Poetry Analysis

Analyzing a poem based upon The Big 6 model.

Poetry analysis, English 5 

Power point of the big 6: the big six poetry analysis by AHMAD ALJIRI (prezi.com) 

 

1. First, I will go through a power point on The Big 6, which is a poetry analyze tool.  

2. After this, in groups, analyze a poem I give you based upon all of the big 6. Hand this in to me. 

3. Based upon this, you are supposed to go into the link below and pick ONE of the big 6 and choose ONE of the poems to analyze. In your own words, do a poetry analysis of maximum 300 words. Submit your analysis on PB.  

Read in between the lines. What is it you see that is not there. What lies beyond the words in the poem? 

 

Poem to analyze in a group based upon one of the big 6: 

"Instructions on Not Giving Up” by Ada Limon 

More than the fuchsia funnels breaking out 
of the crabapple tree, more than the neighbor’s 
almost obscene display of cherry limbs shoving 
their cotton candy-colored blossoms to the slate 
sky of Spring rains, it’s the greening of the trees 
that really gets to me. When all the shock of white 
and taffy, the world’s baubles and trinkets, leave 
the pavement strewn with the confetti of aftermath, 
the leaves come... 

 

THE BIG SIX 

The big 6 is a tool that take a consistent, rigorous, and focused approach to teaching poetry analysis. The Big 6 components are meant to be entry points, or doors, into analyzing a poem: students can enter from any place they choose or feel most comfortable. You have all just read the above poem by Ada Limon. You might be curious about the title’s relevance and impact on the rest of the poem or be laser-focused on the use of color imagery, or you might have picked up on some of the themes suggested in the subtext of the piece. Base your analysis on your own interest.  

30 POEMS TO USE FOR ANALYSIS WITH THE BIG SIX 

 

TITLE: 

• “Design” by Robert Frost 

• “Oranges” by Gary Soto 

• “Instructions on Not Giving Up” by Ada Limon 

• “How to Be a Person” by Shane Koyczan 

• “In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra Pound 

SPEAKER: 

• “Shooter” by Lamar Jorden 

• “Pig Song” by Margaret Atwood 

• “Skinhead” by Patricia Smith 

• “Totally, Like, Whatever, You Know?” by Taylor Mali 

• “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa  

THEME: 

• “Remember” by Joy Harjo 

• “Ode to the First White Girl I Loved” by Jose Olivarez 

• “B” (If I Should Have a Daughter)” by Sarah Kay 

• “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou 

• “New Clothes” by Julia Alvarez 

TOOLS: 

• “Ode to a Lemon” by Pablo Neruda 

• “Invisible Workforce” by Bobby LeFabre 

• “Shoulders” by Shane Koyczan 

• “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke 

• “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg 

 

TURNS: 

• “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost 

• “You Fit Into Me” by Margaret Atwood 

• “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks 

• “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers - (314)” by Emily Dickinson 

• “Awkward Scars” by Robbie Q. Telfer  

PARAPHRASE: 

• Queen Mab speech from Romeo and Juliet 

• Prologue from Romeo and Juliet 

• “Her Kind” by Anne Sexton 

• “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop 

• “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes 

 

I hope you found these poems to be useful as you work on your essential question units or your poetry unit! Let me know which ones you taught, how The Big Six is helping you teaching poetry, and what you’re up to in your classroom these days! 

 

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