Happy midweek! Today, I am sharing a poem by Mary Oliver. Regularly reading and annotating poetry is a powerful practice to hone attentive and slow reading. I am sharing my marked-up version below and encourage you to try it. You can print out a copy to hand annotate, so you have a lot of white space and room. But you can also annotate within your book and use post-it notes for lengthier commentary.
Things to annotate:
Summary of lines and stanzas - you can jot down what is happening in plain language
Poetic devices - mark alliteration, end stops, assonance, polysyndeton… whatever devices you know and find and like! (leave out the ones you don’t like, for instance I struggle with beats and rhythm, so I focus on imagery and diction).
Diction - The specific word choices the poet makes. Underline all the verbs and consider what tone or meaning they might have. Consider the way color is handled, or animals, or dialogue. How is the writer using particular words to do the work of carrying the theme?
