Author(s):
\nMatt Bryden (concept and poems) with Jon Munson II (programmer)<\/p>\n
The Poetry Map is a collection of 67 poems arranged against the backdrop of a map – with
\neach poem located at the site of either its location or composition. The poems are divided
\ninto four distinct paths, and can also be accessed in a random order. The reader navigates
\nacross the map as they read the poems. Further, a number of ‘magic tickets’ reveal bonuses
\nsuch as audio recordings, images and videos as you travel.
\nThe Poetry Map is designed to make poetry more accessible, and to contest the assumption
\nthat poetry which appears online is of less value than poetry appearing in a poetry journal.
\nThe four sequences are only available through this interface and will not be published in
\nhard copy. This recognises the fact that there is a substantial difference between reading a
\npoem online and reading a poem in a book. Just as the sequences would not necessarily
\nwork in book form, neither would poems that work in a book necessarily translate to the
\nscreen. While ordering them, I found that often the ‘better’ poems did not work on the screen
\n– I needed poems that were quickly graspable and led one to ‘read on.’ So the four
\nsequences went through many permutations to create the optimum ‘reading’ experience.
\nThe length of each sequence was also an issue – with the potential distractions that exist
\nonline (not present in a book) I needed to create four sequences that were readable in one
\nsitting, before one was tempted to check one’s mails or click on a newsfeed.
\nSimilarly, I did not want to throw the digital kitchen sink at the project simply because I could.
\nI found that some readers – perhaps more practiced poetry readers – found the additional
\nfeatures a distraction, while for others it was the ‘treasure hunt’ of revealing these features
\nthat drew them through the poems. An additional consideration is that the poems already
\nhave a visual element to them. Each path follows a different trajectory, and the poems’
\nthemes are often reflected in the topography, be it a dense cityscape, a forest in the Czech
\nRepublic or a a ferry terminal in the South of England. The third sequence, principally set in
\nEastern Europe, differs in visual tone from the others with its occasionally blurred maps,
\ngiving one a sense of being at a distance, almost out of reception.
\nThe concept of the Poetry Map is to cast the reader adrift in the poems. The cartographic
\nbackground provides a handrail of sorts, while a different kind of mental territory is
\nsimultaneously traversed. The interface is attractive, and draws many people in before they
\nrealise it. Simultaneously, the information gap (where will the next poem take me?) engages
\nthe interest. This accessibility led me to capitalise on the site’s potential and create
\nuser-friendly worksheets for students and teachers, which are available on the site.
\nThe Poetry Map has been described as ‘a wonderful concept perfectly realised’ that ‘makes
\nthe poems so readable and moreish,’ whilst students have described feeling ‘like a detective
\nworking on a case’ ‘needing to put on my thinking cap’ and the map itself as ‘unlike anything
\nI’ve ever seen.’ The Poetry Map has been used in schools across the world from a university
\nin California to a primary school in Somerset, England.
\nHowever, while the Poetry Map enables students to learn to navigate a world in which not
\nevery detail is known, what John Keats referred to as ‘negative capability’, this is not an
\nexperience designed exclusively for students. It can be enjoyed by anyone, with a declared
\ninterest (or not) in poetry.<\/p>\n
Modality of presentation: Web based work
\nURL to work: http:\/\/www.mattbryden.co.uk\/Matt_Bryden\/PoetryMap\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Author(s): Matt Bryden (concept and poems) with Jon Munson II (programmer) The Poetry Map is a collection of 67 poems arranged against the backdrop of a map – with each poem located at the site of either its location or composition. The poems are divided into four distinct paths, and can also be accessed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,3],"tags":[49,79,81],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shortlist-en","category-tol-prize","tag-english-en","tag-jon-munson-ii-en","tag-matt-bryden-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19,"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions\/19"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turnonliterature.eu\/works\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}