27 Jun Please note this assignment requires you to cite from an academic journal article from the McMillen Library databases. ?? This paper is to be an ?explication, o
Please note this assignment requires you to cite from an academic journal article from the McMillen Library databases.
- This paper is to be an ‘explication,’ or close reading, of one (1) of the following poems:
- “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden (846)
- “Cream of wheat” by Lucille Clifton (781)
- “Of the Threads That Connect the Stars” by Martin Espada (848)
- “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman (915-916)
- “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” by W.H. Auden (837).
- An explication is a way of meticulously analyzing a literary text to derive meaning. In an explication, no detail is too small for analysis – this includes details like word choice and word order, but also the form of the poem, as well, including details such as spacing, rhyme, patterns, punctuation, etc. An explication also looks at both the context and form of a poem.
- This paper is to be an ‘explication,’ or close reading, of one (1) of the following poems:
- “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden (846)
- “Cream of wheat” by Lucille Clifton (781)
- “Of the Threads That Connect the Stars” by Martin Espada (848)
- “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman (915-916)
- “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” by W.H. Auden (837).
- An explication is a way of meticulously analyzing a literary text to derive meaning. In an explication, no detail is too small for analysis – this includes details like word choice and word order, but also the form of the poem, as well, including details such as spacing, rhyme, patterns, punctuation, etc. An explication also looks at both the context and form of a poem.
- This assignment is to be an ‘explication,’ or close reading, of one (1) of the following poems:
- “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden (846)
- “Cream of wheat” by Lucille Clifton (781)
- “Of the Threads That Connect the Stars” by Martin Espada (848)
- “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman (915-916)
- “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” by W.H. Auden (837).
- An explication is a way of meticulously analyzing a literary text to derive meaning. In an explication, no detail is too small for analysis – this includes details like word choice and word order, but also the form of the poem, as well, including details such as spacing, rhyme, patterns, punctuation, etc. An explication also looks at both the context and form of a poem.
1. For additional help in organizing this essay, please see the sample introduction, thesis statement, and outline below that you may adapt to the poem you choose from our assigned readings this week. As a model thesis statement you can use, consider this: In the poem ["Poem Title"], poet [first name and last name] looks at [theme stated succinctly] by using genre, poetic form, and cultural context.
Here is an example using the poem by Mary Oliver called “Singapore:”
I. Introduction: 1) start broadly, connecting with a shared experience with the reader, 2) introduce the poem, stating the author full name and title (in quotation marks), and offering a brief summary, 3) suggest what the poet might be offering in the poem (what she is saying about the universal human condition), 4) end with a thesis statement.
Example of introduction paragraph ending in a thesis statement:
Everyone holds his or her own perception of reality and consequently, of happiness, yet we often believe that our version of reality and happiness is the “right” one. In the poem “Singapore,” poet Mary Oliver explores her disgust with the occupation of a woman who is cleaning the restroom at the airport in Singapore. Oliver offers readers the chance to put themselves in her place and in the place of the cleaning woman, recognizing that both are very much the same. In the poem “Singapore,” Mary Oliver examines the myth of inferiority by using genre, poetic form, and cultural context.
II. First, Oliver sets up her theme of the myth of inferiority by using genre.
A. explanation of genre (cite textbook or Harvard glossary of poetic genres )
B. Quoted example from poem, properly set up and cited (see this link )
C. explanation about how genre supports the theme.
III. Next, Oliver uses poetic form to support her theme of the myth of inferiority.
A. explanation of poetic form (cite textbook)
B. Quoted example (or 2) from poem which illustrates poetic form
C. explanation about how poetic form supports the theme
IV. Lastly, Oliver uses the setting or cultural context to enhance her theme about the myth of inferiority.
A. explanation about cultural context (or setting)
B. Quoted example (or 2) from poem which illustrates cultural context (setting)
C. explanation about how cultural context supports the theme (you must include something from your EBSCOhost article about the cultural context of the poem in this paragraph).
V. Conclusion (no new source quotes permitted)
A. recap thesis statement in different words
B. recap main points from body paragraphs
C. offer the reader a reflection about how this theme applies in modern life, and what we can learn from the poem about this theme and its impact today.
Please remember your works cited page which should list your poem (use the discussion board model and adapt it), and if you cite the instructional materials in the textbook, you'll use our textbook editor works cited entry listed below. If you wish, you may include the Harvard Glossary of Poetic Genres on your works cited page, and please remember you must include one source from our library databases EBSCOhost. These sources will be in alphabetical order based on the first letter of the entry and will include a hanging indent (here’s how to do that).
Here is our general textbook entry if you should refer to any basic explanation about literary elements:
Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Thirteenth ed., W.W. Norton & Co., 2019.
The Harvard “Glossary of Poetic Genres” works cited entry will look like this:
“Glossary of Poetic Genres.” Harvard University, The President and Fellows of Harvard College, poetry.harvard.edu/glossary-poetic-genres.
