Poetry and Art:
connecting literacy comprehension
with fine arts
Mandy Roth
Engl 378
Dr. Grierson
March 19, 2011
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Table of Contents
(Genres followed by rationales)
Genre #1: Paper............................................................................................................................... 3
Genre #2: “Starry Night” Ekphrasis ............................................................................................... 8
Genre #3: Multi-Media Shakespeare’s Sonnet #18 ...................................................................... 11
Genre #4: Scaffolding poetry from song ...................................................................................... 12
Genre# 5: Wordle Art/ concrete poetry ........................................................................................ 15
Genre #6: Photography coupled with Poetry ................................................................................ 16
Genre #7: Picture Book Earth Magic ........................................................................................... 17
Genre #8: Ekphrasis Project Assignment Sheet ........................................................................... 19
Genre #9: CD Album art/ music influenced by poetry ................................................................. 22
Genre #10: Poetry to Painting ....................................................................................................... 24
Annotated Bibliography.................................................................................................................26
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Genre #1: Paper
Poetry and Art: Two peas in a pod
Something too frequently overlooked is the art of literature. Literature is more than
words upon a piece of paper. There is more to it than a mere composition conveying an idea. It is
beautiful; it is inspiring; it is the creation of an author’s pen, much like the creation of an artist’s
brush. Poetry is written art in it’s most basic and simple form. It is the ability for a poet to paint
with words, create a picture through symbolism and imagery, and impact the viewer with real
human emotion. And yet, our classrooms seldom present poetry in this ideal manner. It becomes
lines and stanzas, numbers of rhythm, patterns. The movie Dead Poet’s Society presents this
unfortunate trend well as the teacher played by Robin Williams has his students read the
introduction to their poetry book. The book claims that the quality of poetry can be configured
using a mathematical formula plotted on a graph. It is these kinds of methods in teaching poetry
that essentially rob students of an experience to better appreciate culture, society, humanity. So
what can be done? Teach poetry as what it really is: art.
However, the question of how this pedagogical method can actually teach students of
important elements of poetry often arises. So, how does combining the teaching of poetry with
fine art forms enhance student understanding? How can and does the use of art, including but not
limited to classical, self-made, and multi-media art, augment students’ learning and
understanding of poetry’s main ideas—including themes, tone, and mood—, symbols, and form?
The simplest answer to this question is this: poetry companioned by art allows students to see.
One of the first things that teachers wish to provide students with in the teaching of
poetry is the tools needed to decipher the meaning of the poem. Without this general grasp of the
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main idea, the purpose or story of the poem, the form and rhythm might as well be a math
formula, void of any real importance. However, the teaching of poetry with visual or multimedia art can change this. Charles Youngs, an English high school teacher in Pennsylvania
began taking his students to art museums to inspire their understanding as well as original
creation of poetry. In this practice he has discovered that the words with the image help to create
deeper meaning and understanding of both painting and poetry, “[C]oncrete visuals of art
frequently speak to particular students and convey abstract concepts in ways that words on a
page cannot; likewise, words can add layers of meaning to an image that go beneath brush
strokes on canvas or surface of clay,” (4).
Youngs also discovered that the matching of poetry and art helped students to gain a
better grasp on the tone and mood presented within a poem or story. Using the story “Ripe Figs”
by Kate Chopin and the painting Young Women Picking Fruit by Mary Cassatt, he asked the
students how the two compare. The students were able to see that the “serenity and pleasant
contentment” of the painted scene and feeling of the story matched well. Art with poetry also
provides students with the understanding of poetry as a means of communication.
Middle school teacher Mary Ann Reilly enforced this concept in her classroom by having
her students read a poem and then converse about it in pairs. However, the conversation had to
be silent and take place on a piece of paper using finger paints. The mutual painting usually
began with students confining themselves to one half of the paper to paint images or concepts
within the poem, but eventually they would interact with their partner’s drawings, continually
creating layers of paint on the paper to delve into deeper meaning, “As students’ visual attention
shifts from image to image, it is as if potential paths to new or altered meanings are realized,”
(105).
