Critical appreciation of a poem is defined as the critical reading of a poem. The meaning of his words, their rhyme, scheme, the speaker, figures of speech, references to other works (intertextuality), style of language, general writing style of the poet (if mentioned), genre, context, the speaker’s tone and such other elements make up the critical reading or appreciation. It does not mean criticizing the poem. A critical appreciation helps a better understanding of the verse.

• Meaning: Read the poem more than once to get a clear idea of ​​what the speaker is trying to say. Look up the meanings of difficult or unusual words in a thesaurus. The title of the poem is a key to the overall meaning and summary of the thought presented. A poem could be about lost love, ‘Lucy’ (Wordsworth).
• Rhyme Scheme – Find the words that rhyme. These appear at the end of each line. Rhyming words can also be present in the middle of the line. Mark the rhyme scheme. For example, if the rhyming words appear at the end of each line alternately in a 4-line poem, the rhyme scheme will be ‘aba b’. In Robert Frost’s poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’, the second stanza reads thus:

“My little horse must think it’s weird

Stop without a farmhouse nearby

Between the forest and the frozen lake

The darkest night of the year…”

In these lines, the rhyme scheme is ‘aabb’

In several poems, there are no rhymes. Such a poem is called a blank verse.

• Speaker – Identify the speaker of the poem. It can be a child, an old man, a shepherd, a swordsman, a student, a milkmaid, a sailor, an animal, or even an object like a chair or a place like a house or a mountain. Each speaker will speak differently.
• Configuration- Each poem has a specific configuration. It can be a boat or a modern condominium. The setting is the background of the poem and contributes to its meaning. For example, the setting for a grazing is likely to be a grazing ground for a flock of boats. The setting of Eliot’s ‘Preludes’ is a modern city with people leading mechanical lives. Words also convey the same meaning.

“And short square fingers stuffing pies,

and evening papers, and eyes,

Sure of certain certainties…”

• Context- The context gives us the time and place of the poem. It is what motivated the poem. The context could be an event of great political importance such as the French Revolution. It prompted PB Shelley’s famous “Ode to the West Wind.” The poem beautifully upholds the spirit of the revolution and heralds the dawn of a new era.
• Language- The language of a poem is the very vehicle of its thoughts and ideas. Study the language in terms of the use of rhetorical figures, their tone, use of loan words or archaic words, length of sentences, rhythm (meters-iambic, trochaic or any other), number of lines, etc. Note the introduction of new ideas and mark where it occurs. For example, in William Blake’s poem ‘The Lamb’, the lamb refers to both the baby sheep, the little talking child, and the Lamb of God. Here the word “lamb” is a metaphor.
• Intertextuality: while we write the critical appraisal of a poem, we notice that another poem is alluded to or remembered. This is called intertextuality or reference. For example, Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ alludes to Boccaccio’s ‘Decameron’ in its structure of people telling stories on a journey.
• Genre- Genre roughly means the category of the poem. Each genre has established rules and characteristics. For example, a very long narrative poem, several thousand lines long, dealing with divine figures or demigods or great generals of the past and describing a terrible war or an incredible journey on which the fate of mankind rests may be called an epic. For example, the ‘Iliad’ (Homer), ‘Paradise Lost’ (J. Milton) and similar poems. A short 14-line poem expressing intimate emotions is a ‘sonnet’. For example, ‘Let me not marry true minds’ (Shakespeare) is a sonnet extolling true love and devotion. There are several genres: satire, epic mockery, ballad, lyric, ode, parody, etc.