The project
Based on the developing of a rendering model of the rhyme tested succesfully in some previous papers, we have carried out a project of educational innovation whose goal is, on the one hand, its use in the Literature class and, in an interdisciplinary approach, in subjects such as Mathematics or Technology. On the other hand, we made an exhibition with 3D models of poems from selected authors. The work methodology has been cross-curricular with contributions from Mathematics (Geometry), Technology (3D design) and of course Literature (study of metrics and the possibilities of rhyme representation in space). From the opening of the exhibition, we worked with different student groups (2nd grade at secondary school and 1st grade of baccalaureate) who have learned to deduce the rhyme scheme of the stanza and to draw it following the rules of the system and getting the basic figures of the Spanish poetry. In the next school years the rendering model will be spread as much as possible and we will go deeper into the interdisciplinary activities in the classroom.
The system of representation
The project starts from the rhyme rendering model developed by ourserves (Alcaide, 2020) inspired by the models of Chemistry or Physics, although its basis is geometric. Whatever is quantifiable can be represented in a graph and the rhyme, the schemes we learnt in language class to characterize the rhyme of stanzas, is not an exception. Based on a double input Cartesian axis, the rhyme of each verse is represented in the y-axis and the type of rhyme (A, B, C…) is drawn in the x-axis. We trace segments that connect the rhyme of one verse with the rhyme of the following one and join the rhyming verses with circumferences. Thus, every poem with rhyme (from any language) can be represented in space obtaining a geometrical figure that faithfully reflects the rhyme of the poem (of course, like in the explanatory models of natural sciences, the rhyme is not intended to be like that, but the model is consistent and compatible with its structure).
This system, that we have been developing for many years, has been recently applied by Rodríguez Cantos to his studies on the silva of classic authors (Rodríguez Cantos, 2022) and we ourselves have made a complete analysis of Rosalía de Castro’s metrics which is pending publication (the choice of this writer, marginal in some aspects regarding the traditional canon, has not been fortuitous). An explanatory video of the poem rendering can be watched at this link: https://youtu.be/d9xZUQLgIkM
