Explicating a Poem

1
Explicating a Poem

• Instructions for Explicating, and a Sample
  Explication

2
The Explication

• An explication is an informal encounter with a
  literary work.
• This close encounter of the literary kind takes
  place in the form of an interpretation and
  evaluation of a piece of literaturein this case,
  a lyric poem.
• The interpretation focuses on both the content
  and context of the poem being explicated.
• In the explication you will do for Section 6, you
  will follow the format laid out in the sample
  formal outline and sample explication that follow
  this slide.
• You must follow the sample format in this
  presentation exactly to receive a grade of
  Accepted. However, you will not turn in The
  List or the Selected Quotes portions of this
  assignment. You will only turn in the Formal
  Outline for Paper 5, and Paper 5 itself.

3
The Six Steps

• There are six steps involved in completing this
  assignment. You will have to go through all of
  themand submit your Formal Outline for Paper 5,
  and Paper 5 as wellin order to successfully
  complete Section 6.
• Step 1 Choose a lyric poem from among those
  contained in the assigned pages in the
  Introduction to Literature book.
• Step 2 Reread the poem
• Step 3 Annotate the poem
• Step 4 Make a formal outline
• Step 5 Select quotations
• Step 6 Expand the formal outline into an
  explication using an informal essay style and the
  format laid out in the following slides.

4
Paragraph Structure

• Introduction Identifies the title, author, form,
  subject, theme(s), poet-speaker, and tone of the
  poem.
• Body 1 Should focus on the first stanza of the
  poem. You should discuss the tools the poet uses
  to put the stanza together and their importance
  to the poem as a whole.
• Body 2 Should talk about the second stanza of
  the poem in the same way Body 1 talks about the
  first.
• Body 3 Same for stanza 3 (if there is a stanza
  3).
• Conclusion Should evaluate the poem as a whole.
  Is it good or bad? Do you like it? Why or why
  not?
• You may use 1st Person (I, me, my), 2nd Person
  (you, your, yours), or 3rd Person pronouns (he,
  she, it), or a combination of all three. But use
  complete sentences and at least one quote in each
  body paragraph.

5
Step 1 Choose a Lyric Poem

• Remember that a lyric poem
• Is written in 1st Person and has a single
  poet-speaker.
• Expresses the thoughts and emotions of a
  poet-speaker who is not necessarily the poet.
• May take the form of a sonnet, ode, elegy,
  dramatic monologue, etc. or it may be in free
  verse (have no set form).
• You should choose a poem with between 2 and 4
  stanzas.
• This eliminates the haiku as a subject for Paper
  5. Your poem must have more than 1 stanza in
  order to work.
• Also remember that although sonnets appear to
  have only 1 stanza, they are really made up of
  either 2 or 4 stanzas which are joined together.

6
Step 2 Reread the Poem

• The lyric poem I will use for the sample outline
  and explication is Holy Sonnet XIV (Batter My
  Heart, Three-Personed God, For You) by John
  Donne.
• This poem is to be found on page 781 of the
  Introduction to Literature book.
• You should read this poem thoroughly, and try to
  identify the various poetical tools that were
  discussed in the first PowerPoint presentation in
  Section 6.
• The more familiar you are with Donnes lyric
  poem, the more you will learn from this sample
  outline and explication.

7
Step 3 Annotate the Poem

• First, you must identify the form of the poem.
• It may be written in free verse (that is, it may
  have no fixed form, like the Langston Hughes poem
  Harlem on page 663-664 of the Introduction to
  Literature book). Or, the poem may be have a
  type of form not covered in first slide
  presentation in Section 6. If either of these is
  the case, say so in your introduction.
• However, if it is a sonnet, ode, elegy, or
  dramatic monologue, you should identify it.
• If the poem is a sonnet, then you must identify
  which type, Elizabethan or Italian, and use the 2
  or 4 stanza breakdown to set up your body
  paragraphs.
• Remember that, except in the case of a sonnet
  (which is a 14-line poem made up of either 2 or 4
  stanzas that are joined together), you may not
  use a poem with a single stanza for your
  explication.

8
Step 3, continued

• Next mark the main tools (subject, themes, rhyme
  scheme, symbols, similes, metaphors, etc.) the
  poet is using and write them down in the margins.
  
