Poem Analysis Help Please!?

Question

I have to analyze a poem, could someone please help me out with what this poem is about?
Thanks!

Heads we win, tails you lose-By Matthew Tierney
My butt all bone against curb, I’m anxious for 
the golf cart’s cushion, clubs tipped over on the lawn 
like a giant squid autopsy in progress. By and large 
cephalopods are smart enough to stay wet.
First rule of survival: pick your battleground. 
Most protomammals went inland, others did a 
one-eighty, dunked back under, lost their hard-
won legs jogging by in lavender hot pants. . . .
That’s immaterial to the issue at hand: 
whales, only hours to save them, harpooning 
banned in 1986, superseded on the sly. Surprise, 
surprise, Japan and Norway, two countries
I’ve either visited or would like to again. 
Terra firma has its pluses. Minuses include 
the petrified huddle in wine cellars at Pompeii 
that Picasso took a pass on as tableau; the thought
of the skeleton cupping her toddler’s skull
could scoop out your heart if you let it.
Bunkers, a.k.a. sand traps, are a cinch 
to hit, they crackle in midday like tinfoil.
Iceland’s overrun with health nuts despite 
the literacy rate, my twosome buddy swears 
that on islands the rehydrating’s faddish. 
A Jeremiah with his irons, more obtuse than acute, 
he mans a vehicle with a sizable trunk.
Water can be a hazard too, as when Vesuvius lit up
like a question mark and the pyroclastic wave 
vaporized H²O molecules in every body 
turned glyph. Lilac for the girl’s pants, I amend 
my original assessment. So many things can go wrong
when you swim recreationally in the ocean, 
that’s why I haven’t. Take the U.S.S. Indianapolis,
Robert Shaw by all accounts ad libbing 
“Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Spain”—
that was sharks, but the same medium, amplifying
military sonar, forcing our cetacean cousins 
to choose sides, some ramming astray
onto shores of particulate glass. Obsidian’s black 
obscures the violets crucial for its form, 
in temperatures of hundreds of degrees.
Always late for tee-off, he cradles dirty looks 
when denied the right to play through, 
my fingers crossed for a cooler, uneventful round.
Stencilled on a dinghy, greenpeace shatters spray, 
beads the lens, Handycam with jerky frame 
separating whaler from prize. I mean violence,
the roar loosened when we score a hole in one

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Try a TP-CASTT.
T-title( what do you think the poem will be about before you read it?)
P-Paraphrase (Put what the poem is about I your own words)
C-Connotation (Examine the poem for meaning beyond the literal meaning. Look for things like--Diction, symbolism, imagery, personification, metaphors, similes, irony, allusions-references to famous droitwich places, people, etc.-and sound devices like alliteration-She sells sea shells by the sea shore-, onomatopoeia-The bee said buzz-assonance, consonance, rhyme)
-Attitude (What's the tone? Examine both the speaker and the poet's attitudes. Remember the poet and the speaker are different.  Look for: speaker's attitude toward self, others, the subject. Attitudes of others, poet's attitude toward speaker, etc.)
S-Shifts (What are the shifts in the poem, and why might they be used? Look for: time and place, key words-but, yet...-, punctuation-dashes, periods, colons...,-stanza divisions, changes in line and/or stanza length, effect of structure or meaning
T-Title (After analyzing the poem, does the title fit with the poem? How does it relate?)
T-Theme (Tell the motif or subject of the poem. Then determine what the poet is saying about the subjects. This is best done as a complete sentence.)

I really just got done with poetry and analyzing it, so I thought I'd give guidelines instead. I know some people work better with those.

scharfschwerdt · Answer

Practically any good poem can be used. If you're familiar with poetry, then decide upon one you revel in and are cozy with. It must also be a poem you suppose you recognize relatively good. For instance, if I had this mission, i wouldn't use a poem by way of Wallace Stevens, despite the fact that i admire Stevens, when you consider that i don't realise most of his work. I'd choose a work from one more poet I enjoy, similar to Auden's "The Truest Poetry is probably the most Feigning" or "The safeguard of Achilles", or might be Tennyson's "Ulysses". Any of these can be a excellent alternative, but there are a thousand other good selections - it's just a matter of what you are comfy with.

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Poem Analysis Help Please!?

2 Answers