Explicating a Poem

 

  1. What is an explication of a poem?  It is an explanation or interpretation or analysis.  It discusses the poem’s form (Sonnet? Quatrains? Iambic tetrameter? ).  If rhyme is used, it mentions this fact (abab? abbacc?).  It says something about the poem’s tone and theme (serious or humorous? subject and message or “meaning”?).  It analyzes important figures of speech or other techniques (metaphor? simile? alliteration?) which contribute to the overall effect of the poem.  An essay about meter is in the back of the Norton Anthology of English Literature.

 

  1. What is NOT an explication of a poem?  It is NOT a personal statement of how the poem makes you feel, unless that statement is supported by analysis of specific lines in the poem.  Your personal reaction must be based on an accurate analysis of what the poem actually says, not on your background or the mood you happen to be in when you read it.

 

  1. How long is an explication of a poem?  Long enough to cover the subject, which means it will sometimes be longer than the poem.  Figure on writing a page to analyze a sonnet or similar-length poem.  Naturally, with long, narrative poems you will have to be more selective about the details you choose to discuss.

 

  1. To get a 10 on a sketch for this literature class, you need to say something about both technique and theme.  You must remember to use conventional punctuation for titles.  Short works are enclosed by quotation marks; book titles are underlined.  “The Lamb” is a poem in Blake’s book, Songs of Innocence.  Grammar also counts.

 

  1. Here is a very short poem by Robert Frost, called “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

 

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower,

But only so an hour.

So leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

 

Here is a brief explication of “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

This eight-line poem, written in iambic trimeter couplets, says that real beauty is temporary.  It always changes into something less.  We cherish most the things we have for the shortest time.  The color gold stands for what we cherish.  The first four lines say that plants are at their most beautiful stage in early spring, when buds and flowers are young.  They become less attractive as they mature (“only so an hour”).  In the last four lines, Frost applies this observation to human history.  First he notes that the gorgeous first blossom changes for the worse as it ages (“subsides”).  Then, he reminds us that Eden was a place of perfect beauty until sin corrupted the world.  The beauty of dawn turns into a day like any other.  The anaphora, or repetition of “So” at the beginning of lines 5, 6, and 7, reinforces the inescapability of time’s progress, and the final line sums up the idea that change is always happening, that we cannot hold onto the things we cherish.

 

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