COMP 290: Writing about Literature (CRN 257)
MWF 11:00-11:50, SCHU 112
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Poetry Explication
Your first major writing assignment of the semester is a poetry explication. As we have discussed in class, your job in an explication is to argue for a meaning of the poem you choose from the attached poems based on the textual evidence that you find in your analyses of the poem. To construct your argument, you will examine many aspects of the poem:
- Vocabulary—word choices. How are different words related (or opposed) to each other? How do the word choices affect your understanding of the poem? What are the literal meanings of the major words? What are some of the underlying meanings (connotative) of the words? How does the title fit with the rest of the work?
- Figurative Language—metaphors, similes and other aspects of language that evoke imagery. How is the figurative language is related? What types of comparisons are being made in the metaphors and similes?
- Style—poetic form (formal poem vs. free verse), stanza organization, as well as the mechanical and grammatical elements of the poem. How does the form affect the meaning? How are the stanzas set up? Are lines end-stopped or enjambed? How does the punctuation affect meaning?
- Tone—the attitude or emotion of the piece. How tone is presented (i.e. what evokes the tone)? What does the tone indicate about the meaning of the poem?
- Characterization/speaker’s voice—the voice of the poem and, if applicable, characters in the poem. Who is speaking? What do you know about the speaker based on the poem? If there are additional characters in the poem, what are they like? What do they reveal about the poem?
- Rhyme, rhythm, meter—the music of the poem. What kind of rhythm does the poem have? Is it consistent or is it open? Is there are rhyme scheme? If so, how does the rhyme affect the poem?
The examination of these elements and how they relate to each other should help you to arrive at a theme that the poem evokes—the focal point of the poem based on your analysis of it. Once you have arrived at a theme, you will need to begin writing your explication, which will argue that the poem focuses on the theme you have discovered. In the explication, you will demonstrate how the specific elements of the poem present your theme. Your best method of organization may be a line-by-line (or sentence-by sentence) analysis of the poem, though you are welcome to use a different organizational pattern if you prefer.
The final draft of the paper should be 3-5 pages long, double-spaced in MLA format (see page 117 of your MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers for a sample). Prior to the submission the final draft, you will be required to bring several copies of your rough draft to class for group critiquing and submit a second draft to me prior to our conference. The schedule of drafts is as follows:
- Rough draft #1 (3 copies) due IN CLASS Wednesday, 7 September.
- Rough draft #2 due to me by 5, Monday 12 September.
- Rough draft #3 due IN CLASS, Friday, 16 September.
- Final draft due to me by 5 Monday, 19 September.
Background from Backgrounds Archive