Annotating a Poem

1. Annotating a Poem

2. What is annotation? • Explanation • Comment • Thought • …about a written text.

3. How do I annotate a poem? • Read the poem • Ask questions/make notes • Read the poem • Think about the meaning/make notes • Read the poem • Think about the structure of the poem • Read the poem • Identify figurative language and how it effects the poem

4. 1st reading • What words do I need to look up to understand the poem? • What am I confused about in this poem? • What do I enjoy about this poem? • +, - , ?

5. 2nd reading • Who is speaking in the poem? • What does the poet want me to understand about this poem? • How do I know this is true? • [put line that helps you know the meaning in brackets]

6. 3rd Reading • What is the structure of the poem? • How does the structure of the poem effect how the poem is read? • How does the structure of the poem effect the meaning? • Number the lines, figure out rhyme or rhythm

7. Structure Terms • Stanza – group of lines in poem • Line – one row within a stanza • Rhyme - example AABB • Rhythm – how the poem sounds as it is read aloud

8. The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day; The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play. And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

9. 4th Reading • What figurative language is in this poem? • How does the figurative language effect how the poem is read? • How does the figurative language effect the meaning of the poem? • Underline and label figurative language

10. Assignment • Find one poem with at least 15 lines • Find one poem with at least 3 metaphors or similes • Annotate it using this process