As the second step of your Poetry unit you need to explicate three of the five poems above.  If you would like, for this task you may work individually, in pairs, or in a group of three.  However, each group member must have his or her own work to turn in.  Follow each of these steps to properly explicate the poem: 

1. First, before reading the poem you should read the background information.  This will give you a better sense of what type of poetry your reading and who the author is.  Notice that for each poem I have attached a number of websites or documents.  These are attached to help you understand the poem further.  Read through these to help you not only understand the poem but also to write your explication. 
2. After reading the background information, explicate the poem as you saw demonstrated in class.  Make sure that you thoroughly mark each poem.  Look for all sorts of figurative language (similes, metaphors, analogies), any rhyme scheme, and assonance, consonance, etc.  Check to see if any of the literary terms you defined can be found (or applied) to this poem. 
3. Once you have marked the poem up you will need to write a short response in which you discuss what makes this poem poetry.  Your TYPED, double-spaced response should be in paragraph format (with complete sentences) and fill up ONE whole page.  Consider the following questions: 

• What is this poem trying to say? 
• What is the theme of the poem? 
• What makes this poem meaningful? 
• What sets this poem apart from all other poems? 
• What do you personally think of this poem?  
• How do the literary terms in this poem effect the theme of the poem?  What role to they play in the poem?
• Also, answer the specific questions in the Background information. 

If you have thoroughly read the background information and explored the attachments for each poem you should have some idea of what you can say about the poem.  Think critically.