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Honors Senior Project Poetry Explication. What is an explication ?.
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What is an explication? According to the Latin root, to "explicate" means to 'unfold.' Explications interpret a poem (or other brief passage) intensely and persistently, talking carefully about the words, explaining the patterns of imagery, the meaningfulness of rhythms, the suggestiveness and power of the sounds, and the function of other literary devices the author employs. In essence, it demonstrates how the text works.
What is an explication? In other words, what does the poem say and what literary elements does the author use to demonstrate this message?
Pre-Writing… Read the poem through at least twice. Consider the poem as a dramatic situation in which a speaker addresses an audience or another character. Identify and describe the speaking voice or voices, the conflicts or ideas, and the language used in the poem. Mark any literary devices that you see.
Things to think about… The large issues – Determine the basic design of the poem by considering thewho, what, when, where, and why of the dramatic situation. • What is being dramatized? What conflicts or themes does the poem present, address, or question? • Who is the speaker? Define and describe the speaker and his or her voice. What does the speaker say? Who is the audience? Are other characters involved? • What happens in the poem? Consider the plot or basic design of the action. How are the dramatized conflicts or themes introduced, sustained, resolved, etc.? • Whendoes the action occur? What is the date and the time of day? • Where is the speaker? Describe the physical location of the dramatic moment. • Why does the speaker feel compelled to speak at this moment? What is hisor hermotivation?
Things to include… • In writing an explication, you will need to consider some or all of the following: * Theme or plot of the poem* Identity and situation of the speaker(s)* Denotations/connotations of significant words* Hyperbole, understatement, ambiguity* Imagery and symbolism* Figures of speech (similes, metaphors, puns, personifications)* Metrics and rhyme* Line breaks and stanza form • You should, however, only discuss these formal poetic elements insofar as you find them significant to our understanding of the poem’s meaning (which should be most of he time).
The form of the explication… Be sure to present your observations in the form of a coherent essay—unified by a clear argument about the meaning of the poem—not as a series of separate comments about the different features of the poem. Provide a brief introduction and a statement of your controlling idea (a thesis), organize the body of your essay into logical subdivisions, use transitional sentences as needed, and suggest something of the wider significance of your analysis in your concluding sentences.
Introduction… Must include: Author’s name Title of poem The overall theme or idea the poem expresses A thesis statement At least 5 sentences May include: Biographical information about the author Background information about the poem
Thesis… Sample Thesis Statement #1 In “First Lessons,” R. Zamora Linmark uses allusions to describe how not to write a poem, and then he uses imagery, irony, tone, and allusions to describe how to write a poem properly.
Thesis… Sample Thesis Statement #2 R. Zamora Linmark in “First Lessons” uses imagery and verbal irony to describe how a writer can discover his or her topic, then through diction and allusion, tells the writer how to write a poem that will leave a lasting impression on readers.
The paper should… Discuss all parts of the poem – The poems structure will guide your paper, but you will be sure to include all elements of your thesis – if the thesis talks about theme, imagery, tone, and allusion, you will want to prove your thesis by quoting lines from the poem that demonstrate how these devices contribute to the overall meaning.
When using quotations… • Use quotations correctly. When analyzing the sections of your poem, you will need to refer to specific words or lines in the poem itself. • Don't quote long sections of the poem. • Incorporate quotations into your own sentences and focus on those words or lines that are really significant to your interpretation.
Citing quotes from a poem… • When citing quotations from a poem, you will cite the line number. When quoting from more than one line, you will use backslashes to separate the the lines. • For example – The child, who until now has seemed uncommunicative, draws a house and pathway, then "puts in a man with buttons like tears / and shows it proudly to the grandmother" (29-30).
The conclusion… • An explication does not have a formal conclusion like a regular essay. However, the last sentence (or sentences) should refer back to the thesis and discuss the big idea or theme of the work.
Always… • Write in present tense. • Write in third person. • Substantiate your assertions with quotes (brief ones!) from the poem. • Refer to the voice in the poem as the speaker. • Write more than two pages. • Avoid the verb “to be.” • Avoid contractions. • Avoid first and second person.
A student’s introduction… Written during the onset of what would come to be known as the Troubles, Seamus Heaney's “Requiem for the Croppies” depicts a domestic conflict from the viewpoint of the rural population of Northern Ireland. Though the story of the poem comes from a rebellion in 1798, Heaney connects this past battle with the impending war before him. Moreover, he illustrates the differences between an official military force and an improvised militia. A vast imbalance of resources exists between the two sides, and Heaney shows the deadly consequences of their chance encounter. In “Requiem for the Croppies,” Heaney uses the formal structure of a Shakespearian sonnet, along with imagery, allusion, and irony in order to demonstrate just how much this conflict affects those who live in its path.
Another student’s introduction… In E.B. White’s essay, “The Ring of Time,” he magnifies a universal concept of time through the extended metaphor of a circus ring as the ring of time. The main character in the essay is an unnamed girl who represents youth and vitality. It is through this girl that White discovers the innate human reflex to escape from the superficiality of reality and journey to an endless ring of time, a sort of fantasy where simplicity constitutes beauty. This passage lies in the middle of the essay and transitions from White’s paragraph detailing his job as the distant and humble journalist to the final paragraphs in which he scales the ring of time to a universal perspective. His dexterous use of literary devices, his structure of the essay, and his extraordinary manipulation of language are intrinsic elements of the passage.
This will be graded… • On the introduction (including author’s name, title of poem, minimum of five sentences, and a clear thesis). • On the use of literary devices (at least five should be mentioned in the course of the paper). • On the use of quotations from the poem (incorporated into your sentences, brief, cited appropriately). • On the fact that you follow the cardinal rules. • On the fact that you write more than two pages. • On the fact that you proofread sufficiently to avoid grammatical and mechanical errors.
Ideas taken from: University of California at Davis <http://cai.ucdavis.edu>. University of North Carolina Writing Center <http://writingcenter.unc.edu>. San Mateo Community College <http://www.smccd.edu/>. Student Work
