Senior English

Mr. Rigler

Oedipus explication essay

Last week I gave you a handout that described the explications you have been writing for the past several nights.  The last three paragraphs said this:

“Explication is not a matter of recording "how this text affected me," or as we have been saying in this class, the more personal sense of “meaning.”  It is rather a painstaking account of what is actually found in the text. An explication of a literary text typically distinguishes between the factual or thought content of a text and the formal or stylistic aspects of the text, focusing on the structure, style, content, imagery, etc.

In writing this explication, you are not just noting a passage that you found interesting.  Instead, you are building an argument for a specific interpretation of that passage.  Think about:  Who is the speaker?  How does this fit into the story, or the plot (playwright’s conscious ordering of the story)?  What imagery / symbolism is at work here?  What are the different levels and layers of knowledge or power?

For the next several nights, you will write an explication, taken from the assigned reading, in your notebook. We will use these as the basis for our class discussion on the following day.  Then, for next week, once we have finished the play, you will expand the scope of your analysis into a slightly longer essay.”

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Now it’s time for that essay.  Due Tuesday, September 3rd, your 2 page essay needs to look closely at a piece of text you’ll select and consider its significance not only as a passage unto itself, but also in terms of the play overall.  This means you’ll need to choose carefully and think about the ideas, questions, and themes it contains, as well as the “big ideas” from the play.  You are building an argument for a specific interpretation of both your passage and the play.  Feel free to use the paragraphs you’ve already written as a jumping off point, as well as your notes from class discussions.  Again, this is not an essay about your personal opinion – it should not be included – but rather a close examination of the text.

• You do not need to rewrite your entire passage, but your explication should quote from and comment on it extensively.  Sentences can use this structure as a framework: when the text says ___ it refers to / symbolizes / connects with / communicates _____ .
• I should also note the importance of selecting a passage other than ones we’ve worked with in class already – this is an opportunity to show original thinking, not to repeat what we have already discussed.  This will hold true for the whole year.  
• I’ll assume I don’t need to mention any warnings about plagiarizing information from the internet or other sources.  You should be aware that I read SparkNotes and other on-line commentaries, as well as the free essay websites.  Suspicious work will be checked electronically against these, which you’ll soon find to be common practice in college and university settings.