Poetic Form

Poetic Form

Bibliography:

Singer, Marilyn.  Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 978-0-8037-3992-5

Summary/Analysis:

Echo Echo is a collection of 14 poems that focus on classic Greek myths.  Each poem composed by Marilyn Singer is a reverso poem, meaning that the poem can be read both forwards and backwards.  Each set of poems, both regular and reverso, is accompanied by a full page illustration by Josee Masse.  The illustrations do a wonderful job mirroring the poems with one half going with first poem and the other half going with the reverso.  In the poem “Pandora and the Box” the first illustration goes along with the poem and represents  Pandora and her not opening the box.  The picture is colorful and the box is black.  The reverso poem and illustration show the chaos after she opened the box.   Each poem and reverso do a wonderful job presenting two sides of each Greek myth.  The poems do no follow a specific rhyme scheme, but there is rhyming present in each poem. These poems and illustrations are quite enjoyable, but the reverso style can make it difficult to read and most likely not interest younger readers.  Each poem has details about the myths presented and provide readers with just enough information to understand the content of the poems if they needed a refresher.  There is no table of contents in the book, but there is an “About This Book” section at the end.  The page provides information on Greek mythology, reverso poems, and offers suggestions on where to read the myths in full length.  

Use:

Perseus and Medusa

There is no man who wouldn’t be                             

scared stiff.

Petrified indeed,

I must have your head,

 stone-hearted monster!

I am the chosen

one to rid the world of you nasty creatures.

It is my curse to be the

hero.

Look away.

You cannot

shield yourself from me.

Shield yourself from me?

You cannot

look away,

hero.

It is my curse to be the

one to rid the world of you nasty creatures.

I am the chosen

stone-hearted monster.

I must have your head,

petrified indeed--

scared stiff.

There is no man who wouldn’t be.

These poems are a perfect example of the reverso style and showing the different perspectives of the Greek myth.  The illustrations also easily show the point of view from each person in the poem.  One activity to teach perspective would begin with students reading each poem aloud.  There could be a brief discussion of the myth and the differences in perspective from each character in each poem. The teacher could break up the class into two groups with one being Perseus and the other Medusa. Using the same Greek myth students could use the information provided to create short stories that are told from that character’s perspective.  The class could then take turns reading the short stories going back and forth from characters.