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Using art to discover deeper meanings within art isn’t a new phenomenon. In fact,
utilizing this method within a classroom is engaging students in the classic and historical art or
transmediation or Ekphrasis, turning one form of art into another, most commonly from visual to
written. Homer’s description of Achilles’ shield in The Odyssey (Childress 73) and Keats’ “Ode
to A Grecian Urn” (Moorman 46) are evidence of this. In Weaving through Words by Roberta
Mantione, a lesson plan in which students read Alice Walker’s poem “Women,” students
reflected on their understanding of the poem by creating fabric collages. By taking the poem and
turning it into something visual it became clear that “sorting through fabric scraps . . . helped [the
students] assimilate the important details and ideas of poetry,” (88).
Brigham Young University professors Deborah Dean and Sirpa Grierson explore this
transmediation process in the classroom by discussing the usefulness of poetry-picture-books.
Using the book One Leaf Rides the Wind by Celeste Mannis, Dean and Grierson discuss how the
books use of haiku, illustrations, and text all work together to discover deeper meanings and
layers of the other, like “peeling an onion,” (457). “As students discover,” Dean and Grierson
state, “the illustrations expand details and facts that are recounted in the haiku and informative
passages of the text,” they “link the texts, summarize the haiku, and provide spatial sense to what
occurs in the haiku,” (460).
Furthermore, combing art with poetry can help students to better comprehend symbols
within poems. “Poetry and painting complement each other. Both capture emotions and visions
of life through symbols. While paintings use visual symbols, poetry paints images with written
symbols,” writes Jeanine Woods in her article “Teaching Blake’s Poetry with Paintings” (38).
Woods discovered that using Reynolds and Blake paintings and etchings while teaching Blake’s
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“The Chimney Sweeper” allowed the images and symbols of the poem to be visually depicted
and thus better understood (38).
Catherine Golden discovered studying visual art of the same time period as literature and
poems taught in her classroom helped her students to decode symbols found between art and
literature (5). “Students were able to see how illustrations highlights essential information in a
text or provides missing info” as well as understand certain time-relative uses of symbols and
images (11). Similarly, Judy Michaels at Princeton Day School assigns her class a project when
they read Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in which they must represent the poem in
some kind of multi-media art manner. The projects range from screenplays with elaborate sets,
original composed songs, pop art, and shadow boxes. Michaels begins the assignment by having
the students focus on dominant images in the poem, which then shift to important symbols.
Students reported to her that through doing the project, the images in the poem became
strengthened by visuals and sounds (54).
The use of different mediums of art during the teaching of poetry in the secondary
English classroom can also help to enforce the concept of form and structure within a poem.
Sabina Lask-Spinak couples Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shalott" and Holman Hunt's
painting of the same subject to clear up ambiguity as well as assist students with the structure of
the poem. “When structure takes on spatial dimensions, it becomes easier to perceive. One can
literally ‘see’ how spatial organizing principles correspond to temporal ones—in this case the use
of circles and the trine.” Additionally, the transmediation of poetry into song or even a poetry
slam can help students to point out things such as a ballad meter and rhythm whereas before it is
less clear (Michaels 54).
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In the end, as teachers we have been taught numerously that students learn different
ways, the multiple ways of learning. Standing up in front of a classroom and reciting a poem
may be plenty effective for one student. From that simple recitation they may understand the
main idea, themes, symbols, and form. However, for another student, the repetition will only be
words spewing from their mouth with no other meaning or purpose other than to get it done
because that’s what the teacher said to do. It is for these students that we need to take the
teaching of poetry out of the box it is commonly placed and make it real, make it visual, and
make it important. The coupling of poetry with art has this ability.
Pairing these two mediums teaches students the true integrity of poetry: as a real art form.
Additionally, this use of transmediation or Ekphrasis is found to be effective in enhancing
students’ learning and understanding of poetry themes, main ideas, symbols, and form. We owe
it to our students to provide them with the tools necessary to not only read poetry, but to see it.
The teaching of poetry with other fine art forms can do this.
