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Step-by-Step Method of Thoroughly Explicating a Poem

Step-by-Step Method of Thoroughly Explicating a Poem. Based on work by Helen Vendler. Paraphrase. In your own words, write what the poem says. Ask yourself:. What has been happening before the poem begins? What has provoked the speaker?. Form of the poem. How is it divided?

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Step-by-Step Method of Thoroughly Explicating a Poem

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  1. Step-by-Step Method of Thoroughly Explicating a Poem Based on work by Helen Vendler

  2. Paraphrase • In your own words, write what the poem says.

  3. Ask yourself: • What has been happening before the poem begins? • What has provoked the speaker?

  4. Form of the poem • How is it divided? • Where do the breaks come? • Are there changes in • agency? • language? • Tense? • Person?

  5. Climax • Where is the climax—primary shift in the poem? • How does the rest of the poem fit around the climax?

  6. Find the Skeleton • What is the emotional curve on which the whole poem is strung? • How is this emotional curve made new?

  7. Language • What are • The contexts of diction • Chains of significant relation • Parts of speech emphasized • tenses

  8. Tone • Can you hear changes in the speaker’s voice as the poem progresses?

  9. Agency • Who is the main agent (source of power) in the poem? • Does the main agent change as the poem progresses? • Oddities are important.

  10. Speech Acts • What is the main speech act of the agent? • Does the speech act change? • Oddities are important.

  11. Arrangement • Can the pieces be • rearranged? • Written in a different person? • Written in a different tense? • Could any of the pieces be left out?

  12. Genre • What genres could apply to this poem?

  13. Imagination • Has it invented something new, striking or memorable in • Content • Genre • Analogies • Rhythm • speaker

  14. Sound Units • Sound units of a poem are its syllables.

  15. Word Roots • Poets are usually aware of the roots of the words they use. • The meaning of a word in a poem is determined less by its dictionary meaning than by the words around it. • Thematic relation • Phonemic relation • Grammatical Relation • Syntactic relation

  16. Sentences • Track who is saying what to whom. • What are the implications of these words?

  17. Ordering of Language • Manner of poem • Matter of poem

  18. History and Regionality • History poems have a tension between the copiousness of history and the brevity of lyric.

  19. Identity of Speaker • Examine various facets of power and identity • How do these change and offer varying views of the world?

  20. Attitudes, Judgments, Values • You do not have to accept the poet’s words. • Closely examine the stylized language to make sure that you understand the values suggested by the poem. • Can you separate the persona from the author?

  21. Structure • The intellectual and logical shapes into which its thoughts are dynamically organized. • Any overarching structure can have many substructures.

  22. Images • A word is not the same thing as a picture. • Words refer. • Images represent.

  23. Meaning • Meaning is derived from analyzing the content as it is arranged in the form of the poem.

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