Poetic Analysis

Overview

Researchers interested in poetic analysis have emerged from several different disciplines, but generally analyze research with a qualitative mindset. Poetic analysis is a way to share participants’ voices by distilling their words with poetic sensibilities. Several scholars draw on poetic analysis in order to represent their data with simplicity, but even beyond that poetic analysis provides researchers and readers alike an opportunity to look at the data differently. In fact, some research utilizes poetic analysis as a way to contradict nuanced understandings of other methods of qualitative analysis (e.g., case studies, grounded theory, thematic analysis). For example, some scholars may extract an entire story (case study) while others may break down the story into its most compelling parts (thematic analysis) whereas utilizing poetic analysis a researcher distills the most distinct and powerful words and phrases into poetry.

The art of poetic analysis is to magnify dimensions that are often hidden and/or silenced within the larger narrative while remaining succinct. Basically, poetic analysis serves as a method that breaks down even traditional understandings of qualitative research to focus on the intricacy of language and meaning. Researchers select poetic analysis as a method of qualitative data analysis [Page 1262]when they seek to represent the words of their participants in a new light, to distill the feeling back into each of the words or phrases extracted, and to capture the spirit of their participants’ stories.

Poetic Sensibilities

Being that poetic analysis is more of an art than a science, it is important that the researcher opens up his or her creative and artistic sensibilities when engaging in poetic analysis. Poetic analysis allows the researcher the freedom to explore the art within their data. However, one question always looms: How do scholars judge the success of such analysis? As such, before considering the varied ways in which an individual analyzes and depicts poetic representations, it is important to examine the various poetic sensibilities that one should consider and utilize to justify this method of qualitative data analysis.