Poetry week two

Homework

1.  Complete your version of "I am fourteen" using your actual age (based on "Hanging Fire")

2.  Annotate a poem of your choice, from the list of choices below.   See directions for annotating a poem below

3. Use the example from "Mentor" to help with this assignment.

Choose one poem to annotate from this list:

“Mentor” by Thomas Murphy at http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/163.html 
“Wheels” by Jim Daniels http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/021.html
“The Meadow” by Kate Knapp Johnson http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/033.html
“In the Well” by Andrew Hudgins http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/041.html 
“Otherwise” by Jane Kenyon http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/050.html
“Lesson” by Forest Hamer http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/059.html
“I’ve Been Known” by Denise Duhamel http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/065.html 
“My Life” by Joe Wenderoth http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/079.html
“Hate Poem” by Julie Sheehan. http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/127.html “Before the World Intruded” by Michele Rosenthal http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/148.html
“Kyrie” by Tomas Tranströmer http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/166.html
“End of April” by Phillis Levin http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/178.html

You will read your selected poem "closely and deeply."  By practicing this strategy, you will be able to analyze poems for greater understanding and appreciation as well as identify theme. 

Annotating the text:
Active readers think while they read and take notes about what they are reading and thinking. Annotating text is what you did when you used simple marks to describe their thoughts after reading a poem (in class today). 

You are now going to annotate the text by writing your thoughts while reading. The thoughts should be written right next to the text that you are thinking about (as opposed to using a separate page). 

As you read you should think about what you are reading – what questions come to mind? What confuses you? What conclusions are you drawing? What are you feeling? What do you imagine/see as you read the word/line/poem/?  Look for parts, phrases, words, or sentences that reveal something they think is important. You can underline these lines and write their thoughts about them onto the paper. They can also ask questions of the text.

 

Here are some explicit ways to annotate text:
-Underline or circle important words (words that surprise you, or words that create strong pictures in your mind as you read)
-Write your thoughts/conclusions/interpretations in the margin
-Write a short summary at the end
-Write a question: what is confusing? What are you wondering about? -Write what you think is the most important feeling conveyed
-Draw a picture of what you are thinking or imagining
-Comment on a word or phrase that conveys a strong image or feeling 

Example Close Reading using "The Mentor"

“Mentor” by Thomas Murphy at http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/163.html 
First: read the poem aloud once, give yourself time to think about the poem and then read it again. 
Then, Consider the title of the poem – “The Mentor.” What is a mentor? [teacher, adviser, etc.] 
Now focus your attention on the dedication – Who do they think Robert Francis might be? Why might a poet dedicate a poem to someone? 
Think about: What is the speaker in the poem feeling sorry about or regretting? How do you know this? 
Finally, what might be the theme of this poem? Perhaps: If I knew then what I know now, I would have appreciated my mentor/teacher. Or: as time passed someone regrets not letting an important person know how important they were.