Learning by Writing: Paraphrase | The Assignment: Writing a Paraphrase of a Poem

See here and the Additional Writing Assignments section on the next page for poems you might paraphrase.

You can benefit from paraphrasing poetry — expressing the content of a poem in your own words without adding opinions or interpretations. A paraphrase forces you to divide the poem into logical sections, then to figure out what the poet says in each section and how the parts relate. It also prepares you to state its theme — its main idea or insight — in a sentence or two.

DISCOVERY CHECKLIST

  • What are the poem’s major sections? What does the poet say in each one?
  • How are the sections of the poem related?
  • Are any words unfamiliar or used in a special sense, different from the usual meanings? What do those words mean in the context of the poem?
  • Does the poet use images to create sensory pictures or figurative language to create comparisons? How do these contribute to the meaning?