Poetry as Power: The Dynamics of Cognitive Poetics as a Scientific and Literary Paradigm
IN COGNITION AND LITERARY INTERPRETATION IN PRACTICE, Harri Veivo, Bo Pettersson, Merja Polvinen, eds., pp. 31-57, Helsinki University Press, 2005
23 Pages Posted: 4 Jul 2009
Date Written: 2005
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.
Keywords: cognitive poetics, humanities, aesthetics, Dickinson, Frost
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