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Genre #2: “Starry Night” Ekphrasis (see print attached)
(Allusion poems to painting “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh)
The World is best seen at night
Mandy Roth
The World is best seen at night,
when all life is asleep and stars reveal true light.
The Divine strokes are visible but blend,
the sky so large and deep-forever without an end.
The silent dreams reflect every care,
pleas are sent, the misunderstood isn’t fair.
The sky cannot be reached even though they try,
Their grasps bounce back and are met with a fervent cry.
The World imagines and that is all,
chosen ignorance refuses and builds up walls.
The misunderstood is secretly awed and openly mocked,
those who know wish to share the miles they have walked.
The sky looks down turning and squirming with fear,
compassionate love produces a single tear.
“Look up” it says “remember me”
The stars twinkle, waiting for you to be free.
Go on trying,
keep on crying.
The unreachable, invisible or not,
someday will be caught.
The Starry Night
Anne Sexton
That does not keep me from having a terrible need of—shall I say the word—religion.
Then I go out at night to paint the stars. Vincent Van Gogh in a letter to his brother
The town does not exist
except where one black-haired tree slips
up like a drowned woman into the hot sky.
The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars.
Oh starry starry night! This is how
I want to die.
It moves. They are all alive.
Even the moon bulges in its orange irons
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to push children, like a god, from its eye.
The old unseen serpent swallows up the stars.
Oh starry starry night! This is how
I want to die:
into that rushing beast of the night,
sucked up by that great dragon, to split
from my life with no flag,
no belly,
no cry.
Starry, Starry Night
(song lyrics)
Don McLean
Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
Look out on a summer's day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.
Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.
Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.
For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
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And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.
Starry, starry night.
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless head on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget.
Like the strangers that you've met,
The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they're not listening still.
Perhaps they never will...
Rationale for Genre #2
Ekphrasis, the transferring of visual art to poetry is one of the greatest ways to involve
students in the pairing of these two forms in order to better analyze both poem and art piece. As
William Blake said, “poetry and art are ways to converse with paradise,” (Moorman 46). By
having students see how poetry can be inspired from art they may have a better grasp on
elements like allusion, symbol, and theme. The famous painting “Starry Night” inspired many
poets, as well as myself, to compose poems about what that painting means to them. These kinds
of explanations and examples can assist students to see the purpose behind poetry, as well as
better understand it by first examining the art from which it originated.
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Genre #3: Multi-Media Shakespeare’s Sonnet #18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7XeiDjixa0&feature=fvsr
(Click on link above to see video!!!!)
Rationale for Genre #3
This is an example of how multi-media art can be used in the classroom to help students
have a firmer grasp on main ideas and themes of a poem. This video couples not only images but
also music to the Shakespearian sonnet which can assist in the visualization of the poem’s
message as well as a comprehension of the tone and mood. I would use something like this in my
classroom by first having the students read the sonnet aloud and discuss what they think from
simply reading it, the main idea and mood are. I would then have the students watch the video
and then discuss how the video may have altered their perception of the sonnet. Did it help you
to see what certain lines were actually saying amidst the difficult Shakespearian descriptions and
metaphors? The movie going stanza by stanza can also help the students to see the different
breaks in the sonnet and how the form contributes to the overall message.
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Genre #4: Scaffolding poetry from song
Planning
Title/Subject of Lesson: Music as Poetry
Class and Grade Level: Seventh Grade
Objective(s): Students will be able to use the song lyrics of “Airplane” by B.o.b to identify
elements of poetry such as main idea, symbolism, and form/rhyme scheme by 1) analyzing the
text 2) listening to the song 3) watching the music video and seeing visual “concrete poetry” with
Wordle. Students will be able to make connections to the lyrics and draw deeper meaning by
using multiple intelligences taught through song and visual images. This skill set will then be
passed onto more traditional poems by practicing similar modes of trans-mediation in future
lessons.
State Core Objectives Met by this Lesson: Objective 3 (Comprehension of Literary Text):
Comprehend literature using elements of narrative and poetic text.
f. Identify main ideas and/or emotions in a wide range of poetry.
