Perspectives

Literary perspective

The poem “How To Eat a Poem” by Eve Merriam has some postmodern characteristics. This is seen through the use of reader involvement: The very first line of the poem encourages the reader to engage with the poem, almost as if it was a piece of food. Young readers are invited to approach poetry without fear and to enjoy it. The…

...

Textual perspective 

The postmodern poem “Kidnapped” by Ruperake Petaia is also written in free form and does not follow a rhyme scheme. The poem uses the perspective of a student from a colonized region to explore and criticize the consequences of cultural colonialism. Unlike “How to Eat a Poem”, “Kidnapped” has no internal rhymes and it follows the…