Using English Poetry in English Education: Prejudices, Difficulties, and Suggestions

This essay aims to explore how to apply English poetry to the site of English language education in Korea by retracing prejudices and difficulties surrounding teaching English poetry in the classroom. Since early nineteenth century, English poetry has been suggested by literary elites as a solution to correct the social problems and the dehumanization caused by the Western industrialization. Many humanistic educators, on this basis, have insisted that English poetry should be included in the curriculum. However, the social and cultural significance imposed on English poetry has excessively increased and mystified the value of English poetry and made the practice of reading poetry a privileged exclusive property of a small number of elite humanistic intellectuals, thus separating the general public from English poetry. This separation between humanistic intellectuals and the public has brought about ordinary people’s prejudices against poetry, from which pedagogical difficulties of teaching English poetry have emerged not only in Anglophone countries but in Korea as well. Faced with these difficulties of teaching English poetry, this essay tries to provide practical answers to how Korean educators of English poetry will carry out their challenging task.N