Category: Explication Drafts (Page 1 of 2)

Alexis Gonzalez
Essay 2
English 1121 (Prof. Scanlan)
April 13th, 2020

Explication of “The Taxi” by Amy Lowell

In the blank verse poem The Taxi by Amy Lowell the speaker expresses the pain of having to separate from a love one. The speaker emphasizes the struggle of having to be apart from the one they love, through imagery, connotation, denotation, symbolism, and several other figurative languages. Through a sad tone the speaker describes the suffering that comes through the departure. I will explicate line 4 “I call out for you against the jutted stars” and line 12 “To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?”. I choose line 4 and line 12 to explicate because these two lines were able to convey the whole of the poem through the use of negative diction. Which help to convey the speaker’s emotions.

In line 4 and 12 the speaker use of imagery helps express the pain and sorrow through the use of the words such as “jutted”, “wound”, and “sharp”. The use of the word “jutted” is a good example of imagery as the words meaning is to be stricken. This can be perceived as a person who is crying or in pain as their watching a love one leave or as they are leaving themselves. Moreover, the use of the word “wounded” is in fact an example of imagery as the word is defined to be injured. This can be observed as the amount of pain inflicted to the person as the distance between each other increases. Lastly, the use of the word “sharp” is indeed an example of imagery, as it signifies a fine point that can be used for cutting or piercing. This can be seen as the person feeling as though they are in physical pain because of their emotions.

Furthermore, the pain and anguish the speaker expresses in line 4 and 12 are examples of the use of the literary device symbolism. As the speaker uses the words “stars”and “night” to help emphasize their sorrow, that is caused by having to depart from their loved one. The use of the word “star” is to represent the loved person by figuratively linking the person to the stars she is relating the feelings of losing someone to being apart from them. As stars are known to commonly symbolize a person whom someone may have lost. The use of the word “night” is defined as a condition or period reminiscent of darkness. The night is frequently symbolized as being depressing, lonely, and empty. Through the journey of leaving the speaker expresses the massive emptiness that is encompassing and constantly inflicting emotional pain on the speaker.

Therefore, in Amy Lowell’s blank verse poem “The Taxi” the speaker dwells upon the pain they are feeling as a result of departing from their beloved. Through the use of the literary devices of imagery, connotation, denotation and symbolism the speaker stresses the trouble of not being able to be with the person they love. In addition, the speaker use of a depressive tone accentuates the struggle that comes with leaving behind their lover. In the explications of line 4 “I call out for you against the jutted stars” and line 12 “To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?”. It can be seen that the speaker is crying out to no avail. I explicate the importance of the words “jutted”, “stars”, “sharp” and “night” that have a negative diction and helps describes the struggle. In fact, the speaker’s choice of wording helps shape and expand on the emotion of the speaker’s experiences through the whole of the poem.

In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” the poem has a focus on choices that the author made and how he has regret but he looks like he has some appreciation for the choices at the same time.One line that emphasizes this is “Two roads diverge in a yellow wood”This shows that there are two choices that are laid out before him an this shows that there is a feeling of confusion.This shows that no matter where people go on their journey in life they always have choices and it is up to the individual to make the decision that is fitting to them.The “two roads” show that there are two directions in which one could lead to a pleasurable outcome and the other path could lead to something bad.This shows that whatever choice you make it could take you down a path that you would be satisfied with or regret.The other line that shows this is “that has made all the difference”.This shows that when the author chose a road he implies that he went down a path that he didn’t explain and there is only room for us to assume how he felt about the path he took.In the line the phrase “the difference could be for good or bad and there could have been a positive change or negative change.The narrator does not explain what occurred between the time he took the path to where he is at now but he does show that there was a difference.This alludes to the point that any choice that you make could benefit you or harm you and it is your choice and what you do from that point forward that makes your future and the other choices you make as well.The “two roads” show that there are choices that are presented before us and it is up to us to make the choice and face the results of that choice.At the end of the poem the narrator reflected on his choice and how it made the difference.This shows that when we make a choice we have to reflect on the choice and think on if it was for the good or the bad.This shows that the choices that you make could make a difference.

