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poetry_explication_assignment_sheet.docx
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Poetry Explication Assignment Sheet
Due Dates: 2203 – 05 (MW 3:30)—Monday, 10/3
2203 – 07 (TR 2:00)—Thursday, 9/29
Length Requirement: 2½ page minimum
Note: Depending on the length or complexity of your chosen poem, your explication may
need to exceed this minimum in order to discuss the poem well.
Formatting: standard MLA style and formatting, including citations (in-text and end-text), font,
typeface, header, margins, page numbers, etc.
Before beginning your essay, you should revisit and reread your chosen poem multiple times,
making sure to underline and annotate—that is, begin to converse with the poem—doing your
best to find patterns in the poem’s content and form. It may also be a good idea to reread your
chosen poem multiple times with each reading focusing on a different aspect of the poem—
words, images, sound, figures, etc. This will be the primary way of arriving at your argument—
or your interpretation—about what and how a poem means, creates an effect, produces a tone or
mood, etc.
For this essay, you can write on any one poem that was assigned reading in our poetry unit
whether we discussed it in class or not. You cannot write on either of the two poems that we
discussed on our first full class meeting—“Resumé” or “In a Station of the Metro”—before
starting the poetry unit. This gives you over forty different poems to choose from.
Your essay’s introduction should end with an argumentative thesis statement that makes a claim
regarding how a poem’s form—its words, images, sounds, figures, etc.—contributes to meaning,
the creation of an effect, or the production of a tone or mood. Simple statements that explain
what a poem is about or that identify which formal elements are present in a poem are not
suitable, fundamentally-debatable thesis statements. Your introduction should also contextualize
your essay’s focus; this should include some discussion of what the poem says in the form of
summary or paraphrase.
Because this is a poetry explication, the analysis of your chosen poem should be carried out on a
line-by-line, stanza-by-stanza, or section-by-section basis depending on your chosen poem’s
length and how it’s structured. The body of your essay should be organized by this same
principle. Each body paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that makes a clear supporting
claim, and each supporting claim should be in turn supported by specific textual evidence—in
the form of quotation—and explanation of the significance of this evidence—analysis.
If you need any assistance, let me know, and I will help you. You also have readily available
help at the Writing Center. See writingcenter.msstate.edu for hours, locations, and appointment
making.
Style Tips:
•
•
•
•
Only use summary or paraphrase of your chosen poem where appropriate—in
your essay’s introduction and to help introduce and contextualize evidence from
the text. This is an explication essay.
Always use the present tense when writing about literature—the text is
considered a living document.
Refer to things—characters, objects, ideas, etc.—as they are referred to in the
text.
Do not say that a particular writer does things with or in a text—ex. Hughes uses
similes to show …. You cannot make this assumption. You can, however, say
that a poem’s speaker says things, constructs things a certain way for some
effect.
THIS IS A LIST
OF THE POEMS
YOU CAN
CHOOSE FROM
DOESN’T
MATTER TO ME
WHATEVEVR IS
BEST FOR YOU
M. Aug. 22: Ch. 1—Reading Literature (3, 7-9); Ch. 2—Writing in Response to Literature (19-20, 21-26);
Gonzalez’s “The Jalapeño Contest” (316-317); Oppenheimer’s “The Paring Knife” (319); Parker’s
“Résumé” (760); Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” (760); Ives’s Sure Thing (1046-1054)
W. Aug. 24: Ch. 13—Words and Images (570-579, 592); Joseph’s “On Being Told I Don’t Speak like a
Black Person” (582-584); Trethewey’s “History Lesson” (585); Berry’s “The Peace of Wild Things” (588)
M. Aug. 29: Ch. 14—Voice, Tone, and Sound (595-613, 625); Stern’s “The Dog” (614-615); Mora’s “La
Migra” (617-618); Browning’s “My Last Duchess” (622-623)
W. Aug. 31: Ch. 16—Rhythm and Meter (652-661, 673, 1422-1431); Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” (665);
Plath’s “Metaphors” (670); Frost’s “Design” (805-806); Troupe’s “A Poem for ‘Magic’” (825-826);
Wesley’s “There’s Nothing You Can Do” (875-876)
M. Sept. 5: No Class—Holiday
W. Sept. 7: Ch. 15—Figurative Language (627-641, 650); Kooser’s “Student” (642-643); Dickinson’s “It
sifts from Leaden Sieves” (643-644); Oliver’s “First Snow” (644-645); Cofer’s “Cold as Heaven” (646-647);
Alvarez’s “How I Learned to Sweep” (647-648)
M. Sept. 12: Ch. 15—Figurative Language, cont.
W. Sept. 14: Ch. 18—Writing about Poetry (706-719); Ch.2—Writing in Response to Literature (30-45);
Essay Writing Review
M. Sept. 19: Ch. 17—Form and Type (674-690, 704); Johnson’s “Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem” (696);
Yau’s “Chinese Villanelle” (701-702); Cumming’s “next to of course god america i” (697)
W. Sept. 21: Essay Topics Due; Exam Review; Essay Workshop
M. Sept. 26: Poetry Exam
W. Sept. 28: Ch. 5—Plot and Character (116-125, 157); Gilb’s “Love in L.A.” (113-115); O’Connor’s “A
Good Man Is Hard to Find” (134-146); Allende’s “And of Clay Are We Created” (355-362); Cofer’s “Nada”
(395-402); Hughes’s “Thank You, M’am” (418-420); Hurston’s “Sweat” (421-429)
…
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