Choose one of the poems from your readings in Chapter 33: “Poetry for Further Reading” and compose a written explication of that poem. The poem you select must be sophisticated enough to sustain a detailed analysis. You may choose a poem by the same poet you discussed in the Module 5 Discussion Board who comes from a different culture than your own.
Your explication should be 3-4 pages.
It should analyze one or more of the poem's elements (see readings from chapters 27 and 28 for specific elements).
Your explication is not a summary of what the poem is about. Nor are you expected to unravel the poem’s “meaning.” Rather, you are explaining how the poet used a particular poetic element, and you are analyzing how that element affects the rest of the poem.
When writing your explication:
Choose a poem that is sophisticated enough to sustain a detailed analysis.
Include a thesis statement that states the element you are analyzing and why.
Follow a systematic writing pattern by analyzing the element on which you are focusing line by line or stanza by stanza.
Provide textual examples (words, phrases, and lines) from the poem to illustrate your analytical statements. Cite your sources using correct APA formatting found in CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements. See the tutorial in Module 1 for an explanation on how to do this.
The UNC Writing Center and The Purdue OWL provide detailed examples of poetry explication.