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Annotation
from Touchstones
by Edco Ireland
Poetry Skills: Annotation
Video Annotation means writing your observations and ideas onto the poem itself. A reader might annotate a text by making notes on the page and highlighting important details while reading, to help them understand and make sense of a text. Annotation is a really important skill to develop as you study poetry.
Definition: making notes on a text by flagging or highlighting important details while reading Etymology: comes from the Latin and means ‘a written comment’ Annotation
Example:
The professor annotated the student’s poem with his suggestions on how to improve it. Why annotate? Sometimes after reading a poem, you may be unsure what the poet is trying to say. Annotating a poem is a reading strategy that will help you understand the techniques that went into building the poem and the message the poet is trying to put across. It allows you to understand and keep track of important details and ideas and helps you prepare to discuss or write about a poem. 1 Pick out a technique and highlight it in the poem. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away. 2 Draw an arrow out to the margin from the highlighted section and identify the technique. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away. 3 Draw a further arrow outwards and make a comment on the technique. What might it mean? What might it suggest? You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.
