Week 26: College Reading and Writing: Rita Dove and Marie Delus

Week 26: College Reading and Writing: Rita Dove and Marie Delus

Rita Dove and Marie Delus: 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 thirteenth poem and response in the book today, starting on page 46. 

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 Dove mean “especially when you know it isn’t”?

2.     What do you think is the significance of the section titles?

3.     What do you think is the significance of the section “Gender Politics”? 

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. What joy is Delus describing in the first paragraph?
2. What guilt does Delus speak of in second paragraph?
3. What does Delus mean “we have another battle entirely on our hands”?  

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:  How does the joy and guilt that Delus speaks of in her response connect back to the poem? Where does the “accomplishment” that Delus speaks of conflict with guilt in the poem?

Exercise: Imitation

Write an “instructions” poem, where you describe how to perform a task. The last stanza should be from the perspective of the object.  

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.