Annotating the work is a way to focus your reading. The first time through, you may want to pencil a check mark next to passages you find especially significant. On a more careful rereading, pay particular attention to these passages and jot down your ideas and reactions in the margins of the page.
Here is one student’s annotation of a poem by Shakespeare.
Annotated poem
Related topics:
Annotating texts or visuals
Taking notes
Discussing the text
Drafting an interpretive thesis
Outlining an interpretive paper