Week 18: College Reading and Writing: Tara Bray and Denis Henigan

Week 18: College Reading and Writing: Tara Bray and Denis Henigan

Tara Bray and Denis Henigan: Annotating, Summarizing, Analyzing, Imitating

to annotate: to make notes on something to help you understand it better

to summarize: to put something in your own words

to analyze: to consider a question on the text, providing supporting examples from the text

to imitate: to create an original piece of writing based on something you have read

We are doing the sixth poem and response in the book today, starting on page 20. 

Exercise: Read and annotate

1. Read the poem and response out loud and underline any words you need to look up

2. Write any questions you have in the margins or in your notebook

3. Put tricky parts into your own words in notes in the margins or in your notebook

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the poem

1.           How did Bray’s mother die?

2.           Why is Bray’s father “thrashing” and “groveling”?

3.           Who does Bray start talking to in line 10?

Exercise: Summarize the poem

Write a paragraph summarizing the poem with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.

example too-short summary, incorporating quotation and in-text citation:

Tara Bray’s “How My Mother Died” starts by explaining her “father shook the gun to get the bullet out,” implying that this “careless” act killed her mother (20).  She goes on to describe his  regret and sorrow, then calls on “Jesus of the ordinary prayer” (Bray 20).  Bray asks Jesus to “lay” her father down so they can both better recover from what “can’t, for the life of him, be undone” (20). 

Work Cited Page

Bray, Tara. “How My Mother Died” Bullets Into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to Gun Violence. Ed. Brian Clements et al. Beacon Press, 2017.

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the response

1. What are the three things Henigan wants to convey?

Exercise: Summarize the response

Write a paragraph summarizing the response with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.

Exercise: Analysis

Question for analysis: Both Bray and Henigan focus on how Bray’s mother’s death was a “mistake” (Henigan 21). How does this make her death different from an intentional murder?  Use quotation and summary to support your answer; you can use evidence—cited quotation or summary—from any of the pieces you have read in this book, and/or anecdotal evidence from your own life.

Exercise: Imitation

Write your own poem about a mistake. Use Bray’s technique of inventing a fresh prayer or wish that starts on line ten, after you describe the mistake.

For homework, revise these in a blue book or on loose paper; do not turn in your notebook or rip out pages to turn in.

Homework:

1. Summary of Poem
2. Summary of Response
3. Analysis of Poem and Response
4. Imitation of Poem