An explication is a thorough analysis of the poem’s meaning or theme supported b

An explication is a thorough analysis of the poem’s meaning or theme supported by specific evidence from within the poem’s text. The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your ability to closely read and respond to a single poem. This examination of a single poem allows you to consider in-depth how the author uses imagery, personification, rhyme, meter, alliteration, and other literary elements. You must not only think carefully and independently to develop your own unique interpretation of the poem, but also clearly convey this interpretation in your paper.
Write a 700- to 1,050-word explication of your chosen poem, using the guidelines in Ch. 44 of the textbook and the online resources listed in this unit’s readings, in which you do the following:
Develop a thesis in paragraph one that clearly states your interpretation of the poem and the literary devices that help you understand it.
Explain line by line (or sentence by sentence) how your poem communicates its meaning through literary devices and techniques, in the middle paragraphs of the paper.
Restate how these details establish the poem’s theme or meaning, and give your opinion about the poem’s value for you as a reader, in your concluding paragraph.
Remember to:
Focus on the text itself, not outside research.
Quote directly (but briefly) from the poem itself to illustrate your ideas. See “How to Quote from a Literary Text or Outside Sources,” posted under Course Resources on the home page for this course.
Format your paper using APA guidelines, including in-text citations and a reference page that includes the textbook for this course. See “Using APA Style to Cite a Literary Source,” posted under Course Resources on the home page for this course.
White Lies
BY NATASHA TRETHEWEY
The lies I could tell,
when I was growing up
light-bright, near-white,
high-yellow, red-boned
in a black place,
were just white lies.
I could easily tell the white folks
that we lived uptown,
not in that pink and green
shanty-fled shotgun section
along the tracks. I could act
like my homemade dresses
came straight out the window
of Maison Blanche. I could even
keep quiet, quiet as kept,
like the time a white girl said
(squeezing my hand), Now
we have three of us in this class.
But I paid for it every time
Mama found out.
She laid her hands on me,
then washed out my mouth
with Ivory soap. This
is to purify, she said,
and cleanse your lying tongue.
Believing her, I swallowed suds
thinking they’d work
from the inside out.