Poetry Explication Essay Assignment

Prompt: 

Write a 2 – 2 ½ page explication (analysis) of the poem “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden or the poem “There Is No Word for Goodbye,” by Mary Tallmountain. Decide what you believe is a prominent conflict/theme of the poem and then explain how various elements (imagery, figures of speech, diction, sound devices, tone, etc.) develop and/or resolve the conflict or theme.

Process:

· Read the poem out loud to hear the sound devices and rhythm

· Fully annotate the poem – highlight interesting or important passages and write comments in the margins of the paper.

· Brainstorm your ideas: Free-writing, listing, mapping, reporter’s questions, etc.

· Create a rough outline

· Write a rough draft

· Edit, proofread

· Revise for final copy

Requirements:

· MLA Style

· 2 – 2 ½ pages in length

· Use quotes from the poem to support your analysis

Reminders:

· Begin with the dramatic situation

· Do not simply tell us what are the sound devices or figures of speech, etc. – analyze these elements and explain how they impact the meaning of the poem.

o Take Blake’s poem “London,” for example. The repetition of the word “marks“ moves from pain-filled scars that we see to something we hear with the repetition of the word “cry.”  If you shut your eyes, you will still hear them – the narrator indicates that there is no escape. The misery is all encompassing to every “man” and “infant,” and finally, “to every voice.” please i have given you a sample of how it should be written in the drop box