Explication

How it is used

Common in literary criticism and classroom essays. It usually focuses on a short passage and shows how details support a broader interpretation.

Example sentences

1. For Monday, the professor assigned an explication of the sonnet, asking us to account for every image and turn in the final couplet.

   Here, explication means a line-by-line analytical explanation that justifies interpretation through specific textual details.

2. The journal reviewer liked the article's explication of the opening paragraph but wanted stronger links to the novel's later chapters.

   In this sentence, the term refers to close analytical unpacking of one passage, rather than a broad summary of the whole work.

Common collocations

• textual explication
• detailed explication
• explication of a poem
• close explication

Related terms

• literary criticismThe study, interpretation and evaluation of literary works, including discussion of their meaning, form, context and value.
• close readingA careful, detailed reading of a short passage that pays attention to individual words, sounds, images and structure to show how they create meaning.

More terms: Criticism and Analysis

• interpretation
• literary analysis
• canon
• literary theory
• intertextuality
• feminist criticism
• narratology