How to Explicate a Poem

Have you ever come away from a poem wondering why the speaker would write a poem about such a strange topic? Perhaps there's a deep allegory you're not picking up on! This article will show you how to decipher a poem.

[edit] Steps

1. Start out with an explication chart, which is a T-chart with the left side labeled "Literally" and the right side labeled "Figuratively."
2. Get your poem out. "A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman will be used for this article.
3. Read the poem over, writing any words or phrases that stick out in the lefthand column. For "A Noiseless Patient Spider," the words I see are "noiseless," "patient," "spider," "promontory," "isolated," "vacant vast surrounding," "filament," "tirelessly," "soul," "surrounded," "detatched," "measureless oceans of space," "musing, venturing, throwing," "seeking the spheres to connect," "bridge you need," "gossamer thread," "fling catch somewhere." Your total may be more or less, depending on your preference.
4. Look at each of the words or phrases and decide what it means to you - your impression, what a word means, connotation. Anything at all will do. Look at "tips" to get some ideas for common meanings.
5. Write what you think the meaning of each word or phrase on the righthand column. For me, going in order of when they occur in the poem, I get "unheard," "waiting," "unwanted," "dangerous place," "alone," "open space," "string or fiber," "ongoing," "self," "with someone," "unable to connect," "surrounded yet not alone," "trying," "trying to connect," "in need of a way," "breakable threads," "connect with something."
6. Using your righthand column as a guide, try and decide on what the speaker is trying to say. In the case of "The Noiseless Patient Spider," I get the idea that Whitman longs to connect with someone. Once you've decided on a theme, you can go away from your work feeling slightly smarter.

[edit] Tips

• Generally in poetry, words such as black connotate death or evil, while words such as "dawn" and "dusk" or "twilight" connotate the beginning or end of life. When looking at the time of day in a poem, it is common practice to think of sunrise as the beginning of life and sunset as the end of life. Nature reigns supreme in poetry most often.
• Do your research! If you see a reference to Eden, for example, use it! In Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay," the lines "So Eden sank to grief//So dawn goes down to day" can be taken as an allusion to the fall of humankind, and the spiritual "death" the race suffered.

[edit] Warnings

• Do not be afraid to take words at face value! Sometimes, a word such as "connect" needs to be taken as the word connect!

Source : http://www.wikihow.com/Explicate-a-Poem