Experiencing Poetry

Willie van Peer is Professor of Literature and Intercultural Hermeneutics at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany.

How do we experience poetry as readers? What is it in the text that provokes particular reactions, and how can we methodologically reveal these effects?Introducing an evidence-based approach to poetics, this book explores the psychological effects of poetic form and content, with an emphasis on how real readers respond to and experience poetry. Engaging with texts from diverse cultural and historical settings, it covers the basics of stylistic theory while at the same time outlining the specific methods required to categorize readers' cognitive, emotional and attitudinal reactions. Chapters guide you through engaging experiments, covering key concepts such as significance, averages, deviation, outliers and reliability, and bring poetry to life by drawing on YouTube performances and musical renditions of the texts.With further readings, a glossary of key terms and ancillary resources providing an overview of research methodology, this book equips you with all the linguistic and analytical tools needed to uncover the psychological workings of poetry.

Features chapter summaries, further readings, a glossary and ancillary resources to consolidate learning and help students with conducting empirical studies of their own

List of FiguresPrefaceForeword, David I. HanauerAcknowledgments1. Poetry is Structure2. Poetry is Madness3. Poetry is Prettiness4. Poetry is Surprise5. Poetry is Revelation6. Poetry is Power7. Poetry is Persistence8. Methods to Study Psychopoetics9. Toward a General Theory of PsychopoeticsBibliographyGlossaryAncillary ResourcesQuestionnaire SamplesDimensions of Foregrounding EffectsIndex