News at Eleven: And now the heavy lifting starts:

it's time to go through the poem a third time, carefully, and test our theory by looking at evidence from the text and any of the techniques or "moves" used by the poet.

Okay, in reality you can’t always read a poem three times. Still, the approach--to develop a first impression, generate a theory, and demonstrate your theory through close analysis--models purposeful reading habits and stresses the idea that a poem's meaning, as well as its beauty, doesn’t always emerge the first time through.

from PBS Teachers: Taking the Pain Out of Poetry

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