Poetry as a site of history education and exploration: learning history from and with poetry

Poetry has, historically and currently, been used to express resistance against hegemonic powers and power abuses. Poems have the potential to be both historical sources and personal comments on history, containing historical content and framing this content in a narrative. Poetry can also be useful in teaching difficult and painful histories, bringing emotions to the forefront of historical engagement. This article argues that poetry can be a powerful site of history education and exploration outside formal education spaces, using both published poems and student poetry writing exercises. It argues that poetry can be a site of history education through finding and exploring historical and existing poetry, and that poetry can be a site of history exploration through students writing poetry themselves. Poetry presents a way to explore voices of resistance and marginalised voices on their own terms, in an emotive expression that nevertheless carries historical argument. Writing poetry can bring students into contact with history in a different way, where they are in touch either with the histories that have affected and shaped them, or with history interpreted from their own viewpoint. This article examines history learning from both angles: it explores two poems that express a historical argument and two poems written by students in response to historical learning. While poetry can be used in formal education spaces, this article explores poetry itself as a site for history education and exploration, suggesting that expansive poetry engagement and writing can enhance history education.