Assignment:
Annotate one of the following poems. To claim which poem you will work on, click the title below and leave a response in the 'reply' window with your Genius ID. You will teach the poem to the class through your annotations.
"The Gum Gatherer" by Robert Frost
"Portrait by a Neighbor" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
"Eel-Grass" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
"George Gray" by Edgar Lee Masters
"Lucinda Matlock" by Edgar Lee Masters
"William Goode" by Edgar Lee Masters
"The Pedigree of Honey" by Emily di*kinson
"There is No Frigate Like a Book" by Emily di*kinson
"If Seventy were Young" by E. E. c*mmings
"In a Middle of a Room" by E. E. c*mmings
"Cool Tombs" by Carl Sandberg
"Fog" by Carl Sandberg
"The Fire of Driftwood" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Canto III" by Ezra Pound
"Big Wind" by Theodore Roethke
"Emblems of Conduct" by Hart Crane
"Leaving the Motel" by W. D. Snodgrass
"The Ropewalk" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Cliff Klingenhagen" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
"Wedding-Ring" by Denise Levertov
GUIDELINES AND EXPECTATIONS:
BE SURE TO…cite information that you gain from other sources. Do this by providing a link to the website where you found that information at the end of the annotation. Also give links to credit images, audio files, etc. that you found on the internet. This is part of the guidelines for Poetry Genius. **You must cite from credible sources**. Remember that anything you gain from another source, whether it be information, image, or other resource needs to be credited or else it is plagiarism. This is especially important since this work will have a public audience.
Your annotated poem should include:
• As indicated on the page, edit the description (at the top, to the right) to include:
• historical context (Background/contextual information that you can locate relevant to the publication of the poem: what may have inspired it, what critics have said about it, when it was written)
• a summary of the work’s overall themes
• a description of the work’s overall style and tone (you might want to look at samples of other poems on Poetry Genius as a model for this information).
• As best you can, situate this poem in the context of the author’s other work: how is your poem like/unlike his other poetry in both technique and content?
• Note that your summary of the work’s overall themes and description of overall style and tone is essentially your thesis/overall argument for a commentary.
• If a high-quality reading of the text exists on YouTube (or you may find audio elsewhere) upload at the top of the page (“add audio or video”). It would be even better if you can find the author reading the poem him/herself!
• Images, especially for difficult words or ideas (what does a “white heal-all” look like)? **Be sure to give credit to the source website for images (Google search does not count!)**, unless you use images from Wikimedia Commons. You might embed other multimedia elements into your analysis if they are relevant (**of course, cite these as well**).
• In-depth analysis of both the content (ideas) presented in the poem as well as the style used to present that content, i.e. What is your poem about? What is the meaning of the poem (theme)? How do the author’s choices (i.e. figurative language, syntax, diction, etc.) contribute to the meaning of the poem?
• Throughout your annotations, I expect to see your analysis of ALL of the following:
• Topic
• Voice
• Form
• Message
• Tone
• Imagery
• Figurative Language
• Diction
• Syntax
• Sound
• Conclusion
• Don’t include more than a single line in each annotation. Maybe there are a few times where you make a single annotation for two lines, but the point is to engage in close reading. You never should be writing one annotation for a group of lines. Think carefully about how to divide the text and annotate appropriately.
• Since commentaries are thorough and extensive, make every effort to annotate every line of your poem. The best annotations take small parts of the text and discuss them in detail. The longer poems might not have every single line annotated or might allow for occasional line groupings of annotations, but the shortest poems should probably have multiple annotations within lines.
• Avoid just paraphrasing the lines. Your job is analysis, not just restating what the poet’s saying in your own words.
• At least once, provide a link to another work. You may think the lines are referencing another poem or are reminiscent of another poem in some way. You can link to another poem by the same or other author on the site, or even a link to a song, a clip from a favorite movie, an article, anything you feel may be echoing the poem or expressing a similar idea.
• Remember to cite information from sources with hyperlinks or other appropriate citations. (If you need help with this, see me)
Make sure your language use is sophisticated and appropriate. No first person, please. Make sure that you edit and thoroughly proofread your writing.
Be sure to look over the Lit Genius Guidelines.