David Antin"s Talk-Poem and John Ashbery"s Three Poems - A Reading by Mikhail Bakhtin"s Theory

David Antin"s Talk-Poem and John Ashbery"s Three Poems

  The purpose of this paper is to trace out some methods in which students under EFL environment could well understand English expression and Western culture through reading two contemporary American poets’ poems. Russian Linguist, Mikhail Bakhtin’s polyphonic approach is used to help students comprehend the two poets’ poems. Bakhtin’s theoretical approach shows that the poems can be read and understood in terms of some multi-layered voices among the author, the texts and the world. Students could learn the poetic expression and linguistic dynamic and develop their creative ideas through the so-called post-modem poetic discourse in the classroom To read contemporary English poem is to understand the Western culture and its linguistic expressions. By doing so, the contemporary post-modem poems could bring a unique experience to Korean students to enjoy the poets’ poetic imagination.