Strategies for Tackling the SHSAT’s Poems

Many middle school and high school students struggle with literary analysis. After all, reading comprehension questions on a test can be difficult enough without throwing in complex figurative language and literary devices. For this reason, poetry can prove especially challenging for students who aren’t as well-versed in such literature or close-reading skills. Let's go over the poetry section on the new SHSAT 2018: what the poems look like, what types of questions appear, and what to look for when approaching these kinds of questions.

Annotate:

Annotation is the single most important strategy you can use to improve your score on the SHSAT poetry section (and any reading passage). When you first read through any poem, be sure to mark important lines, circle key words or phrases, and leave short notes in the margin. Not only will these help you understand the poem better as you read, but when you go to answer questions, you will also be able to access information much faster because of your notes. Otherwise, you will lose precious time simply re-reading what you’ve already read. You have to make sure you annotate in a smart, organized, and meaningful way.

Now then, let’s look at some questions.

SHSAT poetry questions might seem to have a lot of variety, but they all boil down to a few types. By far, the most common type of question you will encounter will have to do with the theme or central idea of the poem. 

“How do the details in this stanza contribute to the development of the theme of the poem?”

“Read this line from the poem. The line helps develop the central idea of the poem by suggesting that …”

Of course, it’s impossible to know what the theme is at first, but as you read through, be sure to underline or otherwise mark any lines where you feel like an overarching idea or message is emerging or developing. Be aware that you probably won’t be asked to simply identify themes; rather, you will be asked how a line or group of lines from the poem establishes a theme.

Another common type of question has to do with literary devices and figurative language. The test will ask you how a specific instance of personification, metaphor, or imagery functions in the poem, or how it contributes to the overall ideas of the poem. 

“The simile in these lines helps show that …”

“Read these lines from the poem. The personification in these lines suggests that …”

As you’re reading and annotating, be sure to mark the lines where you notice the poet is using figurative language or some sort of literary device. 

A third type of question is the evidence-based question. The question will present you with an idea or phrase that captures either a central theme of the poem or a belief that is held by a speaker in the poem. It will then ask you to pick out one of four lines from the poem that would provide the best evidence for the given statement.

“Which line from the poem best supports the idea that …”

“Which detail from the poem reflects the speaker’s view that …”

This is where annotation comes in handy. As you read through the poem for the first time, pay attention to the details and what they suggest about the subject of the poem. If the poem is about a person, for example, then ask yourself what the poem’s details might suggest about the person’s identity. Because you’ve already asked yourself what certain lines or phrases might mean, you will already have a sense of which lines might support a given message.

Lastly, you will probably be asked some questions about the poem’s form. One of the big ways poems differ from prose reading passages is in their formal structure. Some poems, like sonnets, have a strict meter and rhyme scheme, while others, like free verse poems, can be more irregular and not necessarily follow standard English conventions. 

“How does the form of the poem contribute to its meaning?”

Examine the form of the poem: Does it have a regular rhyme scheme? Does it capitalize words in an unconventional way? Is the overall structure of the poem strange? These and others questions can have a big impact on what the poet is trying to convey, and you’ll almost certainly be asked about the relationship between the form of the poem and its overarching messages.

And that’s it for poetry. If you found this explanation helpful and want to receive more personal SHSAT help, be sure to check out our SHSAT prep services!