Guided Explication Essay: - South Georgia State College



Guided Explication Essay:

Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe

TRUE! Nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why WILL you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain, but, once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture -- a pale blue eye with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold, and so by degrees, very gradually, I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever.

1. Read the above passage very carefully.

2. Write an essay (at least 3 pages, typed, double-spaced, MLA format) following this outline:

a. Introduction

i. 1 paragraph.

ii. I recommend that you write this part AFTER you have written the body paragraphs.

iii. A good introduction goes from general to specific.

iv. A good introduction has a thesis statement.

v. A good introduction does NOT include a mini-biography of the author.

b. Body paragraph(s) focusing on illness/health.

i. Identify the underlined words and phrases which relate to health and illness.

ii. Analyze those words and phrases first in reference to the rest of the quoted passage and then in relation to the rest of the story.

iii. Example of the explication process for this section:

1. Poe uses the words “nervous,” “disease,” “destroyed,” “haunted,” and “mad” even as he denies his madness. He uses “mad” and “nervous” twice in the first paragraph. He uses the word “healthily” only once and even admits to being diseased, but he insists his disease “sharpened [his] senses.”

2. You could claim that the verbal emphasis on words indicating a lack of mental health actually belie the narrator’s insistence on being sane. You could also point out the contradiction in the narrator’s assertion that he is both diseased and healthy simultaneously and that such a contradiction proves the narrator’s insanity.

3. Relate to the rest of the story: find other occurrences of the same or similar words and phrases outside of the quoted passage. Answer the questions “Do these other occurrences support your emerging thesis?” and “Does your analysis of these words and phrases in this passage aid in your understanding of the rest of the story?”

c. Body paragraph(s) focusing on the senses/body.

i. Follow the same process described in 2.b.iii.

d. Body paragraph(s) focusing on good and evil, right and wrong.

i. Follow the same process described in 2.b.iii.

e. Conclusion

i. 1 paragraph.

ii. There are two types of conclusions:

1. Conclusion which summarizes or restates your argument.

a. Such a conclusion should not be repetitive.

2. Conclusion which makes an argument.

a. This is the “surprise ending” conclusion. It works best with an essay which contains very little argument in the body, i.e. the body states the “facts” of your case, and your conclusion makes the argument.

3. This is NOT a research paper; the internet is off-limits; do NOT use the internet “to help” you write this essay.

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