Creative writing as a strategy for analyzing the poetry of the “Decapitated Generation” in high school
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69821/DISCE.v2i2.57Keywords:
Creative writing, poetry, secondary education, literary analysisAbstract
This study investigated the use of creative writing as a teaching strategy for analyzing the poetry of the “Decapitated Generation” among upper-secondary (Bachillerato) students. An educational intervention was designed at a school in Ecuador (the name is withheld for confidentiality) in which 30 students explored poems by Medardo Ángel Silva, Arturo Borja, Humberto Fierro, and Ernesto Noboa y Caamaño through literary creation activities. The methodology combined qualitative and quantitative approaches: a pre-test and post-test of poetic comprehension were administered, along with attitude surveys and an analysis of students’ written productions. The results show that creative writing facilitated a significant improvement in the comprehension and interpretation of poems, while also increasing students’ interest in and positive attitudes toward poetry. Deeper connections with the texts and greater enjoyment of learning were observed. It is concluded that integrating creative writing into literature teaching is an effective strategy to enhance critical analysis and the appreciation of poetry, especially when dealing with complex works from the national literary canon.
Downloads
References
Agrelo-Costas, S., & Piñeiro-Casal, A. (2021). La poesía: educadora de emociones para la convivencia en el aula. Tejuelo, 33, 185–210. https://tejuelo.unex.es/tejuelo/article/view/3815/24860
Andrade, R. (2009). Retablo de una generación decapitada. En El perfil de la quimera. Quito: Raúl Serrano Sánchez. https://biblioteca.casadelacultura.gob.ec/bib/64088
Bajour, C. (2017). Dar voz a lo poético en los inicios de la lectura: la música de las palabras. Textos de Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura, 79, 37–46. https://textosenlinea.com.ar/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Bajour_Cecilia_Dar-voz-a-lo-poetico_Textos-79.pdf
Ballester Roca, J., & Ibarra Rius, N. (2016). La poesía en la educación lectora y literaria. Textos de Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura, 73, 18–30. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6134182
Blake, J., & Snapper, G. (2022). Poetry in education. English in Education, 56(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2022.2030974
Calarota, A. (2014). Modernismo en Ecuador: la “generación decapitada”. A Contracorriente, 12(3), 154–184. https://acontracorriente.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/acontracorriente/article/download/761/1512/0
Creely, E. (2018). What’s poetry got to do with it? The importance of poetry for enhancing literacy and fostering student engagement. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 26(3), 9–19. https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.846563173714860
Creely, E. (2019). ‘Poetry is dying’: Creating a (re)new(ed) pedagogical vision for teaching poetry. The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 42(2), 116–127. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03652031
Cushing, I. (2018). ‘Suddenly, I am part of the poem’: Textual silences, teacher responses, and the demands of the curriculum. English in Education, 52(1), 7–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2018.1414398
Dymoke, S., & Hughes, J. (2009). Using a poetry wiki: How can the medium support preservice teachers of English in their professional learning about writing poetry and teaching poetry writing in a digital age? English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 8(3), 91–106. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ869396.pdf
Dymoke, S. (2012). Poetry teaching and multimodality: Theory into practice. Creative Education, 3(3), 343–349. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.34077
García Toré, J. L. (2010). Perder el miedo a la poesía. Tarbiya, 41, 101–121. https://revistas.uam.es/tarbiya/article/view/7436/7899
Hanauer, D. I. (2012). Meaningful literacy: Writing poetry in the language classroom. Language Teaching, 45(1), 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444810000522
Hughes, J. (2007). Poetry: A Powerful Medium for Literacy and Technology Development. What Works? Research into Practice, 7. https://www.onted.ca/monographs/what-works/poetry-a-powerful-medium-for-literacy-and-technology-development
Ibarra-Rius, N., & Ballester, J. (2021). Educación poética y didáctica de la literatura: siete tesis y una propuesta. El Guiniguada, 30, 213–227. https://ojsspdc.ulpgc.es/ojs/index.php/ElGuiniguada/article/view/1392
Johnson-Laird, P. N., & Oatley, K. (2022). How poetry evokes emotions. Acta Psychologica, 224, 103506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103506
Jordán, F. M., & Munita, F. (2023). El profesorado y la educación poética: análisis de una experiencia de formación continua en el contexto chileno. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 52(4), 351–358. https://doi.org/10.17811/rifie.52.4.2023.351-358
Kovalik, C., & Curwood, J. S. (2019). #poetryisnotdead: Understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework. Literacy, 53(3), 153–161. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12186
Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador. (2016). Currículo de Lengua y Literatura (EGB y BGU). https://educacion.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2017/05/LENGUA.pdf
Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador. (2025). Currículo priorizado de Lengua y Literatura (EGB superior y BGU). https://educacion.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Curricular-Priorizado-EGB-SUPERIOR-BGU-LLI.pdf
Munita, F. (2024). La educación poética: tensiones, desafíos y líneas de avance. Perfiles Educativos, 46. https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0185-26982024000100150
Padgett, E. R., & Curwood, J. S. (2016). A figment of their imagination: Adolescent poetic literacy in an online affinity space. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 59(4), 397–407. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.453
Sanjúan Álvarez, M. (2011). De la experiencia de la lectura a la educación literaria: lectura, conversación y escritura. Ocnos, 7, 85–100. https://doi.org/10.18239/ocnos_2011.07.07
Sastre, M. (2022). La didáctica de la poesía en educación secundaria: una introducción. Human Review, 11(8), 1–17. https://www.humanreview.com/index.php/humanreview/article/view/6261
Sigvardsson, A. (2020). Don’t fear poetry! Secondary teachers’ key strategies for making poetry real, relevant and inclusive. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 64(6), 841–857. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2019.1650823
Simecek, K. (2016). The uses of poetry. Changing English, 23(4), 330–343. https://doi.org/10.1080/1358684X.2016.1230300
Valencia Sala, G. (2004). El círculo modernista [Tesis de maestría]. Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar. https://repositorio.uasb.edu.ec/handle/10644/285
Vass, E. (2007). Exploring processes of collaborative creativity—The role of emotions in children’s joint creative writing. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 2(2), 107–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2007.09.003
Xerri, D. (2013). Poetry writing in the post-16 English curriculum. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 12(2), 140–155. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1017202.pdf
Zaldívar Sansuán, R. (2017). Las actitudes de los adolescentes hacia la poesía. Didáctica. Lengua y Literatura, 29, 71–92. https://doi.org/10.5209/DIDA.57142
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Edwin Gonzalo Barrera Ponce (Autor/a)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Usted es libre de:
- Compartir — copiar y redistribuir el material en cualquier medio o formato para cualquier propósito, incluso comercialmente.
- Adaptar — remezclar, transformar y construir a partir del material para cualquier propósito, incluso comercialmente.
- La licenciante no puede revocar estas libertades en tanto usted siga los términos de la licencia
Usted debe dar crédito de manera adecuada , brindar un enlace a la licencia, e indicar si se han realizado cambios . Puede hacerlo en cualquier forma razonable, pero no de forma tal que sugiera que usted o su uso tienen el apoyo de la licenciante.
