As in many of Charles Simic’s poems, “The Partial Explanation” uses accessible language and free verse—lines without end rhyme or meter—to create a dreamlike atmosphere and contemplative mood. Four stanzas—two quatrains (stanzas of four lines), and two cinquains or pentains (stanzas of five lines)—comprise the 18 lines in the poem, which are written in a first-person point of view.

“The Partial Explanation” is surreal, in the sense of how surrealist André Breton identified surrealism in his manifesto of 1924: “I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality” (Academy of American Poets). Simic uses an ordinary setting and ordinary objects to draw the reader into a kind of somber dream.

In the first stanza, the speaker muses that it “[s]eems like a long time / Since the waiter took my order” (Lines 1-2). This is a familiar situation, one in which a person finds themselves waiting for food. The subtly disorienting element is the use of “[s]eems like” (Line 1). Neither the speaker nor the reader knows how long it’s actually been. The reader is made aware only of the speaker’s perception. The next two lines add detail to the setting of the poem: The eatery is a “[g]rimy little luncheonette” (Line 3)—a type of hole-in-the-wall diner common to most cities, a place for a quick, unpretentious meal.