Engaging with Language and Literature by Neil McGowan
I was listening to the radio the other day and wondering what to write about for this month's blog when I heard a programme about books, poetry, and literature in general, and it got me thinking. There's a lot of noise being made here in the UK about how children engage (or perhaps don't) with reading, and especially with poetry. Now, I'll be the first to admit I struggle with a lot of poetry. I couldn't see myself going out and buying a book of poetry, not when there are so many unread prose novels to get through. Yet I'll happily listen to poetry when read aloud, and it's rare for me to dislike it. The problem is it rarely manages to evoke much of an emotional response in me. I can admire the language, and the cleverness of rhyme, but that's about as far as it goes, for me. It doesn't make me feel anything. But I am aware that the issue lies with me, and not with poetry per se. See, for me, as an engineer, I like things to have logic, form,...