The reading of poetry : appreciation and evaluation

The impulse that prompted me to the writing of this thesis is a profound uneasiness about the way in which the Humanities are being undervalued in the eyes of the world today, and nowhere more so, it increasingly seems, than at educational institutions, especially South African universities. As mechanisation and commodification become more and more the order of the day, and as technology replaces human interchange, the passions and sympathies of man, so powerfully expressed in English literature, steadily become of secondary importance. My focus here, then, is on the vital importance of English literature in the affairs of human beings and their daily interactions with the world around them. My attention will be directed mainly towards poetry, for I believe that even amongst those who do read good books, a large proportion eschew poetry and, in a sense, fear it. My experience in teaching at secondary and tertiary levels of education has shown me that this is because students have not been given, or adequately instructed in the use of, the tools with which to understand or to appreciate poetry in more than a very superficial way, and that this lack leads to their not devoting much time or attention to it. Also, because they fail to understand more than simply the contents of a poem (and sometimes not even this), and because they are aware that there is a deeper significance to a good poem than what they perceive, students and other readers feel inadequate, and shy away from poetry altogether. Of course, I do not include amongst these readers those who daily concern themselves with Iitera-ture and who have made it one of the mainsprings of their lives. I am aware, too, that every generalisation has its exceptions and that there are people who at an instinctive, as well as a cognitive level, fully comprehend what the poet is saying.

Author dc:creator

• Meihuizen, Dorothea

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Meihuizen, N.C.T.
• Addison, C.A.

• English poetry--History and criticism.

Licence

• https://devspace.unizulu.ac.za/bitstreams/22a92e15-c320-4502-ada8-d77a64441487/download