Framing devices, like nested stories in The Decameron, surround core verse with borders; in poetry, they appear to set tone, establish perspective, or highlight irony, guiding interpretation and unifying disparate elements into a cohesive whole.

Framing involves using introductory or enclosing structures to contextualize, interpret, or complicate the main poetic content, creating a deliberate distance between frame and framed material. Unlike simple introductions, framing creates a space of commentary, questioning, or alternative perspective around the central text. Poets use framing devices—prefatory sections, recurring speakers, metapoetic commentary—to guide or deliberately mislead interpretation. T.S. Eliot's notes to "The Waste Land" function as an unusual framing device, while Rita Dove's Thomas and Beulah uses section titles and chronology as organizational frames. Framing can create ironic distance, suggest multiple interpretations, or position readers as witnesses rather than direct participants. The technique raises questions about authenticity and mediation—how does the frame shape our reception of the framed? Contemporary poets often use framing self-consciously, exposing how contexts determine meaning. Students should examine what frames include or exclude, how they direct attention, and whether they stabilize or destabilize the main content. Understanding framing helps readers recognize that poems don't exist in neutral space but are always already contextualized and interpreted.