write an explication essay, analyzing the poem in terms of meaning (interpretation) and form (through such poetic devices as metaphor, simile, symbolism, imagery, theme and aspects of sound rhyme, rhythm, etc.). Once you have “torn the poem apart” through your analysis of it, be sure to go on to “put it back together” (discuss what your explication has led you to learn or say about the poem’s overall meaning and/or effect.) In simpler terms, you are writing an essay here that answers the question, in detail, of “how does the poem make its meaning?
