Based on
these two samples (posted on Blackboard under "Readings"), what is an explication?
What does it try to do, and how? Use some specific examples from either or both
of the essays to illustrate your points.Try not to look at the assignment sheet
as you do this--the point here is to to try work backwards from the samples.
An explication is the breaking down of a literary work,completely analyzing the content of the work, stanza by stanza, line by line, or word by word.
ReplyDeleteAn explication tries to break apart the literary work into smaller pieces to find the author's true meaning behind the poem or other literary piece. By analyzing the content and context of the author's words, the reader can grasp the author's tone and true thoughts of the piece but also their true intent of their work. An example of this can be found in Stewart's explication of Plath's "Metaphors", when Stewart suggests that the author is obsessed with her size. Each metaphor represents some aspect of pregnancy, and gives us insight into Plath's attitude toward pregnancy.
~Leta Summers
An explication is an analysis of a poem by examining structure, word choice, and use of literary techniques to find and explain its theme. The explication over Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 138” mentions that certain words have two or more meanings, such as “habit” and “lies.” Stewart’s explication over Plath’s “Metaphors” mentions the recurrence of the number 9, which they claim mirrors the human gestation period. The most important thing to remember while reading literature, including poetry, and writing an analysis is that authors never do anything on accident.
ReplyDelete--Jacky Killian--
I find an explication to be a deep analysis of a piece of literature. It is taking a work, making sense of the point the author is trying to convey, and then finding what it truly means to you as the reader. For example, while "Metaphors" acknowledges the immenseness of pregnancy, two different women could interpret it in two very different ways. An expecting mother who has tried and failed countless times to become pregnant could read this poem as referring to the amazing and wonderful nature of pregnancy; however, an expecting teen mother could read the poem as describing the hardships and finality of pregnancy. In short, I feel that an explication expresses just as much the author's actual meaning as the reader's supposed meaning.
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ReplyDeleteAn explication is a way of explaining a poem. Often, the person who writes an explication will look directly at the text to make inferences about the nature of the poem based on use of language (metaphor, diction, simile, etc.). It is a way of making sense of the poem such as can be seen in Stewart’s explication of Plath’s “Metaphors.” A lay person may read Plath’s poem without making any sense of it, but Stewart offers up the explanation that the entire poem revolves around pregnancy and its symptoms. She points out that the elephant, house, melon, and yeast metaphors all have to do with getting bigger (as in pregnancy) and that the green apple metaphor may refer to pregnancy-associated nausea. The entire literary community does not have to agree with the points put forth in an explication, but the author of an explication should have solid evidence in the text as a way of backing up his or her point of view.
ReplyDeleteAn explication is an attempt to uncover a poem's possibly deeper meanings, sort of like looking into its soul. It picks words and literary devices apart to find a recurring theme, noting patterns and structures and anything that may seem peculiar or particularly interesting. In Stewart's explication of Plath's "Metaphors," she notes the patterns in the poem, but also notes what seems to be missing and tries to attach a reasoning to its absence. Moore notes the double meaning of words such as "habit" and "lies" in her explication of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138," as well as the multiple contradictions found in the poem, keeping in regard how the author's word choices contribute to the tone. Even though the details of a poem are seemingly strewn about, an explication can line them all up and give us a better idea of what the author is trying to say.
ReplyDelete– Megan Serio
An explication is the analysis of a literary piece. It is written to evaluate and explore the deeper meaning of a piece and is carefully examined line by line. Through these close examinations we see that the author means to portray a deeper meaning than what is initially communicated. For example, Stewart came to the conclusion that Plath used the strategy of meticulously choosing the number of lines in the poem to stress the nine months of pregnancy. An explication allows us to see past the surface level meanings and understand and identify the rich poetic devices being used. By looking into the deeper meanings of the piece the reader can see the author’s aimed purpose and the importance of what is being conveyed. Another great example of this is shared in the explication of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138 made by Moore. The use of the word ‘O’ in line 11 is easily overlooked in the initial reading, but Moore takes the next step to analyze its importance in the piece. Moore explains that the term ‘O’ conveys impatience and sarcasm. Overall, an explication gives us a greater insight to see that every characteristic of the piece was intentional and well thought out by the author.
ReplyDeleteAn explication is not just a response to a story or in this case Shakespeare's Sonnet 138. An explication is a deep analogy of a piece of literature, the writer goes through each line examining each word and digging deep into the word's meaning, this can also be the case with a saying or perhaps a quote. An author doesn't write a piece of literature just to write it; there is always a purpose to writing. According to Moore the first two lines of the sonnet, the speaker establishes his relationship with this woman who is his lover. They merely deceit each other, deceit is a big element in the sonnet, in a sense we can see that the author is trapped in deceit and cannot escape.
