【明報專訊】Poetry analysis is often like solving a mystery. The reader solves the mystery from the clues and prompts given in the words, symbolism or imagery used in the poem. In analysing a poem, one is expected to examine the poem line by line, even word by word. One is very much in the diagnostic mode: that is to say, one picks the poem apart to find clues and to understand the poem better. One reads the poem carefully, aloud if necessary, so as to hear the music of the words and see the picture developing in the mind's eye.