Analyzing and Interpreting the poem “There are delicacies” by Earle Birney

Follow the steps of doing a close reading of a poem

Over the past couple of weeks, we have engaged in the close analysis of some individual poems. This assignment asks you to do alone what we did as a group, to analyze and interpret a short poem, “There are delicacies” by Earle Birney (lyrics are on the next page; but you need to take the concrete poem as the object of analysis), for the purpose of developing a specific theme in this poem. Essentially, you will answer the questions,

“What is the theme of the poem, and what difference does it make to our understanding of the theme with the elements you notice?”

You will not simply make an observation about how an element is used in the poem or an observation about what the theme is, but rather answer the question, “SO WHAT?” To succeed, you should follow the steps of doing a close reading of a poem we discussed in class. First, you need to do a reading on the literal level by pinpointing the situation in the poem; then you need to go beyond the literal to get into the metaphorical level; and finally you need to discover a piece of truth, i.e. a theme that you can elaborate on with supporting details from the poem. More importantly, you should express your understanding of the total meaning in the poem and express it in the form of an essay cohesively. On the basis of your close analysis, you should formulate a strong thesis statement whose claim you can demonstrate and elaborate throughout the essay. It should be a complex sentence summarizing your overall interpretation of the poem and including those three subtopics you are going to discuss in details in the body paragraphs of your essay. Put it differently, you need both to analyze what the poem means as a whole and describe how its particulars work together to support the theme. The more details you can include in your analysis, the stronger and more interesting your essay will be. As a different genre, poetry has its own rules in citation. Please remember these unique rules for quoting poetry if you want to quote directly from the poem:

1) Record lines of poetry by using the following: (line 12-15) 2) For the rest of the citations simply use (35-37) 3) Use a “/” to separate lines. A space is needed before and after the “/.” 4) Copy capital or small case letters as they are used in the original poem Evaluation Criteria minimum with a  Double space your essay, and indent the first line of each new paragraph. Seek help from anyone of the two writing centers on campus and ask for a note to proof it • Strictly documented with MLA format, in-text citations, and a works cited page (refer to sample essay format in the textbook) • An effective title -- one that is interesting, representative, and creative • Proofread carefully yourself or by any available outside sources to ensure the essay is free from careless mechanical and grammar errors. “There Are Delicacies”