1984 Blackout Poems

In our study of dystopias, students read the classic novel 1984 by George Orwell. It is, indeed, Orwell’s writing that has inspired the plethora of dystopian writers we read today. We looked, again, at the power of language in the novel. We also talked about themes such as love and power and discussed questions like, “At what point would you give up a loved one to save yourself?” To bookend our trimester with poetry, students created blackout poems from the text pages in 1984. Students needed to think about what sort of visual (besides just a standard '“blacking out” of text) they would create with the words they found on the page. This assignment is not easy; students needed to think about a theme they wanted to explore (love, power, authoritarian government) and then look for pages that might help them to convey those themes. They really had to let the pages speak to them.

What are some of the images and words that speak to you in their work? What are your thoughts about the relevance of 1984 to our world today? Comment below!

Kayla’s Blackout Poem

Leo’s Poem

Thomas’ Poem

Evan’s Poem

Grace’s Poem

August’s Blackout Poem

Jameelah’s Blackout Poem

KJ Blackout Poem 1

KJ Blackout Poem 2