© Jen Clapp

Poetry Explication Assignment

A poetry explication is an essay that takes apart the pieces of a poem to demonstrate how it creates
meaning – its main question can be reduced to the simple idea of “What does the poem mean? What is
its purpose? How does it create that meaning and achieve its purpose?” The creation of meaning
comes through literary techniques, like simile and metaphor, through argument, through imagery, and
through word choice.

Process:

• First, start by reading your poem over again. What, in the end, is the point that the author is
trying to make? After you have really thought about it (and remember, you have to write about
the poem your author wrote, not the poem that is in YOUR head), complete the following
sentence:

In the poem _____________________, the author _________________ suggests that

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________.
This sentence(or sentences) should answer the questions What is the poem about? What is it saying
about that subject?
• Now, re-read the poem again. How does the author establish his point? Does he do it through
questions? Comparisons? Word choice? Setting up a paradox? How does he resolve the
point?
• Add another sentence that answers the questions How is the meaning communicated (i.e.,
through what literary techniques)?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
• Divide the poem up into sections. This might be by stanzas or it might be by small groups of
stanzas. One of the best ways to divide a poem up is to look for shifts, moments in the poem
where the author seems to change the direction of the piece; shifts are often indicated by
transition words like BUT, YET, HOWEVER. If your poem is a sonnet, remember a sonnet
often has a problem presented in the first eight lines and solved in the final six.
• Then, you are going to write one paragraph explaining what he does in the first chunk, one for
the next section, and so forth until you have walked the reader through the whole poem from
beginning to end. Each paragraph should begin with an ASSERTION, a statement of
argument, that sums up what the author is doing in each section of text.
• You should use examples from the text to support your main idea about each part of the poem;
work the quotations in so that they are part of your own sentences.
• Finally, you will write a conclusion explaining why the idea that the poem proposes is an
important one.