REVISED PEER REVIEW PROCESS:

Instead of doing the peer review in groups, I’ve decided to open things up and let each student decide who to review. The way this will work is that students should select the draft they want to review, but students cannot review a draft that already has two reviews. So, if students see a draft that has two reviews, then  please select a different one to review. This is a “first come, first served” approach. This process should work, even if there is an odd number of drafts.

Best,

Sean

Brendan Gonzalez
Poetry Explication Draft
Professor Scanlan
4/10/20

Draft

In life you’ll have decisions to make and pick between two options or roads picking the left side or the right. Once that decision is made down the road you might look back and really reflect on that decision you made way back and be super happy with that choice or you’ll regret that decision for the rest of your life but that’ll be something you need to live with. In the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost his poem reflects on decisions in life and paths that we take in life the two lines I decided to explicate are “Though as for that the passing there” and “Had worn them really about the same,”. The first line “ Though as for that the passing there” one word that stands out the most to me is passing when he said passing some words that came to me were experiences and people. I explicated this line and the way I understand it is, throughout life people have passed this road experienced and walked the path he’s talking about. The second line I explicated was “ Had worm them really about the same” something this second line tells when he says “Had worm them” I see that as clothing or a pair of sneakers that people have worn then “ really about the same” everybody put that clothing on and wear it the same no difference everybody copied the person before so really this road everybody has picked it and decided to walk it but everyone did it the same way and nobody was different and that’s most likely something he didn’t want to be the same as everyone else so he probably decided on a different road. In life we will pass roads we decide to take and people will have experienced and hopefully we can wear it differently than those other people that passed them.

Ibrahim Mfosah

Essay #2: Explication

English 1121(Prof. Scalan)

April 13th, 2020

Explication: “The Bridge”

Hart Crane’s poem “The Bridge,”(350) is a formal poem. It has eleven stanzas. The poem is a visual depiction of American life, using the Brooklyn Bridge as the centerpiece, or center image. The poet is painting a picture of Brooklyn at, or along the east river. Two lines from the fifth stanza really intrigues me. Picking those two lines from the poem, I will explicate it, and break it down as much as I can. The lines are, “Out of some subway scuttle, cell or loft/A bedlamite speeds to thy parapets.” These lines talk about, in a literal context, a lunatic moving around on a subway. 

Looking at the first line, “Out of some subway scuttle, cell or loft,” I can find the meaning of the line by looking at the denotation and connotations of the words. First word is “subway” which in the denotation means an underground railway. The connotation for this word is an underground route for pipes, sewers, etc. The common thing between these two meanings is that both refer to something underground, or below grade. The next word is “scuttle” which the denotation is, a container like an open bucket(usually for carrying coal). The connotation means, a small hatch or opening that provides access to the roof from the interior of a building. In the line the poet uses literary devices of assonance, alliteration, and consonance. An example of assonance in the first line is,  “Out Of sOme sUbway scUttle, cell Or lOft.” 

Subway as commonly known is a means of transportation on a train running underground. A train is a carrier, which in this city carries millions of people to their destinations. So in this case, it could mean any of the New York City sewer systems which carries waste away from the city. Since New York City subway cars do not have scuttles, it is fair to conclude that whichever person came out of that place, was coming out of a sewer hole. As commonly known, not everything that comes out sewers are good. 

On to the second line, “A bedlamite speeds to thy parapets,” two words stand out. “Bedlamite” and “parapets.” Denotation of bedlamite is a lunatic, or a madman. And the denotation for parapet as commonly known is a perimeter wall that extends above the roof. Linking this to the first line, it makes sense that a lunatic would emerge from the sewers, because that would be where he or she dwells.

(429 words)

SIYU WU

Essay-2-Poetry Explication

English 1121 (Prof. Scanlan)

4/ 13, 2020

Explication of “Meditation on a Brooklyn Bench”  Draft

I am a worry type person, a person who worry about everything, pass，now，and future.

