An analytical framework for teaching poetry to EFL freshmen: bridging linguistic analysis with literary appreciation

Teaching poetry to (EFL) students at the tertiary level presents challenges that require systematic approaches. While the benefits of poetry in EFL curricula are well-documented, there is a gap in the methodological literature on effective teaching strategies, particularly for freshman students encountering English poetry for the first time. This paper proposes an analytical framework for teaching poetry to EFL freshmen by integrating linguistic analysis with literary appreciation. Through a systematic review of current literature, the study examines existing approaches to poetry teaching in EFL contexts and introduces a structured methodology with six key components: phonetic, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic analysis. A partial analysis of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, illustrates how each component contributes to both language development and literary understanding. The findings suggest that a step-by-step introduction of these components enables students to develop linguistic competence and literary appreciation. The study concludes that this approach makes poetry more accessible to EFL students while maintaining literary integrity.