To Sleep by John Keats explication?

Take a deep breath. Read the poem aloud slowly. Now you can face the nasty bits: The question actually asks for two different things, each of which could easily fill 4-6 pages. First, explication means that you look in detail at how the text is put together, rhythm, rhyme scheme, sentence structure, word choice. Second, SOAPS asks you to look at the rhetorical situation: who is writing about what for whom with what purpose? If you only have 2 pages, start with SOAPS. As you answer each question, pull out some of the words, phrases or lines that led you to the answer. For example, you say the poem is mostly about death. Ask yourself why you think that - there are obvious clues like "soft embalmer" in the first line. Pick out a couple others and you have a paragraph on the subject. But you know it is only "mostly" about death. What make you think there is something else? "soothest Sleep" is one possible answer. As you look for details on that - which could be a second paragraph on the subject - you will see that the same details tell about the events in the poem - unless you have some outside information, that is going to be the "occasion," the poet going to bed. If you work down the list, find at least two details for each of the five items, and put them into decent sentences, you will wind up with 5 or 6 paragraphs. Then add a sentence or two of introduction (I always write introductions last) and a sentence or two of conclusion. By then,you'll probably have your two pages. If you're short, go back to any lines you haven't already included, ask what you can say about them, and put that into the appropriate paragraph. And although you will have rightly ignored that scary word, explication, you will have the basis of a good explication.