Understanding Poetry

  In this lesson, you will learn to. . .

• Use information to interpret a poem:
• Use a step-by-step approach to interpreting a poem using clues within the poem.

Key Terms Speaker - The person, animal, or object "telling" a poem Setting - Time and place in which a poem takes place Purpose - The reason for the poem (tell a story, describe something, express a mood or point of view, tell what the speaker is thinking or feeling) Tone - Attitude or feeling expressed in the poem Figure of speech (simile, metaphor, personification) Saying one thing and meaning another Personificationr - Giving human characteristics to an animal or an object Stanza - Lines of poetry grouped together

 Lessons 1 and 2 of this unit taught you the basic parts of a poem and how to recognize figurative language within a poem. This lesson will teach you to use what you have learned to interpret a poem so that you can answer questions about it.

On the Test

 On the GED test, you will be given excerpts or whole poems to read and questions to answer about those poems. You will need to know how to interpret a poem in order to answer questions correctly.