No fear students..your step by step is here!
Writing the explication:
The explication should follow the same format as the preperation: begin with the large issues and basic design of the poem and work through each line to the more specific details and patterns.
The first paragraph:
The first paragraph should present the large issues; it should inform the reader which conflicts are dramatized and should describe the dramatic situation of the speaker. The explication does not require a formal introductory paragraph; the writer should simply start explicating immediately. According to UNC's Professor William Harmon, the foolproof way to begin any explication is with the following sentence: "This poem dramatizes the conflict between......" Such a beginning ensures that you will introduce the major conflict or theme in the poem and organize your explication accordingly.
Here is an example. A student's explication of Wordsworth's" Composed upon Westminster Bridge" might begin in the following way:
This poem dramatizes the conflict between appearance and realitry, particularly as this conflict relates to what the speaker seems to say and what he really says. From Westminster Bridge, the speaker looks at London at sunrise, and he explains that all people should be struck by such a beautiful scene. The speaker notes the city is silent, and he points to several specific objects, naming them only in general terms: "Ships,towers,domes, theatres, and temples"(6) After describing the "glittering" aspect of these objects, he asserts that these city places are just as beautiful in the morning as country place like "valley, rock or hill" (8,10). Finally, after describing his deep feeling of calmness, the speaker notes how the " house seems asleep" and that "all mighty heart is lying still" (13,14). In this way, the speaker seems to say simply that London looks beautiful in the moring.
Class , you see how this student analyzes using text in order to support his analysis? I want you to do the same :) Back that analysis up!
The next paragraphs:
The next paragraphs should expand the discussion of the conflict by focusing on details of form, rhetoric, syntax, and vocabulary. In these paragraphs, the writer should explain the poem line by line in terms of these details, and he or she should incorporate important elements of rhyme, rhythm, and meter during the discussion.
The student's explication continues with a topic sentence that directs the discussion of the first five lines:
However, the poem begins with several oddities that suggest the speaker is saying more than what he seems to say initially. For example, the poem is an Italian sonnet and follows the abbaabbacdcdcd rhyme scheme. The fact that the poet chooses to write a sonnet about London in an Italian form suggests that what he says may not actually be praising the city. Also, the rhetoric of the first two lines seems awkward compared to a normal speaking voice: "Earth has not anything to show more fair./Dull would he be of soul who could passby"(1-2) The odd syntax continues when the poet personifies the city: "This City now doth, like a garment, wear/The beauty of the morning:(4-5). Here, the city wears the morning's beauty, so it is not the city but the morning that is beautiful.
The conclusion???
The explication has no formal concluding paragraph; do not simply restate the main points of the introduction! The end of the explication should focus on sound effects or visual patterns as the final element of asserting an explanantion. Or, as does the undergraduate here, the writer may choose simply to stop writing when he or she reaches the end of the poem:
The poem ends with a vague statement: "And all that mighty heart is lying still!" In this line, the city's heart could be dead, or it could simply be deceiving the one observing the scene. In this way, the poet reinforces the conflict between the appearance of the city in the morning and what such a scene and his words actually reveal.
Tips to keep in mind:
1. Refer to the speaking voice in the poem as "the speaker" or "the poet". For example, do not write " In this poem, Wordsworth says that London is beautiful in the morning." However, you can write, "In this poem Wordsworth presents a speaker who...." We cannot absolutely identify Wordsworth ith the speaker of the poem, so it is more accurate to talk about "the speaker" or "the poet" in an explication.
2. Use the present tense when writing the explication. The poem, as a work of literature, continues to exist!
3. To avoid unecessary uses of the verb " to be" in your compositions, the following list suggests some verbs you can use when writing the explication:
dramatizes asserts contrasts addresses
presents posits juxtaposes emphasizes
illustrates enacts suggests stresses
characterizes conects implies accentuates
underlines portrays shows enables
Good Luck Guys!
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