POETRY EXPLICATION
CLOSE READING ANALYSIS
1. Paraphrase – Summarize what appears to be happening in the poem. Make sure it’s surface level!
2. Observation – List 7-10 observations that are potentially significant.
3. Context – Look up any names or places in the poem that are unfamiliar. They are probably important!
Also, background on the poem/poet may be helpful.
4. Analysis – Choose three observations from steps 2-3. Why are these significant to the poem’s overall
meaning? Write 2-3 sentences for each. (It is also helpful to analyze multiple observations at once.)
5. Argument – Make a claim about the poem’s meaning. Use your analysis and observations (steps 2-4) to
support your claim. Write 6-8 sentences.
EXPLICATION ESSAY
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Introduction
a. 2-3 sentences – Introduce and paraphrase the poem.
b. Thesis (or claim) from your argument.
Support
a. Topic sentence based on your analysis you used to support the argument
b. Evidence from your observations or context
c. Commentary that explains the connection between your evidence, topic sentence, and thesis. This
can be taken from your argument or analysis, but a large part of this may need to be new.
Support
Support
Conclusion – make your final statements about the poem.
Remember: It’s not just copy and paste. Make sure your essay connects and flows well – there is no formula for
doing this apart from making an actual effort to think better. Length: about 1½ - 2 pages.
EXAMPLE EXPLICATION
THE RUINS OF TIME (PART 1) – ROBERT LOWELL
I saw the musty shingles of my house,
raw wood and fixed once, now a wash of moss
eroded by the ruin of age
turning all fair and green things into waste.
I climbed the pasture. I saw the dim sun drink
the ice just thawing from the bouldered fallow,
woods crowd the foothills, seize last summer’s field,
and higher up, the sickly cattle bellow.
I went into my house. I saw how dust
and ravel had devoured its furnishing;
even my cane was withered and more bent,
even my sword was coffined up in rust—
there was no hilt left for the hand to try.
Everything ached, and told me I must die.
CLOSE READING ANALYSIS
1. Paraphrase:
The speaker looks at his house and the natural surroundings and finds that everything is in a
worse state than it used to be. He goes inside and looks at some personal items and sees they have
deteriorated as well. His body aches, and he realizes that death is coming.
2. Observation:
a. Uses diction such as: musty, waste, ruin, dim, sickly, withered
b. Everything described as formerly good has deteriorated
c. When speaking of his sword and cane, there is repetition
d. The last thing described is the speaker himself
e. The only other creature (the cattle) is “sickly”
f. Inside the house, the verbs give a more deathly feeling (devoured, withered, coffined)
g. A cane and a sword seem like similar tools, but for different ages
h. The cane is a tool for someone who is already old, but the cane itself seems old
i. Fourteen lines and unrhymed (mostly) iambic pentameter
3. Context:
a. This poem is part one of a two-part series. Part two is about Rome.
b. Lowell wrote many poems about history and historical figures.
4. Analysis:
a. The poem uses many words to describe deterioration throughout, such as musty, waste, sickly,
and withered. These words create a tone of helplessness against the way things decay over time.
b. The cane and the sword seem like similar tools, but a sword is for a younger man and the cane is
for an older man. The speaker’s plight is seen through the fact that he appears too old for either of
these. Perhaps it shows that he has simply lived too long.
c. The last thing described is the speaker himself. It’s as though the speaker is learning about his
own state by looking at the things he used to use and seeing how they are no longer useful to him.
Perhaps this is because people tend to judge their own well-being based off of their surroundings,
possessions, or other people.
5. Argument:
This poem is about a moment of realization that death is inescapable and very close, but it is
recognized through the condition of the individual’s surroundings, rather than the individual
himself. In the poem, this condition is reflected back to the speaker of the poem through all of his
surroundings as he walks through the countryside about his house, and through his house itself.
Everything is described in a way that shows not only poor condition, but deterioration, by using
words such as “sickly,” “musty,” “waste,” and “withered.” This reflection is intensified as the
speaker walks inside and looks at his personal effects, as the diction itself gives a more direct
view of death with words like “devoured,” “withered,” and “coffined,” and the presence of this
condition gives a further feeling of helplessness in the face of the decay. In describing his cane
and his sword, he is describing two distinct stages of a person’s life: the virility of youth and the
frailty of old age, but the speaker has outlived both of these stages. He describes himself last,
after he has seen decay and deterioration reflected back to him, and realizes that it is time for him
to die.
EXPLICATION ESSAY
Analysis of Lowell’s “Ruins of Time”
In Robert Lowell’s poem “The Ruins of Time,” the speaker looks at his house and the natural
surroundings and finds that everything is in a worse state than it used to be. He goes inside and looks at
some personal items and sees they have deteriorated as well. His body aches, and he realizes that death
is coming. This poem is about a moment of realization that death is inescapable and very close, but it is
recognized through the condition of the person’s surroundings rather than the person himself.
The diction in this poem characterizes the speaker’s surroundings as not just being in poor
condition, but a condition of disrepair and decay. Lowell uses words like “musty,” “dim,” “sickly,” and
“waste” to give this tone in the first part of the poem. This effect is then intensified as the speaker walks
inside and looks at his personal effects, and the diction itself gives a more direct view of death with
words like “devoured,” “withered,” and “coffined.” This gives a further feeling of helplessness in the
face of the decay that is all around the speaker. All of these words are centered on other things until he
finally gets to himself and uses the word “die,” stating it as directly as possible.
The speaker’s death is more than imminent though, as it appears he has outlived his own life.
After coming inside his house he describes a cane and a sword. The speaker’s plight is shown through
the fact that he appears too old for either of these. The sword symbolizes youthful virility, and the cane
symbolizes the frailty of old age. These states have become “withered” and “coffined” as the speaker
looks at them, and his life comes more clearly into focus after considering them. His “coffined” sword
cannot even be drawn, just as he is too old to summon up his youthful energy again, and his cane is too
“withered” and “bent” to be much use anymore, even to an old man.
The speaker looks at himself last of all, only after having considered the condition of everything
else around him. He talks about himself in the very last line, saying “everything ached, and told me I
must die.” The realization that he must die doesn’t originate with himself, but rather he is “told” that he
must die. Furthermore, the “everything” that aches in the last line could be everything in his own body,
but it could also be that everything in his house and surrounding his house appears to be aching. It is not
until after considering everything around him that he is aware of just how close his own death is.
Generally speaking, people have a tendency to judge themselves by looking at their
surroundings, whether through possessions, relationships, other people, or nature, and then they can see
their own lives reflected back at them through these things. Lowell’s poem speaks to this idea in a
melancholic way, but one that rings of truth for our world and our own lives.