Essay on "Love We Hear Footsteps by Galway Kinnell"

Quoted Instructions for "Love We Hear Footsteps by Galway Kinnell" Assignment:

For Paper 2, write an explication essay approximately 1000 words long.

Basically, an explication essay *****requires an intensive examination of a text*****”in this case a poem***** (Meyer 272). Meyer also states that *****the word explication comes from the Latin explicare, *****˜to unfold***** (277). For this paper, you will select ONE of the poems from the reading assignments on the previous page and examine it closely to discover its meaning, *****how it works and what it signifies***** (277). (This will be used as the basis for your thesis.) As was true when we studied the short story, authors use various devices to convey the central idea of a poem, things such as diction, syntax, tone, images, and various figures of speech. Paper 2 is simply a discussion of how the poet utilizes these elements of poetry to express an idea. The structure of the chapter *****Reading and Writing about Poetry***** is essentially a bunch of mini explication essays. For example, Meyer defines ambiguity and notes that *****through his [the author*****s] ambiguous use of *****˜state,***** Jarrell connects the horrors of war not just to bombers and gunners but to the governments that control them***** (228). Reread the chapter for other good examples.

Be sure to use the appropriate literary terms in your essay (e.g., implied metaphor, rhythm, personification) and quote specific passages to support your points. As a reminder, a *****/***** is used to indicate line breaks in your quotation. For more information regarding this paper, read the chapter on explication in your book (page 272). The paper should reflect MLA conventions, including parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page.

MY LITERATURE BOOK IS CALLED THE FOLLOWING:

Thinking and Writing About Literature: A Text and Anthology, Second Edition,

Michael Meyer

I'm going to be doing my paper on the following poem:

After Making Love We Hear Footsteps by Galway Kinnell on page 625 of the book.

HERE's THE POEM:

After Making Love We Hear Footsteps

For I can snore like a bullhorn

or play loud music

or sit up talking with any reasonably sober Irishman

and Fergus will only sink deeper

into his dreamless sleep, which goes by all in one flash,

but let there be that heavy breathing

or a stifled come-cry anywhere in the house

and he will wrench himself awake

and make for it on the run - as now, we lie together,

after making love, quiet, touching along the length of our bodies,

familiar touch of the long-married,

and he appears - in his baseball pajamas, it happens,

the neck opening so small

he has to screw them on, which one day may make him wonder

about the mental capacity of baseball players -

and flops down between us and hugs us and snuggles himself to sleep,

his face gleaming with satisfaction at being this very child.

In the half darkness we look at each other

and smile

and touch arms across his little, startling muscled body -

this one whom habit of memory propels to the ground of his making,

sleeper only the mortal sounds can sing awake,

this blessing love gives again into our arms.