I think at any moment that my mind is empty，think about what  I did， and what I going to do.  I think this maybe is kind of meditation. In the pome “Meditation on a Brooklyn Bench,” wrote by Abraham Benjamin, a lonely man looking for a quite place and start thinking. This pome show  audiences a scene of a speaker promenade on a water front in Brooklyn at nightfall and sat on bench，looking at the river，boats come and gone，speaker start reminiscent his years in New York，then the tide is coming.  “River”  appear many times in the pome，it is not just a river，it mean an idea，a symbol . In the pome “Covered over by the water of the East River” and “the tide coming in now，full force，danger，looking for me，”these 2 line are the best line to explain the idea of river. Symbolism in this 2 line change the word “river” in to an idea reflected to reality.

In the first line “Cover over by the waters of East River.”  The things covered by water of East river is the memory of speaker about his wife，son，and years works in New York. In the mean of the work water have is a physical matter and memory only exit in our brain, in other word，water can not really cover memory of a man. Water is an idea it  symbolize everyone who live in New York City，the society of New York City. The thousand of people created a society，just like a thousand drops of water combine together become a stream，then streams become a river. The speaker is one of the “waters drop” in this river called New York City. In this huger river，every person is a “water drop”，they have their own story，family，life,  but no one really know all the story of all the “water drop”. Only the “water drop” in the surface will be  see，such as person with power，rich or in the upper class of the society. The story of “water drop” under water surface will not be heard and told，they are just nobody. Like other “water drops”, story and memory of the speak only know by himself and bury deep in the class society,  the reason for the speaker’s memory cover by water showed, he is a middle age man from low class in the New York City society,  work for a decade  but still in the same class of society .

Jennifer Zheng

Essay 2 Draft

English 1121

In the poem, “The Taxi,” by Amy Lowell, the speaker describes itself being driven away from their beloved ones. This blank verse poem gives off the impression of a city and a loss with an anguished tone. I will explicate the two lines towards the middle of the poem: ” I call out for you against the jutted stars And shout into the ridges of the wind.” Although there are many lines used to develop the concept in the poem, I explicate these two lines because to me, it appears to be the start where the speaker’s emotion begins to crash. These two lines specifically represent the poem terms of imagery, connotation and denotation, symbolism, and assonance.

In the first line, “I call out for you against the jutted stars,” Amy Lowell provides a great vision to the reader. Using imagery, she portrays a picture of someone calling upon the stars. Proceeding deeper into the “jutted stars”, the word “jutted” suggests something sticking out or extending beyond the main body or line, and the word “stars” connotes the setting of a dark night. She could be describing the night as having “sharp edges.” Furthermore, the “stars” also symbolizes a big change or turning point in a person’s life, but they are also seen as a sign of sorrow.

The following line, “And shout into the ridges of the wind,” describes the speaker revealing its pain. The word “shout” denotes a loud call or cry; an expression of strong emotion to be heard through the ridges of the wind. The “wind” indicates the natural movement of air. It can also imply a gale; an uproar storm. There is assonance of the repeated “i” vowel sound in “ridges” and “wind”. The reader can visualize the scent, sound, feeling, or taste as Lowell uses one of the five senses into imagery as the wind rushes through the speaker at the peak.

There is also an enjambment show between the words, “stars” and “And”, completing a full sentence when both lines are combined. There is consonance found in the S’s of ‘stars’ and ‘shout’ and assonance is found in ‘out’ and ‘shout’ within the letter o. Lowell’s choices of words create a sharp image as she expresses the suffering the speaker feels, as it departed from its lover; the stars are “jutted” and the wind has “ridges.” The speaker cries out for its lover, the more faraway it is and the more grief it feels inside. In the last line of the poem, the speaker goes back and questions why it should leave its lover, to wound itself upon the sharp edges of the night. The poem simply explicates that life without its lover is depressing.

