The competition is open to school-aged young people in the UK, with three age categories for entrants. Each age category is asked to creatively respond to a selected passage from Jane Eyre by writing a poem in another language. The competition accepts submissions in ANY language, and all entries need to be accompanied by a literal translation into English. So, whether you’re learning a language at school or at home in your spare time, or you speak another language with your family, we’d love to receive your submission!
We’ve put together some handy resources that may help you compose your entry.
Adapting Jane Eyre
You don’t need to have read Jane Eyre to enter the competition, but if you’re interested in knowing move about the novel, read this plot summary.
Using the links below, you can take a look at some graphic or illustrative interpretations of the competition passages and find information on the passage’s place in the text.
Key Stage 3/S1-3
Extract: Chapter 2: locked in the red-room
Key Stage 4/S4
Extract: Chapter 35: Jane supernaturally hears Mr. Rochester’s voice
Key Stage 5/ S5-6
Extract: Chapter 38 – St. John Rivers as a heroic missionary in India
You may be interested in reading how the novel was adapted into manga (Japanese comics) by Manga Classics, a publishing house dedicated to producing faithful adaptations of classic literature. You can see how adaptations can really enhance our enjoyment and understanding of texts!
Creative Translation: Turning Prose into Poetry
We have produced a handout on how to turn prose writing into a poem. The handout is for all languages.
Workshops
For the four languages listed below, we provide two types of additional resources: 1) workshops for teachers to deliver in school with accompanying worksheets, and 2) pupil-led activity worksheets.