The reader, the text, the poem: the influence and challenge of Louise Rosenblatt
Wilson, A
Date: 23 November 2020
Article
Journal
Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education
Publisher
Routledge / Association for the Study of Primary Education (ASPE)
Publisher DOI
Abstract
This paper is a re-examination of Louise Rosenblatt’s seminal work of reader-response theory, The
Reader, The Text, The Poem. I argue that poems are essentially social in nature and that they open up
a space in which conversation and interpretation can take place. With Rosenblatt I argue that until a
reader engages with a poem, ...
This paper is a re-examination of Louise Rosenblatt’s seminal work of reader-response theory, The
Reader, The Text, The Poem. I argue that poems are essentially social in nature and that they open up
a space in which conversation and interpretation can take place. With Rosenblatt I argue that until a
reader engages with a poem, bringing to it a combination of her interest and experience, the text will
lie dormant. I go on to argue that this implies a model of pedagogy and discourse about poetry which
is currently inimical to the high stakes testing arrangements in the current context in England and the
Anglophone world. Via the work of John Dewey, especially his notion of art as experience, I analyse
the cultural and critical frameworks which influenced Rosenblatt innovations both directly and
indirectly. This includes the tradition of the New Criticism, with its emphasis on empiricism and an
assumed reader. For practitioners seeking a model of reader-response and classroom practice that
promotes more than pre-prescribed comprehension questions, I offer examples of practice which
prefigure the role of talk in aiding the reader’s aesthetic and transactional interpretations of poems.
School of Education
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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