DUE: Due Friday, April 30, to the Paper #3 link on Blackboard. Late papers lose points.
ASSIGNMENT:
Explicate a poem from the April 2021 issue of Poetry magazine.
An explication is a line-by-line (or stanza-by-stanza) detailed explanation or analysis of a poem
examining images, figurative language, structure, toneand deciding how this contributes to the overall meaning of the poem. You should quote from the poem and note line numbers (these should go in parentheses). If you consult outside sources, these should also be indicated and cited. For more on Writing About Poetry, visit the OWL site.
For this final paper and in the spirit of poetry, I would like you to take some risks in your academic writing.
You might find that you wish to incorporate elements of Reader-Response Criticism into your analysis: how your own experiences affect your interpretation of the poem. In this, the first-person would be appropriate. You should still avoid unnecessary phrases such as I think or In my opinion, but you might consider writing a personal narrative reflection on the poem, connecting your experiences or your thoughts about poetry to the poem you have chosen as your focus.
You might decide to incorporate some original poetry that responds to lines or phrases within the poem (similar to the creative response exercises weve done in class).
FURTHER REQUIREMENTS:
This paper should be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, in 12-point, Times New Roman font. Be sure to include a proper heading (your name, my name, the course, the date) and header (your last name and the page number in the top, right-hand margin of each page). Your paper should have a dynamic title (that is, something other than Paper #3; the title can just be Explication of [Title of Poem] by [Author] or Response to [Title of Poem] by [Author]). Do not include a cover page. Include a Work Cited entry for the poem at the bottom of your final page. Be sure to write in the active, present tense. Even though you read the poem in the past, it still exists in the present. Titles of poems are in quotation marks. Titles of magazines (such as Poetry) are in italics. I would suggest that you cite individual lines within the poem, using the following in-text citation method (Author, line 4).
This paper will be graded holistically based on the rubric found in the syllabus.
TEMPLATE:
POEM: Domestic Violence by Iliana Rocha
Your Name
Prof. Russell
English 104
30 April 2021
Explication of DMs with Corbett OToole
OR: Response to DMs with Corbett OToole
Introduction: maybe biographical information about the poet? Maybe some overview of the major themes or images or overall structure of the poem? Summarize something of the experience of the poem? Include poets name and title of the poem (in quotation marks). THESIS: What does this poem mean? OR What does this poem mean to me?
In Stanza 1, the poet uses nature imagery (woods, wolves). In Stanza 2, the poet discusses survival and again echoes those images of nature: the woods and the fire (line 6). Why is this nature imagery so important to the meaning of the poem?
In Stanza 3, the audience of the poem is introduced by the speaker: I reach out to Corbett OToole (line 7). Here, images of disability are introduced
Conclusion paragraph: analysis of the end of the poem.
Work Cited
The Cyborg Jillian Weise. DMs with Corbett OToole. Poetry, April 202, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/155652/dms-with-corbett-otoole.
