From Saussure to Levi-Strauss, structuralism emphasizes relations. In poetry, it informs a focus on form, genre, and linguistic systems. A structuralist reading might analyze a poem's underlying patterns. Poets themselves can use structuralist ideas to be highly self-conscious about form. This approach reveals that meaning is generated by structure, making poetry a system of differences where each element's value depends on its relation to others.

Structuralism is an intellectual movement that emerged in the mid-20th century, seeking to analyze cultural products—language, literature, myths, kinship systems—as systems of signs with underlying, often unconscious, structures. It was heavily influenced by Saussure's linguistics, which emphasized that meaning is generated through relations of difference within a system. For structuralists, the task is to uncover these deep structures, which are universal and govern human behavior. In poetry, structuralism informs a focus on form, genre, and linguistic systems. A structuralist reading of a poem would analyze its underlying patterns, such as its grammar, its use of binary oppositions, and its adherence to or subversion of poetic conventions.