Poetry Analysis 101 – Linking Sentences

Ok, so you’ve written your brilliant poetry analysis and you’ve wrapped it all up with a neat little conclusion? But unfortunately your analysis doesn’t seem to flow from one topic to the other? Did you remember to link your paragraphs together in the form of a linking sentence?
A linking sentence is basically just introducing your next topic while concluding your last topic. It helps if the two topics share some form of common ground. For example you have written two paragraphs; one about the use of vivid imagery in the form of water and the other about rhythmic changes in the poem. A linking sentence could go something like this. The emotive language relating to water in this poem is compounded by the consistent rhythmic changes when discussing it. The rhythm changes from the broken and harsh speaking rhythm to a flowing harmonious rhythm when mentioning water…
They do not, however, have to be connected for this to work. You can always link two paragraphs by merely mentioning the next paragraph in the closing sentences of your current paragraph. For example you could be discussing how rhyming is used within the poem and about to discuss the negative portrayal of a certain character, it could go something like this. As well as the systematic patterns of rhyming words, the poems effectiveness is also helped by the negative portrayal of “______”...
Remember, linking sentences are a very important part of writing a professional sounding poetry analysis.