Poetry Explication & Analysis

Poetry Selections

• Rita Dove, “Describe Yourself in Three Words or Less”
  • Reading –http://malapropsbookstore.tumblr.com/post/82709911136/describe-yourself-in-three-words-or-less-by-rita

Format: You are required to use MLA style for all writing assignments. These assignments include the Summary Writing Assignment, the Focused Annotated Bibliography and the Final Researched Essay. Your instructor may also require MLA style for other essay assignments, including the midterm and final exams, and for discussion posts. Therefore, it is important that you understand how to use MLA style correctly.

• Length Requirement: 750-1000 words
• All sources must be cited

Instructions:

Your essay is not a traditional 5 paragraph essay, but rather will be divided into two parts. These parts do not have to be of equal length.

Part 1: Scansion and Analysis

In the first part, which should be labeled with the heading “Part I: Scansion and Analysis,” you should make a brief, relevant introduction and then begin discussing the structural elements of the poem—its meter, its rhyme scheme, the punctuation, capitalization, and whatever else adds to the structural aspect of the poem.

In this section, you might consider what is significant among the following:

Stanzas (how many, what shapes, appearances, what breaks, rhyme scheme, are they all the same?)
Lines (lengths, line breaks, enjambment or end-stopped?)
Syntax/Diction (Is the poem grammatical? Does it follow English conventions? Why?)
Meter/Rhyme (free verse or metrical? How many feet? Is it consistent?)
Punctuation (anything unusual? Is it excessive, conventional, or omitted?)
Organization (how does the poem progress in time and space? What does it look like on the page?)
Form/Mode (is it a special type of poem: ode, dramatic, narrative, sonnet, elegy, or a mixture?)

Part 2: Explication

In the second part, titled “Part II: Explication,” begin explicating the poem. Move through the poem slowly in a logical manner, pointing out any literary devices or elements of interest. In this second part of the essay, you are helping your reader gain an understanding of the poem in terms of its narrative—what’s going on in the poem—and in terms of the poet’s use of poetic devices to convey meaning.

NOTE: Do not fall into the paraphrase trap; that is, do not take your reader line by line just to fill your essay with words. The point of explication is not to retell the poem; instead, you are explicating to point out in the poem those elements that need interpreting or those places within the poem where you find something interesting. Although the goal of explicating is to explain as much about a poem as is necessary, you should explicate reservedly and intelligently.

Here are some questions to consider in this section:

What is the poem’s main idea?
What larger themes or issues are addressed– religious, philosophical, political, etc.?
What patterns can you find (recurring imagery, repetition, formal and stylistic features)?
Are there allusions present to other poetic works, myths, historical/religious figures, etc.?
What is the lyric situation? (Why was it written? Who is the speaker/addressee? What is the occasion?)
What poetic devices and figurative language does it use? (metaphor, simile, metonymy, synecdoche, symbol, personification, etc.)
Why does it use the specific words it does? (consider etymologies, denotations, connotations, and homonyms. Use a dictionary/thesaurus to reinterpret or rethink even common words.)
What is its tone? What type of language does it use? (formal informal? Slang? Euphony/cacophony?)

At the end of Part II you should mention the theme(s) of the work as well as what you believe the overall meaning or central message of the poem is.

You should plan to include direct quotes from the text and properly cite them in-text using MLA format (for poetry, this will mean line numbers). Here is one example of how to cite a line of poetry in MLA format:
By concluding the poem with the lines “Of all the things that happened there / That’s all that I remember,” Cullen reinforces the tragic and transformative nature of the incident (11-12).