Prévert's Poem Breakfast in the Reception of Young Readers

AbstractThe article deals with reception of the poem by J. Prévert Breakfast by the students of 12 to 19 years of age (240 respondents) and their ability to interpret it without an intervention by their teacher. Their reception of the poem was examined by the semantic differential method and from the point of view of three factors: comprehensibility, evaluation and impressiveness. Afterwards selected students of 15 to 16 years of age (10 respondents) interpreted this poem in a focus group without significant interference from teachers. The semantic differential assessment of the poem shows females scoring higher in the factor of comprehensibility than males. The interpretation of the factor of comprehensibility does not show that males would understand the text of the poem less well than females. An important item is the identification of the female students with the depicted female figure and a deep intuitive understanding of her situation. And this inner understanding is reflected in the high score in the factor of evaluation. The method of a focus group has proved that students are sufficiently motivated to interpret the text of the poem without an external intervention by the teacher. Within the focus groups there was a pleasant atmosphere and the students accepted different ideas which enhanced their own interpretations and broadened their own perspective