Materials Needed:
-“Airplane” song lyrics by B.o.b (copies for class)
- Copy of edited song to play for class
- Access to music video
-Wordle Art (see later genre)
Strategies to be Used: Analysis, discussion, text-self and trans-mediation connections.
Performing
Lesson Presentation:
Connection from Previous Lesson: Students have been learning about elements of poetry
A. Preparing for Learning
First, pass out lyrics to “Airplane” and have the students get in pairs to read it together, draw a
plot structure capturing main idea, and mark elements of poetry they may recognize. Now as a
class, read the lyrics. Who recognizes this? Explain that yes, it is in fact not a traditional poem,
rather a modern hip-hop song. But what does this have in common with other poems we’ve
looked at so far? Stanzas, or in the song’s purpose, verses. How about rhyme scheme? Is there
one? Point out that in the verses there is an AABBCC rhyme scheme using slant rhymes. Briefly
explain what a slant rhyme is.
Now that we’ve looked at form, what about main idea? What have they come up with for the plot
structure? Take down ideas on the bored. Now have the students listen to the song. After the
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song, in the same pairs as previously have the students discuss briefly to see if their ideas of the
main idea have changed. Discuss as class.
B. Directing the Learning
Now, going a step further: we’ve now looked at text, paired the text with the music, how about
visual imagery? Watch the music video together as a class, instruct students to take notes on
images that tend to reappear in the video. Have students get into pairs one more time and
compare notes, then asks pairs to define the “feeling” of the video, or mood/tone.
Go over reappearing images in the video as a class. Explain that these are motifs can act like
symbols. Now look at the text, what in the lyrics corresponds with these images/motifs or
symbols in the text? With the knowledge that you have from the music video, how do these
things alter your perception of the main idea of the lyrics? Now how about the mood? Why
would seeing the music video alter your view on the plain text of the lyrics? Have a brief
discussion on the connection between visual literacy and reading literacy. How the visuals can
reinforce or emphasize ideas. Just like how certain elements such as the mood or motifs could
have been missed until accompanied by the music video.
C. Reinforcing the Learning
Evaluation:
Now show students the Wordle image of the lyrics’ chorus. Briefly explain that this could be an
example of what is called concrete poetry (brief explanation and lead into following
lesson).What does it look like? How does this image reshape your perception of the chorus of the
song? Have students take last ten minutes to respond in their journals—focusing on the
connection between visual images companioned with text.
Airplanes
B.o.b
Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now (wish right now,
wish right now)
Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now (wish right now,
wish right now)
Yeah
I could use a dream or a genie or a wish
To go back to a place much simpler than this
Cause after all the partyin' and smashin' and crashin'
And all the glitz and the glam and the fashion
And all the pandemonium and all the madness
There comes a time where you fade to the blackness
And when you're staring at that phone in your lap
And you hoping but them people never call you back
But that's just how the story unfolds
You get another hand soon after you fold
And when your plans unravel
And they sayin' what would you wish for
If you had one chance
So airplane airplane sorry I'm late
I'm on my way so don't close that gate
If I don't make that then I'll switch my flight
And I'll be right back at it by the end of the night
Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now (wish right now,
wish right now)
Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
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I could really use a wish right now (wish right now,
wish right now)
Somebody take me back to the days
Before this was a job, before I got paid
Before it ever mattered what I had in my bank
Yeah back when I was tryin' to get into the subway
And back when I was rappin' for the h— of it
But now a days we rappin' to stay relevant
I'm guessin that if we can make some wishes outta
airplanes
Then maybe yo maybe I'll go back to the days
Before the politics that we call the rap game
And back when ain't nobody listened to my mix tape
And back before I tried to cover up my slang
But this is for the Cada, what's up Bobby Ray
So can I get a wish to end the politics
And get back to the music that started this—
So here I stand and then again I say
I'm hopin' we can make some wishes outta airplanes
Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now (wish right now,
wish right now)
Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now (wish right now,
wish right now)
Rationale for Genre #4
Although the pairing of music with poetry isn’t the traditional use of Ekphrasis, music
nonetheless is another art form that is most relevant in students’ lives today. They turn it on
when they get ready for school, listen to it on their I-Pods on the bus or in the car, jam with their
friends between periods in the halls, and workout to it in gym class. Music is something that
secondary school students get. Furthermore, it is something that they enjoy. By using popular
songs to transition into poetry, students are automatically engaged an interested in the subject
matter because it is something they already know. Nancy Larrick, education professor at Lehigh
University, discovered through her children and students that music is the poetry of today’s
generation (187).
