Homework Due: 2/5/07

Explication #1: Humble Beginnings

Choose one of the following poems listed below and write an explication over the weekend.

1. “Woman Work” by Maya Angelou
2. “Eight O’Clock” by A.E. Housman
3. “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks

Since the format of an explication is new to you, you might want to address the following aspects of the poem in your brief essay.

• the title
• the speaker of the lines and to whom they are spoken
• the approximate location of the lines within the larger work
• the significance of the lines themselves
• the relationship of the lines to the larger work of which they are a part
• particular techniques evident in the lines
• Alliteration
• Consonance
• Assonance
• Onomatopoeia
• End Rhyme
• Internal Rhyme
• Near/Imperfect/Slant Rhyme
• Phonetic Intensives
• Euphony
• Cacophony

Requirements:

• double-spaced
• written in 12 point, Times New Roman font with 1” margins
• at least one page in length
• standard essay elements: introduction, thesis, body paragraphs, conclusion
• 2^nd period: emailed to Devin (devin@ucla.edu); 8^th period: hard copy for Heather
• Due at the beginning of the period on Monday, Jan. 5^th, 2007