Poem Hypertexts and Semiotics
Purpose: Practice close-reading and annotating a poem using multimedia.
Tasks:
Part 1. Choose one of the Poetry Selections for this Unit.
Part 2. Copy and paste the text of the poem. Now, go through the poem carefully, word by word, and consider the following:
which words or phrases stand out to you?
which images or ideas are most meaningful or important to the poem?
which words or concepts are confusing to you?
which ideas or words would you like to learn more about?
Part 3. Now you get to begin your internal “treasure hunt!” Highlight the words or phrases that meet the criteria listed above in the poem and create clickable hyperlinks (right-click to “insert hyperlink” if you are composing in a Word or Google document; use the “links” key picture like this if you are composing in the textbox in our discussion forum). use links to open-web materials only–avoid links that involve a paywall, subscription, or login.
Your poem text should include at least 12 hyperlinks. They should all be directly pertinent to words/phrases that they are linked to. Among these 12 hyperlinks, you should include:
a link to at least 1 relevant, appropriate video
a link to at least 1 relevant, appropriate image
a link to at least 1 relevant, appropriate web page
a link to at least 1 interesting definition
a link to at least 1 interesting etymology (word origin)
Here is a sample hypertext post. And while your hypertext poem will not look or function exactly like these examples, you can get the general idea of how scholars sometimes use hypertexts to annotate and enhance poems by looking at examples such as this one of Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” or this one of Katherine Philips’ “Friendship’s Mysteries: To My Dearest Lucasia.”
Part 4. Underneath your created hypertext poem, write a reflection of at least 100 words on how and why you chose what to link to and what kinds of links to include. Discuss what you learned as you made this project.
Part 5. Respond to at least 2 of your classmates’ posts, saying what you learned from or found intriguing about their hypertexts.
At least one of your responses should be on a poem you did NOT write about. Your initial post should meet all requirements, and your replies should be thoughtful and substantive.