• Underline quotations that you think make good
  examples of these characteristics to use in
  putting together your explication.
• Comment on the importance of each individual
  characteristic that you have identified to the
  poem as a whole.
• Remember your focus here is the whole poemnot
  just a portion or portions of it.

9
Step 4 Make a Formal Outline

• First identify the poems form (if there is one,
  and if it is one of the forms covered in the
  first presentation). Then make a list of the
  poems subject, poet-speaker, tone, rhyme scheme
  (if any), and the importance of each of these
  tools to the poem as a whole.
• Then you should organize your list by assigning
  your comments to their component tools.
• Each tool must be identified and an example given
  from the poem. Then the tool must be discussed in
  relation to its place in the poem as a whole.
• Next you should note down your overall evaluation
  of the poem, including its style.
• Then expand the list into a formal outline of an
  explication.

10
Step 4, continued

• The List
• Holy Sonnet XIV is an example of an Italian
  Sonnet.
• The rhyme scheme in stanza 1, the octave, is
  abbaabba.
• The rhyme scheme in stanza 2, the sestet, is
  cdcddd.
• The subject of the poem is salvation.
• The main theme of the poem is one of conquest.
  The poet-speaker compares his heart to a walled
  city which God must conquer in order for the
  poet-speakers soul to be saved.
• The poet-speaker of the poem is a Christian who
  is asking God to break down his resistance to
  following Gods rules, and in so doing, to save
  his soul.

11
Step 4, continued

• The List, cont.
• The tone of the poem is one of longing. The
  poet-speaker genuinely desires to be saved.
• In the first stanza, the simile comparing the
  speakers heart to a walled city is introduced.
  This simile is crucial to the poem as a whole
  because the entire work takes the form of an
  simile. This comparison is the rock the poem is
  built on.
• In the second stanza, the extended simile takes
  on a new theme of romantic conquest. The
  poet-speakers love for God is expressed, his
  love of sin is admitted, and he asks God to
  imprison his heart so that it can be free of the
  influence of Satan.

12
Step 4, continued

• Now the list should be expanded into the actual
  Formal Outline.
• Notice how, in the sample outline that follows, I
  have turned my list into an outline by arranging
  the information into sections that will later
  become paragraphs.
• Each section of the outline that follows will
  become one of the paragraphs of my explication.
• It is important that you organize your outline in
  this way. Not only will this help you to get
  your Formal Outline for Paper 5 accepted, it will
  also make it easier to write the essay.

13
Step 4, continued

• I. Introduction
• a) The title of the poem is Holy Sonnet XIV.
• b) The author is John Donne.
• c) The poem is written in the form of an Italian
  Sonnet.
• d) The subject is salvation.
• e) The main theme is one of conquest.
• f) The poet-speaker is a Christian asking to be
  saved.
• g) The tone is one of longing.

14
Step 4, continued

• II. The first stanza of Donnes poem is an
  octave. The rhyme scheme is abbaabba.
• a) The rhyme scheme is used to emphasize the
  words that come at the end of the lines (e.g.,
  You, mend, bend, new, due, end,
  defend, and untrue are key to the development
  of the theme of conquest).
• b) The main tool Donne uses in this stanza is an
  extended simile comparing the poet-speakers
  heart to a walled city that the speaker is asking
  God to conquer so that the speakers soul can be
  saved. This comparison is crucial to the poem
  because it serves as the basis for the meaning of
  the entire work.
• c) Another tool Donne uses in the first stanza is
  alliteration. The words break, blow, burn in
  line 4 are an example of this.

15
Step 4, continued

• III. The second stanza of Donnes poem is a
  sestet. The rhyme scheme of this stanza is
  cdcddd.
• a) The rhyming words fain, enemy, again,
  I, free, and me emphasize the speakers
  relationship with God and the devil, and his
  desire to be saved.
• b) The most important tool used in stanza 2 is
  the extended simile that began in stanza 1 and
  continues in stanza 2. The simile shifts in
  stanza 2 comparing the speakers heart to a lover
  who is betrothed to the devil, but who wants to
  be with God instead. The speaker asks God to
  enthrall him and save him from his destructive
  love of sin.
• c) Interior rhyme is also seen in stanza 2. In
  line 13, the words me and free are an example
  of this.
• d) The final two lines end with the words free
  and me, which functions as a final plea for
  salvation.

