Strategies
Explication
Poetry is like a puzzle. We need to look very specifically at the details in the text to create some kind of meaning as a whole. This also means that we must take every detail of the text into account. I think that sophisticated explication foundationally begins with some of the main tenets I want students to keep in mind while reading:
1.It is okay to revisit texts
2.You shouldn't get too stuck on vocabulary
3.Every element in a poem has a purpose
4.You don't need to have all of the right answers
More specifically I am asking students to read the text, think about the text, locate similarities and/or differences over the course of a text and then draw conclusions from those steps. It is important to have students annotate their text. I suggest having a method that works for you as well as for your students. For instance, the kinds of annotations that students make on texts are same kinds that I make when I grade their papers. Having this common language also helps with peer editing. When students and I annotate in the same way we reinforce our reading tenets and apply them to our own writing. Using the teacher's practice confers critical value on their opinions.
Guiding a student through this kind of annotated explication can be quite difficult because there are so many different things to focus on in a text — no matter how small.
In my class, when we analyze poetry we will be doing so by looking through a series of different lenses:
1. Rhetorical analysis
2. Sound devices
3. Structural foundation
4. Thematic Understanding
5. Historical context
Rhetorical Analysis
This can be done in a variety of ways depending on the skill level of the student. For purposes of this class I usually have students only focus on the occasion, audience, and purpose of a text and how they utilize the rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos.
In the case of the sonnet, this process proves to be a bit easier than for other poetic forms, because the sonnet often poses a problem and then proposes a solution.
In looking at the occasion of a poem, one must ask why the author has written it.
- What is the nagging problem?
- What about this moment provides a need for them to persuade?
- Is there anything historical about this moment or significant about moment that makes them feel the need to record it?
When assessing the audience one must question who they are writing to and for.
- Is there anything in the text that points you to a particular person or character?
- What is their relationship to the author?
- What kind of secondary audience is implied? The author's contemporaries? Posterity? Ourselves?
In the search for purpose, what is it that the author wants to do or to understand?
- How can we summarize the text?
- What is it they want the reader to believe or act upon?
- Do they successfully fulfill their purpose?
In addressing these questions it is important to evaluate the rhetorical appeals in doing so.
- How does this appeal to your reason (logos)?
- How does this appeal to your credibility (ethos)?
- How does this appeal to your emotions (pathos)?
Sound Devices
Sound plays an intricate part in poetry. Poetry is supposed to be read aloud. Sound qualities also give meaning and understanding to a text. Items students should be able to identify in a poem are:
- Alliteration — the repetition of similar sounds at the beginning of words. For example, in Sir Walter Raleigh's "To His Son": "And they be these: the wood, the weed, the wag."
- Assonance — the repetition of particular vowel sounds to create an internal rhyme. For example, in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 55": "But you shall shine more bright in these contents."
- Consonance — the repetition of a similar consonant sound two or more times. For example, in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 29": "Like to the lark at break of day arising".
- Cacophony — the use of harsh sounds to convey additional meaning. For example, in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 116": "Within his bending sickle's compass come."
- Euphony — the opposite of cacophony; the use of pleasant sounds to convey additional meaning. For example, in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 116": "If this be error and upon me proved,/ I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
- Internal Rhyme — rhyming that occurs within a line. For example, in Richard Wilbur's "Praise in Summer": "Obscurely yet most surely called to praise,".
- Rhyme— the repetition of similar sounds. For example, in Milton's "How Soon Hath Time" the first stanza repeats the rhyming sounds th and er. "How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,/ Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year!/ My hasting days fly on with full career,/ But my late spring no bud nor blossom shew'th."
- There are many other sound qualities in poetry, but for the purpose of this unit these are the ones that help in identifying areas of a poem that need special attention.
Structural Foundation
Since we are using the format of the sonnet as our basis, students should be able to perform scansion, note the rhyme scheme, and then try to gather information from that point forward. This is where they should start to answer key questions:
- How does the form inform the content?
- How does the form breech any operative conventions? Why does this occur?
- Is the formal element most prominently found in rhyme scheme, meter, or line? Why does it occur this or that element?
Thematic Understanding
Symbolism through metaphors, allegories, connotations through nouns, multiple symbols that are pointing in one direction: all point helpfully and concretely toward the development of a theme.
For starters, students can record first impressions of a poem. They might start with] the title, looking for double meanings or extra connotations. Many times during these first few glances it is necessary to look up any unfamiliar vocabulary. Using The Oxford English Dictionary is also useful in identifying some of those double meanings and extra connotations.
1. What kind of patterns can you identify in imagery, style, diction, punctuation, spacing, etc.?
2. What can you apply from these discoveries to the meaning of a line, stanza, or of the poem as a whole?
Historical Context
In class we break historical context into three aspects: historical time, author's history, the reader's history.
