Teaching Poetry With New Media

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of interactive multimedia and hypertextual tools in literature classes. It argues for the promotion of multimedia programming within the context of creative writing, describing activities related to the conception and development of hypermedia projects in academic contexts. The first part is made up of a discussion of theoretical positions. We will provide an overview of studies about the relationship between literature and digital media. The second part of this paper will show how it is possible to articulate literary concepts such as multi-modality, intertextuality, reader-response and cooperation, with digital tools dealing with algorithms, combinatory techniques, multimedia programming, and networked hypertext. We will provide an account of projects involving the creation and recreation of experimental poetry in digital media, and through the discussion of other examples of the use of new media to teach poetry.