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Poetry Worksheet

Your Name:

Title of Your Poem:

Purpose of this Worksheet.

You should demonstrate your understanding of dramatic analysis by applying the pentad to the poem you’re

performing. Concentrate on the poem on the page—not on the performance choices you made in Workshop. In

short, indicate what in the poem lead you to your conclusions.

Part 1: Speaker

Who is talking? Characterize this individual with descriptions of the speaker at each level. Try to find as many

certainties as possible:

1. Biological:

List words or lines in the poem that made you draw this conclusion:

Check appropriate one:

Certainty

Probability

Possibility

2. Physical:

List words or lines in the poem that made you draw this conclusion:

Check appropriate one:

Certainty

Probability

Possibility

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3. Social:

List words or lines in the poem that made you draw this conclusion:

Check appropriate one:

Certainty

Probability

Possibility

4. Dispositional:

List words or lines in the poem that made you draw this conclusion:

Check appropriate one:

Certainty

Probability

Possibility

5. Psychological:

List words or lines in the poem that made you draw this conclusion:

Check appropriate one:

Certainty

Probability

Possibility

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6. Moral:

List words or lines in the poem that made you draw this conclusion:

Check appropriate one:

Certainty

Probability

Possibility

Part 2: Scene

Where and when is the speaker speaking? Try to list as many certainties as possible.

1. Specified time (hour, day, season, year):

2. Specified scene (area, locale, change of time or scene?):

List words of lines in the poem that made you draw these conclusions:

Check appropriate one:

Certainty

Probability

Possibility

3. To whom is the speaker speaking? (Anyone, someone in particular, a generalized group, an absent though

specified listener, him/herself, some combination of listeners?) :

List words of lines in the poem that made you draw these conclusions:

Check appropriate one:

Certainty

Probability

Possibility

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Part 3: Act

What does the speaker do? (Remember an event, tell a story, judge a thing or person, observe an occurrence,

give advice, etc.):

List words of lines in the poem that made you draw these conclusions:

Check appropriate one:

Certainty

Probability

Possibility

Part 4: Agency

How is the poem organized on the page? Begin with a general description of arrangement (stanzas, line length,

margins, etc.):

Then print out a copy of your poem. On this copy, note any elements of agency: rhyme, rhythm, stanzas, lines,

repetition, assonance, alliteration. Feel free to circle, draw arrows, underline, use different colors—anything to

demonstrate you have looked at the poem on the page for its structure, organizing principle, and arrangement.

Attach this single sheet—with all your notes and observations on the poem.

Part 5: Purpose

Why is the speaker speaking?