Author: asoulinprogress

Poetry can help awaken us to the richness of the language that surrounds us, even in the seeming cacophony of the digital age.

Abstract: In this paper, I consider some of the ways Cognitive Poetics can contribute to the restoration of the humanities as a significant approach to the study of human cognition. In particular, I show in discussing several poems by Dickinson and one by Frost how Cognitive Poetics can 1) account for a reader’s comprehension and articulation of the writer’s aesthetic achievements; 2) distinguish between prototypical and peripheral readings of a literary text, and evaluate the various interpretations produced by readers; 3) can describe the aesthetic effects of the text itself.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 23

Keywords: cognitive poetics, humanities, aesthetics, Dickinson, Frost

“When Rules Are Made to be Broken,” (LATBR, October 6, 2002), John Rechy attacks three “rules of writing” that, as he says, go virtually unchallenged in most fiction workshops and writing classes: Show, don’t tell — Write about what you know — Always have a sympathetic character for the reader to relate to. I read the piece cheering and arguing all the way.