Furthermore, she has found that music enfolds the listener, allows it to take life, and often
has the means to “turn them to poetry,” (188). Thus, this lesson plan would be the first in a
poetry unit—leading them to their desire to learn more about something that is not completely
unfamiliar. Additionally, the use of the music video and Wordle Art adds a visual element to the
lesson, providing students with the scaffolding necessary to see poetry in its most complete form.
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Genre# 5: Wordle Art/ concrete poetry (see prints attached)
Rationale for Genre #5
Attached to this Genre are two Wordle Arts, one of the chorus to the song “Airplanes” by
B.o.b which can be used in the above lesson plan, a stanza of Emily Dickinson’s “I heard a fly
buzz,” as well as two examples of concrete poetry. Wordle is an interesting application that can
be used in the teaching of poetry because it reconfigures the text visually and placing emphasis
on the most often repeated words. It is not a replacement of a poem, but the visual nature of it
can assist the students to alter the initial perspective of a poem.
For example, the “Airplanes” Wordle actually resembles the shape of an Airplane, the
above Dickinson Worlde can help students to see important words and images in the poem such
as “buzz,” “stillness,” etc. Also, this means of “visual” poetry can be a great lead into concrete
poetry which is made with the intention so that the main idea cannot be missed. By visually
representing the poem in a way that the audience can see what the poet intended, students are
met with “instant gratification” in their ability to see the poem (Grandits 39).
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Genre #6: Photography coupled with Poetry
What's the Railroad to Me?
Henry David Thoreau
What's the railroad to me?
I never go to see
Where it ends.
It fills a few hollows,
And makes banks for the swallows,
It sets the sand a-blowing,
And the blackberries a-growing.
______________________________________________________________________________
Rationale for Genre #6
The above picture is one that I took along the Old Sacramento River. By pairing
photography with poetry as seen above, the picture can allow the reader to see more of the poem
by actually having that visual sense than merely having to mentally picture it. “I never go to
see/Where it ends,” the poem reads. With the added detail of this photo, one can clearly see the
endless possibility of the tracks. It reaches out of the picture, giving off a feeling of eternity and
mystery. This exercise can also be performed by students. By having them turn a poem into a
photograph they will be encouraged to delve into the deeper meanings behind the poem, pay
attention to the images and symbolism and attempt to capture them on film. They learn the art of
“equat[ing] a poem with a picture” and create visual literacy of the poem (Golden 6).
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Genre #7: Picture Book Earth Magic
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______________________________________________________________________________
Rationale for Genre #7
As explored in Dean and Grierson’s article, “Re-envisioning reading and writing through
combined-text picture books,” the illustrations provided in picture books to not distract from the
text but rather add to it. The above book, Earth Magic, is another work that could be used within
a secondary classroom to teach poetry with the accompanying illustrations. The free form poems
can be taught through the illustrations by pointing out the whimsical colors and abstract lines and
images. Symbols can be brought attention to by the illustrator’s use of depicting the text via
picture. Students can compare and contrast the illustrations with the poems to gain a firmer grasp
and understanding of what it is that the poem is really trying to say.
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Genre #8: Ekphrasis Project Assignment Sheet
Ekphrasis Project
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
-C.C. Colton (The Lacon, 1830)
Ekphrasis, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is a literary description of or
commentary on a visual work of art. Most commonly the practice of Ekphrasis involves crossing
mediums (called transmediation) by taking a work of art and composing a poem or piece of
literature under the artwork’s influence. Essentially, it is the process of taking one form of art
and recreating it in another form: A painting to a poem.
