The art of annotating poems on Poetry Genius

One of the most unexpected results of working with students to annotate poems on Poetry Genius has been the use of images. The students upload images to complement their written annotations of lines. Some of the students have become really skilled and creative at selecting photographs and illustrations. I look forward to seeing what they come up with for their assignments.

For example, in the line from Margaret Walker's "For My People," where she writes "Let a new earth rise," a student provided this image:

And for the next line "Let another world be born," he uploaded this:

The students are selecting from the large body of images on the net.  Reading my students' translations of lines as well as viewing the images that they provide adds a level of engagement that was  previously unavailable to me. Actually, checking their annotations this semester has prompted me to cover a wide range of visual items and ideas.  Never before have I covered so many images presented by students in a literature course. 

A few of the students seem to be in silent competition with each other for more and more creative deployments of images. For them, annotation is an art, not merely a typical academic exercise.

Related:
• Becoming a Rap Genius: Resources