Quote Explication

What is Quote Explication?

Open Ended

If I told you to explicate a quote right now, what would you attempt to do?

Open Ended

Choose a passage between 1 and 5 sentences from Night.

Type it faithfully here. Include a page number.

Open Ended

For the practice passage we selected, write 1-2 complete sentences that set the scene.

Multiple Choice

What is the purpose of paraphrasing a passage according to the text?

• To simplify the text

• To rephrase in your own words

• To summarize the text

• To analyze the text

Open Ended

Paraphrase the following poem in 2-4 lines:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Example

Wiesel’s use of figurative language reveals the extent of the changes the Jews have weathered since their arrival in the camps. During the air raid, he highlights their hunger and their fear as he writes, “Two lambs with hundreds of wolves lying in wait for them. Two lambs without a shepherd, free for the taking. But who would dare?” (Wiesel 59) Here he employs a metaphor that compares two full, abandoned soup cauldrons with unprotected lambs. The phrasing of the metaphor indicates a temporary power reversal for the Jews in the camps. ....

Example

Earlier in the memoir, Wiesel describes the many ways they are treated more like cattle than people which makes his decision to describe them as “wolves lying in wait” more striking. In this moment, they are faced with choosing between their hunger and their fear, and for the majority of the Jews watching with Elie, fear wins. He writes, “who would dare?” because despite their starvation and temporary status as “wolves” to the soups’ “lambs,” their fear of reprisal from the SS is greater. This metaphor illustrates the depths of their hunger and fear emphasizing the degree of bravery and risk taken by the one man who does attempt to reach the soup.

Open Ended

What do you notice about this example explication?

Open Ended

What possible points of significance could we use with our practice passage?

Multiple Choice

What will make up most of your response?

• Paraphrasing the text to explain what is happening and who is speaking to whom.

• Your argument and evidence from the text to support it

• Precise analysis of the poem

• An exploration of other interpretations of the poem

Multiple Choice

True or False: You should write in 1st person, "I" in your responses, because it is your own ideas.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Should you use outside sources for this assignment?

• YES! Get help understanding the text as you need it. Understanding the true meaning is most important.

• NO! Your ideas and interpretation are most important, not an generally accepted answer

• YES, but only from reputable sources and not from AI.

Poll

How confident do you feel about this topic now?

• Very confident
• Somewhat confident
• Not confident