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General Discussion & Annotation Instructions
General Discussion & Annotation Instructions
- Assemble in your group and ensure everyone in your group has a copy of your poem.
- Decide the order in which you will discuss and annotate each poem.
- Use the resources below (and rubric) to guide your discussion and annotations. If your poem has questions associated with it on the Poetry in Voice webpage, you might use these to guide your discussion.
- Create notes about the poem (annotations). These can be on the poem itself and/or separate from the poem. You might find it helpful to circle, underline, or highlight various parts of the poem but also take separate notes that will allow you to better express and develop your ideas.
- Plan to use the annotations on your own poem to help you with your in-class CRT.
- Staple together and submit your annotations for all of the poems (except for your own) along with the printed rubric to your teacher (this will go toward your reading mark for this unit).
Video Overview/Example
Video Overview/Example
Steps to Guide your Poem Discussion, Analysis, and Annotations
Steps to Guide your Poem Discussion, Analysis, and Annotations
To appreciate the sounds and meaning of a poem, it is best to start by reading it aloud.
To appreciate the sounds and meaning of a poem, it is best to start by reading it aloud.
Once you've listened to the poem, pay attention to the words that make up the poem. Where a poem takes the reader is inseparable from how it takes the reader. Poets pay close attention to diction or word choice (words have connotative (associative) and denotative (dictionary) meanings); every word in a poem counts.
Determine the basic design of the poem by considering the who, what, when, where, and why of the dramatic situation:
Determine the basic design of the poem by considering the who, what, when, where, and why of the dramatic situation:
- What is being dramatized? What conflicts or themes does the poem present, address, or question?
- Who is the speaker? Define and describe the speaker and the speaker’s voice. What does the speaker say? What does the poem reveal about the speaker's character? In some poems the speaker may be nothing more than a voice meditating on a theme, while in others the speaker takes on a specific personality. Note: The speaker is not the poet, even in confessional poetry. The speaker is always a persona that the poet adopts to deliver the poem, similar to a narrator in prose.
- Who is the audience? Is the speaker addressing a particular person? If so, who is that person and why is the speaker interested in him or her? Many poems are addressed to no one in particular and therefore to anyone, any reader. Others, while addressed to a specific person, reveal nothing about the person because the focus of the poem is on the speaker's feelings and attitudes. Are other characters involved?
- What happens in the poem? Consider the plot or basic design of the action. How are the dramatized conflicts or themes introduced, sustained, resolved, etc.?
- What is the speaker's situation? Does the poem have a setting? Is the poem occasioned by a particular event? The answer to these questions will often be no for lyric poems. It will always be yes if the poem is a dramatic monologue or a poem that tells or implies a story. When does the action occur? What is the date and/or time of day? Where is the speaker? Describe the physical location of the dramatic moment.
- Why does the speaker feel compelled to speak at this moment? What is the speaker’s motivation?
- From what perspective (or point of view) is the speaker describing specific events? Is the speaker recounting events of the past or events that are occurring in the present? If the past events are being recalled, what present meaning do they have for the speaker?
- Summarize or paraphrase the poem. In plain terms, what is being communicated and why?
- React personally. How does it make you feel? Does it remind you of a personal experience? a story you've heard? an issue? a situation?
Dig into the details.
Dig into the details.
To analyze the design of the poem, we must focus on the poem’s parts, namely how the poem dramatizes conflicts or ideas in language. By concentrating on the parts, we develop our understanding of the poem’s structure, and we gather support and evidence for our interpretations. Some of the details we should consider include the following:
What patterns are present?
- Rhetorical Patterns: Look for statements that follow the same format.
- Rhyme: Consider the significance of the end words joined by sound; in a poem with no rhymes, consider the importance of the end words.
- Patterns of Sound: Alliteration and assonance create sound effects and often cluster significant words.
- Visual Patterns: How does the poem look on the page?
- Rhythm and Meter: Consider how rhythm and meter influence our perception of the speaker and language.
What is the form or structure of the poem? Since narrative poems--those that tell stories--reveal a high degree of selectivity, it is useful to ask why the poet has focused on particular details and left out others. Analyzing the structure of a non-narrative or lyric poem can be more difficult because it does not contain an obvious series of chronologically related events.
Does a close examination of the imagery and/or figurative language of the poem reveal any deeper meaning? Use your list of terms to help you. Use specific vocabulary (e.g., this is a metaphor [specific] vs. this is figurative language [general]). Remember that when identifying techniques, you must also be prepared to explain the effect (on tone, mood, meaning) and/or what the writer gains by employing it. This is vital for your analysis to have any merit! See exemplar.
What do sound techniques contribute to the poem? Alexander Pope said that in good poetry, "The sound must seem an echo to the sense"--a statement that is sometimes easier to agree with than to demonstrate. Remember that when identifying techniques, you must also be prepared to explain the effect (on tone, mood, meaning) and/or what the writer gains by employing it. This is vital for your analysis to have any merit! See exemplar.
Identify a theme (note, this is not THE theme but A theme since poems can be open to multiple interpretations!).
Identify a theme (note, this is not THE theme but A theme since poems can be open to multiple interpretations!).
What thematic statement can you draw from your analysis of the poem? That is, what do we learn through the message and emotion conveyed by the poem? Is the theme of the poem stated directly or indirectly? Some poems use language in a fairly straightforward and literal way and state the theme, often in the final lines. Others may conclude with a statement of the theme that is more difficult to apprehend because it is made with figurative language and/or symbols. What was your response to the poem on the first reading? Did your response change after study of the poem or discussions about it?
References"Poetry Explications." The Writing Center. University of North Carolina. n.d. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/poetry-. Accessed 27 May, 2019.
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