Demonstrating ways the poem fulfills/satisfies Frost's observation. In other words, use Frost's assertion as a springboard into my discussion.
Guidelines:
Essays must
- be between 2-3 pages (this means at least two full pages of text).
- be typed, double spaced, and formatted using MLA format.
- Be written in the third person point of view (no I, you, your)
- use the primary text to support your discussion. This means it must quote relevant passages from the poem that support the points you are making. Make certain you integrate these passages smoothly into your own prose and document them using MLA format.
- include a works cited page.
Acquainted with the Night
BY ROBERT FROST
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain-and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
Explication The purpose of this approach to a literary work is to make the implicit explicit. Explication is a detailed explanation of a passage of poetry or prose. Because explication is an intensive examination of a text line by line, it is mostly used to interpret a short poem in its entirety or a brief passage from a long poem, short allusions, figurative language, irony, symbol, rhythm, sound, and so on. These elements are examined in relation to one another and to the overall effect and meaning of the work. The simplest way to organize an explication is to move through the passage line by line, explaining whatever seems significant.
It is wise to avoid, however, an assembly-line approach that begins each sentence with "In line one (two, three) ..." Instead, organize your paper in whatever way best serves your thesis. You might find that the right place to start is with the final lines, working your way back to the beginning of the poem or passage. The sample explication on Dickinson's "There's a certain Slant oflight," beginning on page 887 in this chapter, does just that. The student's opening paragraph refers to the final line of the poem in order to present her thesis. She explains that though the poem begins with an image of light, it is not a bright or cheery poem but one concerned with "the look of Death." Since the last line prompted her thesis, that is where she begins the explication. You might also find it useful to structure a paper by discussing various elements of literature. The following sample explication on John Donne's "Death Be Not Proud" is organized in this manner. However your paper is organized, keep in mind that the aim of an explication is not simply to summarize the passage
Meyer, Michael. Literature to Go (p. 879). Bedford/St. Martin's. Kindle Edition.
Sample PAPER-IN-PROGRESS-
When you write about a poem, you are, in some ways, providing a guide for a place that might otherwise seem unfamiliar and remote. Put simply, writing enables you to chart a work so that you can comfortably move around in it to discuss or write about what interests you.
Your paper represents a record and a map of your intellectual journey through the poem, pointing out the things worth noting and your impressions about them.
Your role as writer is to offer insights into the challenges, pleasures, and discoveries that the poem harbors. These insights are akind of sightseeing as you navigate the various elements of the poem to make some overall point about it.
This section shows you how one student, Rose Bostwick, moves through the stages of writing about how a poem's elements combine for a final effect. Included here are Rose's first response, her informal outline, and the final draft of an explication of John Donne's "Death Be Not Proud." After reviewing the elements of poetry covered in Chapters 12 through 20, Rose read the poem (which follows) several times, paying careful attention todiction, figurative language, irony, symbol, rhythm, sound, and so on. Her final paper is more concerned with the overall effect of the combination of elements than with a line-by-line breakdown.
As you read and reread "Death Be Not Proud," keep notes on how you think the elements of this poem work together and to what overall effect.
Meyer, Michael. Literature to Go (pp. 879-880). Bedford/St. Martin's. Kindle Edition.
Meyer, Michael. Literature to Go (p. 879). Bedford/St. Martin's. Kindle Edition.