ReplyDeleteEmily Embry
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ReplyDeleteAn explication is the act of using detailed analysis to examine a piece of literature (in our case, anyhow). In the act of explicating these poems, the authors offer a better understanding of each piece in relation to time period, poem author, and ideas seeming to be expressed by the poem. The author of the "Metaphors" explication specifically addresses that due to the time period when the piece was written, the content cannot be completely understood from a specifically modern view. Likewise, the author of the sonnet explication analyzes whether the poem was perhaps defensive in nature for an intended audience or was rather an inner monologue from the perspective of the first person character of the sonnet.
ReplyDelete-- Leslie Fox
An explication is an analysis or a deep explanation of a piece of literature. I have noticed in the explications I have read previously that the analysis can be broken down line by line or into stanzas for a deeper examination. For example, in the explication of Shakespeare's Sonnet 138, the author uses quotes from each line and then further interprets what Shakespeare meant in those lines. One thing I really found interesting was how Penny Stewart found the hidden meaning of the nine lines, nine syllables per line, nine metaphors and nine letters in the title in Plath's "Metaphors" and interpreted that into mirroring the nine months of pregnancy.
ReplyDelete-Kayleigh Brasher
An explication is a detailed explanation of the poem read by the viewer of the poem. The writer explains in their own opinion or the general consensus of what the poem really means. This is done by breaking down the meaning of certain words in context with the poem. What an explication tries to do is breakdown the meaning for anyone who wants to go beyond face value meanings of the words in the stanzas in the poem. For example in the sample explication of Sylvia Plath’s Metaphors, Penny Stewart explains the importance of the number nine in the Plath’s poem. “There are nine lines in the poem, nine syllables in each line, nine metaphors in the poem, nine letters in the poem- all mirrors of the nine months of pregnancy.” The regular reader would not notice this meaning of the poem unless they were actually looking for and decoding words in the poem. This is why explication of poems are necessary because they do all the work of explaining the deep meaning of poems since most people do not want to think too deep and understand the underline meaning of poems. -Christopher Catlett
ReplyDeleteAn explication is simply a way to explain, in detail, a story or poem to a reader that didn’t fully grasp the complete concepts. Many authors do this by breaking down and thoroughly analyzing each line or stanza; it would be the same for a book by breaking down sentences, paragraphs, or chapters depending upon the type of literature examined. For example, Shakespeare’s works are usually incredibly difficult to understand; Moore, author of “Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138,” helps to describe Shakespeare’s inner struggle just by analyzing the poet’s use of “O:” “The exclamatory ‘O’ of line 11 gives the effect of impatience and perhaps sarcasm, and this line has the ring of a cynical rationalization…” Without Moore’s explication of Shakespeare’s 138th sonnet, many readers would never fully comprehend the struggles and cynicism Shakespeare was dealing with but would, instead, merely skim the surface of his meaning.
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ReplyDeleteAn explication is meant to study, dissect, analyze, and find the deeper meaning of a literary work and relate the author of the explication's ideas to his or her audience. I found that, in Penny Stewart's explication of Sylvia Plath's Metaphors, she “brings out” the fact that the number nine is used many more times than just in the first line of the poem. In Alice Moore's explication of Shakespeare's Sonnet 138, she pulls the words from each line and brings to light the meaning of the sonnet. An explication is meant to find the significance of a literary work and discover the meaning of it all.
ReplyDelete-Ann Reagan
An explication is neither a summary, not a simple response to a poem; it allows a reader to divulge into a poem's deeper meaning and theme(s). The reader takes the chosen poem and takes a very close look at each line, and even each word, to analyze what the author was trying to portray through his/her words. As I read through the example explications that were provided, I noticed how different they can be. For example, Stewart noticed the significance of the number 9 in "Sylvia Plath's Metaphors", which shows how explications can also decipher the reasons behind the specific structure of a poem. On the other hand, Moore analyzes the tones and themes of "Shakespeare's Sonnet 138," going word by word and explaining the author's ideas behind each.
ReplyDeleteAn explication is both an analysis and a interpretation of a literary work. In the case of our assignment both literary works are poems. By analyzing, I mean that the author of the explication is attempting to evaluate the literary techniques used by the author. As far as interpreting, the explication's author is attempting to take these techniques used in the literary work and use them to interpret the meaning of the literature. Such as, in "Plath's Metaphors" the author of the essay uses Plath's theme of nine as well as the various metaphors she uses to deduct that she is writing a poem about pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteAn explication is a detailed interpretation of a piece. I say an interpretation because the person that writes the explication is not the author of the piece. In the explications the writers of the explications draw on specific examples from the texts in order to illustrate their points. Penny Stuart’s explication of Plath’s “Metaphors” does this with its reference to Plath’s use of the number nine and how that represents pregnancy. Alice Moore in her explication of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138 similarly draws on specific examples when explaining Shakespeare’s use of “O” in the eleventh line of the poem, and how it either points to impatience or sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteAn explication is a writing that allows someone to pick a work of literature apart, and attempt to analyze it, and find out why the author wrote what they did, and why they chose certain words. For example, it is noted that in the essay on Plath's poems, the word Metaphors has nine letters, there are nine words in each line, and each line has nine syllables. This note was made to reflect that Plath was talking about the nine months that a pregnancy takes course.
