Echo Echo by Marilyn Singer (Module 2, Book 1)

Echo Echo by Marilyn Singer. Review by Elaine Alexander

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Singer, Marilyn. Echo Echo. New York: Dial Books, 2016. ISBN 9780803739925

PLOT SUMMARY

This book of “reverso” poems begins with a celebratory poem that introduces the concept of mythology and past civilizations and ends with another poem that encourages the reader to be avid listeners and active storytellers. Sandwiched in between are famous Greek Myths told in 'reverso' format, engaging the reader to look at the words from a new view, reading first down the page, and then in reverse order. As the reader mulls through the poems, they come into contact with Greek Myths and the duality of their conflicting stories. One by one, the poems give competing views and offer each character a chance to challenge former assumptions, see the see the weaknesses and strengths, and understand more about the human experience through storytelling.

ANALYSIS
This book of poetry would have high appeal among students who enjoy Greek mythology, but it will also draw in readers who enjoy the duality of conflicting viewpoints. The artwork effectively supports these opposing sides of each story, reflecting the duality between each way of seeing the story. The poems truly make the reader question who is the hero and who is the antagonist!

explores familiar figures from Greek Myths and asks the reader to look at each story in a unique way. The 'reverso' poems are mirror images, with one character reading the poem in forward and the other character in reverse. The effect is as though the words were echoed back, showing that there are two sides to every story. The artwork features split frames as an effective means of showing each perspective, such as an angry Athena with a woven tapestry next to a woeful Arachne, struck with spider arms and a web, her punishment for winning a contest with a goddess. Singer’s “reverso” poems are first presented in one form, and then the lines are put in reverse order for a totally unique meaning. Reading the famous tale of King Midas, the forward reading of the poem reflects the daughter's longing for her father to touch her. Yet, the second reading in reverse, shows King Midas's grief that he did touch his daughter, and the result was turning her to gold.


Each ‘reverso’ poem challenges the accepted norms for these characters from Greek Mythology and offers a different perspective. Singer’s format shows that how we view a situation can be turned completely upside down, if viewed from a different angle. The language is simple, yet the construction of a poem that can be read forwards and backwards is anything but simplistic. It is that clever play with order that gives this book of poems a unique spin. This structure, combined with looking at each familiar story through two points of view, make this collection of poems a new experience in the genre.

This book has a broad appeal because the unique structure makes the poems fun to read. Because the format literally flips the words of one character upside down, it can challenge readers to shift their scope and realize that no one character is entirely good or entirely bad -- that those qualities reside in each of us, in equal measure.


Use and Highlight Poem

The spotlight poem in this anthology is Icarus and Daedalus, the familiar story of a father and son that escape imprisonment. The poem is filled with the promise of flight, but the caution of letting impulse take over and sway common sense. When Icarus fails to listen to Daedalus's wise warning, his moment of glory ends in a disastrous descent into the sea. In the reverso poem, we see that Daedalus is mournful, lamenting his son's decision to fly too high, along with the inevitable death and "bright heaven" (Singer 23) that is to come. For Daedalus, the "dark sea below" (Singer 23) is sadness. For his son, the same line means something he is leaving behind as he ascends into flight. The flip sides of this tragic tale are an excellent example of why the book is so powerful. This would be a fun exercise for students to read the poems in class, enacting the different perspectives for their peers.

Another idea for studying the reverso poem structure is to gather Marilyn Singer’s other reverso poetry books:

• Singer, Marilyn. Mirror Mirror.
• Singer, Marilyn. Follow, Follow.

Use Singer’s Reverso poem structure for a lesson plan for elementary school children on poetry and role reversal. I also think that the reverso poem structure might be adapted to a children's theater or even a classroom exercise to practice reading aloud poetry. Characters could recite the poems and solidify the examples of how different and powerful the perspectives can really be.