“Having a Coke with You” by Frank O'Hara
(click above link for poem)
Here are the only things that you should and / or need to know to explicate this poem; consider them your “footnotes”:
Polish Rider by Rembrandt
Futurism (not really important for the explication of the poem, but in case you wanted to know what it was.)
Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp
Marino Marini, who made the sculpture Horseman
If you do the explication correctly, you will notice that all outside information is extraneous and will not help you explain HOW THE POET CREATES "MEANING."
Please post your essay in the comment stream by 8:45 a.m. Monday, November 24th, 2008.
Please leave an extra space between the paragraphs when you post.
Here are some materials that may help:
APE Rubric (with grade translation)
Poetry Explication Assignment 2.0
Finally, a not-so-subtle reminder for those of you who may have forgotten some “poetic truths”: 1. It is the speaker of a poem (not the narrator) who “speaks” the lines; it is also not the poet or the poem who speaks. 2. Indicate line breaks / with a slash. Indicate stanza breaks // with two slashes.
There are a million ways to explicate this poem, so your explication should be different than all others posted before you. Post early if you are worried about this.
