Eng 204 - Annotating your Portfolio Poems

Annotate the four poems in your portfolio. Your grade for the poems and portfolio will depend on the number of points you are awarded for your annotations.

Start wtih answering the five questions on Form and Poetic Stance:

1. What form is the poem written in? (a set form, like a sonnet or a ballad; blank verse; open form with stanzas; open form without stanzas; prose poem, etc.)

2. Who is speaking in the poem? (The persona, or mask, could be your public self or a character you’ve made up)

3. What is the purpose of the person speaking in the poem? (To praise, to mourn, to warn, to confess, to meditate etc.; to express joy, guilt, anger, hope, sadness, etc.)

4. What is the tone of the poem? (Joyful, angry, hopeful, sad, etc.)

5. What is the point or theme of the poem?

After answering these five questions, annotate each of the four poem to identify and explain the following:

To get an A for your portfolio, you need to identify and explain 10 elements of the poem that you consciously controlled as a writer: seven elements of content, two elements of structure, and one element of sound.

Number your annotations, from 1 to 10.

Your grade will be based on the number of elements you are able to identify and effectively explain in your poems:

A = 9-10 examples of your effective use of language
B = 8 examples of your effective use of language
C = 7 examples of your effective use of language
D = 6 examples of your effective use of language
F = 5 or fewer examples of your effective use of language:

Your annotations will document that you are able to do the following learning outcomes which you need to demonstrate in order to pass this class:

...recognize basic artistic elements of imaginative writing.

...write poems that effectively use the artistic elements of imaginative writing.

...analyze the artistry of one’s own writing.

Diction: 2 points

You need to identify and explain a minimum of two word choices, and may include up to a maximum of seven.

You can get up to1 point for each annotation of diction if you do the following:

0.5 point Explain the denotation and connotation of a word that you feel is particularly expressive or fitting in your poem; and (2) the denotation and connotation of an alternative choice.
0.5 point Explain why the word you chose is better than the alternate in achieving the poem's purpose, creating the right tone, and/or expressing the point or theme. As you explain your word choice, discuss its denotation and connotation in contrast to the denotation and connotation of the word not chosen. Also refer to the purpose, tone, and/or theme of the poem in order explain why the word choice is particularly expressive or fitting.

Other Elements of Content (Imagery, Figurative Language, and Complex Meanings): 5 points

After you annotate at lest two word choices, idenitfy and explain five more elements of content. These additional elements could be five more word choices; OR they could be any other five elements of content, including imagery, figurative language, and complex meanings.

You can get up to1 point for each annotation of imagery, figurative language or complex meaning if you do the following:

0.5 point Identify an image, symbol, metaphor or simile, personification, allusion, irony, hyperbole, pun, ambiguity, or paradox or oxymoron. Explain how the word or phrase is what you say it is. For example if you say that the phrase "warehouse of profundity," describing a watermelon, is a metaphor, you need to explain what is being compared to what (a metaphor is a comparison) and why: e.g. the watermelon is being compared to a large, deep warehouse because both a watermelon and the warehouse can contain a lot. If you say "warehouse of profundity" is a hyperbole, you need to point out that in reality, a watermelon is much smaller than a warehouse, but the poet wants to exaggerate its size (hence hyperbole), so her compares the watermelon to something much larger than it actually is. If you say a image (e.g., an eagle soaring) is a symbol (a concrete image representing an abstract idea or concept), you need to say what exactly the image is symbolizing (e.g. the soaring eagle symbolizes, or reperesents, strength).
0.5 point After your identification and explanation of this element of content, you need to explain how and why it helps you to achieve the purpose, create the right tone, and/or make the point you are trying to make. For example, the poet compares the watermelon to somehting larger, a warehouse, because his purpose is to praise the goodness of its contents, its ability to quench thirst in mid-summer, and so the bigger he makes the watermelon sound, the better the watermelon appears in our imaginations.

 Structural Elements: 2 points

After annotating seven elements of content in your poem, identify and explain two structural elements you use expressively in your poem.

You can get up to1 point for each annotation if you do the following:
0.5 point

Identify and explain a structural element. Line Breaks and Repetition are probably the easiest elements to identify and explain. The reason why you break a line is simply to emphasize a word at the end of the line or at the beginning of the next line or both. (See the discussion of "We Real Cool." Repetition is another technique also used mainly for emphasis. Parallelism and Contrast, Stanzas, Variation and Climax are more complicated to explain. See the discussions of these elements in the course readings for ideas about how and why poets use these structural elements.
0.5 point After your identification and explanation of the purpose of a structural element, you need to explain why it helps you to achieve the purpose, create the right tone, and/or make the point you are trying to make in your poem. In other words if you emphasize a word at the end of the line by a break, or by repeating a word or phrase, why is this emphasis on a word or idea important to achieving your purpose, to expressing your theme, ideas, or feelings?
 

Sound Technique: 1 point

After annotating two structural elements in your poem, discuss at least one sound technique you use expressively.

You can get up to1 point for the annotation if you do the following:

0.5 point

Sound techniques include Alliteration, Rhyme and Onomatopoeia. Alliteration and Rhyme are sound patterns usually used to link two or more words together that are related in meaning. Onomatopoeia imitates a sound and is used to evoke some sort of emotional response, positive or negative.
0.5 point After identifying a sound techique, explain how the words linked together are expressive of the theme, or how it is used to evoke an emotional response.