ABSTRACTS & BIODATA
CLOSING PLENARY SESSION | 16.00 - 17.30
Beatriz Pena Lima, MA
Poetry to walk in someone else’s shoes
American Poet Laureate Billy Collins argues that when we
read a poem we enter the consciousness of another, we
loosen some of our fixed notions in order to accommodate
to a culturally diverse lived experience. This is why poetry is
often used in class to develop empathy and compassion,
apart from the more strictly language and literary oriented
uses it can lend itself to.
The five or six poems to be discussed today have been
among my secondary school students’ favourite ones for
many years. They are meant as examples of how, though
short and lexically simple, poems can be the trigger for deep
introspection, heated discussions and striking creative
writing and reading practices regarding the task of living in a
complex but fascinating world.
28 | APIBA ANNUAL SEMINAR 2015: TEACHING AND BEYOND