Linguistics is the study of how language works: its sounds, word forms, sentence structure, and meaning. In poetry, linguistic analysis helps readers and writers understand how a poem uses rhythm, syntax, stress, repetition, and sound patterns to create effect.
Poets may also draw on linguistic knowledge when shaping dialect, voice, meter, or word choice.
Example
The poem's tight syntax and repeated stress pattern give it a clipped, urgent rhythm:
Cold rain / on stone,
no street / lights glow;
a lone / dog barks
and wakes / the snow.