For this assignment you will choose 2 recognized works of art, one visual (painting, sculpture,
etc.) and one well-known poem, to imitate. For the first part you will compose an original
poem inspired by the art piece (painting, sculpture, etc.) you have chosen. The speaker’s voice
and attitude, the literal level of the poem and the allusion should be clear. Readers should be able
to infer the audience and the subject, which need not be the same as the work of art. For the
second part you must create an original visual art piece modeled after the poem you have
chosen. The connection to the poem should be clear, and creativity should be explored.
Use the following expectations and grading criteria to guide you:
Allusion
Imagery
Tone
Prosody
4
Clear, clever
reference to a
specific work and
clear literal level.
Clear, vivid images
related to those in
the original art and
appeal to at least 2
different senses.
Consistent tone that
author’s attitude is
clear, or a shift is
used with 2 clear
tones and
appropriate, vivid
diction.
Technical level of
poem compliments
the original in 3
ways with 2 or more
fully developed
stanzas.
3
Clear reference to a
work and clear
literal level
2
Reference to a
specific work,
mostly clear literal
level.
2 or more clear
images.
1
Unclear reference to
art or unclear literal
level.
Consistent tone
suggests author’s
attitude, and diction
is appropriate and
vivid.
Inconsistent tone,
unclear attitude or
inappropriate
diction.
Inconsistent tone,
unclear attitude and
inappropriate
diction.
Technical level of
poem compliments
the original in 1 way
with 2 ore more
stanzas.
Technical level of
poem compliments
the original in 1 way
with 2 or more
stanzas.
Technical level of
poem fails to reflect
the original, with
only 1 stanza.
Clear images that
appeal to at least 2
different senses.
Unclear images.
Please provide a copy of the poem and an image of the art to which you allude. Also, on
your own poem and attached to your own visual art, provide detailed
annotations/explanations of the specific ways your poems mimic the originals. Examples
are on back.
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"Ninth Wave", Aivazovsky
Children Playing on the Beach by Mary Cassatt (oil
on canvas, 38-3/8x29-1/4 inches) hangs in
Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art.
Mary Cassatt's Children Playing on the Beach
by Kristen Walsh
Two childhood playmates sitting by the sea,
Carefree, cheerful, not curious about what will
be.
Whether or not the castles they are building will
someday be their homes,
Or if the small crabs around them will come and
bite their toes.
Will they grow up to be best friends,
Or will they someday drift apart?
Will they swim the English Channel,
Or paint a work of art?
Will they be swept off their feet by the men of
their dreams,
Or would a small problem tear their friendship at
the seams?
With their sunbonnets keeping the wind from
their faces,
And the sailboats on the water having playful
races,
They have no worries to speak of, and there is
only fun to be had,
With all the beauty around them how could
anything seem bad?
How long will these blissful days last?
Until all that is left are memories of the past.
Shipwreck - Emily Dickinson (18301886)
It tossed and tossed, -A little brig I knew, -O'ertook by blast,
It spun and spun,
And groped delirious, for morn.
It slipped and slipped,
As one that drunken stepped;
Its white foot tripped,
Then dropped from sight.
Ah, brig, good-night
To crew and you;
The ocean's heart too smooth, too blue,
To break for you
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______________________________________________________________________________
Rationale for Genre #8
This assignment sheet for an Ekphrasis project is a pretty good example of something I
might assign to my students during a poetry unit. The two requirements of having them compose
a poem from a piece of art and then make art from a poem gives the students a full opportunity to
make connections and derive deeper meaning from a poem and seeing it as a piece of art. The
drawing from the poem will force students to look deeper into the poem, pay attention to the
main images and symbols, and then recreate them in a visual way. The task will test their
understanding of the poem and its essential elements. The creation of an original poem with give
students insight to the creative process that the poets of our studies go through when creating an
self-inspired poem or that of one inspired by a piece of visual art.
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Genre #9: CD Album art/ music influenced by poetry
Life In A Love
by Robert Browning
Escape me?
Never—
Beloved!
