Unsettling a Canonical Text through Erasure Poetry
By: Ashleigh A. Allen and Rob Simon
English Journal published our article “Unsettling a Canonical Text through Erasure Poetry” in their May 2021 issue. In this article we look at our erasure poetry writing workshop with grade 8 students, which was part of a novel study of Ray Bradbury’s (1953) dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451. In addition to unpacking our writing workshop, we explain the value of using erasure poetry to disrupt the literary canon and how this activity prompts students to think critically about the power texts hold and the power they, as readers and writers, have over texts. As we say in the article, “The process of creating erasure poems allowed us to investigate censorship, the literary canon, the creative possibilities of resistance, and the creative potential in destruction.” The students’ erasure poems were ultimately compiled into a book-length erasure poem they titled Free 451.
The erasure lesson plan and a PDF of our book Free 451 can be found here
Our inspiration for the erasure poems was the work of poet Mary Ruefle who regularly uses erasure to engage with, and rewrite, texts. Her work is available on her website.