Brain Pickings is a blog by Maria Popova about science, literature and the arts. There are many topics to explore in Brain Pickings, and in this case the focus is on the literary jukebox feature. Here Popova takes a significant quote from literature, which could be familiar or more obscure, and matches that quote to a piece of music.
Structure and features
Clicking the ‘listen’ button allows you to read and listen and think about the match she's made. Looking at the archive can help you and students choose the most accessible or relevant entries.
You can ask students to:
- build the concept of intertextuality by pairing a literary quote and a piece of music
- evaluate Popova’s pairing for its relevance, and consider alternative pairings
- identify key literary messages by being aware of the resonances in the quote
- think about the tone of the passage and choose some music that will amplify or mirror that tone
- choose a short extract of music to pair with a quote.
Links and files
Teacher notes
Focus areas
- Connected texts
- Intertextuality
- Analysis.
Curriculum links
- English.
