Poetry Discussion Questions - Analysis and Response Questions for Poems

These poetry discussion questions will engage your students in discussing any poem you are studying. These questions for poems are general, can be used with any poem, and were designed to elicit discussion from all your students. These questions are a great way to step outside of traditional poetry analysis and allow students to connect with poetry in a more meaningful way.
 

Included in this poetry discussion questions resource:

➡️ 30 Cards with general questions for poems that can apply to absolutely any poem your class is reading.

➡️ A student guide that outlines how to use these poetry discussion questions effectively in a group. It provides the ground rules and the process of discussion that students should follow when discussing these questions with their partners or small groups.

Poetry topics and skills addressed in these questions for poems:

This poetry discussion questions resource allows students to use a variety of ELA and poetry-specific skills and standards. Below you will find a list of just some of the skills these questions for poems address:
 

• Summarizing and paraphrasing poetry
• Evaluating poetry tone
• Making text connections
• Examining Poetry form (meter, rhyme)
• Exploring the theme of a poem
• Symbolism
  
  

What teachers are saying about using these poetry discussion questions:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I have taught the same five poems for 10 years now - and always with the same mundane techniques. As a result, I had to hand-hold my sophomores through the analysis process. THIS resource is invaluable. The level of synopsis they were able to achieve on their own once they finished working through the questions was on par with what the best and brightest have discovered. I'm never covering poetry any other way again. Thank you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ As a math teacher assigned to teach 8th grade ELA, I’d never taught a poetry unit and didn’t know how to get a good discussion going. Enter these discussion cards. What a lifesaver! They not only helped with small group/whole class discussions, but they also helped me to understand poetry better, too.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My students, some of whom hardly speak in class, loved this as an in-class discussion. Wonderful that it works with any poem. Excellently thought out.

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Pair these poetry discussion questions with our poetry annotation guide:

→ How to Annotate Poetry Student Guide

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