Interpret the title, which might be important in setting a base to the poem's understanding. Although the title is not actually part of the poem itself, it may tell you something about it. For example, T.S Eliot's "The Hollow Men" helps the reader annotate and understand the poem because "Hollow" describes emptiness and lifelessness. When the title as a whole is read, "The Hollow Men" creates feelings of despair, hopelessness and death. Make notes about the title's relation to the poem.
Consider the poem's literal meaning. Read it over a few times and try to understand its most literal possible sense. Break it down and analyze each line separately. For this step, William Blake's "The Schoolboy" is a good example. The first line of the fourth stanza is, "How can a bird that is born for joy, sit in a cage and sing?" He is literally asking how a bird can feel happy enough to sing while it is stuck in a cage. Think about how this might differ from the abstract, metaphorical meaning of the poem. Make notes for every line.
Determine the poem's abstract meaning, the step which really involves analyzing the meaning of the poem and gaining a full understanding of the poet's message. Think about the poem's themes, tone, imagery and use of literary devices. Again, Blake's "The Schoolboy" line serves to demonstrate. It is obvious that his tone is angry and he creates the image of a bird stuck helplessly in a cage. This is his metaphor of a boy, stuck in school and stripped of his youth. Here it is interesting to compare literal meaning with abstract.
Read the poem again and look for techniques used that add to the meaning in some way.
Note and underline uses of repetition in the poem, repeated phrases, structure and punctuation.
Think about how these techniques enhance the poet's message. For example, in "The Hollow Men," Eliot repeats the line "This is the way the world ends" three times, as if he is drilling it into the reader and preparing him for the last line, "Not with a bang, but with a whimper." This repetition emphasizes his point across and adds to the desperation of the poem.