Week 25: College Reading and Writing: Mark Doty and Pastor Michael McBride

Week 25: College Reading and Writing: Mark Doty and Pastor Michael McBride

Mark Doty and Pastor Michael McBride: 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 twelfth poem and response in the book today, starting on page 42. 

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.      What does Doty mean by “what happens fastest”?

2.     What does Doty mean “I believe it is the work/ of art to try on at least the moment/ and skin of another”?

3.     What is Doty refusing when he says, “for this hour I respectfully decline/ I refuse it”?

Exercise: Summarize the poem

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

example too-short summary from two weeks ago, incorporating quotation and in-text citation:

Kyle Dargan’s poem “Natural Causes” tells the story of a boy who purchases a gun “from a farm in Virginia” (31) from a farmer who “keeps his gaze down as to remember nothing of the boy’s face” (31). The speaker of the poem insinuates that the farmer has sold guns to other boys like this one, when they say, “His customers rarely return older” (31).

Work Cited Page (for today’s poem)

Diaz, Natalie. “Catching Copper.” 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. To what does McBride say we’re addicted?
2. According to McBride, if death does not please our creator, what does?
3. According to McBride, what must we do to defeat the “triplets of evil”?

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: In his response, McBride writes “Since death does not please our creator, surely life unleashes an abundant and healing joy, infusing creation with peace” (45). In what way do we see creation and death at odds with each other in this poem? How do we see creation and death competing in the way Doty narrates Rice’s death?

Exercise: Imitation

Write a poem about two diverse tasks that take the same amount of time.

Homework:

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

About this class:

In this class, you are welcome to submit homework for a grade.  If it’s not strong enough to earn an A, I’ll give you some comments to help you revise it, and let you do it over again. You have as many chances as you want to complete and perfect the work in this class, and you are welcome to do more than one week’s worksheet for homework at a time; ask me for sheets you’ve missed.  Students who complete 15 weeks of graded assignments and a longer paper can qualify for college credit.  When you get close to completing 15 weeks, I’ll help you get started on your longer paper.