What is the poem about? What is going on?

· What is the poem about? What is going on? What is the context?
· What language does the poem use and repeat? How does this language add, enhance, complicate, or destabilize what is happening in the poem?
· What is the tone, and how do you know what it is? How does the tone affect what is stated in the poem?
· What images or metaphors appear in the poem? How do these images and metaphors affect what is being said?
· What is the form or structure of the poem? Is there a rhyme scheme or rhythm? Are certain words stressed? Are the lines long and convoluted or short and abrupt?
· How might the poem play with punctuation or grammar? Do the line breaks work with or disrupt the punctuation?
· Who is the speaker? Are there multiple speakers? Who is the speaker addressing? What is the speaker’s relation to the subject of the poem?
· What are the major themes, and how are they presented? What rhetorical techniques does the poem use to reflect on those themes?
· How do your observations about the form affect your understanding of the content?