While I am I, and you are you,
So long as the world contains us both,
Me the loving and you the loth,
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.
My life is a fault at last, I fear—
It seems too much like a fate, indeed!
Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed—
But what if I fail of my purpose here?
It is but to keep the nerves at strain,
To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
And baffled, get up to begin again,—
So the chase takes up one's life, that's all.
While, look but once from your farthest bound,
At me so deep in the dust and dark,
No sooner the old hope drops to ground
Than a new one, straight to the selfsame mark,
I shape me—
Ever
Removed!
CD Cover Art: “Must the other Pursue”
Track 1: “Ocean Avenue” by Yellowcard
Tack 2: “You and I Both” by Jason Mraz
Track 3: "I Will Follow You into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie
Track 4: “Stay Close” by Years Gone By
Track 5: “Skyway Avenue” by We The Kings
______________________________________________________________________________
Rational for Genre #9
For this genre I chose the above poem “Life in a Love” by Robert Browning and created
a CD from its inspiration in a different kind of Ekphrasis process. The cover art of the attached
CD which I’ve named, “Must the other Pursue,” is inspired by the devotion that Browning talks
about in his poem. This poem talks about a lot of things, perseverance, failure, learning from
misfortune, but most of all, the ability to get back up and try again. Although these ideas can be
relevant in many different ways, Browning is emphasizing the process of finding love. To be
honest, many of these meanings eluded me until I attempted to create the art for the cover and
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find songs that matched with the poem. The cover depicts an abstract image of two separate
entities, that while being themselves are connected to one another by their presence in the same
place “While I am I, and you are you,/ So long as the world contains us both.”
Each song was also individually chosen with its similarity to the poem in themes. The
songs have motifs of love, devotion, pursuit, and getting back up after falling down. For
example, “Skyway Avenue” speaks of, “If you jump I will jump too,” following the idea of
pursuit spoken of in Browning’s poem. This genre is another example of a project that students
could be encouraged to do to combine their knowledge of “the poetry of today’s generation”
(Larrick 178) with traditional poems. It requires a deeper inquiry into the poem and then an
understanding to make connections.
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Genre #10: From Poetry to Painting
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost (1874–1963).
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
10
15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
______________________________________________________________________________
Rational for Genre #10
For this genre I attempted my own transmediation painting by taking the above famous
Robert Frost poem and painting a picture of what I saw. Although not my best painting, the task
really stressed upon me to look at the poem deeper to try to grasp main ideas as well as the tone
and mood. My painting depicts the road diverging, one is wide and continues visible until the
vanishing point while the other is narrow, difficult to see where it ends. More importantly are the
colors. The wide road is bright and the sky if yellow and blue as if inviting the traveler. The
other road merges into a cloudy sky of dark blues and purples, with ominous mountains and
clouds. I feel that this is the real essence of the poem: dichotomy. The traveler is torn between
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two decisions, each which may pose hardships and their own challenges, yet diverse as to the
actual path traveled. The poem is about indecision, division, but in the end they both become one
of the same event and experience, just as the roads and sky are a part of the same picture. This
again is another example of something I would possibly have students complete to explore the
ties between art and poetry and how they can become modes to communicate (Reilly 107).
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Works Cited
Childress, Cynthia. "Art from Art: Making a Picture's Thousand Words into Poetry."
Interdisciplinary Humanities 23.1 (2006): 73-8. This article focuses primarily on the idea
of poetry as a response to visual art. The article provides a background for Ekphrasis
poetry as well as discusses projects in the classroom in which students were to respond to
art through poetry. The more successful poems from this assignment were found to
capture the symbolism from within the painting (77).
Dean, Deborah, and Sirpa Grierson. "Re-envisioning Reading and Writing through
Combined-text Picture Books." Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 48.6 (March
2005): 456-68. Print. This article explores the uses of picture books in the classroom as a
means to teach English concepts of reading and writing. The article specifically follows
the book one Leaf Rides the Wind and provides lesson ideas for creating visual literacy.
The combination of haiku poetry and illustrations is also discussed.
