British Literature since 1800

Essay #1: Explication

Due:           Tuesday Sept. 14

Length:       4 pages (approximately 1,000 words). Essays must be typed and stapled.

Citations:    MLA citation style

Other:         Your essay must follow the rules established on the sheet entitled “Grammar, Punctuation, and Citation Rules.” Essays that do not will be penalized.

             The word “explication” comes from a Latin word that means “to unfold.” In a literary explication, the writer seeks to unfold the meaning of a short poem or passage, to make explicit the effects of words and figures of speech that operate implicitly in the poem. The point, in short, is to interpret as thoroughly and as specifically as possible. You may write your essay on any of the poems on the syllabus by Blake or Wordsworth. If you choose “Tintern Abbey,” you must focus on a section of the poem of no more than 40 lines or so. (I suggest you ask me about the section you choose.)

             I would like you to follow a fairly rigid form for this first essay, devoting at least one paragraph to each of the following aspects of the poem. Follow the order below, unless you have a good reason for diverging from it. Let the poem dictate how much attention you give to each. Support all claims with selective quotation.

Introduction. Begin by establishing the speaker, the audience, and the rhetorical situation. Who is speaking to whom on what occasion? Be as specific as possible, but do not make claims that are so specific that the poem cannot support them. Remember to distinguish between the poet and the speaker of the poem.

Diction. Consider at least five words, discussing the effect that they have in the context in which they appear. Look for interesting patterns of words and be sure to use the OED, available online through the library home page, to draw out connotations. It is not effective to gesture broadly to a big clump of words:

Many words, such as “old,” “health,” “overtasked,” “tears,” and “sick,” generate sympathy for Simon Lee.

Instead, consider each word in context, and analyze its effect specifically:

Describing Simon Lee’s body as “dwindled,” the speaker emphasizes the process of physical decay.

Imagery. Does the poem include language that appeals to the senses in a vivid or interesting way? Does the imagery suggest a close description of the world? Is it vague or precise? Luxuriant? Spare? Describe its effects as specifically as possible.

Figures of Speech. Identify and discuss the most interesting figures of speech. There are of course many different figures to watch for. Some of the most frequent: irony, metaphor, simile, oxymoron, hyperbole, personification, synechdoche, metonymy, and symbolism. In addition to class notes, see the section in the back of the Norton Anthology and Abrams’s Glossary.

Tone. How can you most specifically describe the speaker’s attitude toward his or her subject? Is the speaker solemn or jubilant? Casual or formal? Angry and embittered or naive and optimistic? (These are only random examples of course.) Does the speaker’s tone remain consistent, or does it change over the course of the passage?

Conclusions. Your explication does not require a thesis, but you might conclude by making some claims about the overall effect of the evidence you have considered.