(Fall 2010)
Poetry Explication Assignment
Due: Wednesday, October 13
The Assignment:
Write an unresearched three-page explication of one poem from our text.
About Explication:
What is explication? Explication is the unraveling of a poem (or story or play), basically
explaining the poem word by word, line by line, or stanza by stanza. In unfolding the
poem, you should address any literary devices you see: simile and metaphor, allusion,
rhyme, rhythm, repetition, onomatopoeia, form (if applicable), and other techniques. How
do these all contribute to the overall message of the poem?
An explication is a way for you to slow down and focus on the detail. Often, a poem that
you find confusing will make sense once you take some time to examine it piece by
piece. The fist place to begin, always, is the title. What do you expect from the title?
Does the poem deliver this? How? If it surprises you, why might the author have chosen
this title? Or, is the title ironic, and if so, how does irony change the meaning of the
poem? These are just a few questions you might ask yourself.
If you use any secondary sources, including biographical material, you must cite them
according to MLA and include a Works Cited page. However, you will not use any
secondary sources in this paper.
Introduction: Include title (in quotation marks), author, dates, brief background of the
author if necessary and relevant, a brief summary of the plot (situation), or literal level of
the poem, and your thesis, which probably will mention two or three techniques the poet
uses to convey his/her argument (theme). The thesis will include what you believe to be
that argument.
Body Paragraphs: Systematically go through the poem showing the techniques stated in
your thesis and showing how they relate to the poet’s argument. Brief quotes should be
incorporated into your sentences to clarify your point. Do not, under any circumstance,
quote the entire poem within the paper. If you quote three or fewer lines, an inline quote,
you should introduce the quote with a signal phrase, and then quote the section of the
poem, indicating line breaks with a “/” and stanza breaks with a “//”. To quote more than
three lines, use a block quote. In either case, follow the quote with a parenthetical
reference of the line number(s). And then, make sure that you follow the quote with an
analysis of the quote.
Conclusion: Here you pull the paper together and reaffirm your thesis. You could discuss
how the poem relates to real life and/or use this paragraph to disagree with the poet’s
argument if you wish. But in doing so Do not use first person to argue or agree! All
analysis needs to be in third person, objective voice. Thus, instead of saying “I think
(Fall 2010)
that Frost ignores the religious aspect…” or “ Frost really relates to my going to the
woods, myself…” you would instead say “Frost ignores the religious aspect…” or
“Frost’s experience relates to the real experience of visiting the woods…”
Style: In addition to the usual style suggestions, you should also be very careful about
using the word “I” or “me,” as in “I believe” or “It is my opinion.” These are useless
phrases that serve only to cast doubt on your argument. Keep your sentences focused on
your subject, the poem itself. In addition, as a college-level writing, be sure that your
sentence structure is varied and that you take some care, if necessary, to combine short
sentences to avoid repetition and make sure that one sentence builds upon the previous
ones. Include transitions where appropriate to avoid jumping quickly from one topic to
the next.
Additional Style Tips: While the explication tends to be a chronological progression,
consider the organization of the paper. How can you group your observations? This, as
any other formal paper, should be a multiple-draft project where your initial observations
are organized into main points, and these main points are then focused with a thesis in the
intro, with topic sentences in the body paragraphs, and finished with a conclusion.
(Fall 2010)
(Supplemental Handout)
Suggestions for Writing About the Genre of Poetry
The kinds of question you can usefully ask about a poem depend very much on the
individual poem. Some poems tell a story, like Browning’s “My Last Duchess”; others,
like H.D’s (Hilda Doolittle) “Never More Will the Wind,” are simply reflective. Some
poems, such as John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” use many figures
of speech; others such as Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art” are plain-spoken and direct.
Some poems are written in metre and rhyme, like Shakespeare’s “Sonnets”; others are
written in free verse, like Walt Whitman’s “The Dalliance of Eagles.” Here is a list of
general questions. Some of them will apply to the poem (or poems)you decide to write
about in this course. After carefully reading the poem(s) aloud, you will know which ones
are useful to you.
1. WHAT IS THE POEM ABOUT? What is the theme of the poem? Is it similar in
subject or theme to other poems you have studied? Could it be compared to/with
them?
2. WHO IS THE SPEAKER OF THE POEM? Is the speaker addressing a particular
person (auditor)? On what occasion?
3. WHAT IS THE TONE OF THE POEM? Is it consistent or does it change in the
course of the poem?
4. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE LANGUAGE OF THE POEM? Is it
figurative or literal? Is the poet using figures of speech? What kinds and to what
effect? Does the poem contain images? Can the poem be read in more than one
way?
5. DOES THE POEM CONTAIN RHYMES? If so, what is the rhyme scheme? Are
lines end-stopped or enjambed? How does the rhyme serve to emphasize the
meaning? The connections between certain words? What other notable features
are there about the sound of the poem?
6. IS THE POEM WRITTEN IN METRE? If so, what metre? Is it regular or
irregular? What is its effect? What is the effect of any irregularities? Is there more
than one way to scan the poem? What different meanings to these scansions
suggest?
7. DOES THE POEM CONTAIN ANY LITERARY ALLUSIONS? Is it influenced
by earlier poems? Can it be compared to other ppoems you have read by the same
poet or different poets?