The Explanatory Proof is a poetic narrative concerning religion, originating in The Mighty Flags. The rules of the form are applied by poets to produce individual poems which can be recited. The poem is a single tercet. The third line of the tercet is required to maintain the phrasing of the second line. The third line of the tercet must expand the idea of the first line. The first line is intended to describe the subject of the poem. It has seven syllables. The second line is intended to develop the previous idea. It has seven syllables. The third line is intended to renounce. It has seven syllables.