Discussion Questions

  • Put on a performance of Zong! Think about the musical quality of the poetry. Who will say what? Will it be the same every time? Try to support your theatrical choices with your understanding of Zong!
  • In what ways could the text be considered anti-narrative, and why could that be? Is there one voice or many?
  • Think about the questions Zong! brings up about language. How do the poems resist words? How are the words chosen and for what purpose? Conversely, how do the poems use blank space and silence? Should the blank parts of the page be included in the reading of the poems?