16
Step 4, continued

• IV. John Donnes Holy Sonnet XIV is a great
  poem.
• a) Donne captures the uncertainty in all our
  hearts about the possibility of damnation, and
  the difficulty of salvation.
• b) In comparing the poet-speakers heart to a
  walled town, Donne is expressing the inner
  feelings of all Christians who know that
  salvation is difficult to achieve on this Earth.
• c) Donne does a fine job of using metaphors and
  alliteration and rhymes to carry his subject
  across to his readers.

17
Step 5 Select Quotations

• Once you have completed your Formal Outline for
  Paper 5, you should submit it to the instructor
  for grading. Remember you must get your Formal
  Outline for Paper 5 accepted before you can
  submit the essay.
• Once your Formal Outline for Paper 5 has been
  returned marked accepted, you should should
  select quotations of two kinds from the poem
• those which serve as good examples of the tools
  the poet is using.
• those which are of particular importance to the
  poem as a whole.
• Remember that you will not be doing a Works Cited
  page for Paper 5.
• Instead, you will be typing the entire poem at
  the top of the first page of your Formal Outline
  for Paper 5, and on the first page of Paper 5
  itself.

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Step 6 Expand the Outline into an Explication

• John Donnes poem Holy Sonnet XIV is an
  example of an Italian Sonnet. The subject is
  salvation. The poet-speaker is a Christian
  asking to be saved. The main theme is one of
  conquest. The poet-speaker compares his heart
  with a walled town and asks God to break down the
  walls and save his soul. The tone is one of
  longing. The poet-speaker genuinely desires to
  be saved from hell.

19
Step 6, continued

• The first stanza of the poem is an octave. The
  rhyme scheme is abbaabba. The rhyme scheme is
  used to emphasize the words that come at the end
  of the lines. For example, placed at the end of
  lines 1-8, the words You, mend, bend,
  new, due, end, defend, and untrue are
  key to the development of the theme of conquest.
  The main tool Donne uses in this stanza is an
  extended simile comparing speakers heart to a
  walled city that the speaker is asking God to
  conquer so that the poet-speakers soul can be
  saved. The language of Christian salvation is
  seen in line 3, That I may rise and stand. The
  poet-speaker wants to rise from the dead and
  stand next to God in heaven. The comparison of
  the speakers heart to a fortification is crucial
  to the poem because it serves as the basis for
  the meaning of the entire work. The simile
  introduced in stanza 1 is continued in stanza 2.
  Alliteration is also seen in stanza 1. In line
  4, the words break, blow, burn are an example
  of b sounds being used to emphasize the fact
  that the speaker wants to be completely torn down
  and remade in the image of God.

20
Step 6, continued

• The second stanza of the poem takes the form of
  a sestet. The rhyme scheme of the sestet is
  cdcddd. The rhyming words fain, enemy,
  again, I, free, and me at the ends of
  lines 9-14 emphasize the speakers relationship
  with God and the devil, and his desire to be
  saved. The rhyming words in lines 13 and 14,
  free and me form a kind of plea to Godfree
  meto rescue the speaker from his attraction to
  sin. The extended simile expressing the theme of
  conquest that began in stanza 1 is continued in
  stanza 2. However, in line 10 the simile shifts,
  comparing the heart of the speaker to a lover
  betrothed to the devil. Donne uses the
  language of love and marriage to express the
  desire of the poet-speaker to spend eternity with
  God. Internal rhyme is also seen in stanza 2.
  The words me and free in line 13 strengthen
  the plea of the speakerfree mefor God to get
  him away from the influence of Satan.

21
Step 6, continued

• In conclusion, John Donnes Italian sonnet
  entitled Holy Sonnet XIV is a great poem.
  Donne captures the uncertainty in all our hearts
  about the possibility of damnation. In comparing
  the poet-speakers heart to a walled town, Donne
  is expressing the inner feelings of all
  Christians who know that salvation is difficult
  to achieve on this Earth. Donne does a fine job
  of using simile and alliteration and rhyme to
  carry his subject across to his readersboth
  Christian and non-Christian alike.