Week 52: College Reading and Writing: Rosie Schaap
Week 52: College Reading and Writing: Rosie Schaap
Rosie Schaap: 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
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 is the role of “indelicacy” in
this poem (Schaap)?
2. What is the importance of “naming”
(Schaap)?
3. How is humor used?
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:
Brenda Hillman’s poem “The Family Sells the
Family Gun” tells the story of siblings getting rid of their father’s gun after
“his ashes...were lying” (87). The speaker questions what it means to own and
get rid of a gun in America, saying, “[w]e couldn’t take it to the cops even in
my handbag” (Hillman 88).
Work Cited Page (for today’s
poem)
Schaap, Rosie. “Indelicacy.” Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2018, https://lithub.com/indelicacy-a-new-poem-by-rosie-schaap/.
Exercise: Write a Response
What is this poem saying about
indelicacy? Do you agree with Schaap? Why or why not? What does this poem
remind you of? Do you relate to this poem’s message? Why or why not?
Exercise: Analysis
Question for analysis: What is the effect
of the “naming” in this poem? How does the poem both show and tell the reader
about the importance of naming? Closely examine the poem, write an analysis
where you explore how the poet reflects on indelicacy to make a statement about
“nam[ing] the thing” (Schaap).
Exercise: Imitation
Write a poem where you shut someone up in
conversation about you. You could have been talking about today’s lunch, death,
your computer skills, or mechanics. You
are the expert on you. Use elements from Schaap’s poem that you admire to make
your own poem stronger.
Homework:
- Summary of Poem
- Write a Response
- Analysis of Poem
- Imitation of Poem
About this class:
Your notebooks belong to you; you can
write first drafts in them, and make notes for yourselves. To turn in homework, revise your work in a
blue book or sheets of paper you can get from your instructor. 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.
Indelicacy
By
Rosie Schaap
At 46 I’m traveling for months, alone.
Over the hill and on the road!
Everyone tells me how they’re jealous:
Lucky
you! they cry. Lucky me!
Lucky me, sure. In essentials I can’t say
They’re wrong, but: would
it be fair
If
being an unemployed, childless widow
Had
no benefits? I ask. That shuts them up.
When it happened, Lily the fruit-monger
Thought he had left me. One eyebrow rose,
One rough, inquisitional crag. Where is.
Your
husband. Haven’t seen. Long time.
I gave one word: Dead.
(He’d left me alright).
Came out just like that. Better than blubbering
That he had passed, like a gallstone or as some Jews
Among WASPs. Or had passed on, like rejection.
Shut Lily up, too: The most natural utterance.
Name the thing what the thing is: It won’t kill you.
My indelicacy, Lily’s gall: Now, I could talk
About dying forever—except who lives so long?
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