Essay 1
A common poetry assignment is to perform an explication or a close reading of a poem. As the word implies, an explication takes what is implicit or subtle in a work of literature and makes it explicit and clear. Literary language tends to be densely packed with meaning, and your job as you explicate it is to unfold that meaning and lay it out for your reader. Explication allows you to “pop open the hood” of the poem and to observe how the machine works, and it is the key to understanding a complex literary work. The principal technique of explication is close reading; indeed, explication and close reading are so closely related that many writers use the words interchangeably. When you write this sort of paper, you will examine a poem paying special attention to such elements of the language as sentence structure, style, imagery, figurative language, word choice, etc. The job of an explication is twofold: to point out particular salient elements of style, and to explain the purpose and effect of those elements within the text. For an example of an explication, see pages 67 and 68 of your text.
For this essay, explicate either “América” by Richard Blanco, “Trojan” by Jericho Brown, or “From ‘Oil'” by Fatimah Asghar.
Make sure that your introduction introduces both the author and the work. Your introduction should also clearly layout the focus and structure of your paper, and should probably include your thesis, or the argument you plan to make on what the poem is ‘about’ or ‘means.’ If you haven’t already done so, please review the PowerPoints posted in this module, your text, and our Zoom meeting if need be. All essay submissions must be in MLA Format. If you are not sure what MLA format looks like, please see the Help section in the English 1B Resources Module.
Due Dates, etc:
First Draft: Due Monday, 06/28/2021. Your first draft need only be 1-2 pages. It’s really just a draft for me to get an idea of where you’re going. Your first draft will also be the draft that one of your peers will be assigned to review. You will be assigned a Peer Review once you submit your first draft. If you do not submit a first draft, you will miss out on Peer Review points (25). Your first draft of your poetry paper is worth 50 points.
Final Draft: Due Wednesday, 07/07/2021—Your final draft should be 3-4 pages. It must include a ‘Works Cited’ page if you include any sources other than the poem you are explicating. You may not submit a final draft until after you’ve reviewed first draft comments from me and the peer assigned to review your essay. Your final draft is worth 100 pts.
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need a final draft
this needs some work. You haven’t explicated the poem. What is the poem about? You haven’t mentioned Cuba at all. Isn’t it at least, somewhat, about the melding of Cuban and American culture? See if you can get a little help in revision from the Learning Assistance Center. They may be able to help point you in the right direction with some of the translation challenges. https://pasadena.edu/academics/support/success-centers/learning-assistance-center/index.php
TRACEY RUBY, Jun 29 at 5:39pm
I think this essay has some good points; it has strong claims to main themes which I believe can be further reinforced using direct poem citations. There was a bit of difficulty understanding some parts of the explication, especially in the last paragraph.
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