Success for MFL pupil published in prestigious poetry anthology
There was brilliant news from the MFL Department recently as Anvita (Year 10) had her excellent Jane Eyre-inspired poem published in a new anthology from the University of Oxford and Stephen Spender Trust.
Last year, several of our MFL pupils participated in workshops organised by The Prismatic Jane Eyre School Project.
The project, a joint venture between the university and trust, encourages pupils to try their hand at creative translation.
Huge congratulations to Anvita whose submission was selected to feature in the recently published Prismatic Jane Eyre School Project School Anthology.
Discussing the success, Anvita said: “The poem was based on a text provided by the project organisers and is sourced from Jane Eyre – The Red Room. The extract itself was rich and raw in its description of emotion and I knew immediately that my poem was going to be solely based on the feelings within the passage. The best bit about having just a small bit of the book is that we can just ignore the context and story behind it and consider our interpretation alone.
“The process was simple in its steps. I started by writing my ideas in English and slowly translating each bit while considering the crucial differences of writing in French. I sent my poem in, just as the deadline crept closer. I didn’t hear back for at least a month, until, amidst the clutter of emails in my Outlook, an email seemed oddly familiar. I remember it felt so surreal because I was anything but a linguist (or a poet for that matter) but I guess you don’t have to be a linguist to write a great poem!”
