Global Poetry in Text & Video

The Poetry International Web, a worldwide forum for poetry on the Internet, maintains a substantial "Camera Poetica" catalog of authors reciting their poems on video.

This simple exercise was created for my Modern World Literature course, which I usually teach online. Similar exercises, pairing texts with audio and video images, could be used in any online or face-to-face literature course.

Photo taken at the Old St. Augustine Village, Florida

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"Camera Poetica" Assignment

(1) Read the poem.
First read the poem “Siberia” by Belgian poet Bart Moeyaert, who has studied and published in the Nederlands. Please, don’t view the video clip yet. Read the poem twice for better understanding.

(2) Reflect in writing.
After having read the poem, respond to the following prompts:

Make a list of words of phrases that capture your feelings and values about the poem.

Make a list of words or short phrases that capture the feelings or values of what you think the author was trying to express in this poem.

Give a plausible explanation for each feeling word or phrase listed above. In other words, what in the poem or in your personal experiences caused these feelings?

Why do you think the poem is called “Siberia”?

(3) Play the video.
Then, using the same Internet link, listen to and watch the video clip of the author reading his poem in Dutch.

(4) Discuss the video.
In your small group, reflect on the following: What impact did seeing and hearing the poet read his work out loud have on you? Did it add or take away from your original experience with the poem? Explain.

(5) Summarize the experience.
Summarize your “Camera Poetica” experience in one word: ____________. Then write a paragraph explaining why you chose this word.