English 355
Essay 3 Poetry Explication
Late papers not accepted
Thursday 4/7 Scratch Outline/Thesis due in class must be typed and peer reviewed for credit. No
makeups!
Tuesday 4/19 1155pm: Essay is due uploaded into Turnitin via Moodle
Extra Credit LRC visit w/ proof: 10 extra credit points given ONCE for attending LRC during
this essay’s drafting process, but you may go as many times as you need to. Must include proof
of visit attached to your final draft.
(Note: Instructor will only review rough drafts one-on-one during an appt. you make with her)
Select one of the poems listed below and explain it in a 3 ½ to 4 page explication essay. Do add a
Works Cited page.
Writing Task: Determine the theme or the main point of the poem and explain in detail how
the poet’s techniques produce your understanding of this theme.
You must discuss the poem in terms of the elements or guidelines of poetry, i.e. the speaker,
structure, sound, meter, imagery, etc. (see pg 661 and/or Poetry Worksheet’s questions to
consider). Because not all poems utilize all elements, or the elements are not employed equally,
your discussion of these elements will not be equal.
NOTE: In an explication, your thesis will be your identification of the theme or the main point.
Select from ONE of the following poems:
Robert Herrick - “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" (695)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning - “How Do I Love Thee?” (899)
Gwendolyn Brooks – “First Fight. Then Fiddle.” – (823)
Randall Jarrell “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” (766)
Theordore Roethke – “My Papa’s Waltz” (885)
Robert Hayden- “Monet’s ‘Waterlillies’” (PS5-glossy pages)
Carl Sandburg - "Fog" (895)
Wislawa Szymborska - “The End and the Beginning” (908)
Emily Dickinson – “Because I could not stop for Death—” (973)
Your Purpose in Writing This Essay
• Demonstrate your thorough understanding of a poem and the parts that comprise it.
• Demonstrate your knowledge of the elements of poetry and your ability to identify them in a
work.
• Explain the important aspects of a poem by using sufficient details, appropriate quotes, and
clear explanations as to what these quotes illustrate.
• Illustrate your familiarity with the correct format for MLA citations.
• Demonstrate your ability to organize details in a logical, persuasive fashion as to effectively
explain the poem.
• Exercise the skill of writing well-crafted sentences, utilizing standard edited American English.
Again, this is NOT a research paper. Do NOT go to outside sources for “ideas.” Your purpose is
NOT to come up with a unique, innovative interpretation of these selections of literature. Your
purpose is to show that you understand the main point of a poem and to explain how the poet
creates that understanding.