In the realm of poetry revision, it’s easy to fall into a monotonous routine of quotation drills and gap-fill exercises. But why should learning poetry be boring? Revising poetry can be as exciting and engaging as teaching it. In this blog post, I will share an innovative and effective lesson plan for revising poetry, suitable for students from Year 7 to Year 13.
The focus of this lesson is to introduce students to the concept of the bibliographic code, a term coined by literary critic Jerome McGann. While we typically focus on the linguistic code (words and imagery), the bibliographic code refers to the physicality of the text – its ‘bookness’ – such as page layout, design, typography, and other material aspects.
Begin by discussing the difference between the linguistic and bibliographic codes, using examples from various literary works that emphasize their bibliographic aspects. Start with Mark Danielewski’s “House of Leaves,” a novel whose complex layout necessitated Danielewski’s self-taught typesetting, featuring pages with swirling text, upside-down pages, and barely decipherable scribbles.
Next, introduce Reif Larsen’s “The Selected Works of TS Spivet,” a novel with a cacophony of sketches, diagrams, maps, and doodles etched into margins and across pages. This book is about a 12-year-old prodigy who runs away from home to attend an award ceremony.
Lastly, delve into the avant-garde world of Artists’ Books, where writers manipulate pre-existing works of literature by physically drawing over them, resulting in an entirely new work. An example is Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Tree of Codes,” which cuts into Bruno Schulz’s short story collection, “The Street of Crocodiles.”
After setting the scene, provide students with three poems to “carve into,” deleting words and lines to create a new text. This exercise allows students to explore themes, reverse them, or create entirely new versions. Encourage experimentation and creativity, and demonstrate the process first to help students understand the concept.
This lesson offers a unique and engaging perspective on poetry revision, providing students with an opportunity to think beyond traditional methods and explore the world of literary works that push the boundaries of conventional text.
