Poetry Analysis

Worksheet Description

This worksheet is designed to enhance students’ literary analysis skills by focusing on the use of synecdoche in poetry. Synecdoche is a figure of speech where a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa. The worksheet presents excerpts from two renowned poems: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Coleridge and “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died” by Emily Dickinson. Students are tasked with identifying and explaining the synecdoche within these excerpts.

In the first stanza from Coleridge’s poem, the “western wave” and the “broad bright Sun” could be potential points of discussion for synecdoche, as they may represent larger concepts or settings within the poem. Dickinson’s excerpt could prompt a discussion on how “Eyes” and “Breaths” might be synecdochical representations of the people present at the scene or life itself. This worksheet is an excellent tool for prompting close reading and analytical thinking about how poets use language to convey complex ideas and emotions through simple yet profound means.