Dead Poets Society. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Robin Williams. Touchstone, 1989. DVD. This movie
follows the story of an innovative English teacher (played by Robin Williams) in a
private boy’s prep school. The movie discusses themes of re-envisioning the teaching of
such matters, like poetry, that have traditionally been dried-out in the English classroom.
Through passion and creativity, Williams teaches his class that poetry is art.
Golden, Catherine. Connection Making between the Sister Arts., 1987. This article discusses a
teacher’s attempt to connect the “sister arts” of poetry/literature and visual arts within her
classroom to enhance student understanding of symbolism as well as connections. She
found that studying the art of the time period assisted students in decoding symbols found
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between art and literature (11).
Grandits, John. "Concrete Poetry and Visual Learning." Book Links 14.5 (2005): 39. This article
discusses the uses of concrete poetry within a classroom and how it’s visual aspect help
to instantly gratify the reader. This source is used in my project for it’s connection to
visual poetry as well as the Worlde genre.
Larrick, Nancy. Pop/Rock Lyrics: Poetry and Reading. Journal of Reading, 1971. This source
explores the use of music in our current generation and its influence on secondary and
college students. The article suggests using popular music lyrics as an introduction to
classical poetry as a means to connect students from the known to the new.
Lask-Spinac, Sabina. A Hunt for Tennyson: Teaching Poetry through Painting., 1985. LaskSpinac’s article discusses using the poem “The Lady of Shalott” with its namesake
painting by Hun to encourage student understanding of main idea and structure of the
poem. The article implies that the visual painting helps students to grasp the main idea
from the poem amidst its ambiguity.
Michaels, Judy Rowe. "Reimagining Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" through Visual
and Performing Arts Projects." English Journal 99.2 (2009): 48-54. In this article,
Michaels discusses a project she assigns to her classroom when teaching “Rime of the
Ancient Mariner” in which her students must create a visual representation of the poem
examining key elements. She found that students responded better to the poem having
transferred it to another medium in that they better grasped themes and main ideas as well
as symbols.
Mantione, Roberta D., and Sabine Smead. Weaving through Words: Using the Arts to Teach
Reading Comprehension Strategies. Newark, DE: International Reading Association,
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2003. Print. This book provides numerous lesson plans and ideas of using arts within the
classroom to teach reading and comprehension strategies. The lesson plan focused on in
this paper describes making a visual fabric collage based off of a poem to grasp the
essence of the text.
Moorman, Honor. "Backing into Ekphrasis: Reading and Writing Poetry about Visual Art." The
English Journal 96.1 (2006): pp. 46-53. Moorman’s article discusses the use of Ekphrasis
in increasing understanding and learning of text and poetry. The engagement that art
provides carries over to poetry as well as forces a higher-order of thinking in order for
people to make connections between the twp forms. Most importantly it allows readers to
see what they are reading.
Reilly, Mary Ann. "Finding the Right Words: Art Conversations and Poetry." Language Arts
86.2 (2008): 99-107. Print. Reilly writes of her experience in using art as a means for
students to communicate about poetry. The students finger paint between pairs in order to
discuss their ideas of the poem. She reports her discovery that as students take part in this
activity, art allows them to find new and altered meanings within the poem.
Woods, Jeanine. "Teaching Blake's Poetry with Paintings." English Journal 72.3 (1983): 38-40.
Woods discusses how poetry and painting complement one another and provide
additional resources for discovering symbols within them. She discusses symbols of color
found within paintings which are linked to the poems as well as the ability for the two to
provide accurate readings and underlying concepts.
Youngs, Charles. "An English Teacher Making Connections to Art: My Story of "Learn as You
Go" Illuminating Literature with Images, Art with Texts: Exploring Literacy Connections
to Carnegie Museum of Art. Proc. of National Council of Teachers of English
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Convention, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. November 2005. 1-5. Print. Youngs reports on
his practice of taking his student to an art museum to learn about poetry within his
classroom. He finds that the concrete visuals of art “speak in a ways words on a page
cannot” (4). Additionally, the paintings assist students to understand setting, tone, and
mood.