Anregungen zur Gedichtanalyse im Schulunterricht

Abstract

This review article attempts to present and evaluate an extremely stimulating book on the use of ballad texts in school lessons. The volume, which is being published in its second edition after three years, revised and expanded (which underlines the need for such basic works), is divided into two main parts, the first of which deals with the basics of literary theory, the second part with individual examples of poem analyzes and instructions on how these texts can be prepared and taught for the different levels of the different school-grades 5 to 10 (secondary levels I and II). Apart from the considerable media effort that is usually suggested (e. g. film production), the volume offers a variety of tips on how the sometimes quite difficult texts (e. g. a longer one in English) can be made “palatable” for pupils. The claim that this is all about the “ballad” genre is worth discussing, but for classroom use, this seems irrelevant to me. For incomprehensible reasons, the folk ballad is left out; its existence is even denied, and the suprisingly obvious possibility, when we talk about “ballads”, of hearing the texts sung in class and singing them yourself is also overlooked. In my opinion, the two authors have ideological blinders built in here, which should make one skeptical, but are quite negligible in view of the overall presentation of teaching examples at a high, media-supported level.

Keywords

• poem analysis
• school teaching
• variety of media in lessons
• ballads