EXPLICATING A POEM

TITLE ______

In order to explicate or give a detailed literary analysis of a poem, it is useful to ask the following questions. You do not necessarily have to follow this order.

1. What is the literal sense of the poem?

·  What is the meaning of each sentence? GIVE A SUMMARY

·  How could the poem be paraphrased: restated in prose form? WRITE OUT THREE LYRICS AND EXPLAIN EACH.

2. What is the tone of the poem?

·  What sort of attitude, mood or emotion does it convey? LIST QUOTES FROM THE SONG THAT SUPPORTS THIS.

·  Is it happy, sad, humorous, angry, nostalgic, serious, frivolous, sarcastic, ecstatic, grotesque? LIST QUOTES FROM THE SONG THAT SUPPORTS THIS.

·  Is there irony: a discrepancy between what is stated and what is meant, conveyed through a tone of voice or contradiction between words and the matter at hand? LIST QUOTES FROM THE SONG THAT SUPPORTS THIS.

3. Does the poem use figurative language?

·  Does it contain simile: the comparison of one thing with something else using “like” or “as”? LIST QUOTES FROM THE POEM THAT SUPPORTS THIS.

·  Does it use metaphor: a comparison made by direct association, through substitution of one thing or idea for another? LIST QUOTES FROM THE POEM THAT SUPPORTS THIS.

·  Does it use personification: attributing human qualities to an inanimate object or an abstract concept? LIST QUOTES FROM THE POEM THAT SUPPORTS THIS.

4. What kind of imagery does the poem use?

·  What mental pictures (representations that can be visualized) does it create? LIST THREE QUOTES AND DRAW PICTURES TO CONVEY THEIR MEANING.

·  What do you see, hear, taste, smell, touch in your imagination through the words of the poem? LIST THREE QUOTES THAT CONTAIN SENSORY IMAGERY AND DRAW PICTURES TO CONVEY EACH. (3)

·  Does the poem use symbolism: an image that has a meaning beyond what it literally represents? LIST 3 SYMBOLS AND DRAW PICTURES OF EACH.

The Stone pg 224

1.  Who is the narrator in this poem?

2.  Does the narrator seem to have any special feelings for the woman? Explain.

3.  What caused the death of the man for whom the woman orders a stone?

4.  What is indicated by the last three lines?

5.  Does the main body of the poem prepare for the ending?

6.  Discuss any hints in the poem that help predict the ending.

7.  What do we learn about the woman through her characterization in the narrative?

8.  What are some of the various things to which the title of the poem might refer?

Those Winter Sundays pg 266

1.  What does the word too in line 1 tell you?

2.  What are some of the possible reasons “no one ever thanked him”?

3.  What do phrases like “fearing the chronic angers” and “speaking indifferently to him” tell about the speaker’s attitude toward his father?

4.  How do the last two lines suggest that his attitude has changed?

5.  This poem is a portrait of the speaker’s father, but it tell s something about a son as well. What impression do you get of each character? Discuss.

The Naming of Cats pg 270

1.  What is the nature of the first name the speaker says a cat needs?

2.  How does the second necessary name differ from the first?

3.  What is unusual about the third name a cat needs? Discuss.

4.  Describe the effect of the last five lines of the poem. How is the effect achieved?

5.  Does the description of how cats react to their secret names correspond with what you know about cats’ habits? Explain.

The Road Not Taken pg 310

1.  At the beginning of the oem, what is the speaker’s feeling about the two roads?

2.  How are the roads different and how alike?

3.  How does the speaker decide which of the two roads to take?

4.  Explain lines 13-15.

5.  Is there any way of telling how long the speaker has been traveling the “less traveled” road? Explain.