The detective- reader and the inventive-reader in the poetic game of José Paulo Paes

Abstract

The present work intends to study the creation process of the Brazilian poetry for children, through the relationship between the poet´s work and the children´s playing process. For this purpose, poems for children by José Paulo Paes, born in São Paulo, were analyzed.. From the innovations brought by Brazilian modernism, we pointed out the main characteristics that influenced José Paulo Paes’ work for children. In order to study the creation process of José Paulo Paes’ children’s poetry, we opted to analyze the four main elements required for the making of a poem: sound, form, language and image. Through the analysis of José Paulo Paes’ work for children in view of these four elements, we can perceive similarities between the poet’s work and the children’s act of playing and how many times the reader has to act as a detective or a creator to recreate meaningns and find his own role in the game.