ReplyDelete-Jordan Cole
Based on these two texts, an explication is an extremely in-depth and detailed explanation, breakdown, or interpretation of the poem or sonnet being read. It is an attempt by a reader or reviewer to provide the writers possible deeper meanings to the text besides the simplicity of the actual written words. In the case of Sylvia Plath’s “Metaphors,” the actual written words would seem like incessant rambling without a deeper meaning. If one could not figure it out on their own, Penny Stewart, Eastern New Mexico University, gives possibly the best explanation or interpretation I have ever read. The way she began by calling “Metaphors” a true riddle that puzzles and delights its readers immediately draws you in to hear the rest of what she has to say, and find out what Plath was actually saying. Stewart continues by providing a process for breaking down the riddle to discover the answer. Pointing out the construction of the poem with nine lines, nine syllables and nine metaphors as a link to the nine months of pregnancy was absolute genius on Plath’s part showing her as a truly creative writer putting more thought in her writing than most people ever think to apply to their reading. Stewart continued breaking down and explaining each metaphor used in the poem in great detail. So, in my observations, an explication is indeed a fine tuned, detailed explanation of the poem or sonnet being read.
ReplyDeleteAn explication is the process of digging deep into the literary layers of a poem and really getting a sense of what the author is trying to convey. It looks at the underlying theme or message of the poem rather than just the words written. In the explication of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138", Moore points out the dark tone of the poem, and how this contrasts to Shakespeare's earlier sonnets which had a much lighter tone and subject matter. It makes you want to keep reading from there, as you discover why this is indeed such a gloomy piece of work.
ReplyDeleteAn explication is simply peeling back the layers of a poem, similar to how you would an onion. A good poem does not typically address its central theme directly. Therefore, it is our job as the audience to study and interpret the poems. While this process can be internalized and kept to one's self, and explication gives us the opportunity to think through our interpretation of poetry and publish it in a way where others can read, discuss, and expand on our ideas. We saw in the Plath "Metaphors" explication how the author was able to take the poem line by line and break down the subtext and "riddles" of them poem. In Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138" explication, the author literally went one line at a time to develop a further understanding of the poem. Now I will go read our assignment to see if I was right!
ReplyDeleteIn high school, my English teacher always had us annotate every poem we read. We would circle or underline different literary devices and make notes on the side of the paper about why the author used this literary device and how it helps tie into the overall theme of the poem. To explicate a piece of poetry appears to be like taking all of the little notes and marks we would do in high school and assemble them into a formal poem analysis. We have to break down, in detail, how all these literary devices compliment the poem and create a theme to tie them to, but do so in complete sentences that are logically laid out. It seems though that pointing out and analyzing the theme of the poem is more important than just listing literary devices that you found in it (I suppose even a beginner level English student could do that). For example, in the explication of Plath’s “Metaphors” done by Penny Stewart, she does give a little attention to the original text by quoting the literary device, but the majority of her paper consists of her breaking down that line and showing you how what appeared to be a normal line, is actually a seriously thought out composition that had a set number of words and phrased in a specific way in order to reflect Plath’s theme, which according to Stewart, is child birth. A similar thing happens in the explication of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138 done by Alice Moore. Moore discusses the play on words Shakespeare does at the end of the poem using the word “lie.” After quoting the just one line, Moore spends the next paragraph dissecting the line.
ReplyDelete-Daniel Dutton
Well, from what I can gather an explication seems to be the breaking down of a piece of writing until nothing's left except for the elemental and then piecing it back together all the while trying to extract the marrow from it's bones. What am I talking about? Well, in the “Metaphor's” explication it sort of took the poem apart, analyzing the structure and uses of the number nine; along with the possible meanings behind each line's metaphor(s). It was broken down to the point where you could see that the number nine was repeated throughout the entire poem in just about every way that it could be, and was shown what it hinted at. On the flip side, the Sonnet 138 explication was basically a line-by-line breakdown of the entire poem. The author of the explication really milked out the meaning behind the usage of each word or phrase in each line in order to completely understand the “point” or “meaning” behind the poem.
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