The instruction
Paper #2: Poetry Explication
Choose ONE poem from the textbook and write a 750-1000 word explication of this poem. Your final product should be an essay (with an introductory paragraph including thesis, supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion, not a worksheet/list. Make sure your final draft follows MLA or APA Guidelines, and follows the same formatting of your first essay. Do not use any outside sources besides a dictionary, thesaurus, your textbook, and class materials on poetic terminology.
Do not simply paraphrase the poem's literal meaning. Your goal, instead, is to apply the literary terminology we've been reading about, and discussing, to one specific poem. For example, you might discuss how the poem's sound, images, metaphors, tone, and form all work together to create an overall theme.
When interpreting the poem, try to capture the specificity of what THIS poem is saying that is different from what other poems on the same subject have said. For example, don't just say, "this poem is about someone who is in love." This could apply to millions of poems. What makes this one unique?