Vendler Analysis (created by: Helen Vendler/modified by: Ms. Tucker)
1.Meaning: Summarize the message/ meaning of each strophe/stanza/ thought in the poem in complete sentences. (20 words per 20 lines) (Aka: 20 Word Summary)
2. Antecedent Scenario: What drove the poet to write this poem? Hypothesize the most likely scenario in 2-3 complete sentences. What happened that made the poet set pen to paper? What did they want the reader to gain? Example: Whitman, lying in the grass and reflecting on life and death began to observe all around him and wrote a poem to explicate the truth, beauty, and goodness.Whitman wrote the poem hoping others would feel his love for them and for life and live more lovingly and thoughtfully themselves.
3. Division into Structural Parts: How many strophes/stanza/parts does the poem have? How are they divided? By emotion, thought, etc? What is the rhyme scheme? Is the poem in verse or are lines arranged by word count? Make this a complete paragraph explaining the WHY of each part, including WHY NOT if the poem does not appear to have structural parts. Example: The author uses multiple chapters because life is complex and worthy of lengthy reflections. Whitman begins the poem with two lines of iambic pentameter and then breaks into a loose verbal prosody (arrangement by number of words) to establish form and convention and then break it, much as he tries to break us out of our formalized thinking throughout the poem. Whitman uses strophes to separate thoughts. Depending on the point of view or topic, the writer varies between a pattern of strophes an unpatterned strophes from chapter to chapter. For example, in chapter 11 the strophes are 3 lines/2 lines/2 lines/2 lines/2 lines/2 lines/2 lines/3 lines. In this chapter (11), Whitman is telling a story as an outside observer and he formalizes his structure because of the emotional distance. In chapter 26, the structure is completely unpredictable because Whitman is experiencing the emotion himself.
4. Climax About each part, it is useful to ask how it differs from the other parts. What is distinctive in it by contrast to the other members of the poem? Does something shift gears? Does the tense change? Does the predominant grammatical form change? (For example, does the poem stop emphasizing nouns and start emphasizing participles?) Is a new person addressed? Have we left a general overlook for certain particulars? The various parts of the poem tend to cluster around a moment of special significance - which its attendant parts lead up to, lead away from, help to clarify, and so on. The climax usually manifests itself by such things as greater intensity of tone, an especially significant metaphor, a change in rhythm, or a change in person. Example: Chapter 15 is the climax of “Song of Myself” because we left a general overlook (broader thoughts and idea) for certain particulars (descriptions of particular people) and the various parts of the poem cluster around this moment of special significance and the poem’s attendant parts lead up to and lead away from chapter 15. Indeed, at the end of chapter 15 Whitman tells us “and of these one and all I weave the song of myself,” referencing the title and over-arching “message” of the poem. HOWEVER each sections also contains it’s own climax. :)
5. Figurative Language: Use bullet points to note the most prevalent or relevant figurative devices used (At least 3 per poem/strophe/stanza/thought/20lines). Quote the device and explain why it is effective in the poem. Always explicate tenor and vehicle in a metaphor. Example: Metaphor: ”Houses and rooms are full of perfumes." Vehicle: perfumes, Tenor: trappings of the world. This metaphor helps the poet convey to the reader the artificiality of “things” in contrast to nature (“atmosphere”). Anaphora: “Have you reckn’d…/Have you practis’d…/Have you felt…” the poet uses anaphora to connect each question and create a build. This forces the reader to reflect more thoughtfully on the questions being asked rather than treating them as rhetorical. Anaphora: “You shall posses…/You shall no longer…/You shall not look…/ You shall listen…” The repetition of “You shall” is fascinating in this strophe as the final message of the strophe is that one should not “take things from [the speaker]” and should “filter [ideas] from [them] sel[f].” In this strophe, the insistence of “You shall” feels like a paradox or even challenge from the poet and is meant to point out our desire to follow commands while insisting we do otherwise.
6. Find the Skeleton: What is the dynamic curve of emotion on which the whole poem is arranged? Example: In “Song of Myself” Chapters 1-14 vary in length, but chapter 15 is twice as long as any of the previous chapters. Chapters 16-19 are all shorter than chapter 15 and chapters 20-26 are all longer than 1-14 or 16-19. Chapter 24 is the lengthiest in this section. Chapter 27 is very short and then 28-32 fluctuate in a similar manner as 1-14. Chapter 33 is the longest chapter in the whole poem. The rest of the poem follows the same general variation as 1-14 & 28-32. If draw out, the pattern would look like this:
7. Games the Poet Plays with the Skeleton. Does the poem follow a “typical” bell curve? If not, where does it deviate and WHY? If it does follow a “typical” bell curve, why did the poet make that choice? The reasons for the extended length of the three chapters mentioned above are: chapter 15 is the climax, chapter 26 is the most emotionally volatile, and in chapter 33 the speaker “travels” the continent. The over all pattern shows three major “peaks” in the poem, each climatic in its own way. This helps the reader know when a major section has closed a new one is beginning. It also keeps the poem exciting.
8. Agency: Use bullet points and line numbers to explicate each pronoun. Example: Lines 1-3: “I” is Whitman (usually we would say ‘the speaker’) : “You” is me. And you. And everyone. (etc.) 9. Tone: What is the intended mood or feeling of the poem? Use specific words, phrases, rhetorical devices, and sounds to support your supposition. The longer the poem, the more shifts you will find in tone. Example: The tone of “Song of Myself” shifts from chapter to chapter. In chapter 1, the tone is languid as we are invited to “lean” and “loafe” with the speaker as they enjoy a blade of summer grass. In chapter 2, the tone is longing and passionate as the speaker describes his “delight” in nature and the desire to be “undisguised” and “naked.” There is also an urgency in this chapter to engage the reader and help him/her “possess” and “take” “the meaning of all poems” and “the good of the earth.”
10. Roads not taken. What might the poem have done differently and how would that have changed the effectiveness of the poem Example: In “Song of Myself” Whitman could have used iambic pentameter throughout instead of just in the first two lines. The use of metered verse would have appealed more to popular ideals of his time about how poetry should be written. It also would have given the poem a measured and controlled quality that would have negated the last lines of the first chapter where Whitman says, “… I permit to speak at every hazard/ Nature without check with original energy.” The “original energy” Whitman imbued his writing with would have been at odds with such strict prosody.
11. The Imagination: What about this poem is unique/original? How were you able to relate/empathize with the speaker/content? Example: Song of Myself is unique in its truly democratic perspective. It is also unique in its attention to detail. I could relate deeply to the poem because Whitman made it clear that the poem was for everyone and relayed many thoughts and experience that I have also pondered. In section 11 specifically, Whitman describes wanting to be part of something you are not so badly that you imagine yourself as a participant. I think this is a universal feeling. He also explores themes of death and assures us we should not be afraid, “Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born?...It is just as lucky to die, and I know it.” I connected to this because it is such a comforting thought.
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