The role of illustration in interpreting a multimodal literary text

Abstract

The objective of the study was to establish the impact of illustration on the reading and interpreting of a poem in the case when only one illustration is provided with the text. The research study involved 408 students of the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Arts. The students were divided into two groups, of which one was given the poem Učenjak (Scholar) written by Niko Grafenauer and illustrated by Lidija Osterc, while the other had the same poem illustrated by Marjan Manček. Both groups had to answer a number of questions regarding personal traits of the literary character, his appearance and the environment he lives in. The results showed that the illustrations had a significant impact on the interpretation of the physical features of the literary character and the environment he is set in. This in turn affected the understanding of the message of the poem.