We first consider the historical context in which this poem takes place. For example, it is important when discussing a poem like Emma Lazarus' "The New Colossus" to make reference to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Seeing a reference of Colossus creates context and imagery that helps us toward Lazarus' meaning.
The second kind of context we need to take into account is the author's history. This can get a bit sticky at times because students can easily be distracted from the text itself and fall back too readily on an author's history. We need to remember that we are using this context to better inform us, not to give us any answers beyond what we actually find in] the poem. It is crucial to understand Milton's political views and his relationship to Oliver Cromwell when reading "Sonnet 16" or "When the Assault Was Intended to the City". Knowing Robert Hayden's personal biography, on the other hand, can lead a discussion on "Those Winter Sundays" that strays from the form and function of the sonnet. It is key to remember that an author's personal history can enrich a text, but we want to make sure it doesn't smother it.
Lastly, one can allow students to bring in their own personal history to bear on the poem. Once again, this is tricky to do, because we want to make sure that the student focuses on the task at hand and does not get too caught up in totally private associations. I strongly suggest that having a student reference the text when giving their own personal slant will help them stay focused on the text.
Scansion
In introducing the sonnet I want to provide some background information in addition to an in-depth discussion of the two main forms. At first we will look at examples of both kinds of sonnets and see what kind of similarities and differences we can find between them. Then we will start looking more deeply at the significance of the different forms. We will use the strategy of scansion to help guide us through this process.
Scansion is the analysis of the metrical pattern of lines and sections/stanzas. This is particularly important for students because it adds another graphical dimension to the text that can help direct them towards particular moments in a word, line, or stanza where meter reinforces meaning. Sometimes a turn of thought doesn't occur at the end of a stanza, but appears through the stresses and beats in a particular line.
There are various ways to do scansion. This unit will provide students with one of the most basic forms that will serve their purpose. For this unit we will be:
1. Reading aloud
2. Counting the syllables
3. Noting the stressed and unstressed beats
4. Identifying the feet
5. Identifying the meter
To begin this process I think it is very important for the instructor to read the poem aloud. This allows students to get the feel of the poem and recognize out any tonal qualities. By hearing the poem read aloud students will notice any shifts in the distribution of stress along the syllables. On many occasion reading aloud with this much care requires a lot of practice on the part of the instructor. There are a variety of websites that offer mp3s of poems. I suggest using these in class and practicing on your own in preparation for a lesson in scansion.
Secondly, you are going to want to break down the words into separate units of sound. This is most commonly performed by breaking lines down by syllable. Most commonly, students will mark these breaks using this symbol | . For example, the first line of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130", "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;" becomes:
Or, the first line of Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer", "Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold," becomes:
Now that we have the breakdown of the syllables there must be notation of the meter; or, stressed and unstressed beats. You can use this chart to identify the most common feet in poetry. There are other feet not listed here, but these are the most common 6:
Often you will also hear people refer to things like rising meter. That is when the accent is on the last beat ( - / ), as in an iamb or an anapest. Another term that is used is falling meter. That is when the accent is on the first beat ( / - ), as in a trochee or a dactyl.
I have seen this notation done in a variety of different ways. For younger students, I have seen teachers use capitalization in place of stress:
To put the feet into meter we should count the feet in the line. Here is a basic chart you can use in your classroom:
In studying the sonnet, we will rely primarily on iambic pentameter. Notice that in both the Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" and Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" the five basically iambic feet are repeated from line to line. That is because these two pieces are written in iambic pentameter.
So why do we do this? First, we do it to learn to recognize meter. Secondly, we do it to make the writer's technique visible. It can help direct us to points in a poem where an author deviates from convention, for example replacing the expected iamb with a trochee. Why do they deviate? Why do they choose to do it there? What about the language helps us decide? Do we see any larger patterns by line or stanza, and how does such repetition or change affect the poem as a whole?
Socratic Seminar
There are many ideas behind the use of Socratic seminar in the classroom. Personally, I find that dialogue between students with the teacher functions as a facilitator. The difficulty in this is to allow students to guide the discussion. Some steps that help students with this strategy are to have clearly defined norms for running a Socratic seminar:
1. Nameplate — helps students guide the discussion by referencing others' ideas
2. Professional etiquette — guides how we listen and respond to others
3. No ad hominem expressions — sticking to the text for argument's sake and not taking away from your argument by acting ignorant or petulant
4. Refer back to the texts — if you are going to make a point in class you must refer to either the text or a comment that someone has already made
The focus of these Socratic seminars will be another way to guide close reading with a more critical, analytical discussion. Additionally, the role of facilitator (teacher) is to be prepared to pull students through the discussion. This needs to be done through a carefully prepared set of questions. I can foresee Socratic seminar developing from one of the following questions for this unit:
1. What are the conventions of the English/Italian sonnet?
2. When does the sonnet break from form?
3. Why does it break from the form?
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