. Have you identified each irony in the poem (verbal, situational, dramatic)? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?
15. Have you identified each allusion in the poem? Have you explained how each contributes to the meaning of the poem?