Stepfan Hospedales

Essay 2

English 1121(Prof. Scanlan)

April 11, 2020

The Unraveling Of a Portion of “The City in Which I Love You”

In the poem “The City in Which I Love You” (pg. 357) by Li-Young Lee, the speaker elucidates a desire to see someone again. It is unknown if Lee is portraying as the speaker in this poem, but it doesn’t hinder the message that is being conveyed. The speaker delineates that someone, possibly a loved one is missing from he or she’s life, hence the sad tone. By utilizing techniques of free verse, the speaker built a platform to express that feeling of living in a city void of a loved one.  The first two lines of the poem, “Morning comes to this city vacant of you. Pages and windows flare, and you are not there” are beneficial to the poem, because it is essentially a small summary of the entire poem. It contains elements that describe the emotion, the plot, and the message conveyed through out the rest of the poem. These lines accurately represents the literary terms of symbolism, oxymoron and assonance to highlight despair and loss. My explication of these two lines will construe how the speaker uses happy words first, to then deviate to sadness.

From the first line, the word ‘morning’ insinuates a happy tone. It symbolizes a new beginning, new opportunities to take advantage of, and new memories to forge. There is a cheer, a certain happiness of saying “good morning” to someone, or vice versa. It feels as a promise that this day will be spectacular. Moving forward in the first line, “city vacant” is a classic example of oxymoron. The word ‘city’ denotes an inhabited place of greater size, population, or importance than a town or village. Next to it is the word ‘vacant’ which classifies as “not filled” when relating to a person.  Both ‘city’ and ‘vacant’ are contradictory terms in conjunction, therefore an oxymoron. The speaker possibly made an oxymoron out of the two words to indicate the shift from happy to sad. The word “vacant” can be gaze upon as a sad term, since it suggests emptiness and loss. Ultimately, the speaker provides this first line to describe a new rudiment with a vacant spot of the speaker’s heart yearning to be filled by this loved one.

The next line also displayed a shift from a happy tone to a depressed tone. Starting with the first phrase “Pages and windows flare” exemplify a happy tone, because it alludes to daybreak, a time in the morning where daylight first appears and shine bright on objects like pages and windows. As mention before, things associated with morning are essentially positive. The denotation of ‘flare’ suggest this,  since the word ‘flare’  is a sudden brief burst of flame, or light. Additionally, the word ‘flare’ connotes life.  Humans tend to be brimming with happiness during times of the day especially in the morning, because waking up alive to see another day tends to bring a brief joyful emotion. There is also the word ‘window’ that emphasizes opportunities, and fresh starts, which the speaker believe it is there however, the loved one is not there to bask in this fresh start with the speaker. The emotion from that melancholy revelation, “and you are not there” depicts the speaker’s grief of the vacancy of he or she’s heart. From another angle, but similar “and you are not there”  may emphasize  pages and windows flaring  a sight that the speaker find exquisite, but can’t look at it with that loved one, since he or she is not present to view such a beauty with the speaker. Assonance in this line came from flare and there, within the letter e.

The explication of the first two lines did indeed display the shifts between happy and depressed tones. The connotation of certain words construe a deeper understanding of the grief the speakers feels, and even hints at what a happy morning could have been if this loved one was around to enjoy it with the speaker. The speaker also seem to emphasize new beginnings, and new opportunities in those lines, that suggest that new great things are in the process for the speaker, and yearns for this loved one to be there, only to be disappointed. Though a new day always suppose to signify a promise for calm, happy day, the tone and language used in these two lines validates that a new day doesn’t necessary mean a good, exciting one, but yet another day of sadness and depression.

(761 words)

“New York Subway” is a poem written by Hilda Morley. Reading the poem, Morley uses the symbol of kindness towards good actions. I will explicate a few lines in the poem, it will show you how the symbol of kindness can also be a type of character. Also as I read the poem, I saw how explication and enjambment was used as she describes what’s around her.

