Speaker, Techniques, Purpose poetry analysis

In poetry, who is the speaker?

• The person reading the poem aloud
• The poet’s real-life self
• The voice telling the poem’s story
• The audience of the poem

The speaker in a poem is not always:

• A fictional character
• The poet
• An observer
• A narrator

Priya is preparing for her literature exam and wants to analyse a poem effectively. She makes a checklist of the main steps: Speaker, Techniques, Author’s biography, and Purpose. Which of these should Priya leave out from her main steps to analyse poetry?

• Speaker

• Techniques

• Author’s biography

• Purpose

What does “structure” in poetry refer to?

• The number of books written by the poet
• How verses, stanzas, rhyme, and rhythm are organised
• The poet’s political views
• The meaning of difficult words

A stanza is:

• A single word
• A group of verses (like a paragraph)
• A type of rhyme scheme
• A figure of speech

Which is an example of personification?

• “Your skin is softer than silk.”
• “Lightning danced across the sky.”
• “The truth was like a bad taste on his tongue.”
• “Her heels clacked on the hardwood floor.”

Carol is studying for her English exam and comes across the terms Simile, Metaphor, Rhythm, and Hyperbole. She knows that three of these are figures of speech, but one is not. Which of these is not a figure of speech?

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Rhythm

• Hyperbole

Joaquim is writing a poem and wants his readers to vividly imagine the scenes he describes. What should Joaquim focus on to achieve this?

• Sound effects only

• Sensory descriptions

• Complex vocabulary

• The number of stanzas

Which is an example of homonyms?

• Simile and metaphor
• Fire (flames) and fire (to dismiss from a job)
• Blue (colour) and green (colour)
• Smell and taste

What is the purpose of a poem?

• To explain the poet’s daily routine
• To reveal the subject and message
• To describe only the speaker
• To memorise structural techniques