ENGL 4623/5653                                            Spring 2007                                                     Mercer

 

Comments on WW6: Explication

Please keep the checklist with WW6.  Include both the checklist and WW6 in your final portfolio along with the revised version of the explication. 

 

Grades on checklist in upper-right corner

  • Number grade = Daily points for WW6 (out of 20 points possible)
  • First letter grade (before slash mark) = Grade for WW6 (based on lower standards than I will use for final portfolio)
  • Second letter grade (after slash mark) = Grade this explication would receive in final portfolio if you make only minor editing changes
    • If I have written a hyphen rather than a second letter grade after the slash mark, the grade for this explication in the final portfolio would be below C if you make only minor editing changes.  This indicates that you need to do a major rewrite of this explication for the final portfolio.  If you wish, you may explicate a different poem rather than revise WW6.

 

Symbols on checklist under “T[eacher]” column:

  • Check mark = Good!
  • Back slash (\) = Weak; work on this!
  • X = Very weak; be sure to give attention to this!
  • Blank (no symbol) = OK; not particularly strong or weak

 

Comments on explications (keyed to numbers on checklist):

 

MANUSCRIPT FORM

  1. Default margins in Word are 1.25 inches.  For all assignments in this class, please use one-inch margins. 
  2. Contrary to what the checklist says, type and double-space the four-line heading required in MLA form (your name, instructor’s name, course prefix and number, date).
  3. Insert your last name and page number as a header in the upper right of each page, beginning with page one.

 

CONTENT

  1. Be careful in your choice of poems for explications and other assignments. 
  • If you choose a poem that is extremely short, you may not be able to demonstrate your knowledge of many poetic elements and devices.
  • If you choose a poem you don’t understand, you won’t be able to write a successful explication.  Please check with me in advance if you have questions about a poem.
  1. Be sure to cover items 7a-d in your explication.
    1. When you revise your explication for the final portfolio, expand your discussion of lines or words that you don’t explain fully in WW6.
    2. Identify as many as possible of the figures of speech in the poem, and explain how they relate to the meaning of the poem (your thesis).
    3. Identify as many as possible of the sound devices in the poem, and explain how they relate to the meaning of the poem (your thesis).  Do not mention sound devices that don’t seem relevant to your thesis.
  1. If you use the words or ideas of outside sources in a weekly writing or in the final portfolio, identify the sources by introducing them in your paper.  Failure to do this is plagiarism, a serious offense.
  1. If marked on your checklist that your explication is not clear, logical, and convincing, I thought you did not understand the poem or did not express your interpretation clearly.  Please schedule an appointment to discuss the poem and your explication with me.

 

ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT

  1. Give your explication a title that reflects the thesis of your paper (for example, “Going to Heaven!”: Dickinson’s Ambivalence about Faith in the Afterlife.)  Do NOT use a vague, generic title (for example, An Explication of Dickinson’s #79).
  2. Take great care with the wording of your thesis.  It is the most important sentence in your entire paper.

a.  Omit the introduction, or keep it as short as possible.  State your thesis as the only or last sentence in the opening paragraph.  Save your time and space for the development of the body of the paper.

c.  Do not use a vague, general thesis, such as “This poem expresses the poet’s ideas  about faith.”  The thesis should state specifically what the poem says about faith.

d.  Unless the main points of the body of the explication are the different poetic elements that support the thesis, do not list the poetic elements or devices in the thesis.  It is understood that in an explication you will discuss all the poetic elements and terms that are relevant to your thesis.

22. The minimum length for an explication in this class is two full double-spaced pages (with one-inch margins).  An excellent explication in the final portfolio will probably be longer than this.  Consider expanding the length of your WW6 when you revise it for the final portfolio.

23. From the class Web page, please follow “Guidelines for Doing a Scansion Page” and “Comments on Scansion Page.” 

  • At the top of the scansion page, identify the poem’s basic meter and stanzaic pattern.
  • Circle or highlight and label all metrical variations (deviations from the basic meter).
  • Mark one-syllable nouns and action verbs as accented syllables. For example, words like “Faith,” “blow,” and “bears” will be accented.

 

DOCUMENTATION

24.    To learn how to smoothly and correctly introduce and integrate quotations from the poem into your explication, please see the model explications on the class Web page, and let me know if you have questions.

25.    Space once before and after the slash mark between two or three quoted lines of poetry.  Avoid using quotations of more than three lines of poetry, which would have to be indented within the body of your paper.

 

ITEMS NOT ON CHECKLIST

·        The words “sarcasm” and “sarcastic” refer to language that is intended to hurt someone. Avoid using these words in your explication unless you are sure they apply.

·        Be sure to differentiate between the poet (the real person Emily Dickinson) and the speaker of the poem (a persona created by Dickinson).  Refer to the poet as “Dickinson” or “Emily Dickinson,” NOT as “Emily” or “Miss Dickinson.”  Refer to the persona as “the speaker of the poem,” “the speaker,” or something similar.