Breaking the Iron Curtain: Decoding Poetry via Linguistics

Abstract

This paper holds that the phobia many students and teachers of literature have for poetry is a result of their being ill-equipped with the tools for poetry analysis and appreciation. It then posits that a good background in linguistics will help address this problem. In doing this, the paper first reviews the nature of poetry genre; then it highlights the various ways knowledge of linguistics can be applied to poetry analysis and appreciation. This approach will go a long way in stimulating and sustaining interests in the poetry genre.