Poetry Analysis Teaching Resources
Explore poetry analysis in your elementary or middle school classroom with printable poems, worksheets, graphic organizers and more teaching resources created by teachers for teachers like you!
Aligned with both TEKS and Common Core curriculum standards, each resource in this collection was created to help students build their skills in learning how to analyze a poem. Each one has undergone a thorough review by a member of our teacher team to ensure it's ready for your lesson plans and your students.
Looking for some tips on teaching kids to explore and interpret various poems? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including definitions of key vocabulary and some poems perfect for elementary and middle school students to analyze.
What Is a Poem? A Kid-Friendly Definition
If your students are just learning about poetry, it can be helpful to start off with a definition that explains what a poem is. Here's one from our teacher team!
A poem is a type of writing that uses words to create pictures and tell stories in a fun and interesting way. Poems are like songs without music because the words have a special rhythm and sometimes even rhyme with each other. Poems have a special structure that makes them different from stories, articles and other types of writing that you learn about.
What Is Poetry Analysis? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Let's start off with a kid-friendly way to explain what it means to analyze a poem that you can share with your students!
Poetry analysis is a process we use to better understand what a poet is trying to convey to the reader of a poem.
It involves process of reading the poem closely, paying attention to its words, sounds and imagery, and thinking critically about how all these elements work together to create a deeper message or evoke certain emotions in the reader.
Teachers' Favorite Poems for Teaching Kids How to Analyze a Poem
Are you looking for some perfect poems for teaching your students to analyze poems? Here are a few of the best poems for teaching everything from studying poem structure to figurative language to theme!
- Hope Is the Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson — Dickinson personifies hope in this classic poem, giving it the qualities of a bird with feathers. Your students can analyze how the personification creates a vivid and relatable image. They can also explore the use of metaphor and symbolism, as Dickinson compares hope to a bird that sings in the face of adversity
- The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost — This classic poem is a teacher-favorite for teaching poetry analysis that allows students to consider choices and consequences. The Frost classic features the use of metaphor, as the road represents life's choices. You can also use this poem to examine the rhyme scheme (ABAAB) and the rhythm (iambic tetrameter).
- Where I Am From by George Ella Lyon — This poem from the co-creator of the I Am Project is full of sensory language as it details the poet's various life experiences.
- Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe — This popular poem by celebrated poet Poe explores themes of love and loss and makes use of both alliteration — as seen in lines like "But we loved with a love that was more than love" — and repetition.
- Trees by Joyce Kilmer — Kilmer's popular poem is a simple and accessible poetry example that's prime for younger students. Kilmer attributes human qualities to trees, showcasing personification, while it also offers students a chance to consider the theme of nature. Looking at rhyme scheme and rhythm? Trees uses the AABBA rhyme scheme, which contributes to the poem's sing-song quality.
- Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic, Sung in the Year 1888 by Ernest Thayer — This narrative poem is a classic in sports literature, portraying the tension of a pivotal moment in a baseball game. The poem follows a regular pattern of anapaestic tetrameter that students can analyze, and it employs imagery, allowing your students to visualize the baseball game.
- The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — This epic poem is book-length, so you'll want to stick to single sections for analysis, but it's packed with repetition ("By the shores of Gitche Gumee."), alliteration and imagery, and students can identify the poem's trochaic tetrameter rhythm.
- The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt — "Step into my parlor," begins this classic poem about a spider luring a fly into its web. Challenge your students to identify the AABB pattern and the use of personification.
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Exploring Figurative Language in Poetry Workbook
Teach your upper elementary and middle school students to read, analyze, and discuss poetry with a printable and digital poetry workbook.
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Onomatopoeia Words - Vocabulary Display
Display a fun onomatopoeia word wall in your classroom with printable cards containing onomatopoeia examples.
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Interpreting Figurative Language - Worksheets
Explore figurative language in poetry with this age-appropriate poem and accompanying vocabulary questions.
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Poetry and Figurative Language Workbook - Poems for Middle School
Print a pack of poems with figurative language worksheets to practice poetry analysis.
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Elements of Poetry Teaching Slides
Explore the key elements of poetry with your students using this comprehensive and age-appropriate slide deck perfect for your poetry writing unit.
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Sound Devices in Poetry - Teaching Slide Deck
Teach the different sound devices used in poetry with this Google Slide Deck.
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When Winter Comes - Poetry Analysis Worksheet
Printable poem for upper elementary students to practice analyzing poetry.
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A Fistful of Flavors Alliteration Activity
Make alliteration fun with a printable worksheet that challenges students to create flavors of ice cream.
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Elements of Poetry - Figurative Language
An activity to help students understand figurative language in poetry.
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Elements of Poetry Worksheet - Structure, Rhyme and Rhythm
A worksheet to help students understand structure, rhyme and rhythm in poetry.
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Poetry Match Game - Elements of Poetry Activity
Practice identifying poetic elements in examples of poems with a poetry sorting activity for fourth grade and fifth grade.
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Writing With Alliteration Worksheet
Identify and create alliteration patterns in texts.
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Alliteration Poster For Young Students
A poster to use with young students when teaching alliteration.
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Onomatopoeia Man Poster
A poster providing a definition and examples of onomatopoeia.
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Exploring Poetry Worksheet - Onomatopoeia
A worksheet to help students understand onomatopoeia in poetry.
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Elements of Poetry Worksheet - Sound Devices
A worksheet to help students understand sound devices in poetry.
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Poetry Anchor Chart With Annotations
Use this poetry anchor chart to introduce your students to the structure and language features of poems through an annotated example.
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Elements of Poetry - Instructional Slide Deck
Investigate poetic elements with an interactive Elements of Poetry teaching slide deck.
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Poetry Terms - Word Wall Display
Display and discuss terms related to poetry and figurative language with a set of 30 word wall cards.
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Poetry Slapjack Game - Grades 4-5
Learn to identify rhyme, rhythm, and repetition with a poetry Slapjack Game!
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Back to School Today! Poem for Kids
Ease back-to-school jitters and launch your students into a love of poetry with a short poem for kids written just for the first day of school!
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Poetry Task Cards
A set of 20 task cards to practice different elements of peotry.
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Alliteration Brainstorming Template
Use this brainstorming template to practice using the sound device alliteration.
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Onomatopoeia Poster
A poster providing a definition and examples of onomatopoeia.
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Sound Devices Sorting Activity
Reinforce sound devices used in text by sorting 16 poetic device cards into their appropriate category.
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Spring Is Here Poem – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet paired with a poem about the season of spring.
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A Thinker Like Me Poem - Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet paired with a poem about a thinker.
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Poetic Devices Teaching Slides
Explore examples of poetic devices using this comprehensive and age-appropriate slide deck perfect for your poetry writing unit.
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Analyzing Poetry Teaching Slides
Teach your students how to analyze poetry using the SMILE technique with this comprehensive and age-appropriate slide deck.
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Figurative Language Anchor Chart - Onomatopoeia
Help young readers and writers recognize figurative language and onomatopoeia with a set of onomatopoeia anchor charts.
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Alliteration Poster
A poster providing a definition and examples of alliteration.
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Exploring Poetry Worksheet - Alliteration
A worksheet to help students understand alliteration in poetry.