POETRY EXPLICATION

INTRODUCTION
1) 1st sentence - poets name, title of poem, genre, speaker
2) middle - thematic topic, denotative meaning, dramatic situation
3) last sentence - thesis (specific theme & arguments - on life, love, death/loss, isolation, spiritual
truth)
BODY
1) 3 arguments: connotative meaning with poetic device for each
2) 4th argument: tone, mood, structure for overall poem (+ shifts)
CONCLUSION
1) 1st sentence: mirrored thesis
3) middle: overall reflection on thematic topic (do not repeat arguments)
2) end: discuss title & poem's significance/message
-------------------------------------------------------GENRES; the poetic form
LYRIC expresses thoughts and feelings of speaker
SONNET lyric of 14 lines and iambic pentameter
BALLAD impersonal, dramatic narrative; 2-4 line stanzas and refrain
ELEGY serious reflection, typically lament for the dead
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE personal speaker
FREE VERSE - leftovers
DENOTATIVE MEANING; literal, real world meaning
CONNOTATIVE MEANING; figurative, symbolic meaning
POETIC DEVICES; sound or literary devices that develop the theme
Comparison
IMAGERY provokes mental response from the senses (sight, sound)
METAPHOR implied comparison
SIMILE explicit comparison with like or as
SYMBOL concrete representation of an abstract idea
ALLEGORY deep meaning behind simplicity
ALLUSION reference to history, religion, literature, mythology
APOSTROPHE/PERSONIFICATION referring to subject as human
METONYMY object implies its association
Contrast
ANTITHESIS two contrasting images together in parallelism
JUXTAPOSITION two contrasting images together
OXYMORON two contrasting words together
PARADOX truthful contradiction
Emphasis
ALLITERATION repeating beginning consonants (slimy snake)
EUPHONY/CACOPHONY pleasant/rough language
TONE; the speakers attitude toward the subject (complacent, reflective, optimistic, nostalgic)
SHIFT IN TONE; key words, punctuation, paragraph division, changes in diction

MOOD; readers emotional response

STRUCTURE; rhyme (e.g. rhyming couplets), meter (e.g. iambic pentameter), stanzas (e.g.
quatrains)
COMPARATIVE ESSAY
INTRODUCTION
1) 1st sentence: authors, genres, titles, thematic topic
2) middle: general theme & arguments
3) last sentence: funnel down to general thesis with who?/cause?/effect?
BODY
1) 3 arguments developing thesis
2) each argument has 2 paragraphs: overview & subpoint of work A, then subpoint of work B &
concluding overview with transition to next argument)
3) each subpoint has optional quotes: context, "quote", significance
CONCLUSION
1) 1st sentence: mirrored thesis
2) middle: general theme & arguments
3) end: discuss significance of thesis