Pick a single poem and annotate it in its entirety
Pick two or three poems that are related by shared concepts, words, settings, or techniques.
If you choose the second option, you will need to select chunks of the poems and write short commentaries (using the comment function in track changes) that explain what the poems have in common.
Regardless of the number of poems you will be writing about you will need to type up the poem as it appears in the book. Once you have the poem typed up you will need to use italics, bold, underline, and color to identify the formal particularities and patterns of the poem (repetition, alliteration, allusion, rhyme, simile, and metaphor). For metaphors and similes you should add comment bubbles that explain the terms and nature of the comparison established.
After showing these formal features you will want to find lines and sections of the poem that show who is in the poem, where the poem is set, when the poem is occurring, and finally what the subject(s) of the poem are. These lines should be highlighted and explained with comment bubbles. In your commentary you should write sentences which explain and unpack the lines to establish the who, where, when and what of the poem.
It is important to remember that you should start by seeing the poem as a formal linguistic structure. Look for the patterns and look up the words you don’t know or understand. Once you have done that ask yourself: “how is this poem a map or image of a part of the world?” and “what makes this poem’s description of a place unique or different from a typical map?”