For this paper you are going to choose a poem and write an explication of that poem. To summarize: an explication of a poem is a
close reading which seeks to explain how the surface (tone, figurative
language, rhythm, line breaks, sounds, rhyme, and so on) and content (the
actual meaning of the words) interact and work together to generate certain
meanings and effects. An explication
is NOT a summary and does not simply paraphrase the poem. To write a successful explication, you
must think about the choices the poet made and why (s)he made them. Why this word and not that word? Why break the line here? Why this particular image and none other? Please note that I do not expect you to necessarily
use advanced terminology to talk about, for example, the specific meter of the
poem. I am interested in any connection
you can make between what the poem means and how the poem is formed. Your explication should have a clear, strong
central idea to hold it together—in other words, a thesis. You should refer to specific parts of the
poem to support and clarify your ideas. Your paper should have a header with your name,
the date, your class section, and the name of the poem you have chosen. Your text should be double spaced, and no
larger than 12 point font. Indent the
first line of each paragraph, and do not insert extra lines between
paragraphs. Submit the work as a Word
or Rich Text file through the dropbox on the assignment page
