Poetry: Prima Vista

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Can foreign language students really tell teachers of English anything about English poetry? They definitely can. This book explores the unknown and exciting territory of the minds of student readers when they read a poem for the first time. By exposing advanced students of English to an experimental line by line method of reading, Wiland has facilitated their sincere and uncensored encounter with poetry, an encounter rarely exhibited in classes at universities, colleges and upper secondary schools. To position the readers constructively, Wiland has developed the concept of the ‘dynamic prospecting countersignatory’, based on theories of reader- response and language learning, and Derrida’s theory of deconstruction. Her findings show that the readers tend to struggle with low self-esteem as poetry readers, even when they experience great emotional involvement and cognitive understanding, expressing pleasure at the slow line by line reading process. Poetry: Prima Vista may therefore shed new light on poetry literacy among foreign language students and inspire teachers of English at all levels to renewed attitudes and approaches to poetry.