The Perfect Resource for Teaching Poetry Analysis 

Poem analysis is an essential component of upper primary English instruction, encouraging students to move beyond simply reading a text and towards understanding how writing techniques are applied to produce specific effects.

Created specifically for upper primary, this resource provides students with opportunities to engage deeply with poetry while building confidence in discussing and interpreting literary texts. The resource includes three engaging children’s poems and an accompanying three-page worksheet that guides students through analysing the devices used. 

The resource focuses on the following poetic elements:

• Purpose
• Audience
• Structure
• Rhythm
• Rhyme
• Sound Devices
• Figurative Language

The poems included in this pack are:

• The Beautiful Body Band
• When Winter Comes
• A Thinker Like Me

The generic worksheet format means the activities can be reused throughout the year with different poems, helping to reduce preparation time while providing consistency in students’ analytical practice.

This resource downloads as a full-colour or black-and-white printable PDF. The worksheets can also be downloaded as an editable Google Slides file.

Poetry Analysis Activities for Your Upper Primary Classroom

This resource has been designed by our team to help your students identify and explain how various devices enhance meaning in poetry.

Here are some ideas for using this resource to extend your students’ poetry analysis skills:

• Poetry Discussion Circles – Place the students into groups and assign them a poem. Have the students analyse the poem using the worksheet, encouraging them to share their interpretations and the effects of the devices used. Afterwards, have each group report back to the class.
• Extended Response – Have the students use the worksheets as a scaffold to support them in writing an extended response about a poem of their choice. The response could focus on how structure, sound devices and figurative language have been used to achieve the poem’s purpose.
• Independent Poetry Writing – After completing a poem analysis, challenge the students to write a poem about a topic of their choice that utilises the techniques from the poem they analysed. This activity gives students the opportunity to apply their learning about poetic devices to their own creative piece.

Download This Poetry for Analysis Worksheet Pack

Use the Download button above to access your preferred version of this analysing poetry worksheet pack. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides file on your personal drive before accessing it.)

Once downloaded, you can print the poems of your choice (or project them digitally to save paper) or apply the analysis tool to any poem you’re already studying.

Click Below for More Poems to Analyse!

Before you go, click on the icons below to explore more poems to analyse, written by the talented Teach Starter team! 

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