Poetry Book Essay with Explication

Introduction
To explicate originally meant to unfold; to expand; to lay open. However, no one really uses it literally anymore. The meaning has become strictly metaphorical, and so the word now means to unfold the meaning or sense of, to explain; to clear of difficulties or obscurity; to interpret. That is a big part of your task in this essay.

Why, then, do I not just call this an "interpretive" essay? The problem with "interpretation" is that it is an inherently reductive process; interpretation sums up a work, and in doing so always reduces its overall meaning and complexity. Interpretation concentrates on and thus emphasizes some aspects of a work and short changes others.  In this essay, you will be interpreting but you will also do more!

Assignment
You are to write a 3-5 page essay proving you have read your poetry book. The first half of your essay should be interpretive, You must show you have read the book and have an understanding of its themes. In the second section. you should focus on 2-3 poems and explicate them thoroughly, Use these poems to support the thesis you write in your introductory paragraph. The essay should be cohesive!

Guidelines

• Open your essay with your interpretation. Your goal is to show you have read the book.
• Remember to make your own insights, comments, etc. Do not simply regurgitate other reviews that are already out there. 
• You are required to have quotations in your essay, but please do not rely on them to communicate for you. They should support your own thesis. 
• The second part of your essay should look at 2-3 poems from your books more closely (explication). 
• Remember the essential questions asked when choosing your books. What does it take to publish a manuscript of poems in the world today? Have things changed?

A Note About Explication

When you look at an individual poem, I want you to explicate it: to unfold its meaning, explain how it is constructed, clear up its obscurities and only then to to interpret (i.e. to draw some conclusions.) You will do that by examining the poem closely. That means you should go through the poem step by step; sometimes line by line, sometimes sentence by sentence (remember those are different things,) sometimes phrase by phrase, sometimes image by image, sometimes even word by word. You are writing a kind of guide to the poem, like a guide book to a city for travelers. Your goal is to lead your readers through the poem, making sure they understand what they are looking at. Do not get lost or miss any of the important sights, and end up at the destination you have in mind. In the process, you construct a persuasive argument not only about the poem's meaning, but about how the poet conveys that meaning and accomplishes the poem's message- THINK THESIS STATEMENT!