Dr. Obermeier
Eng 200
Paper # 3÷Poetry Explication of a Non-Traditional Poem (10:40 class)
Format: 3 typed pages plus a Works Cited page. Follow the MLA presentational guidelines outlined in the Guide to Style. Refrain from quoting several lines in a row, since the poem is known to the entire class. Rather, quote words and phrases, as that is more appropriate for an explication. In general, however, if you quote three or fewer lines of a poem, your quotation should not be set off or indented. It should be integrated into the text of your paper. Use a slash with spaces ( / ) to indicate line breaks and give line numbers for each quotation. See #49-50 in the Guide to Style. If you do any research on the web, put the entries on the works cited in the correct format.
Content: Write an explication of Seamus Heaney's poem "The Nights." In this explication, you do not have to focus on meter and rhyme but provide a more thematic reading still supported by poetic devices. Please see #12b for an explanation of this assignment and a sample paper; see also samples on the website. This assignment is supposed to test your close-reading and interpretive skills; therefore, you should stay away from outside criticism other than handbooks to literature, dictionaries, the Bible, mythology, etc. For this assignment, it would be prudent to read Heaney's poem "Mycenae Lookout," of which "The Nights" is the fourth part. You can find the entire poem on the website. Also, Heaney seems to have generally relied on his knowledge of the mythology surrounding the Trojan War and the House of Atreus or specifically on certain authors: Aeschylus' play Agamemnon, Euripides' play The Trojan Women, and the second book of Virgil's Aeneid. I have provided links to Bullfinch's Mythology and all of the aforementioned texts on the website under Research Links. Source of the poem: The Spirit Level. New York: The Noonday Press, 1996. 42-44.
Due Date:Ê Wednesday 3.21.2001
Paper # 3÷Poetry Explication of a Non-Traditional Poem (9:40 class)
Format: 3 typed pages plus a Works Cited page. Follow the MLA presentational guidelines outlined in the Guide to Style. Refrain from quoting several lines in a row, since the poem is known to the entire class. Rather, quote words and phrases, as that is more appropriate for an explication. In general, however, if you quote three or fewer lines of a poem, your quotation should not be set off or indented. It should be integrated into the text of your paper. Use a slash with spaces ( / ) to indicate the line breaks and give line numbers for each quotation. See #49-50 in the Guide to Style. If you do any research on the web, put the entries on the works cited in the correct format.
Content: Write an explication of Seamus Heaney's poem, "Hercules and Antaeus." In this explication, you do not have to focus on meter and rhyme but provide a more thematic reading still supported by poetic devices. Please see #12b for an explanation of this assignment and a sample paper; see also samples on the website. This assignment is supposed to test your close-reading and interpretive skills; therefore, you should stay away from outside criticism other than handbooks to literature, dictionaries, the Bible, mythology, etc. For this assignment, it would be prudent to take a look at the mythology surrounding the title characters as well as the people mentioned in the text. As a starting point, I provide a link to Bullfinch's Mythology on the website under Research Links. Source of the poem: Selected Poems: 1966-1987. New York: The Noonday Press, 1990. 89-90.
Due Date:Ê Wednesday 3.21.2001
Hercules and Antaeus
Sky-born and royal,
snake-choker, dung-heaver,
his mind big with golden apples,
his future hung with trophies,
Hercules has the measureÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ 5
of resistance and black powers
feeding off the territory.
Antaeus, the mould-hugger,
is weaned at last:
a fall was a renewal ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ10
but now he is raised upöö
the challenger's intelligence
is a spur of light,
a blue prong graiping him
out of his element ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ15
into a dream of loss
and originsööthe cradling dark
the river-veins, the secret gullies
of his strength,
the hatching grounds ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ20
of cave and souterrain,
he has bequeathed it all
to elegists. Balor will die
and Byrthnoth and Sitting Bull.
Hercules lifts his arms ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ25
in a remorseless V,
his triumph unassailed
by the powers he has shaken,
and lifts and banks Antaeus
high as a profiled ridge, ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ30
a sleeping giant,
pap for the dispossessed.