Understanding What Explication Is | The word explication comes from the Latin ex
(out or out from) and plicare (to fold)--literally, to fold out.
When you explicate, you unfold the layers of meaning that lie beneath the
surface of the literal text.
. |
|||||||||||
Understanding
the Purpose
of Explication |
The purpose of explication (as far as we're concerned)
is to reveal meaning to enhance our reading of texts. Thus, in a very real
sense, your position papers and your explication essays are revelations
of texts.
We explicate in service to textual, not personal, revelation. Explicating in service to textual revelation draws meaning out of the text (exegesis); explicating in service to personal revelation reads meaning into the text (eisegesis). Explication, in other words, is not a free-association game whereby
you reveal your own private prejudices or impulses using the words of the
text (e.g.. "I think Donne's poem 'The Flea' is
really about puppy love because when I think of fleas I think of dogs .
. ."); rather, explication bases its reading of a text on plausible inferences
drawn from metaphors, paradoxes, syntactical structures, etc. to which
all readers have access.
|
|||||||||||
Understanding Claims You Can Make Using Explication | The Harbrace College Handbook defines a claim
as "a conclusion that a writer expects his or her readers to accept [that
should] be supported by source material that is accurate and representative"
(G-15). Thus, to make claims about the literal level of a literary text
is a waste of time because such claims do not enhance our reading of the
text.
For example, to claim that the persona of Shakespeare's Sonnet 129 thinks that lust is a sin doesn't reveal significant meaning because every reader of the work gets this idea from the literal level of the poem. On the other hand, to claim that the persona uses monetary metaphors to show that lust is a system of exchange not only requires explication but also focuses your writing on just those words and lines ("expense of spirit in a waste of shame" [1]) that support your claim.
|
|||||||||||
Understanding What to Look for When You Explicate | Explication requires concentration on the language
of the text, or "close reading."
You can break down the rather daunting concept of language into categories
by using Aristotle's paradigm of language: logic,
rhetoric, and grammar. Examining
a text's imagery and metaphor
can also help you explicate.
|
|||||||||||
Using Your Understanding
of Logic to Explicate
Using Your Understanding of Grammar to Explicate
|