step-by-step method of thoroughly explicating a poem based on work by helen vendler
TRANSCRIPT
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Step-by-Step Method of Thoroughly Explicating a Poem
Based on work by Helen Vendler
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Paraphrase
• In your own words, write what the poem says.
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Ask yourself:
• What has been happening before the poem begins?
• What has provoked the speaker?
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Form of the poem
• How is it divided?• Where do the breaks
come?• Are there changes in
– agency? – language? – Tense? – Person?
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Climax
• Where is the climax—primary shift in the poem?
• How does the rest of the poem fit around the climax?
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Find the Skeleton
• What is the emotional curve on which the whole poem is strung?
• How is this emotional curve made new?
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Language
• What are– The contexts of diction– Chains of significant
relation– Parts of speech
emphasized– tenses
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Tone
• Can you hear changes in the speaker’s voice as the poem progresses?
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Agency
• Who is the main agent (source of power) in the poem?
• Does the main agent change as the poem progresses?
• Oddities are important.
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Speech Acts
• What is the main speech act of the agent?
• Does the speech act change?
• Oddities are important.
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Arrangement
• Can the pieces be – rearranged?– Written in a
different person?– Written in a
different tense?
• Could any of the pieces be left out?
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Genre
• What genres could apply to this poem?
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Imagination
• Has it invented something new, striking or memorable in– Content– Genre– Analogies– Rhythm– speaker
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Sound Units
• Sound units of a poem are its syllables.
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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
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Sentences
• Track who is saying what to whom.• What are the implications of these
words?
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Ordering of Language
• Manner of poem• Matter of poem
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History and Regionality
• History poems have a tension between the copiousness of history and the brevity of lyric.
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Identity of Speaker
• Examine various facets of power and identity
• How do these change and offer varying views of the world?
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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?
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Structure
• The intellectual and logical shapes into which its thoughts are dynamically organized.
• Any overarching structure can have many substructures.
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Images
• A word is not the same thing as a picture.
• Words refer.• Images represent.
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Meaning
• Meaning is derived from analyzing the content as it is arranged in the form of the poem.