     On that Saturday evening, Morley describes the types of people that was riding the subway such as high schooler or office women’s. Also, she mentioned the actions that was going on in the station for one another. “The beauty of people in the subway that evening, Saturday, holding the door for whoever”. She explains how people holding the door for someone rushing for the train or giving up your seat for an elderly person are good deeds and she also telling readers that we can also learn to preform good act from each other. Everyday people face many choices in life in which deciding on doing a good deed, whether it’s a life changing situation or just for the moment. As we continue to help one another out of kindness, the choices we make can encourage others.

 Andy Zhang

Essay 2-Poetry Explication

April 12, 2020

Prof. Scanlan, ENG 1121

             In the poem, “Fire and Ice,” by Robert Frost, the speaker first starts by setting the poem in a conversational tone of anaphora. The speaker uses the anaphora of “Some say” as two different sides to create antithesis on whether the world would end in Fire or Ice. Next, the speaker jumps from the argument and indicates that “fire” is connotated as “desire”, and “Ice” is connotated as hate. Then, the speaker shares his preference between “Fire and Ice”. Due to the speakers’ limited personal experience, the speaker would personally more prefer “Fire” over “Ice”. lastly, while the speaker decides to side with “fire” the speaker also emphasizes that “Ice” is also equally “great” with “Fire”. The argument of the poem develops from lines 1 and 2, “Some say the world will end in fire/ Some say in ice.”; where the speaker presents the argument of the topic on how the world is going to end from two different sides, some Fire and some Ice. These two lines specifically represent the poetry elements of anaphora, antithesis, metaphor, and the indication of desire, and hate from denotation of Fire, and Ice.

            In lines 1-2, “Some say the world will end in fire/ Some say in ice.” the speaker uses the poetry element anaphora, the repetition phrase of “Some say” to develop the division between the two groups or side of people. Where one side believes that the world will end in “Fire” and the opposing group believes that the world will end in “Ice”. Moreover, anaphora also helps develop the casual conversational tone between two sides that underplays the seriousness of the topic of how the world will end. The division developed by anaphora between fire and ice also helps elaborate the poetry element Antithesis, the contradistinction of Fire and Ice; where the Fire is contrasted with the Ice, and the speaker’s connotation of fire and ice; desire is contrasted with hatred. Lastly, this is when the last poetry element comes in play; metaphor. The speaker trope Fire as to desire, and Ice as to Hatred. Desire and Hatred applied emotional feelings to Fire and Ice to impose the latent attributes of personification to Fire and Ice.

             From lines 1-2, the phrase “Some say” is connoted as two groups of people that have a different view on how the world is going to end. In the poem, “Fire”, the combustion or burning, in which substances combine chemically with oxygen from the air and typically give out bright light, heat, and smoke, is connotated as “desire”, a strong feeling to have something, or wishing for something to happen. Both fire and desire have common powerful positive and negative attributes. They both are representative of destruction. Where the fire is physically destructive, one tiny spark is enough to destroy something that is ten times, a hundred times, immense than itself. And desire, the impact and result of strong, and uncontrollable emotion in a human can be very unstable, and destructive. While on the other hand, in regards to it’s harmful and destructive power, fire is also portrayed as hope, warmth when it is in stable condition; and so is desire. When it is implied with positive attributes like kind, helpful, caring emotion. Lastly, “Ice”, the primary definition of ice is described as frozen water, a brittle transparent crystalline solid. In the poem “Ice” is connotated as “hatred”, an intense dislike, or ill will. Both Ice and Hatred share a couple of common characteristics; the characteristic of rigidity, and frigidity. while Ice displays rigidity and frigidity through the coldness it has from inside out physically, Hatred reveals the absence of love and rigidity from inside and out due to the intense dislike it has toward its foe. Disregard that Ice is connotated as hatred, it can also be connotated as representations of ruthlessness. Ice, the coldness of its temperature already signifies the characteristic of lifelessness or the lack of emotions, thoughts in a living thing. Without emotions, thoughts, one can be ruthless and destructive.