Poeti dei banchi di scuola o da banchi di scuola? Indagine sulla cosiddetta poesia nella scuola elementare italiana dal 1945 al 1968

The basic idea of my thesis is to understand whether poems found in the primary school handbooks, from 1945 to 1968 are “poeti dei banchi di scuola” (poets traditionally present in school books and in school programs), or “poeti da banchi di scuola” (poems devoted to individual improvement, i.e. to education and therefore, need teacher’s interpretation). After having analyzed the social historical context of the considered period, with particular reference to the primary school Programs, a functional definition of poetry has been given. Analyzing the primary school books of that period, the massive presence of some poets and some of their poems has been noticed. In most cases, the poems do not show an evident truthful educational project for they tend to conform the youth to dominant values or to behavioural models which are typical of the past. Often, they are simply didactic or “moralistic” poems. In these cases, they cannot immediately generate an educational outcome as they do not share the category of “narratività”, typical of education. Only the work of the teacher – the one who “in-segna”, that is to say the one who shows and points out at what is beyond the written – can make a difference; in fact, only if the teacher, as an educational guide crosses over and goes beyond the “message of values” of poetry in order to use it as an educational means, the change will occur. Even more, through the interpretation of the pauses, moments of silence, the rhythm, rhetorical